CAST Update #4 (FINAL)

Hey! It’s CAST again. This past week was definitely a unique experience. We spent it at the South Bend Kroc Center. We stayed at the quarters where the amazing summer cadets, Ross and Tricia Anderson, are staying. We couldn’t have asked for better hosts! They were so welcoming, and were basically part of the team that week! Some other great people that we worked with were Denise, Jon, and Jackie. The three of them worked together to run the daycamp and VBS that week. They were so loving and welcoming.
When we first got there on Saturday, we were treated to a concert at Notre Dame, featuring some great Christian artists. On Sunday, we attended the church service at the Kroc, and sang with the Praise Team. For dinner that night, we had a nice cook-out with the Andersons, to get to know them better and have some great fellowship.
On Monday, we worked with the Teen Leader group, teaching them some drama techniques. We also taught them Dance and Timbrels. On Tuesday, we helped to teach VBS. The theme was The Tabernacle, and that day we were focusing on different types of worship. On Wednesday we met in the chapel for the whole VBS time, because we had an awesome tent set up that looked just like The Tabernacle! We sang some great songs and had a really fun time. Then, we talked about how The Tabernacle was a picture of Jesus. When we reviewed, the children were very eager to answer and were able to answer some tough questions. We stayed later that day and had a wonderful Bible study with Denise and her family. The Bible study was about being a part of God’s royal priesthood.
On Thursday at the Kroc Center, we had an altar call where a bunch of kids came and prayed with us. This was a really amazing thing because most of them were children from the community who didn’t regularly attend the Kroc. It was a humbling experience. We then performed our show for them.
Friday was spent mostly planning for the next few days, and was followed by some singing and drama games with the children. Saturday we enjoyed a team fellowship day. Sunday we went to the Irving Park Corps and did our show one last time. We then led some songs that we sang partially in English and partially in Spanish. I gave my testimony, Lauren did a congregational prayer, Greg led scripture (in Spanish), Veronica gave a great sermon that tied in with our memory verse about choosing life (Deut. 30:11-20), and Sandy translated all of it! It was such a blessing to see how a corps with people who speak two different languages, can come together so well. After the service, we had a very nice lunch fellowship at the corps, and then took the officers out to ice cream.
We will be spending the next few days helping out with the Norridge Corps Daycamp. We will then be heading to CBLI! This is the last update I will be writing, so please remember to pray for us and the other teams as we prepare to depart from each other. Thank you for keeping up with us and giving us your support and prayers. Goodbye and God bless!

With love from Chicago,
Kayla and the CAST Team