It's hard to believe that in 2 days I'll be leaving New York and in 4 days I'll be home...summer has gone by incredibly fast. I feel like I just got here! It'll be weird to be home and to adjust back to a normal schedule. I just wanted to share, though, some more on the things I've experienced this summer...
First...subway performances...
1 hip hop dance crew
2 Michael Jackson cover artists
4 Mariachi Bands
3 R&B groups
3 barbershop quartets
2 3-person bongo playing groups (they brought their drums and small chairs onto the car with them)
1 free styling poet
and 1 man who started out singing a precious love song about two people in love and then proceeded to transition into "if you think I'm sexy and you want my body...come on baby let me know..." (I had to turn away I was laughing so much at this transition)
This is not to mention all the performers who perform out on the platform, from tap dancers, to singers, to musicians with their instruments...even someone playing a saw....
On a more serious note I have actually learned some things...not so much about what it is I'm supposed to be doing with my life, but more about myself. I learned I don't have as much patience as I thought I did and its something I need to definitely work on. I learned sometimes I have trouble delegating because I'd rather just do a job to my satisfaction and have it done my way, and I can't always do that. I need help sometimes. I know my faith has grown and that God gave me the groups I had on purpose to teach me those things and to keep me focused on Him. I got to see God working in my friend Jody's life and I'm so blessed to be able to live with this year as we both adjust to normalcy. I can't wait to see what other plans He has, but as usual He is constantly reminding me of His timing.
I was humbled this summer as I came in contact with so many people from so many different walks of life, some who from looking at their situation you would assume them to have far less faith but seem to have much more than me. It is easy to praise God when things are good, but it is difficult in the storm. I had no control in what family and situation I would end up in. How did I end up so blessed? Most New Yorkers spend more than half their income on rent, leaving little money left for food and other necessities. It takes a great deal to put one's pride aside and get in line at a soup kitchen for a meal. Who am I to judge why they're here? 76% of people living in the New York shelter system are families, many with jobs, but not able to make ends meet because the cost of living is so high. I feel like there's something wrong with that. I want to help all of them. I want all the of the kids to get to go to good schools and get good educations and see that there are so many opportunities outside of their neighborhoods. Where do I fit in? I don't know yet, so I have to wait and see where God takes me next.
Yesterday my group and I went to a ministry site called Salt and Sea Mission in Coney Island. Salt and Sea ministers to the homeless of Coney Island and was started by a woman who was once herself homeless and living underneath the beach's boardwalk.
One of the boys in our group brought his guitar with him because we had been asked to lead worship for a short church service the mission has each day. And he and the girl that sang did a good job of it. Everyone enjoyed the songs and sang along, as well as played tambourines that had been passed out before the service. It was wonderful to watch as hands were raised, and hallelujahs were called out, and tambourines were played (sometimes not on beat, but it didn't matter). It was a joyful sound to the Lord.
Then after the service we were asked to help with the food pantry and do some cleaning around the building. Danny, the guy who led worship though, was requested for something else. Apparently just a couple days before a little boy, whose name was also Danny, had been saying he wanted to learn to play the guitar and so he and the pastor had prayed that God would send someone to help him get started. Well, suddenly here was big Danny with his guitar willing to do just that and so they sat together and big Danny showed little Danny where to put his fingers and how to hold the guitar. And together they plucked out a few notes and some chords.
After we left big Danny approached me and asked if there was anyway he could possible purchase a beginner's guitar book and have the group going to Salt and Sea take with them to give to little Danny on Thursday. So today since I had the day off I ventured into Manhattan in search of a beginner's guitar book. When I got off the train at the Rockefeller Plaza stop I was greeted by a torrential downpour (funny how you can get on the train with the sun shining and then 45 minutes later make your way above ground to find the weather is not how you left it). I tried waiting at the bottom of the stairs to the sidewalk, hoping that maybe it would slow but no such luck. So I bounded up the stairs and was instantly soaked through, dodging big puddles, practically wiping out a couple times because Old Navy flip flops have zero traction to begin with but are perilous in the rain. But big and little Danny were counting on me and I was on a mission. I finally made it to the music store, cold and thoroughly wet, but determined to find a good guitar book for little Danny. I'm not sure how long I stood there trying to figure out what book would be the best, but I finally picked one out that even my-not-so-musically-inclined self could understand.
So, Lord, please bless little Danny the budding musician. Thank you for big Danny and his love for little Danny and that he will be able to take what he will learn and use it for Your glory. Amen.
So three times now I have seen the same mother and daughter and they always seem so happy and the little girl is talking away to her mom and her mom just sits there listening intently (try as I may to listen intently it usually unsuccessful as they're speaking Chinese...oh well) and then they laugh and talk some more and smile and I think about how much I miss my own mom (and the rest of my family of course) and how I'm itching to get back home in a week and a half : )
This weekend turned out to be a pretty good and relaxing one...I spent the first part of Saturday taking some much needed time to just relax, not doing anything, and only leaving my room to first run to the drugstore for more toothpaste and then to make lunch...then that evening I went to see Mary Poppins on Broadway with one of my fellow staff members, one of her groups had given her two tickets as a gift a while back and so I went with her. And it was so cute! They did such a good job! A couple of things from the movie and there were a few new songs, but other than that it was "practically perfect in every way..." : )
So I was recently told that I should talk about the positive things that happen since it always seems that I am talking about my groups that I don't like because I don't want people to think I'm having a bad time...because I'm not...
So I mentioned in my last post about my group last week and how great they were, but didn't really tell much about them...so here you go...
First of all they were so goofy and had a ton of energy, but then when it was time to work they did the job and they did it well and worked hard. The leaders were awesome and the group was so easy to work with and I had no complaints all week...
They also bought me a present : )...every Thursday evening the groups are given a free night and so on this particular night I happened to get back to the church about the same time my group was getting back. One of the boys came up to me and told me that a few of them had something for me. I assumed they wanted to sing me this song they had been making up all week about the subway and asked if it could wait until tomorrow, but he said it couldn't and that I needed to meet them at the bottom of the stairs when I came inside, so I agreed. I came down the stairs to find three of my guys sitting and waiting for me looking excited like little kids. Then they told me they had gotten me a present and handed me a bag. By this time they were starting to laugh and I was a little wary as I opened the bag, not knowing what to expect. First I pulled out a giant Hershey bar and then I saw that there was something else in the bottom. By this time they are almost doubled over in laughter, so excited about the next part of the gift. So I pull it out and what is it? but a t-shirt that says "I heart kisses" and in the heart in a Hershey kiss.
"Do you love it, Jess?"
"Yeah, do you love it Miss Lewis?"...yes, they called me Miss Lewis because they thought it was funny...
"I absolutely love it!"
"Good! You have to wear it tomorrow!"And I did...underneath another shirt because I knew we would be getting dirty the next day and I didn't want to get my new shirt dirty! And when I came downstairs that morning they looked a little disappointed at first until I reassured them that I was in fact wearing my Hershey kisses shirt...
They were so fun...its groups like that that I wish I had for another week, to have the chance to get to know better and invest more in...they're the groups that make this job worthwhile... : )
This week is already off to a rough start...the main leader of my group is high maintenance and demanding, and the girls are princesses (even more so than the ones I previously wrote about) and blatantly defiant...I'm already frustrated...why can't I ever have two great groups in a row? Last week's group was awesome and I wish they were here for another week, but a really awesome group only seems to happen every 3 or 4 weeks for me...Lord, please grant me all kinds of patience for this week...
