Perspective.

Reflection on the summer at large. 
At least 3 other posts are still pending, so keep checking back!

 “I know the whole world is watching, and I wish the whole world could see what I see. Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you really are.” 

- the words of Mr. Felix Baumgartner shortly before free-falling from 24 miles in space faster then the speed of sound towards earth, 10/14/2012 (the Red Bull Stratos Project.)

Link to video here.

This summer's personal themes have undoubtedly been uncertainty, the known and the unknown, and trusting God. Y'all are going to get a post elaborating on that at some point in the next week, but these were the major undercurrents and stretching points in my summer. Heck, they were themes this spring when I felt the call to sign up late in the game for this whole adventure, and that was even before the continent changes. I felt, going into New York, like I was entering a freefall. All I truly knew was I had a call, and all details beyond that were unknown. While what I was going was not nearly to the status of the Red Bull Stratos project, it was not very hard to put myself in Mr. Baumgartner's shoes, standing at the edge of vast expanse with someone telling me patiently to disconnect the oxygen. To simply trust.
And with much coaxing and self doubt, God enabled me to jump.
Now, at the end of the summer, I still empathize with Fearless Felix. I do wish the whole world could see what I saw. And sometimes, you truly understand how small you are. New York, as it turns out, is great for that. I am just one fairly untalented, messed up, sinful person. I am as small as it gets.
 And while the idea of that may terrify some, it comforts me. Because the smaller and the weaker I am, the bigger, the stronger, the more powerful and mighty our God is.
And He holds us in His hand.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Matthew 10:29-31 (ESV)

Lost Resolve.

One of the boys from the 5 year old class just gave me the biggest hug while he was supposed to be walking inside with his class.

I can no longer say I won't cry.

The lack of a title indicates depth.

The subway stop by work.

Currently, I'm sitting in the lobby of the Inwood Exodus, in the same chair I always sit in, holding the macbook I always work on. Attendance is done, my to-do list conquered, and the pre-kers are all napping downstairs while everyone else is at the park enjoying what is by far the best weather we've seen all summer. It is eerily quiet and the sunlight is streaming in by the front doors. It's lovely.

It is also my last day at Exodus.

...I am trying very hard not to cry.

The Eighth (and the week following it.)

Dear Central Park,
Come back to Michigan with me?
Think about it.

Another monday, another week at SAP Inwood!
The week started as smoothly and uneventfully as the week before. As unnerving as it was, it was extremely nice! The day went fast and the next I knew I was at Malecon (Malecon!) for Malecon monday with the new missions groups. Good times, man. Good times.

Tuesday, like many before it and many to come, meant Costco day with the fantastic BobbiJo. This time she brought along two SYEP workers from the Heights location with her so they could get more hours, so we each claimed one to drive a flat-bed for us (costco flatbeds are the devil!) and set out to conquer the store. This was all very good and well, but then right there, in the middle of the produce section, the guy who was sent to come with me starts asking me questions about Jesus. He's extremely atheistic, but he initiated the whole conversation. It was fairly intense and I know that I fumbled over my wording about ten times over, but I'm confident God can use my words regardless.

Wednesday is field trip day here at OE, and so by 10 AM, all the kids, volunteers and tutors were off on three big buses to the Liberty Science Center while Hannah and I lamented our fortunes for being admin and therefore unable to go. To add to the unnerving quiet in the building, our internet was out, thus rendering 9 out of 10 projects we had to get done obsolete. By 2 PM, we'd officially gone absolutely insane. I'm still not entirely sure how we made it through the afternoon, but I recall it involved Hannah chasing an ice cream truck.
We don't cope well with the quiet.

Thursday, like tuesday, was a "drive-to-the-Bronx-and-conquer-Costco" type of day, followed by some mopping up of miscellaneous projects back at Inwood before catching up with the mission groups over homemade mac and cheese back the the Washington Heights Exodus. Just hearing some of the stories of how God threw one of the groups together was amazing! It has been super weird to be on the flipside of the "one-week-trip group" experience, but it's always pretty neat to see, even from afar (as I don't get to interact with the groups often) what happens in and through their lives in their service.

Friday was a pretty typical day. It's strange to think that I have such a thing as a typical day here now, but apparently I do. It passed quietly and productively, as things as Exodus go, and in the evening, Hannah and I wandered around the Heights a little before enjoying a pizza/movie date back in the S.C.A. (Stereotypically Crappy Apartment.) 'Twas loverly!

