Oh the Places You Go in New York City

All the places to go in NYC;
Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The day's journey began early in the morning.
7:30 the alarms called
All arose eagerly to seize the day.

Bagels, cereal, and fruit for breakfast.
Pack the bags and head out.
A few pics snapped here and there.
Down into the subway we traveled.

The green flag went up as our train arrived
We split into groups to stay alive.
The destination came and we all got out.
Walk a few blocks and talk a lot.

Arriving early gave us time to prepare
put on the hats, aprons and what not to wear.
Sister Washington gave us the scope,
how to serve, pray, and scoop soup.

Talking to Frank, Chris, Ms. Louis
and many more stories were told,
along with little things like strawberry jam at  Popeye's,
to dollar store jewelry.

Pork beans and smoked neck bones, turkey soup, and beef stew
Cleaned up fast
and out to roll ...
back on the subway;
Next stop 10 - 15 ish miles away.

Up the hills and down into the valleys
It's a journey through New York City.
The destination reached at last,
Stand on the corner and wait for instructions.

A call came and said the job was finished.
Back to the station to get on the train,
Can we all get through on the very first swipe?
Back to the church is the new direction.

At the church rest for 20.
Grab 10 Hygiene kits to go hand out in a park.
5 Male and 5 Females
All given for good use.

Off to supper... it's Dominican time!
Rice, plantains, chicken, salad, veggies, ham, pork, and beef.
Even a french fry surprise! :)
Filled to the brim we satisfyingly walked back to the church.

Debriefed, showered and had more good laughs...
Off to more adventures in the streets of New York tomorrow!
More stories to hear and people to meet.

Good Night and Good Luck Michigan!

Signing off for now your New York blogging host for this special edition ...
Beth, Paige, Kelsey, Katie, Matt, Jen, and John
(Serving Group 1 Rocks!)

Photo Error

Unfortunately, we have not been able to upload any photos to the blog.  We will continue to try throughout the week but so far, we have not had any luck.

Day 3- Monday- prayer tour

(This blog post will make more sense if read in the voice of Hayley Van Dyke.)
Hello everyone! Today was quite a day! We were able to get a tour of a lot of New York City and pray at various sites. They call this a prayer tour... :)
Our youth group is divided into two serving groups; each with 8 people.
We visited many places including: Battery Park, Bowling Green Park, China Town, Little Italy, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Harlem, Bronx, Central Park, World Trade Center(Freedom tower that is being built), Brooklyn Bridge.

We had a lot of fun getting to know our groups today and we spent some quality time in the Subway. The subway is quite an adventure! There are A LOT of people and it is really hot and sometimes people almost fall over. I won't name any names. :) And when I say a lot of people...I mean like 5:00 on the subway...you pretty much can't breathe.

For our Ethnic Supper tonight we had the pleasure of dining in a Vietnamese restaurant. The only silverware provided were chopsticks. Many of us mastered this art while others asked for forks.  The food was DELISH.

We are having a fantastic time and appreciate all of your prayers and thoughts.

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)