... to all the family, friends, and loved ones who are tuning in this week, i look forward to providing you with a brief snapshot of what the team in up to throughout the week though these posts!

Last night, the team arrived here in Dolton, IL at the New Community Church safely and without incident, then immediately got the opportunity to participate in the church's youth service, which was filled with tons of fun and games! The rest of the evening consisted of delectable chicken dinner, followed the orientation meeting.

All together there are 57 participants this week between Hope and two other churches. With this amount of manpower please be praying that God will allow this team to be used in big ways this week!

This area has many needs but God is both able and willing, so please keep this team and this community lifted up in prayer!

- chris

First full day of ministry went really well!

Morning began with Pastor Ed (the prayer/outreach pastor ) telling us about the churches vision
for ministring to this community. Then the team helped piece together literature that will be distributed later
in the week. After lunch the team went through a training session to equip them for working with the children during VBS. Tonight was taco night! ... so after we all ate, the team set out to a local park for VBS, and had a really good turn out for a first night!

All in all, great day, and the team is having a great time!

...

This week the team from Hope Fellowship engaged in a variety of projects and ministries. The main work project was cleaning up a super run down park that had become overgrown with trees/trash/graffiti. Though the project seemed like a tremendous undertaking, the team got to work and now it looks immaculate! The city of Dolton was super pleased with how it looks as well!

The main ministries for the week were prayer walking and vbs. Each morning the team would go out into the community and try to find people to pray with. ( This was a highlight of the trip for many of the team ) For VBS the team did a puppet show in a local park, which receive a good response from both those in attendance and the community.

Lastly, the week ended with a rally in one of the parks. The rally consisted of music, sports, etc. and a great number of people from the community came out and it was just a great time of fellowship and fun!

The team left bright and early this morning and should be making it home later this evening. Please continue to pray for both the team and for the Dolton community and New Community Church. God has begun something here and were hoping for a lasting impact.

God bless!