We had a great flight to New York and got settled into the church where we’re staying with no problems. We’re divided into two teams. Team 1 went to The Bronx today and worked with an organization called “Part of the Solution.” Most of our students worked in the kitchen serving a couple hundred people who very quickly came in and out of the dining room that had seating for about 20 or so people. Myself (Mike) and Adam Pierpoint spent our time up in the food pantry organizing food and putting together grocery bags to be given out. Following that, our team headed to the World Vision Storehouse (also in the Bronx). They get donations from corporations that they then pass on to local non-profits. Most of the team worked on sorting out some jewelry donations that had been given and two of the girls helped teachers who came in to their teacher resource center.
Team 2 worked at two ministry sites today as well. First, they handed out meals with “God’s Love We Deliver.” It was a really neat experience as they were able to deliver meals to elderly and terminally ill people. They even were able to deliver a personalized birthday cake to one woman and sing Happy Birthday to her. After that they worked with an after-school program with “Operation Exodus.” This definitely tried the patience of several team members as they worked with lots of kids!
Following the day of ministry our two teams met up for dinner at a Senegalese restaurant. The menu included chicken, cous-cous, and fish….the whole fish……eyeballs and everything. Tomorrow we head out with both teams together for a prayer tour of the city. Pray for us as we are exposed to the many needs of New York City tomorrow. We’ll also be walking about 10-12 miles tomorrow so we’ll definitely need our rest and energy.
Here are some pics of what’s been happening so far:
