Apologies, Taste, and A Long Entry

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this blog over the past week. There has been a lot going on and I have had little time to sit down and just write what has been happening. I'll try not to make this too long, but there's quite a bit to go over.

 Friday the 24th marked the beginning of the "largest outdoor food festival in the world", The Taste of Chicago. Fifty-nine restaurants from all across the city converge on Grant Park to sell their dishes to the nearly 3 million festival-goers that will pass through the gates during the week long festival. It's a pretty epic experience, to say the least.

A group of us went out to the fest on Friday, to sample the many foods on display. The trick with Taste is that you can't use cash to buy food. You have to buy tickets, at a cost of 12 tickets for 8 bucks. Also tricky, the tickets are worth 50 cents, so you pay 8 dollars to get 6 dollars. But I guess they have to make a profit somehow.

Anyways, we made our way through the dense crowds to try out what Chicago had to offer. The first item I got was a chicken taco, which was as unspectacular as it sounds. Not a lot of flavor, and it was quite spicy. Second, I got to try some sesame beef on a stick from a Vietnamese restaurant. It was probably my favorite dish of the day. The beef was really tender and the sauce was very flavorful and sweet. If it wasn't so expensive, I would have gotten more. Lastly, we tried some cheesecake from one of the dessert vendors. I have to say it wasn't the best cheesecake I've ever eaten. It was almost buttery tasting and lacked that hint of sharpness that most cheesecakes possess. The crust was pretty 'meh' as well, being without much flavor. Overall, the experience was more about the atmosphere than the food. It'd be more fun if I had copious amounts of time and cash to spend trying dishes, but I think I'll save my money and buy better cheaper food.

Much cooler than the expensive festival foods was when we went sharing at Taste on Sunday. Sunday was Gospel Day at the festival, so what better time to share the gospel than on a day focused on Christ?

We split up into groups of two or three and then ventured out to the park to share Christ with people. I was paired with Joel Bosque (pronounced Joh-elle Boh-s-kay), a fellow Buckeye. He had a bit more sharing experience so it made it more comfortable to go sharing with him.

During our time at the Taste, Joel and I got to talk to four guys. The first guy we talked to, we just did a simple survey and didn't get too much into spiritual talk, although I felt we might have been able to segue more into that. But I digress.

The second guy we talked to was a slightly homeless looking guy named Archie. We went through the survey with him as well and talked about his spiritual background. He said he was a christian, believed Jesus was the Son of God, etc. But he made this weird comment about how if a person grows up, say, Buddhist, and they sincerely believe it with all their heart, then God looks at it as them believing in Christ. I tried to explain to him that Christ is the ONLY way to God and that it says so in the Bible, but he got super defensive and said it's a free country and people can think what they want. Not wanting to seem oppressive, I worked my way out of the conversation and wished him a good day.

The third guy I didn't get to talk to personally, but Joel got to talk with him about what he believed about God and people and life. Then he shared the gospel with the guy and prayed the sinner's prayer with him. I don't really know if the guy was receiving what we were saying, since he never really said a whole lot, but either way, we shared the gospel.

The last guy we talked to was also a Christian, but not crazy like Archie, so we didn't have to share too much gospel with him. He had just arrived in the US two weeks ago from Puerto Rico, which was cool, because Joel happens to be of Puerto Rican descent, so they talked a bit about PR stuff and what not. By then it was time to go, so we bid him goodbye and headed back to the lofts.

The majority of this past week has been spent trying to get a job, with no success. I'm honestly not surprised at this point. Although Chicago has a lot of summer tourism, most of the workers in shops live permanently in the city, so there's very little need for seasonal work. Plus, there are so many people here that the competition is pretty tough anyways. And most employers don't want to hire kids who can only work till 5 on weekdays and not on Sundays for ten weeks. It's really no big deal since I got so much support from all of you. I can use the gifts you've given to support myself through the remaining six weeks I'll be in Chicago.

So I've begun switching my focus to doing ministry on campus full-time. I feel like that's the main reason I'm here anyways. Although I could do ministry to co-workers at a job, I really feel like I need to reach the college kids here in Chicago. That's what I signed up for and what I'm going to focus on doing. PLus, by doing so, I can take the experience I gained here back to Ohio State and begin spreading God's word to my fellow Buckeyes. Maybe someday Buckeye Nation will become a Christian Nation. If I and my fellow Crusaders do the work of spreading the gospel, then why not?

I'm hoping that God continues to grow in my life and help me grow in Him. I feel like in the next six weeks there is the potential for so much spiritual growth and bonding among the students here. We're on the verge of doing great things. Many people have been told the good news of the gospel, and many more will hear it in the coming days. Our numbers are growing already. It's exciting to think of what God is going to do next. He works in amazing ways!