Day 10 and 11

Today has been nuts. Yesterday was just as nuts.


Love the old signage!

This businessman kind of scared me. He had two tennis rackets and both had a hole punched in them.

For Clay!

My camera broke and so I had to take it into Manhattan to get it fixed. Today it was ready to go. A costly repair, but thankfully it was done quickly. I borrowed a camera today while my group went into a park to interview people for a project we are doing. I thoroughly enjoyed my walk and the camera I borrowed was really fun to play with. Warning this is a photo heavy post!!

Nora

I bet you can't tell why I took a picture of this little bird!

We met up with one group and watched them film a video for a little while.

Queensburro bridge

This family was so cute! I loved talking with these two little girls and their grandmother. They are going to Disneyland in August! Can you guess who their favorite Disney Princess is? Tiana!

Ah, pigeon love.

She had a glow about her that I loved. We then found out she is a Christian and it was so comforting to meet another believer in the city!

This kid just plain loved soccer. He was pretty hilarious.

Coffee Shop near the warehouse that is yummy!

Had a lovely day. Tomorrow will be just as hectic. I am loving this trip, but has been exhausting. Please pray for renewed energy and a spirit of patience and joy!

Day 9

Yesterday was just as fast paced as the other days. We went with our groups to gather supplies for our projects. I am in two groups so it was kind of hilarious to go back and forth between them in one art supply store. It's also funny how one tube of paint can be so inspirational and exciting to someone. I was so excited to find neutral tint watercolor paint (a beautiful warm shade of indigo) in the watercolor section of the store.

After going back to the warehouse, the girls got out of their sweaty work clothes and changed into dresses (which quickly became just as sweaty and nasty in the lovely New York humidity) and we headed off to IAM. (http://www.internationalartsmovement.org/) This was much needed nourishment to my artistic soul.



 

Mako Fujimura spoke briefly about the arts and culture (he is one of my favorite artists now. His work really speaks to my soul) and then off we went again to grab dinner and then meet in Time Square for a group picture (I will be posting that later) and then off to see Jersey Boys.



When we were headed home I saw a man playing the cello in the subway. It struck me how beauty can flourish even in the ugliest of places and how busy people can be to not stop and listen. Could you not spare five minutes in your day to enjoy your life? To realize there isn't a tragedy around every corner? Can you spare a moment to love being a human with ears to hear the melody's of the earth and man?

Enough of the deep talk. Time for some lunch.

Day 7 and 8

Well hello there...

The boys and I did some laundry on Monday morning.

This is the only seat Garrett could find.

Monday and Tuesday were also busy days. That seems to be a theme in our lives right now. It's hard not to match the stride of the average busy New Yorker.
Hungarian Pastry Shop

On Monday night we went to a little Hungarian Pastry shop to work on our pitches for the art show. I felt like I could write a novel in there. It was this dark little hole filled with wonderful coffee and seemingly thousands of desserts lined in neat little rows behind glass.

The girls and I at a quaint little diner in Queens

Looking at a map for the thousandth time!

Grand Central Station in all of it's beautiful glory.

The highlight of both days was listening to Sy Rogers. (http://www.syrogers.com/)


I can't even begin to write all that I learned from him. God brings the most unlikely people up from their struggles to minister to others. Sy's story is a true testimony to God's love. I am so excited that I got to hear from him during three sessions. It was a true blessing and it was exactly what my wounded heart needed to hear. God is in control. Bad things happen, but he is still in control and he is there. It's ok to be sad, angry, and hurt, but God is there in the midst of that pain. I've learned so much in these quickly passing days here in NYC. I am already treasuring the things I learn like little jewels in my ever expanding treasure box of what God is teaching me in my life.

I was on the subway tonight with my earbuds in (which can make you deaf if you try to drown out the sounds of the train rumbling down the track) and away from the group riding back from the Crusade office where Sy was speaking. I kept whispering in my mind over and over; "Where were you? Where were you?" I felt abandoned in the midst of the pain I went through with my sickness a couple of years ago and then even reaching further back with my major bout with depression and then even further back with my HUGE anxiety issues. "Where were you? Where were you?"

I heard the voice I hear a lot in my mind...(If I wasn't a Christian I would be scared by that sentence, ha!) "I was there. I was there."

I have had this conversation a lot with God and Sy was talking about how you don't just take your issue to God once. Like Naaman in the river after Elijah's servant told him to dip himself in the sea 7 times, you have to take it to him as many times as it takes.

Above all God is loving and just and he does allow things to happen, but he is there and he has a plan. I pray that I will believe this will my heart as well as my head. My journal is filled with juicy meaty notes that I can't wait to digest over the coming weeks after this non-stop heart and soul changing train has stopped moving.

Day 6

On Sunday we headed out to Leigh Ann's church called Skyline Community Church in Long Island City not far from the warehouse. It's amazing how God works. The pastor talked about community which was relevant to the 16 people sitting in the audience who were on a summer project!

Five of the girls (including me) headed off to a flea market in Williamsburg near Brooklyn. Hipster city! I fell in love with the neighborhood which has a free flowing feel compared to the city.









Then a group of us tried to go find a specific shop near NYU, unfortunately we took a train into Brooklyn which was a really long detour. We didn't end up going to the shop, but it was an adventure!

Day 4 and 5

We are working in the Here's Life Inner City's new warehouse and one of our projects was a mural. We projected one of Sarah Irwin's designs on the wall and then sketched it on with pencils. We also got to visit Kristie's art studio just down the street. The building is full of artists caves. Some of the rooms don't have air conditioning and they are not that big at all, but it was really neat to see how she utilized the space that she had and what she was creating.



The next day we continued to work on the mural. We got a lot done the first day! I was paired up with Garrett for Soularium outreaches and to spread the word about the art show we will have to welcome Here's Life Inner City to their new location.

We talked to a woman named Lynn who was watching her boyfriend play basketball and she was so friendly and sweet. She proceeded to tell us about all the places we just had to go visit and what we needed to do while in Long Island City. She believes, like a lot of other people I have encountered she believes in a lot of different religions mushed together. Buddhism was something that came up as a main point. It's interesting to see the approach that the staff is taking on evangelism. It's definitely got me thinking about how these two thought processes collide (old evangelism vs. new evangelism techniques) and seeing how the Holy Spirit is leading me to minister in my own unique way.

The mural was completed on day 5! A whole day early! We all rejoiced because that meant more free time for us. We have been going so fast paced it's been hard to take time to be alone.

Day 3

I am having to look at my pictures to remind myself what we did! The days have been long and crazy!
Day 3 we stayed at the warehouse all day working on personal pieces. I am so excited at how fulfilling tapping into the Holy Spirit as I paint can be! It's a whole piece of me that was missing. I had tried to do that before, but something wasn't connecting.
We are working with the Soularium (http://mysoularium.com/) and I picked out three images that spoke about my walk with God at this point in my life and used that as inspiration for my painting.

Then the leaders put us in groups of four and five to work on some of the questions that the Soularium asks (for example: what picture shows your roots from when you were a child? What are you rooted in now?)

Garrett being crazy! Some of us who will not be named started fashioning Lady Gaga-like hats with the box of materials we were given.
It was Garrett's birthday so four of us went out to celebrate and tried to go see a Broadway show, but unfortunately they were sold out or too expensive. We went to a pizza place called John's right across the street from the Majestic theatre where the Phantom of the Opera played. I still have extremely fond memories of the first Broadway show I ever saw and that was Phantom.