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CHICAGO 2004
Chicago 2004
This year over Thanksgiving Break seven CCU students and one staff leader hit the streets of Chicago. Our goal was to take the love of Christ to the broken and hurting homeless population. We stayed with Jesus People USA (JPUSA.org) a community of believers that have a love and heart for the city of Chicago. With these people we learned what the true meaning of community is as they live, eat, and work together daily. Through JPUSA we connected with a homeless shelter called Cornerstone Community Outreach (ccolife.org). At Cornerstone we played with children, served in a food line, cleaned out evicted rooms, etc. In the evenings we loaded our backpacks and traveled downtown Chicago passing out food and talking to homeless people. We also spent one evening on Navy Pier and seeing the sites of Chicago at night along with an afternoon on the dock of Lake Michigan.
~Heidi Buller
The Chicago mission trip was a constant test of faith and fervent prayer. From the beginning, the team trusted the Lord to make everything come together, and even when things seemed to be a little shaky, He provided stability. This trip definitely tested my patience and my faith, as do all of the CCU trips. You are pushed beyond your comfort zone, and the Lord always blesses that. You come back from them with a sense of wanting to go out and do more for the Lord. The Chicago trip in particular was such a blessing. We were able to reach out to people that typically no one would want to meet. Personally, I was able to sit on the streets and cry with a guy, and reach out to him, and let him know that we cared for him, but ultimately the Lord loved him. I was able to play with kids that were hurting inside and crying out for attention. I also did some very disgusting and time consuming projects, but knowing that I was doing it for the Lord made it worth it, and to see the look in people's eyes when I was finished showed me that I touched a place in their hearts not many people get to. Our team grew very close, and we will always share many intimate stories and inside jokes together! That is something I would never trade for anything.
~Amanda BannHoffman
