Monday Part Two

today was quite the day...

We were up and into the city around 9:30am and we returned to our rooms around 11:00. Definatly a long day. Hot too. The are expecting the temps to reach the mid nineties with the head index around 105 degrees. Lots of sweat, lots of water.

We journaled and chatted a bit this morning in Central Park. That was pretty cool. We also saw Seinfeld's penthouse. Yes it was very nice, but it was hard to see how nice it really was from 30 stories below. Noogin Monkey yelled "I LOVE SEINFELD!" and we all were embarrassed as everyone in NY looked and laughed at the "typical tourists".

The Taft House was very challenging and moving. We arrived at the Taft Housing Project to find that another group was there planning to do what we were planning to do. The Taft House was double booked. No problem to us, BIG problem to them. The other group was smaller, 4-5 ladies, and were very determined to limit our participation. As I was inside trying to work things out with the ladies I found myself getting more and more frustrated. I was hot, very very disappointed in our Ministry Coodinator's double booking, and upset by the elitist and condescending attitudes I was dealing with. As I was walking outside to talk with our team, God hit me with a big slap in the face.

I went outside to find our team running around with the Taft kids. I saw our team playing tag. I saw our team hugging new friends. Our team IS amazing! I was literally moved to tears. As I walked out to the playground, I could feel the love of Jesus overflowing from our team. I could see love in thier smiles and handshakes and laughter. They were just being the church!! No agenda! No territory fighting! Just love and relationships.

The true beauty is that I don't think our team knows anything else. The see the Taft kids as future friends. They look to the heart. AMAZING!!!

After our day at the Taft we went down to Times Square and had a wonderful meal at Virgil's BBQ. "That was BEEFY." said The PT YOOPER.

After TS we headed back home. Before settling down for the night we made one last stop at our new favorite spot in NYC, La Oritiz Market and wiped them out of all their ice cold beverages.

Below the team typed up their highlight from today. Some of the guys also shared their word and what it means to them. These are in their own word.

• Miss Toots Highlight of the day: Yippy Kai-Yay! I have seen Jesus many times, within both the group, and the world around. There are so many things to share with so little time….alright, peace.

• Beb0 - Highlight: Our team’s amazing ability to adapt to the situation at the Taft House. We came in already not knowing what to expect and were thrown a heck of a curve ball. We stepped right up to the plate though and had an amazing time. We built relationships, had fun and were even able to express our beliefs.

• Picante Muchacha Highlight: The kids we met today were positively awesome!! They were all so open to everything and everyone.

• Dixie Venus - Highlight: The highlight for me today was being at the Taft House. The kids were so awesome they are just so full of life and so excited to have all of us around. I can not wait to go back and see them again. Also, time square was amazing I love it there!!!!

• Daisy -Highlight of the day~ Seeing all the different kinds of people amazes me. The children at the Taft Houses we so awesome. They we so open to meeting us visitors and talked to us about almost everything.

• The FAB: My highlight of the day was going to the Taft House and seeing all of the little kids. They’re all so different and unique and it was really interesting watching all of them interacting with each other and also with us.

• Noogin Monkey My word was Child. To me this means I want to see the world through innocent eyes. I want to be unafraid to play like a child, laugh like a child, and dream like a child. I want to be able to be caught up in my imagination. I think a good step in “reclaiming” my childlike qualities is to spend time with kids, having fun and soaking in the moment. My favorite part of today was when we came back to the hostel and they guys and I were trying to type a paper on my computer using speech recognition, and the computer was making up a bunch of random words and sentences. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt.
  

• Elmo My word was trust. I want to be able to trust people more than I have been for a while. My favorite part of today was when Gerald and the guys were trying to type words and sentences and anything that came out was totally irrelevant about what we said.

• Pop Stargel My favorite part of the day was when we had Vacation Bible School at The Taft House. I expected it to be a little hard to be able to connect and befriend children of a completely different race and life style, but when it got down to it, we all just wanted to run around and have fun. Most of the time we just kept talking out of it and had a good time being completely silly. Racial and life style differences were left behind as we sang, jumped, ran around, chased each other, laughed, and connected. We were equals.

• Johnny 5 My word was complaining. I figured that with the hot, humid weather and the long car ride and millions of people, this was a great opportunity to practice being less critical of people and situations. My favorite part of today was not getting arrested, but still earning some “street-cred” because now I am an official New York criminal.

• PT Yooper - The highlight of this trip was simply just bonding with the inner city kids. The joy that I have seen from the kids are over the simple things. For example, a piggy back ride. It has been a reminder to me how the simple things are what really matter. Also, I was framed by Johnny 5 and almost put into NYPD custody.