Welcome to New York City!

Well, its about 10:00 p.m. here and we just wrapped up our first day in the big city!  Last night, we arrived safely at Covenant CRC in North Haledon, NJ.  We had a great night of sleep and started today bright and early around 6:00 a.m.  After a great breakfast of bagels and orange juice (thanks to Renee Texer's parents), we packed up our stuff and headed into the city.  Rather than try to drive in the city, we decided to park our vans in New Jersey and take a ferry across the river into New York.  It was a beautiful morning so we had an amazing view of the entire city while we rode the ferry across the river!  Once we landed, we walked a few blocks until we reached the subway.  Our first stop in the city was Rockefeller Center (this is home to NBC).  After seeing the rock, we went to St. Patrick's Cathedral.  I can't remember how old this cathedral is but it is a beautiful church with many stain glass windows as well as many statues.  After seeing the church, we walked down 5th Avenue which is also known as "fashion district."  We stopped in front of Trump Tower so we could take some pictures.  After fashion district, we stopped for some hotdogs for lunch near Central Park.  The rest of the afternoon, we spent in Central Park hanging out and resting.  After a good rest from the heat, we made our way to First Evangelical Free Church (our main housing site for the week).  We met the CSM team and had a few short meetings before heading out for dinner at King Falafela (a middle eastern restaurant).  The night concluded with a few more meetings and now we finally have some down time before lights out.  Overall, today was a long day but a good one.  We got a lot of time to spend in the city today to see the sights.  At first, it is sort of overwhelming to see all of the buildings and all of the people but after a while, it starts to feel more normal.  It was definitely hot today and the outlook for the rest of the week is the same.  We got a chance to hear about what we will be doing this week and it sounds pretty cool.  A lot of soup kitchens, some food pantry's, park restoration, poverty simulation experience, and many more challenging and exciting opportunities!  I think everyone is pretty tired but at the same time, everyone is pretty excited to start our week and start serving.  Tomorrow is a prayer tour through the city.  We will get to see some of the main sights like Times Square and the Statue of Liberty as well as some of the more impoverished areas as well as some of the rich areas. Again, we ask for your prayers throughout the week for safety and a boldness to serve others.  Thanks for your support.  It is now time for bed :) (Matt)