Nashville 2007!!!

Nashville...where to begin? Well, for me the answer is: at the end. But that's because I don't have the pictures from the beginning (they are on Mr. Mann's computer waiting for me to get them on Monday).
We just got back yesterday, and it was an amazing trip. For the group as a whole, there was a lot of stepping out of comfort zones; for me personally there was a lot of learning about obedience to the Lord. Honestly, to me, it feels so much easier to do ministry and share the gospel when you're with a group and you know from the second you wake up that your purpose there is to talk about Jesus and to be Jesus to the people you encounter. With that, the realization came that my mindset has to change; I have to realize that I am a missionary every day. My everyday, all the time, from the moment I wake up purpose is already to share Jesus with the world..and it really can happen. And I also realized on this trip that it's really fun. It's addicting to tell people about Jesus and know that you are showing them what He is like and how He cares about them. It really is addicting.
Going there, most of us weren't exactly sure what we were going to be doing. Something missions and something evangelism..and that's about all we knew. We ended up getting to do some pretty amazing stuff, though. We did some basic service projects and also worked with kids both at an after-school program in the neighborhood we were staying in and at the Boys and Girls Club. One morning, we got to help at a ministry called Project C.U.R.E. that gets donated medical supplies (all sorts of them) and packages them up and sends them off in huge traveling boxes to needy hospitals and areas. It is an awesome place...everything they have and do is donated (there was 1 employee at the huge storehouse we were working in...everyone else is volunteer);but they've figured out the statistics that for every hour that one person works there, they have impacted 10 lives (either made them better or longer). We also did homeless ministry. I will post more about each of these when I get the pictures.
Basically, I have the pictures of our fun, free day and our drive back home, so at the moment, it doesn't look very missionary, but we'll see how it goes. =)

Last Day- our free time at the Opryland Mall

On our way there:

This is Jinny and Amy modeling some very expensive sweater and glasses at Saks Fifth Avenue. I think the sweater was like $300 (on clearance) and the glasses were all designer. Models will the tags still on...oh yeah.

Mr. Mann was super nice and bought us some tickets to the carousel. High Schoolers on the carousel -- I think we're hilarious. :)

And then there were the little kid cars and stuff that we had to get in... (Amy and Jon went total model look...I love it. So did Jinny--that's why she's smiling instead of modeling. :) :) :)

The mall was right next to a huge, beautiful hotel; we thought it was funny that the speed limit by the hotel was 24: not 25, not 20...24.

We had a funny time, actually. We drove over to the hotel to try to go in and see the gardens and fountains they have inside, but we couldn't find any parking. We drove past the main lobby that has a huge fountain in it, and asked the valet if there was any free parking. He said no. Then we thought it would be funny to drive back around (in our 12 passenger van) and ask him again...the same question...as if we'd never been there before. We went back around, but it was a different guy. We asked him, then almost did it again, trying to get a repeat guy, but Abby protested quite strongly -- she felt it would be rude. We were all laughing so hard.

I ate a blue jolly rancher...I like this picture...that's why the occasion is noteworthy.

This is our whole group.

Everyone who stays at the house we stayed at gets to autograph the wall with some sort of picture or something. This is ours.

One last random thing for this particular post: our whole time there, we would see this McDonald's advertisement about sweet tea being a SOUTHERN thing, so, I took a picture of it. And just happened to capture the other kind of sign we saw while we were there. Addiction help. Recommended it to a friend who told me he was addicted to coffee when we got back.

Oh, wait...one more random thing. I thought this truck suspended up in the air was funny. We saw it when we got on the highway.

When we drove back in to Chicago, it made us think about the difference between Chicago and Nashville's sky lines. And then, Mr. Pan decided that Chicago has a skyline and Nashville has more of a sky dash. No offense.