Sunday Funday!

We started the morning off by going to Maxwell Street Market, which is a HUGE market that goes on every Sunday right by where we live! I read about it in our guidebook and was expecting a few booths set up selling fresh produce and what not, but boy was I wrong! The market goes on for blocks and blocks, with people selling everything from tomatoes to tires. Seriously, I couldn't believe it.

After MSM (haven't you heard? Acronymns make you COOL!) we were sorely tempted to have a "grunt day" from church because it was so stinkin' hot outside (remember, we have to bike 15 miles roundtrip to get there)! But I am proud to say that we sucked it up and were blessed with funniest sacrament meeting we've ever been to! Some highlights...

1. Brother Brown. He's the eldery man in the ward who raises his hand after every question the gospel doctrine teacher asks. We're not quite sure if he's all the way "there" or not :) In any case, we knew we were in trouble when he got up to the podium and opened up his Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants and Bible. Ooooh boy! The next 15-20 minutes were him speaking about his grandfather, aunt, his great-great-uncle, burial plots (?!), and who knows what else. Seriously, it was the most incoherent thing I've ever heard! I was on the brink of cracking up the entire time! (And so was the bishop!)

2. A 12-year old boy who got up and started his testimony like this: "Well, I was just sitting down there with my dad when Elder So-and-So got up to bear his testimony, and I'm 12 years old so of course it's not like I'm paying attention or anything..."

3. The ward chorister. I don't know his name, but he is the funniest chorister ever! He's this chubby, jolly Mexican guy who wears glasses, and he always gets so into the songs. He'll even cup his hand to his ear if we're singing too softly!

4. Speaking of singing, we were singing the closing hymn today and--with one verse left to go--the person giving the benediction goes up to the podium to pray. We weren't done with the song so everybody just kept on singing...and she just like, stood there and laughed because she'd gotten up too early!

Our Sunday ended with a concert at Millenium Park (where we'd heard the U.S. Coast Band last week). It was something called the Chicago Human and Rhythm Project, and it was basically just a lot of people tap dancing to jazz. Not gonna lie: it was kinda boring. I'm not the biggest fan of modern "chill" jazz music to being with...it's too mellow and un-fun! Plus, tap is only cool if it's excites you! We watched a group do an interpretative tap dance called "Flying Turtles."

Not very exciting.

(I'll admit that it was pretty cool to watch because they did some really unique formations and rhythms. However, the dance itself went on for about eight minutes...there's only so much flying turtleage I can take!)