The AMTRAK center in Penn Station.

Saturday was a very strange day, very long day, and while I'm still not entirely sure I understood what all happened and when or why, I know it involved the 9/11 memorial, Wall St, the east side of Central Park, a waffle truck, picking up a mission group at Penn Station, the mission group accidentally getting split between two trains, a little bit of freaking out, the group being just fine despite aforementioned freaking, creating a ghetto bus-route to Target to supplement for the fact that the correct train wasn't running within a 40 clock radius of me either way, buying air mattresses, dropping air mattresses off at the MTW apartments, and a late night dinner and Duane Reade (Duane Reade!) run with a friend. To say "phew!" would be lazy writing, but...phew!

New York, I know I said I wouldn't let you steal my heart, but...

Sunday, like all sundays, began with Church, a visit to a few cute stores in the neighborhood (the Flatiron district is my favorite!) before going to do perhaps the ultimate tourist activity, going to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. I loved it! I normally hate heights, but I honestly loved it. I was, however, exhausted by the previous day's adventurings, and thus I went home straight after the Empire State Building to take a three hour nap. Not the most effective use of free time, but dang it all if it didn't feel great!

 Third week of July recap coming at you shortly, and maybe, if I can find the correct wording...bonus posts? WHATTTTTTTTTTTT?!

Week 'o the First

Meet Alanna, one of our adorable pre-k kids here at Inwood!

...and then, quite suddenly, it was July, and with it, the much spoke of, much anticipated Exodus Summer Achievement Program (SAP.)

 I started the week out by subbing for our lovely new receptionist, Hannah, at the Inwood site, as not only was her flight delayed, causing her to get in at 6 AM the morning of program, she was ill. That coupled with the fact that not only was it raining - it was pouring, this prohibiting us from walking the kids up to the local public school for lunch or to the park to get their wiggles out, should have made the day crazy chaotic. But it was amazingly calm! Tutors, coordinators and admin all commented on this at the end of the day, and in the end, we all had to chalk it up to God. We all crawled home after a twelve hour work day, grateful but exhausted.

The next day Hannah was feeling better, but being that she was indeed, new, and there was and (and still is) a truly daunting amount of thing to be caught up on, I was told to spend the rest of the week at Inwood helping her catch up. Tuesday and Wednesday were spent in much the same manner that monday was, although thankfully we had better weather for both! By 8:30 wedneday night I was the only one awake in the apartment, everyone was so beat from SAP. I simply couldn't bring myself to go to bed before 9 the day before a holiday so I kept myself entertained by baking and catching up with my sister. Relaxation squared!

While I couldn't make myself go to bed early the night before the fourth, I had no problems sleeping in the day of! I then spent the better chunk of the afternoon aimlessly wandering up and down piers on the Hudson as they all successively closed, before staking out a spot for Emma and I to watch the fireworks on 12 Ave. I still can't mentally comprehend the fact that I saw the Macy's fireworks. Weird business, man.

America!

Friday, every single person at Exodus had holiday hangover. Most of the kids were tired, sunburned and cranky, and the staff was loopy from lack of sleep. The day dragged, but once you've hit that mental stage in your tiredness where everything is hilarious, life looks pretty darn good! After work, I went down to Riverside Park and caught the Hudson Warehouse's production of "King Lear." Not the Shakespeare in the park, but still great!

Go to New York, get cultured?

Saturday morning I laid in bed and did nothing productive at all, showered, and then took the subway down to Battery Park. I wandered around a little bit then caught a ferry for Liberty Island, which, while I didn't have tickets for the Statue of Liberty itself, was SO cool! By the time I got back to Manhattan, it was maybe 5 in the afternoon, so I visited the well-famed Department 21 (where one can truly notice how big "Downton Abbey's" influence on fashion has been,) and Bowling Green before heading up the Herald Square and conquering the terrifyingly large Macy's, as I tragically needed new sandals. I always end up in Herald or Times Square, man.

Carmen Sandiego was kind enough to leave Lady Liberty alone long enough for me to see it.

 Sunday I went to church (it was folk band sunday!) and then went to the Museum of Modern Art, which, oh my gosh, people, is the best museum of all time. I know I said something to that extent about the Cloisters, but I lied. MoMA is the best. By far.

