Thursday - It Rained

Hey guys--it's Janelle!

Yesterday we had a new experience...New York rain!! But more on that in a minute...
We started our day like all others: a 5:30 am wake up call by a song blaring from Amy's phone. Thankfully the song was much nicer than it has been before, "This I Believe (The Creed)", which we have been singing a lot in the worship. Once we all gained enough consciousness to walk downstairs, we started making breakfast and sorted the day's delivery of fruits and veggies.

When breakfast was made and the food was put away we had a pretty easy day. A group from Houston, Texas came and led worship in the morning which gave Rachel and Matt a break from the piano and guitar. Those of us who weren't serving ate breakfast with the people at the mission, and Anni and I had some good conversation with a few of the guys at our table.

By the time breakfast was over there was another volunteer group who came to make lunch, so some of us spent the late morning hanging out in our room and relaxing. At around 11 a group went out to Brooklyn to be part of the outreach program, which is where the mission goes out and gives food to the people who need it in the city. Although I wasn't part of that group, I heard really great things about that experience. The rest of us lead/joined in worship before lunch. Amy "interviewed" the people leading (not me!) and Dean shared about how God uses our troubles to strengthen us.

After lunch our group (plus Pete and Jon!) headed off to the Staten Island Ferry! We wandered around the town for a while and went to the Trinity Church on Wall Street on the way there. When we got on the ferry we thought it would be a great idea to stand outside. However, that is when it started to rain. This was not Seattle's 'light rain for five days' type of rain. This was 'flash flood warning' rain. Most the adults went inside after a few seconds but Melanie, Jennifer, Allison, Annika, Mara, Rachel, Jon, and myself stood outside. In the pelting rain and wind. For the entire 30 minute ride. Needless to say, we were all dripping for the next couple of hours. On the bright side, we passed what we assumed was the Statue of Liberty through all of the fog.

Thankfully the rain cleared up on the ride back so we were able to attempt to drip-dry and view the Statue of Liberty in all its glory. We then headed back to the mission, where we split up for dinner. We met up again for a debriefing session, sang a couple songs, and headed off to bed.

[pictures coming soon]

Do you guys remember the Geico commercial about “Hump Day”?  We in the girls room awoke to the beautiful sound of the camel yelling out his greetings, and with that we stumbled downstairs to prepare breakfast.  We helped Roco, the cook, make the oatmeal.  We set out bagels and fruit and pastries, including cinnamon rolls the size of my face. 

 Instead of working on lunch, I had the opportunity to work cleaning and organizing the pantry with Laurie and Melanie.  You guys need to understand the size of the pantry.  Now, my pantry at home is big enough for one person to maybe turn around in.  The pantry here at the Bowery Mission not only has enough room for shelves of food reaching way over our heads, but room for the dozen kids that came and toured.  The group of 6 to 9 year-olds enthusiastically helped the three of us put away the latest food donations and carry the boxes into the other room.  The later was very exciting for them.  We finished later after they left.  It’s crazy how much food they have, and how much it varies.  Guess how many pounds of fudge topping they have? 161 lbs. Donated by your neighborhood Baskin’ Robbins.

Our day continued with an outing to the famous Coney Island! The sun beat down and we were all ready for a dip in the ocean.  They actually have real beaches here, complete with sand for sand castles.  Or sandvillages, such as the one created by Allison and Jennifer.  We swam and talked and took some photos to help us remember the seniors leaving us (You might have seen them on Facebook).  

Ice cream in hand, we wandered through the ride options and a few rode the Tickler, or the famous wooden Cyclone. We had dinner at Nathan’s hot dogs, followed by discussion, and ended our evening peacefully surrounded by city lights.  Up on the roof, we sang and enjoyed the view of the skyline, admiring this city we’re in.  Each day, we learn more about New York and the people inside it. From the immensity of the buildings to the immensity of the cultural variety, the observations are endless.  It brings to mind how awesome God’s power is.  He promises us that not a hair will fall from our heads without his approval. In this huge city, it can be hard to comprehend that.  However God has the whole world in his hands, from the Bowery Mission to BCRC in Bellevue. 

Love from all of us,

Anni

Experience so far.

Hi, this one's from Mara.

Since all the days so far have been covered, I'll just write a little bit about my overall experience so far. The Bowery Mission is a very neat place. They have been around for a really long time, helping the people of the Bowery District. They serve 3 impressively good meals a day, 7 days a week. Prior to every meal, the people are encouraged to attend a 45 minute worship service, full of singing and speaking. I've been able to help with and participate in both of these ordeals. It amazes me how many food donations they receive, how the cooks mix it all together to make a delicious meal, and how many people they consistently serve. It has been enjoyable and interesting (and also tiring!) to help prepare and serve these meals. And the worship- it is very different than the worship we experienced last year in Bellflower, and from the weekly worship at BCRC. But it is no less beautiful. Not many people stand. Not many people sing. But those who do clearly love Jesus, and many of those who don't are still clearly listening and fully present. Each speaker is unique and inspirational in different ways. It starts to make you wonder how we might live differently if we worshipped God through song & a message before every meal. Just some thoughts & filling you all in! We still have a few days left, so keep praying!

Tuesday!

