nyc edition_day-5

have you ever been "shown up"? we have. all week.
the other group staying with us is a youth group from indiana. they are leaving tomorrow and will be getting some well-deserved rest when they get home. they've been putting in roughly 12 hour days all week with their ministry. they get up early, clean, meet, and go to work. then, when they get back, they meet again and worship together. we all feel kinda bad, every now and then. but we are having so much fun!
the group with the homeless ministry had a good time today. they were gone for a while and came back talking about having more good conversations. they also had some sad news though. apparently the owner of the grocery store where the homeless get their cans and hang out ran them off today. and with more than a hint of rudeness. he was yelling at them and kicking them off their stoops and being rough with them. this broke the heart of a few of the people. please pray that the owners heart is softened. and pray for the homeless that are out there, and all over the world. they all go through so much and could really use some love.
construction is going well. dwayne finished up some spackling in the entry, while belle and elizabeth started painting some of it. gary, jeremy and i worked some more at cleaning out this large storage room in the church. it went even faster when allison and ashley joined in our efforts. then we all had lunch (sandwiches and leftovers), and got ready for the kids. during this time, a wasp landed on my sandwich. i didn't know what to do. so, i asked "what do i do with this?" it was funny. at least, it was funny for everyone else.
the kids today were pretty good. there were a lot of new kids, but then there were also a few missing kids. i don't know...sometime sit feels like we aren't doing much with that ministry. but, like i said yesterday, we are trusting God. and in that, we are seeing Him work in other areas. and, we are having fun!
tonight we planned on going to a broadway show. daniel and i finally convinced the group to go see spamalot. we had almost everyone ready to go. ashley and rachel took our money to the tkts booth to get our tickets. and they were sold out. it was sad.
so, instead, we all went to dinner. we got dressed up, or at least put on nicer clothes than we have worn all week, and went in to manhattan. we ended up eating at "juniors famous restaurant. the best in brooklyn" (or something like that). and yes, the "best in brooklyn" was in manhattan. but it is a chain, so it's ok.
after figuring out a confusing ticket and eating for 2 hours, we went in to time square...for the bazillionth time! it was still fun, though. i got "nuts 4 nuts"! they are these delicious little cashews, almonds, and peanuts covered in some sort of sugary goodness. we also went to toys-r-us, the m&m store and a few gift shops. kimberly and daniel had to leave early, though. daniel accidentally stepped in a puddle full of sewage water and splashed kimberly. they smelled so bad that they decided to head back to the church early.
now we are all here, and i am writing this blog. amanda, dwayne and belle are drinking slurpees, elizabeth is on the phone, and jeremy is playing the piano. everyone else is asleep. hopefully i will be soon. please continue to pray for our kids, our other ministries, the homeless here and all over the world, the city of new york, and our people. have a great few days until we return!
(also, thank you to everyone who has left a comment, and to all the readers! i hope you are enjoying this. and as for the questions about pictures: i wanted to post a few, but we do not have a cord to get the pictures from the cameras to this computer. sorry. but i hope i have painted at least a vague mental picture for you. bye!)