Oh, hello "Starry Night." Nice to finally meet you!

In summary: the week of the first was almost ridiculously busy, but in a pleasant way.
Recap on last week coming soon-ish, if we're lucky!

Of Chess, Choice, and Air Conditioners: The last half of June.

So...umm....I really sucked at keeping this updated there, didn't I? The whole last half of June, not to mention the first week of July? Yowza. If it helps, I have been busy/exhausted. Does that help? Say yes.

OH GOSH, PLEASE SAY YES.

I'm a sucker for sunflare. I make no apologies.

Hola!

See? I'm picking up Spanish while I'm in little Dominican Republic!

That's a joke, by the way. I can kind of comprehend Mexican Spanish decently enough if it's spoken slowly and simply, but I fear I will never be able to even reach comprehension with Dominican Spanish. There's a reason The Bible lists languages as a gift, children. I must've been in the bathroom when they were handing that one out....

The week of the 16th consisted of things like trying (trying here being the key word) to install new air conditioners, cleaning up old air conditioners, spending time on the phone with the air conditioners manufacturing hotline, and then with an air conditioner repairing service place. A lot of air conditioner related things. On non-A.C. related projects, I figured out how to take apart a portable speaker system, worked on a donor base, bought food for meetings, and went to meetings. I also played on the O.E. pinterest,worked on tracking down lost receipts, and probably more in there. I just did as I was bidden, haha! The OE afterschool program ended the 19th, but I got to spend some quality time with some hilarious fifth graders being taught how to properly play chess on the penultimate program day. What an experience, man!

I really need to take photos and post them to the blog, but my lodgings are what I fondly think of as the "typical crappy new york apartment." This idea was solidified on thursday night when Emma and I found not one, but two, massive dead cockroaches in the apartment. Emma is braver then I and promptly disposed of them, but let's just say out room was cleaned pretty thoroughly that evening!

Emma, left, cockroach, center.

Saturday morning I headed out bright and early to a meeting in lower manhattan as regards the free lunch program that OE participates in via the public schools. It was frustrating, as they didn't have the form they promised us they would and I sacrificed my one morning to sleep in, but it all worked all right, praise the Lord! After I got out of the meeting, I took a train over to Brooklyn and got to experience the Renegade Craft Fair, which, needless to say, was amazing!

It's a shame NYC isn't very pretty, isn't it?

 Sunday I went back to Redeemer Downtown for church. I decided that while I really like CCF and love the people from it, Redeemer is more my speed. This particular sunday I was pleasantly surprised by getting to hear Tim Keller preach, about such light and easily understandable items such as free-will in view of God's plans. Unfortunately, you have to buy sermons from the redeemer website if you want to listen to them, but if you have a spare $2.50, I truly recommend it ("The Lord in the Storm.")
 After church, I went to Rockefeller Center, got some window shopping in, and toured the NBC studio, which made my nerdy little heart pretty darn happy. I also got cheesecake from Magnolia Bakery and they randomly gave me a piece of cake for free with it, which I mean, hey. Pretty nice end to the weekend.

The best post Tim Keller belated breakfast ever?

 The week of the 23rd dawned the heavy-duty preparation week for the Summer Achievement Program (SAP, or just camp,) with the Heights location becoming a hub of activity, tutors and admin from all three sites gathering to strategize, train, plan and pray. I spent the week sorting through boxes and boxes of Exodus t-shirts and helping run the t-shirt/wristbband table at the site-specific parent information meetings, and getting some things together for the brand new Bronx Exodus. The week flew! I was discussing that with someone today, and we agreed that while the days here can be very long, but the weeks are short. A good thing, I suppose. I know I went to Bible Study and down to Tribeca for an AWOLnation concert with Emma, but the week was pretty well dominated by parent meetings up until 9 PM friday night. Phew!

Exodus wristbands!

Saturday Emma and I went over to the fabulous BobbiJo's (the MTW short-term team coordinator, photographer extraordinaire, and former Christ Churcher) apartment for a very lovely catch-up brunch. Afterwards, I headed down to Central Park, where I bummed around for most of the day. So relaxing! It was a little too warm to attempt to take in the whole park, but I spent a blissful few hours laying on the grass reading.

Just your average saturday.

Sunday I had full intentions to take in the MET after church, but alas, it was Pride Day, and traffic in midtown was insane! I called it a day and went back to the apartment to nap and relax.

