New York - Day Two!!

Hey family and friends,

So today was our first full day in the Big Apple of New York City. After our crazy fun-filled day yesterday, we were all eager to do God's work in the city. After a brief breakfast and morning showers, the adults and youth council met with Joey as he filled us in on the day's plans. The 3 different groups went out through the subway system (which we are in the process of mastering now) and were off doing God's will. The three groups accomplish numerous goals, shattered expectations, and represented our church, our youth group, and our God in amazing ways. Here's what we did:

Green- We worked at the Yorkville Food Pantry today. We helped unload and install a large refrigerator and a large freezer, stocked drinks and food, cleaned sidewalks, washed tables and chairs, ate in beautiful Central Park, and ministered to numerous people looking for help at the pantry.

Blue- Today we visited Furnish a Future. Furnish a Future helps people get back on their feet with a place to stay and free furniture. There we moved and stocked furniture in the warehouse and had amazing conversations with the more "open" people of the streets of NYC. We grew as a team greatly today.

Red/Purple- We went to the Sinai Church today to help them paint. We have almost completely finished the classroom and the sanctuary. We completely finished a stairwell. Tomorrow we are headed back to finish. It's amazing how just simply painting a few rooms can make someones day!

After our first day on the job, the boys and most of the adults headed to the park loaded with sandwiches and other food items. The job was simple to pass out sack lunches and spread the gospel to the homeless and needy that reside in the park. Both teams of guys immediately went off for the Lord delivering a total of 20 bags and came back with a boatload of new stories and endless memories. One of the most intriguing and spiritual-grasping stories was described by Daniel Tribble:

"We were just about done with the giving out of our bags when suddenly my eyes caught a man walking beside me. I said hi not thinking anything about it, but the man stopped and looked quite shocked by a mere word that was spoken to him. I continued on with a basic conversation with him and before you knew it, he was telling me that he was about to go beg for money so he could go eat. Our group met back up with met at almost this exact time and I checked to see if we still had a bag left, and we did; one bag left exactly. We delivered the lunch to the man and said goodbye. Not 30 feet later, Joey said 'hey guys, I think that man is crying over there. Sure enough as we all looked back, the same 58 year-old mand who was going to beg for food but didn't have to anymore, was weeping his heart out. That man was so astonished of the love that we shared to him that he broke down in praise and grattitiude to us and the Lord. He even tried to bow at us he was so surprised. That picture of the old man with his lunch in his hands and crying at the same time will last a very long time in my mind."

That amazing story, along with dozens of others, were what our youth experienced today on the streets of New York City.

After our time in the park, we went to the area aroung Macy's. We split into groups to grab a bite to eat and explore. Some of us made it to all 10 1/2 stories. Yes, Macy's has a floor labeled 1 1/2. We all had gathered in front of the Macy's Store for a group picture and a man named Chris randomly joined in! Chris was a member of a church called CMA in Tennessee! After we took just a few shots he asked us to gather around and he prayed for us right in the middle of all the confusion and fuss of New York. Just seeing another man, out of the blue, join our group and end up praying over us shows the power that God has in a place that is unfamiliar to most of the group.


Our last highlight of the day, was visiting the Empire State Building. It was a beautiful site as the sun set on New York.

We are sorry this blog is late. We had some technical dificulties last night.