TEAM in Chicago

I just got back from a week-long training session in Wheaton, Illinois. Actually, it was in Carol Stream, right outside Wheaton, at the TEAM headquarters.

We all arrived on Monday to TEAM's offices and apartments. They bought a few small apartment buildings on a small area of land along with their office building. The apartments are pretty old, and Chicago's humid weather made them kind of musty without the air conditioner on, but they were very homey and comfortable. There were only 6 of us for this session. TEAM has 3 summer training sessions for short-term missionaries. We were the second. The first had about 15, so we were a pretty small group (by any standards). We were all girls, all between the ages of 20 and 24, and all staying together on the same floor of the same apartment building, so we got to be pretty close by the end of the week. Two of the girls are spending the summer teaching English in the Czech Republic, one girl is teaching English in China, another is helping at a hospital in Japan, and the 5th is going to Pakistan to teach English and disciple women at the hospital close to the school I will be teaching at. She'll only be there for the summer, but our trips will over-lap by a week or so, and hopefully I'll get to see her before she leaves!

When I arrived at O'Hare, a car from A-1 Limos picked me up, and the driver just happened to be from Pakistan! The drive took about an hour, and we spent the whole time talking about Pakistan, his family, how he ended up in Chicago, and all that good stuff. It was such a blessing to start the week off hearing from a native about Pakistan. He said that Murree, the city I'll be in, is beautiful and something of a vacation spot, and that the chicken curry is delicious.

On Monday night, all 6 of us girls met with our 3 main leaders for the week, and we all had Chicago-style pizza for dinner, while making informal introductions.

Tuesday morning we met at 8:00 and the majority of TEAM's staff from the offices came over to pray for us! This was by far the most encouraging session of the week. Because there were only 6 of us, they took the time for each of us to stand up and tell our story of how we ended up there, where we were going, and what we were going to do. This was a great time for us girls to get to know each other better, too. When one girl was done telling her story, we'd all spend a few minutes praying specifically for her, then we'd hear from the next. It was so great to have these total strangers caring for us and praying for us so devotedly after having just met us! One of the greatest things, too, was that, during the week when we'd go into the offices for something, they would remember us and stop to talk to us more about what we were doing!

Then, all day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and half of Friday, we had different sessions led by different people about everything from being a servant, to finances, to safety, to working as a team with our assigned places.

On Wednesday night, we went to Chicago's "Little India," to meet with an outreach organization there called the South Asian Friendship Center who focuses on the (rather large) Muslim population in Chicago. We had a chance to walk around and browse through shops, window shop, and check out the grocery stores. Then we walked to an Indian restaurant for their buffet, which turned out to be delicious! I was afraid I wouldn't like it, so I'd actually packed a little snack in my purse, but ended up not needing it :)

After dinner, our leaders left us and drove to Millennium Park, giving us a chance to prove our capabilities in navigating public transportation to find our own way to the park. Luckily, two of the girls with us are students in Chicago and use the bus and train system frequently, so we were able to get there with out a problem. This is a fear of mine, since I've never been too comfortable using city buses. Fortunately, I'm not allowed out on my own while I'm in Pakistan, so I won't need to worry about it too much. And if I do end up alone somehow... well, I'll probably then have bigger issues to deal with than figuring out the bus system.

TEAM knew we'd be sitting all day in a musty basement for these sessions, so they, with their gracious hospitality, provided us all with guest passes for the week to the local gym. Had I known this, I would've brought gym clothes and shoes, but I did have my swim suit. So two of the girls and I walked over to they gym twice during the week, which was a great break to be able to get out and move a little.

The other 5 girls are going on their trips for just the summer, and most of them left directly from Chicago. I still have at least a month left, and this trip gave me a great jump-start to get myself really ready. I started putting together a packing list, and have got a detailed idea of what I need to leave behind for my parents (in terms of contact info, my passport number, and all that business).

I've also been really nervous about whether or not I'll be a good teacher. I'll be teaching 4th and 5th grade together (my 2 favorite grades!), but it's been a year since I've done any formal teaching, and I'm afraid I'll get there and be completely lost for the first few weeks. So, rather than worry about it for nothing, I got out my teaching materials from TCU and my one month of teaching in Fort Worth and have started "reviewing." This has been really good because it's gotten me excited about teaching again. I'm looking over lesson plans that I made during my student teaching and remembering how much fun I had making them and then teaching them. I'm sure my first few weeks will be crazy regardless of what I do to prepare, but at least I can go into it knowing that I'm capable!

I know this is a really long post, and it's okay if you didn't read the whole thing. I'll try to make my future blogs less therapeutic for me, and more interesting for you, but that was my week in Wheaton!