Encouraging reminder from church.

And that's a wrap on JUNE! First week of July recap up soon!

I'm alive.

...and working on recapping the last three weeks.

(FOR SHAME, BETSY. FOR SHAME.)

Expect actual updates SOON!

"Ain't no party like a Holy Ghost party..."

"...'cause a Holy Ghost party don't stop!"

The kids sing and dance to this song in praise time a few times a week, and every single time, it gets stuck in my head without fail!
(As a side note, I have rarely felt so white as I do watching all these kids dance, haha!)
Anyways, welcome to the recap of week three!

Last monday was an eclectic day. We had two different missions groups in last week, so monday morning I was told to help (ahem) walk one of them through a few things Boss-man wanted done around base, both tasks I'm afraid proved rather futile, as one will likely require a professional drywaller and the other involved trying to keep an alley from flooding, which, there's no real way to do. The girls I was working with were troopers abut it all, though! In the afternoon, I went over to Inwood, the second O.E. location, and trained with the lovely Marissa (one of my roommates) for front desk duties. It was a lot to take in, but it went decently well and it was good to learn more of the actual workings of O.E. 

Apparently, when a MTW group comes in, O.E. staff is invited to meet them for dinner on monday night at Malecon, the local dominican food hotspot, for some food and good conversation. So in holding with tradition, Emma and I went with a few of the girls from Inwood, and one thing leading to another, the next I knew we were on a train downtown for frozen yogurt with the Inwood crowd. Not your typical monday night, but much, much better!

Pinkberry + great people = fantastic!

Tuesday I worked very briefly on a donorbase, and then spent most of my morning/afternoon addressing envelopes before assuming front desk duties the last half of the day. At night I got the chance to do laundry for the first time since leaving home, and boy howdy, I'll tell you, I don't think I've ever been so excited for clean clothing!

"Laundry day, see you there..."

 If we're being honest, wednesday and thursday sort of blurred together for me. I finished up the envelope addressing project, and I worked on processing a few financial aid request forms, and I know there were other projects in there, but I can't think of them to save my life, nor did I apparently find them worthy of recording in anyway, not even in the daily short-hand recap. Tragic. To make things worse, I did nothing exciting or fun at night whatsoever. I meant to go to Bible Study wednesday night, sat down to check my email, and then woke up at 8:30. Oops!

Friday I kicked off the day at work by sorting through a few more financial aid request forms, and spent most of the afternoon battling with the Boss-man against the O.E. printers, which were once again, acting up. This timing was rather unfortunate as we had to print out and assemble almost 70 pages worth of material a person for thirteen people for the following morning's board meeting. Thankfully, it all worked out just fine in the end and everyone had everything they needed!
At night I met up with Marissa and two of her friends for dinner before heading off to see Whedon's "Much Ado," which was every bit as great as I had hoped it would be. Afterwords we headed to Times Square so I could see it all lit up, then hung out in one of the girl's hotel room before finally making it home to the Heights at, wait for it, 4 AM. I never saw myself as being out until 4 AM on a friday night, NYC or no, but the company made it beyond worth it!

Favorite Shakespeare play taken on by favorite writer/director? Deal.

Saturday was, in simplest form, low-key. I only managed to get about four and a half, five hours of sleep the previous night, what with the adventurings and all, so I rolled out of bed sometime mid-morning, took a shower and lazed around the apartment with the prospect of meeting Allison and Alexa at Coney Island on the forefront of agenda, something that due to Allison and Alexa already being downtown and Emma and I being unmotivated, fell through. We opted instead to take naps, and no joke, I was actually so excited to nap I almost couldn't. We regrouped after we'd woken, then headed up a few streets to the neighborhood Goodwill to find some art to jazz up our quarters a little bit. We headed back, dropped off our findings, then took the subway out to a, quite truthfully, disappointing Target. As sad as it was, it was still Target, and it still got the job done. We went back home and spent the evening quietly decorating and skyping. It was lovely!

Cute little art fair outside of Union Square Park

Sunday I woke up at 7:45 (gasp) so I could be ready and hop on the one train in time to make it to the morning service at the downtown campus of Redeemer PCA, which was, as you'd suspect, really, really good! I suppose I'll have to see how the mood strikes me this weekend, because I'd be quite happy to return to either Redeemer or CCF. What a good problem to have, huh?
After church let out I wandered the Union Square/Flatiron district neighborhoods, and had a grand old time, doing such frivolous things as randomly going into stores based on appearance and eating a crepe for lunch before eventually making my way up yet again to Times Square and hopping on a train back home, wherein I spent a lovely evening catching up with my family!

