Itching & Scratching & Coughing OH MY!

10:00am - meet in the lobby

Thanks again to PJ for arranging special transportation into the city later than normal so we could all get some much needed rest.  Mimi (one of the hotel employees) has been working very hard for us all week and she got us 2 shuttles into Detroit today.  We also got cookies and bottled water again so everyone was very happy.

Sick Count - Today the sick count has climbed again, so we will only list the healthy.

Still Healthy:  Morgan, Jake, Molly, Brandon

Another new development today... BUG BITES.  Apparently we were working in the mosquito capital of the US yesterday in the alley.  Our bug bites are OUT OF CONTROL.  Some kids have lots of little ones and Molly has a huge one (see left in picture - large red bump just above her knee).

Molly, Morgan, Shaye, Sami (in order from left to right)  Stacey also estimates that she has about 20 and many others have one or two.  These seem to be the worst cases.

10:30am - arrive at the Cobo Center

We fill the whole escalator!

View from the Cobo Center

11:30am - brunch at our now favorite spot, Blue Star Cafe.

The blue star cafe is served cafeteria style.  They had 5 or 6 different main courses and lots and lots of sides.  Everyone got to pick 1 main dish and 2 sides.  The meals were served with corn bread and put in to go boxes because the sit down area was crowded.  We walked our meals back to the Cobo Center and ate on the floor.

Eating Lunch

Thanks Annelise!

A bathroom buddy????

12:30am - Synod Day

Today we met with the Northeastern PA Synod.  We talked about how everyone has a story.  God's story can be found in the Bible, but what about ours?  We talked about the story in Mark where Jesus heals the paralyzed man and related it to our own lives.  We worked on time lines to show highs and lows in our lives.  We named people that help us to know God.  We listened to other people's stories and discussed our own with friends.  In the end, we learned that all of our stories are also God's stories.

Working in "our story" journals

We ended the Synod day with worship with Bishop Zaiser.  Pastor Jami, Sami, and Maya volunteered to give communion at the service.  It was a nice day!

Bishop Zaiser

Giving Communion

4:15pm - walk to dinner at The Corner Barrelhouse

We enjoyed a dinner of burgers, meatballs, fish fry, salads, and fries.

3 years later... he hasn't changed :)

5:50pm - Justin makes a phone call for a man to his wife to tell her that he is fine, but he was robbed and his cell phone died.  He is still in Detroit but he will try to make it home soon.  He asked us for a ride, but we've been transporting ourselves with our own feet all week.  We pray for Jerome and hope he makes it home safely.

6:15pm - head to Ford Field for our last night :(

We heard from speakers who talked about making coats for the homeless, gaining a sense of belonging at camp, and bettering the education system in the United States.  We saw a dance group perform, a Christian rapper (Trip Lee), and the band Skillet.  Everyone loved Skillet!
Trip Lee rapped about monolo.  Us adults thought this was something that the youth knew and we didn't, but after a quick survey we realized none of us knew what it was.  Logan was pretty sure it was a place because he thought Trip Lee said he had a cabin there.  Bri looked it up on her phone and it turns out monolo is Spanish for Emmanuel.  Very close though, Logan.

The dancers

Skillet

10:00pm - leave Ford Field

10:30pm - arrive at the busing center... in the rain.  We stood for a little while in the rain, but there was still a long line like usual.  While waiting in the rain, Dave walked over to the bus next to us and overheard that they were going to the Hawthorne hotel which was right across the parking lot from ours.  He called our group over and put them on the bus.
Dave:  This bus is going to the Hawthorne
Steph:  Oh, they said we can get on this one? That's great!
Dave:  No one is here to stop us.  Get on.

We all pile on the bus.  The transportation coordinator got on the bus after noticing us piling on it.  She asked who was going to the Doubletree (our hotel) and a few of our kids raised their hand honestly.  She told us we had to get off because this was not our bus.  Dave spoke his mind and the coordinator hopped off the bus telling us we were on our own then.

Our plan was to ride the bus to the Hawthorne and then walk across the parking lot to get to our own hotel.  Our kind and gracious bus driver dropped us off at the door of our hotel instead of making us walk.  This was one place we saw God today.

We had our final 15, previewed the short movie clip that you will see in church Sunday morning!!!, and all went to bed.

Today, we walked 5 miles in total.  Our feet and legs hurt us from walking, but we wouldn't have it any other way!  We love it here in Detroit.

 

The rest of the diapers arrived.  Thank you Tammy Shupp for taking care of sending those to us!!!  We will walk them to Ford Field with us tomorrow.  

Right now the ELCA has collected  588,000 diapers (not including the rest of ours that arrived by mail).  Thank you for your help!!

Highs:  sleeping in, Skillet, being a communion assistant, walking into the hotel without sore feet, being introduced to Skillet, chocolate chip cookies on the bus this morning, Veronica Scott, eating dinner earlier than everyone else, the last night in Ford Field, worshiping with our synod, Sami being so into the dancing and LOVING LIFE!

Lows:  bug bites, waking up after sleeping in, the gathering is almost over, Skillet ended, being hated for getting everyone sick, no sauce on my burger, feeling sick, swollen leg from bug bites, Skillet & the rapper (Jonny couldn’t understand any word), sounding like a 14 year old boy going through puberty (Brandon takes offense), hearing Caleb cough all day, sleeping next to Shaye, woke up an hour before my alarm, when I got out of bed I realized I’m sore everywhere, being tired, not finding the deli, having the trash can in the bathroom stall on the wall fall on my lap, my laptop.

Where we saw God:  in the breaking down of Mark, during communion with our synod, sharing our stories with each other, comparing the lesson in Mark to ourselves, in my Clariton-D tablet, the bus driver who took us “illegally” and dropped us off at our door when he wasn’t supposed to, Veronica Scott, all the speakers, in the community, Richard picking us up this morning, in the shower, in this guy clapping for us, someone in the hotel lobby stopping to help Justin hold a box while he opened the door, Mimi from the hotel – she goes out of her way every day to help us and serve us.

Good night, Hope.  We will return very soon.

Our worship service tomorrow with 30,000 people will begin at 9:30am just like yours.  If you are not going to be at the 9:30 service, livestream our service so you can see what ours is like!