Hello everyone! Rachel here. Yesterday (Tuesday) started out with Amy waking us all up at 5:30AM... We then plunged into cooking breakfast, unloading and sorting through food donations, scraping decals off of ceilings, helping with the shower program, giving out clothes, and prepping for worship. There's always a lot to do and they keep us on our toes!

Yesterday a handful of us (me, Amy, Emily, Mariel, Lauren, and Janelle) had the opportunity to participate in an Outreach program that the Bowery does every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. They load up a very large van with soup, bread, and other food pantry items and travel to different places in NY. We went to Tompkins Square Park which is about 3 miles away from the Bowery Mission. One of the helpers from the Bowery, Declan, organized the soup line with me and Mariel. He told us a lot about his story and his dreams to be on Iron Chef and Hell's Kitchen and then open his own Youth Ministry in the city after he finishes the Bowery Recovery Program. I was amazed to hear his story of the transformation he's experienced and his testimony to the grace of God. Throughout the day we heard many stories God's blessings.

The Bowery also has a worship service followed by a meal three times a day. One of my main jobs for the week is planning the worship music whenever we're assigned to lead the service before a meal. It's really interesting to see different people participate in different ways (or not at all). Some of the people sleep and ignore the message and music, but others sit or stand and listen quietly. A handful of men and women join with us in singing, and there are one or two people who constantly shout their praise with "Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!" and join in with their own hand motions to the songs. It's very interesting to see the variety of reactions to sitting through a worship service as a prerequisite for receiving their meal. It has been an amazing experience to loudly proclaim the sovereignty and power of God so many times a day in a place where, to so many eyes, God seems absent. This week we have been singing the song Angel Armies (among others). The other night we were singing it and I thought I'd share a few of the lyrics that really capture the atmosphere of the Bowery better than I can explain:

You hear me when I call.
You are my morning song.
Though darkness fills the night, it cannot hide the light.
Whom shall I fear?
You crush the enemy underneath my feet.
You are my sword and shield, though troubles linger still.
Whom shall I fear?
I know who goes before me, I know who stands behind:
The God of angel armies is always by my side!
The One who reigns forever, He is a friend of mine.
The God of angel armies is always by my side!

Monday

Hello all!
Jennifer speaking (well, typing). We're currently sitting in our bunk room in at the Bowery Mission relaxing after a long day of travel and serving. We woke up this morning after sleeping on the floor at Iglesia el buen pastor (the Spanish CRC in New Jersey), ate breakfast, and proceeded to attempt to figure out public NY transportation. 19 new metro passes and 1 almost-squished-Jerry (he did make it on the subway safely) later, we made it safely to the Mission, where we were given a brief tour and promptly put to work. We led worship, helped in the kitchen (for up to 5 hours!), and/or organized the pantry. I have heard rumors of ice cream tonight, so it seems the rest of our day will live up to the precedent set by the morning and afternoon.

That's all folks!

 El Buen Pastor

 all smiles!

 serving lunch

pizza Sunday evening from Ray's...so good!

Saturday and Sunday.

Well. We are off! 16 of us gathered at sea tac (there are meeting us in NY) and trekked thru security. We were slightly delayed because obviously the YMC and pastor that you all have entrusted your beloved with were carrying illegal items. Pastor Matt- a camping knife. And myself- the bible (dangerous in a different way). 

We gathered at the gate and did the necessary prep...aka use bathrooms and get snacks!

We boarded and had a lovely flight to Newark!

Sunday morning we joined El Buen Pastor for worship in Spanish. It was lovely to worship with another CRC church!

And look who we found 😃

Jon Bosma!

Jon is interning at a nearby church in NJ and is helping with transportation over the weekend!

Thanks for the wonderful send off. We are excited to share this trip with you all!

new york, new york

alright, we leave soon, like real soon! hope you all are packing your bags, washing your clothes (please come with clean clothes!) and gearing up for a week of fun, fellowship, hard work, not a lot of sleep and loving on people.

I am so pumped! the week before a trip like this i go into turbo mode. i clean my house, prep for the kids gets down, i confirm everything for the trip, i pack, i clean some more, i pray, i repack, i sleep. it's crazy but everything slows comes together and falls into place.

then we all meet at the airport! shivers!

hooray!

i am excited to see you on saturday! hope you are too!

for those of you not joining us on this journey, please follow along here on the blog! we will be updating it throughout the week. and if your on instagram, follow us here! @bcrcyg

also, we would love for you to be praying for safe travels, good health, deep discussions, awesome fellowship, faith stretching and strengthening, for the new people we will meet, the God's will will be done, that we would open up our minds and hearts to manhattan, to it's people and to any situation we come across!

thank you for your support!

spring retreat 2015.

you guys, sorry. i am slow! i didnt take a lot of pictures and almost two months behind in posting these! we missed having anni along to take hundreds of pictures over our two day retreat!

 breakfast!

 lunch

 games

it was a great weekend of fun, sun, food, games, discussion, worship. the time that we get to spend together away from normal life is really special. i love that you all hang out and gather, have deep discussions, play silly games, relax, play jokes...it really is neat. hope that weekend, already so long ago in may, blessed you in the ways it blessed me.