And that's a wrap on week three!
Thanks for checkin' in.
And your prayers?
I covet them.
I'll check in with you beautiful people again soon!

The Great Water Balloon Fiasco of 2013 and other such happenings.

Warning: lengthy post with only a few pictures ahead. The easily bored and/or the ADD may wish to click away.
 
 And yet another week passes!

It's hard to believe I've been in NYC for a week and a half now. I feel both like I just got here and like I've been here forever. Your mind plays strange tricks on you when you're on trips, I've come to learn, and the longest I've ever been away is ten days. To say I'm apprehensive about my mental state at the end of the summer is perhaps an understatement, haha. 

Summer goal: get a shot of these three houses without cars in front of it.
Because they are adorable.

Anywhos, without further adieu, have a run-down of last week!

Monday (the 3rd)  was our first "official" day, and O.E.'s big annual awards banquet. We had a brief orientation meeting with the boss, and then we spent most of our day preparing for the banquet by running errands, packing things up and making decorations, before actually heading off to the banquet space and helping decorate it, serve food and clean.The craziness of the day was totally worth it! They have the banquet every year to honor the students who did exceptionally, to enforce the idea that they should be proud of themselves, because they've achieved something.They had a red carpet at the entrance to the banquet space as you came off the elevator, and then they got a bunch of the O.E. high schoolers to be "paparazzi." You should've seen some of the kids faces as they entered and all of a sudden there were people clamoring for attention and asking for autographs! It was priceless.
After the banquet we returned to the office to drop off all the things we brought with us, and then Emma and I went with Allison and Alexa, our roommates, over to their friends house to catch the last part of the Heat-Pacers game. I was so tired by the end of the day, but I loved it!

Tuesday was marking by three projects.
One, we put away the boxes and boxes of stuffs we left on the conference table in our post-banquet exhaustion.
Two, we went with Boss-man to Riverside park to pick up a permit for the then impending picnic on the 8th, and to inquire about using the pool for the summer program.
And three, we went over to Inwood, the second site location for O.E. and did their after school program with them. I got to hang out with some pretty cool first graders for three hours! Not a bad way to spend your day in the slightest.

Wednesday Emma and I took the subway downtown to attempt to pick up some subway waivers from the DYCD, which, as it turned out, were mailed out two days before. You could either look at it as two and half hours wasted, or a chance to see more the of the city. I take it as the later, myself.

Once we got back,  we did the daily afterschool program with the the Washington Heights Exodus location. I got to hang out once again with some fantastic first graders and try to explain synonyms, which of course, is always a good time!

At night I went with my roommates to a bible study a few streets over that's put on by a local church. The content and the people were both great! In fact, Bible Study ended at 9:30 or so, but it was almost 11:00 by the time we cleared out of the apartment because we were visiting, something that continued at the local favorite Mexican joint, which, as an aside, inexplicably has clocks hung on the ceiling. Next time I'm there I have to find a way to capture it for you, because it's just weird.

Thursday...thursday was fairly uneventful. I stapled together surveys, did a little office work, and then went to a very, very long three hour city meeting on oil-to-gas conversions. Not exactly exciting blog material, thursday, but as a day, it was solid and I can't complain. I even took the subway by myself and didn't get lost, so there was that small victory, anyways!

A blurry photo indicating what friday was like all day, weather-wise.

Friday we enter into the not-so-great tale that is the post title: the great water balloon fiasco of 2013.
To preface, you have to let me backtrack a little. We'd been building all week to this year-end picnic at Riverside park on saturday, and friday I was given a list of tasks pertaining to the picnic to accomplish.
No big, right?
I had it. I mean, I had it. It felt like the first project this week where I knew what I was doing. It was great feeling, however fleeting. Anyways, one of the items on my list was to buy and fill approximately 200 water balloons. So I undertook a journey in the pouring rain to a shady little dollar store that was recommended for me to go to to purchase said balloons at, eventually caving in and buying an umbrella at a drugstore on the way back because I just could not handle the freezing cold rain anymore. I got back, tore open a package of water balloons, and...they were the worst water balloons I have ever encountered. They were all already half-broken and tore if you stretched them the slightest. I had to wait until much later in the day when the Boss was back to ask him what he wanted done, and he wanted them returned and replaced ASAP. So, at 6:30 friday night, I battled my way back to the dollar store, got the money back, visited two Rite-Aid's and finally found a higher quality brand of water balloon. I went back to O.E. and started to fill them, and I got maybe 40 done when it was pointed out to me that it was 8 PM already and everyone else was clearing out. My only option was to stay by myself, fill up more balloons, then head home in the dark and rain, which was picking up further still, or to try and get them all done in the morning. I accepted defeat and headed on back to the apartment while it was light yet.

