Aurora - Tuesday, September 15

Another fabulous day in the PV history of the Aurora program. Today the group was charged with planning, purchasing and preparing a meal for lunch service at Hesed House. Plans for this meal began well before the week began as volunteers coming starting baking and cooking for the meal. The meal the PVs prepared included sloppy joes, baked beans, a hearty salad, chips and a variety of homemade cookies. The preparation went off without a hitch so we were ready for service at noon. Each guest that came through the line was greeted by the smiling faces of PVs. There was more than enough food to go around and even have some for another meal later in the week. One of the highlights of the meal was when one of the guests brought out his guitar and played a few songs for everyone before he came through the line to eat.

With a bit of an earlier day, we decided to take in some of the natural beauty of the area, so we headed to Starving Rock State Park, southwest of Aurora. There were beautiful views and hiking trails and we learned a bit of the history of area.

Instead of preparing more food for dinner, we decided to eat some of the leftovers from the lunch meal we served at Hesed House. I mean, who doesn't like a sloppy joe or two???? We topped off the meal with a delicious Snickers cake.

As we close out every evening, we gathered for the night's reflection. Tonight's reflection and sharing focused on joy and happiness and someone that we see as a happy person. We were joined in reflection tonight by one of our host's mother who is staying with them (and us this week!) from Peru. After reflection we took some time to learn about each other's culture and life. A great evening of fellowship!