First Few Days in Chi Town

Hello all!!!!

I am very very excited to finally get this thing going! I have spent a few days in chicago and I am falling in love with the city! it’s not as windy as people describe it as....just 10 times bigger than Winnipeg...I feel very small. This blog will basically just give you some info you may find useful either now or in the future. I am staying at an intentional community living space called JPUSA (Jesus People USA). Basically, it’s a 10 story building that houses 450 people who have decided to live as a community together in order to serve God. When it was described to me the first day, my initial thought was that it was a cult...I was very wrong. The people here are all very different and have some incredible stories to tell. I spoke to someone today who was part of a Los Angeles gang and ran away when the killing became too constant and ended up spending 13 years in the army...and now is one of the directors at JPUSA. He had some very interesting things to say, but the one thing that really stuck out to me, being from Winkler, is that essentially, the only thing that separates different denominations within the larger Church is how we define worldliness. It’s tough for us to comprehend that fully because we all want to believe that we are completely right in what we believe and are unwilling to see the good in what others believe......anyways, that’s enough deep stuff for today.
Basically, orientation takes the form of discipleship training. We do some Bible study, some group bonding activities, some preparatory activities for when we leave for South Africa/England/Paraguay/Australia. We have done 2 scavenger hunts around the city....one was in the neighbourhood that I live in called, Uptown...and the other one that I did today was in Downtown Chicago. Both showed me incredible things....I saw poverty first hand essentially for the first time in my life in Uptown. And, in down town....I saw what human beings are capable of....I havce never seen buildings so big. However, I will talk to you all later...please stay in touch...I miss you all very much.....it’s actually pathetic.

Some interesting facts about Chi town: 1.) Our building, JPUSA...was built by Al Capone and used to be one of the nicest hotels in the city....not so much anymore.
2.) Shoes on the telephone wires (which are all over our building) show wat kind of drugs are sold in the area...news to me.
3.) The sears tower...literally went into the clouds today...i was blown away.
Im sure there are more that I am missing...but thats all for now...hope to hear from you all soon.

Kyle