A certain phrase about the rain being the best place to cry was perhaps more then slightly applicable to me as I trudged home after work on friday. I was really, really, irrationally upset. I told myself in my head the success of a picnic celebrating a year-long program would not be contingent on water balloons being there, and yet it was really hard to push past that, mentally. In the end, it was prayer, dry clothing, and a turkey sandwich that did the trick. I calmed, relaxed, and a few hours later talked with my family for the first time in almost a week, which needless to say, was wonderful!

Saturday:

Saturday boded ill from the start.

I don't know why, it just did. You ever wake up with that "today is going to be terrible" mentality?

I woke up, got ready, and went to work as normal. Once I got in, I went to the kitchen to finish filling up the darned water balloons, and...

They were gone.

No one knew where they where. They weren't were I left them, nor where they in the staging area for the picnic stuffs. They were gone. We called the cook and the janitor, the only other two people who would have been in the kitchen in that time frame, to no avail. The balloons were missing, and so a half hour later, I was on my way to Rite-Aid yet again. I successfully procured some and spent well over an hour at the sink filling up 250-some balloons to be brought over in the second van-load to the park while all the kids and mentors headed off, as did van load number one. Which was all good and well, but that the van couldn't find a spot to park at to unload, so they, too, were running behind.
We did the only thing we could've done: we prayed, and then we loaded up a taxi with three large coolers (two of which contained the balloons), a cake, a few large boxes, two adults and three kids and headed off to an easier location for the van to pick us up at as soon as they were able. At this point there was definitely a palpable sense of panic. Nothing was going at all as it was supposed to, at all, we were behind schedule and they needed all the stuff we had with us at the park ASAP. It was nerve-wracking, and I was expecting chaos, but when we got to the park, and it was calm.
Dead calm.
The kids were all playing together well, no one was complaining, the awesome mentors and volunteers were just hanging out, and despite all the needless anxiety, everything was going swimmingly. It took a while for my heart-rate to go down, but the picnic continued to run smoothly, albeit delayed, from eating to playing to the stupid water balloon toss to the subway ride back. There was so much worry and fear in my mind about the whole ordeal, but it was lovely. It put things back in perspective, really. You can say it 10 times a day, but it's always good to remember that "God is in control." Because as cheesy and cliched as it sounds at times, it's always true.
And praise Him for that!

The harbingers of despair themselves! Be ye wary, gentle blog reader.

Sunday was my day off and it was in all truthfulness, gloriously relaxing! I slept in, then headed to CCF for a very good and much needed church service. Afterwords I headed to Ft. Tyrone Park to take in The Cloisters Museum, which was, if you'll pardon the use of web-speak, asdfghjkl;! (definition: something so cool you can't even produce words.) I moseyed back home, enjoyed the quiet and caught up on a few things before going to bed at 11. What a granny...

I love terrible tourist pictures and I'll make no attempt to hide it.

Apologies for this post both being delayed and disjointed! I'm afraid I reached a point where I could simply improve it no more, and it had to go up sometime, so...

Betsy's terrible at blogging!

Recap of last week coming at you folks sometime tomorrow (6/11.) 

Get ready!

Mid-Week Blurb

Quick pic from my walk home from work tonight.

So this is not your weekly post, nor does it even count as a secondary post.

It is merely a blurb to say I feel very blessed.

As of the other day, regardless of things still being processed, I met (actually, I've yet to total, but I believe exceeded) my fundraising goal.

I had 3 weeks to raise almost $4,000.00, y'all.

THAT'S CRAZY.

But God is so, SO good, and He always provides. And He moved so many of your hearts so generously, and I am truly, deeply thankful to Him and it all of you, for your funds, your prayers, and your words of encouragement.

This is an uphill journey, and I've barely begun.

But it's hard to think about that this evening.

Because blessings abound!

The Adventure, Thus Far

 Well.

This week has been both incredibly long and terrifyingly short, and it started like this: 

"Cut the ties that bind, man."

...with goodbyes.

By the time I said goodbye to my family Tuesday morning and hopped in line for security, I was a mess. Two months is a long time to be without my family! Thankfully, an awesome TSA agent walked with me while I waited in line and calmed me down (Terrence: you're my hero,) with the aid of the lady in line behind me. By the time I'd cleared security and left my new friends, they were calling final boarding for my flight, and I literally had to run down the hallway to my gate, where an airline employee was waiting for me with an amused grin and asked "Jurries?" to which I affirmed, yes, indeed I was. I hopped on the plane and wound up sitting in an emergency exit row and had to go through a little safety briefing, which was unfortunate as the whole circumstance was pretty akin to the opening scene of "Flight" and I was convinced I was going to die. Providentially, Denzel Washington was not flying the plane, and we landed safe and whole in Atlanta. After a few hours of waiting and a whole lot of aimless wandering, I met up with the MTW group, and after everyone had assembled, we loaded up a big old bus and headed off to Ridge Haven for pre-field training (PFT).

Behold, my ONE photo from PFT!

Our two days of PFT were chock full 'o workshops and team bonding experiences. We stood on tables lifted by balloons, tackled 12 ft walls, and discussed things like spiritual warfare, culture shock,inner-team conflict, personality dynamics, child safety, and more. It was a very fast, full two days, and it seemed like we had just barely gotten there when I blinked and it was friday morning and we were all on the bus back to Atlanta. We dispersed our separate ways and I headed off to board the prettiest fight of my life. If you've never experienced it, put "fly in over New York in a window seat" on your bucket lists!

Delta Flight 486, from Atlanta to New York!

 After some slight confusion and a few texts after landing, I grabbed a shuttle to the terminal that Emma, my fellow intern, was flying into, and once I'd caught up with her, we embarked on the great adventure that is the M60 bus line with two months worth of luggage. Allison, who works at Operation Exodus, met us on the bus and guided us to our apartment, which we share with her and two other Operation Exodus staff members. We did a little unpacking and then promptly crashed!

Saturday morning we walked up to Operation Exodus and got to experience the last regular session of their saturday morning mentoring program for the summer. Right off the bat Emma and I were given charge of the K-1st grade boys for the morning, and while it was chaotic and a wee bit stressful, it was really fun! Afterwards we went out to lunch with some of the O.E. staff and mentors to a local Dominican restaurant that we're told we're going to get used to eating at this summer. Once we were released from duties, we headed back to the apartment, and I called home and caught up while Emma went on an adventure. We didn't really do much the rest of the day beyond that but to go get some pretty darn good Mexican food, haha!

This (sunday) morning Emma and I ventured into the city to go to a Baptist Church that she worked with when she visited NYC over spring break. It wasn't really my flavor, but it's probably the only church I'll ever go to where they spontaneously break into "Lean on Me." Once the service was over we walked up a few streets so I could see Times Square (IT'S A REAL PLACE!) and Emma could pick up a much-needed new pair of sandals at the terrifyingly large forever21. We wandered back at our leisure, got some groceries, and are currently sitting in the apartment relaxing.

I couldn't not be that tourist!

Tomorrow morning we head to work! I'm really excited to get started. We've been warned that O.E. doesn't do orientation as much as they do total immersion, but hey, immersion is the fastest way to learn, right?

Thanks for reading this longish, very rambling blog post! It really has been a very good week, and I'm eager to see what this week holds, and to sink my teeth in to work and the city! Keep praying, and I'll check in again soon!
Betsy

The Awkward Introduction Post!

Hello there, and welcome to "Manhattan, the blog!"

This little corner of the internet is where I plan to update you fabulous folks in the mitten (and beyond!) on my adventures this summer as I serve as a missions intern in NYC. The current plan is to update y'all at least once a week with how things are going, what I'm doing, etc. 

 For those of you wondering, the name is Pastor Walter Lorenz inspired and merits a post of it's very own, but that's for another day. For the time being, my flight leaves in less then 14 hours, and I? I should probably be packing...

I'll be checkin' in soon!

God bless,

Betsy