Tuesday 3/31/2009 10:50 PM
Tom Wideman
We arrived in New York City on Tuesday afternoon. It's a beautiful day in the Big Apple, so we bought our metrocards and caught the number 6 train down to the Brooklyn Bridge. We decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to our favorite pizza joint, Grimaldi's. It's a hole in the wall place actually under the bridge in Brooklyn. We then caught a bus over to Brooklyn Tabernacle where we attended their Tuesday night prayer service.
Brooklyn Tab is such a special place. It's a wonderful way to kick off our mission trip. We sang and worshipped on our feet for nearly an hour. We were then introduced to a special guest, Ami Ortiz. Ami is the 15 year old son of David and Laia Ortiz, missionaries to Israel. For those who were on our trip last year, you may remember that Ami was the victim of a mail bomb sent to their home. We prayed for him last year at the Brooklyn Tab service we attended. Anyway, Ami is alive and well and a living testimony of God's power. They showed pictures of him after the bomb blast. It's truly amazing that he is alive. We then observed the Lords Supper. It was a great night.
We then headed back to Manhattan for a late night snack at a local Diner and then on to the hotel. We meet Jason, worship leader at Mosaic Manhattan church, in the morning at Starbucks at Chambers and West Broadway to scope out the rest of the week. There's lots to do to get ready for this Easter Egg hunt. Who knew? Anyway, you will want to stay tuned. I just read on the list that there is going to be a bunny suit involved. Melissa Warlick had just told us earlier today about how she used to dress in a bunny suit for her teaching job..so I think since she's had practice, she should do a great bunny impersonation. Hopefully we'll have pictures to share.
Keep us in your prayers this week.
Grace
Wednesday 4/1/2009 11:50 PM
Tom Wideman
This morning we headed downtown to meet Jason, our Mosaic Manhattan rep at one of the local Starbucks. There is literally one on every other corner! While Jason and one of our team members took the church minivan over to Queens to pick up the outreach cards at the printer's, the rest of us headed to the lower east side to the Manhattan Self-storage building. This is where Mosaic has to store their stuff. Not having a church building creates a lot of challenges. I'll never complain about FBC Ellisville not having enough storage space again. Anyway, as we walked through a maze of stark white hallways looking for our storage unit, I told the group that I expected to turn the corner and find a large piece of cheese. The group was basically imprisoned in this storage facility all morning, taking inventory of all the needed supplies for this Saturday's Easter Egg Hunt. We found boxes of plastic eggs and Oriental Trading Supply prizes as well as crafts and art supplies. But the coolest thing we found was the bunny suit. Yes, one of our very own team members got the supreme honor and priviledge of dressing up as the Easter bunny and walking the streets of New York City handing out invitations to the big Easter Egg Hunt we are putting together on Saturday. We also handed out around 1500 plastic eggs containing Hershey's Chocolate Kisses.
Another errand consisted of heading over to Jersey to the local BJ store. (Like Costco or Sam's) We bought more candy and supplies using the money raised by our Music and Missions Children's choir back home. Thanks FBC Ellisville M&M's for your generosity! We have enough candy to have nearly 6,000 eggs for the big Hunt.
The weather was cloudy and cool today with afternoon drizzle. Yes, just about the time we started passing out the eggs the rain started. But our team did a wonderful job, spreading good will to the children (and adults) on New York.
Tonight we enjoyed fellowship together on Times Square. Al, our server was a friendly guy from Miami. We offered to pray for him as we prayed for our meal. He was appreciative and ask that we pray that he get the sublet apartment he looked at today. So please join us in praying for Al. Pray that God will bless Him with everything he needs, including a relationship with Christ.
Thursday 4/2/2009 11:07 PM
Tom Wideman
"Well, we're movin' on up,
To the East side,
to a deluxe apartment in the sky..."
That's right...well actually it was the lower west side, Battery Park City to be exact. But it was a deluxe apartment in the sky. Today we took the 1 train downtown where we met Jason at a church member's apartment. We spent the morning putting candy in 4,000 plastic Easter eggs for the Great Hunt on Saturday. The apartment had a wonderful view of the Hudson River shimmering in the bright blue Spring sky. We were blessed with beautiful weather.
After lunch at Whole Foods Grocer, we repacked Jason's minivan with most of the eggs and then walked over to Chambers and Greenwich where we passed out eggs and invitations to the Easter egg hunt. Most people seem pleased to have some free chocolate and some even indicated they would show up on Saturday morning. We wrapped it up at 4:30 and took the subway back up to the hotel where we met up with Chuck and Kelly Kim.
After getting cleaned up, we headed out for the evening. We went up to 53rd Street and had pizza at a little Italian place next to David Letterman's theatre. It was delicious, but I had to say this midwesterner was shocked to find out there were no refills on the iced tea. That was a first for me, even in New York. And here's another new tidbit...the restaurants in New York are now listing calories along with the prices. That's not good, not good at all! But the meal was well worth the cost and the calories regardless.
After dinner, Chuck left to meet his daughter Jamie at Madison Square Gardens to watch Baylor get beat in the NIT basketball tourney. The rest of us walked across the street to see the production, "Shrek, the Musical." It was a great performance. And to top off the night we had the opportunity to get to meet most of the cast, including Shrek, himself. It was a wonderful evening and a great day. Tomorrow we will change things up a bit and do a couple of new projects that I will tell you about tomorrow night. Until then, keep praying for us. We are enjoying connecting with and ministering to the people of New York.
Friday 4/3/2009 11:16 PM
Tom Wideman
We started the day putting gift bags together with game tickets in preparation for the Great Easter Egg Hunt. After that we walked through the rain to catch the subway for the 45 minute trip to South Bronx. No Bronx cheers from us. We love to go to the Bronx! World Vision Storehouse is located in South Bronx. World Vision is a Christian Relief Organization. They do relief work all over the world. I know I have seen World Vision jeeps in Kenya and Cambodia when I was there. But they don't just do international relief work. They also have several Storehouses throughout the US. From these storehouses, they are able to not only distribute free relief supplies to third world countries, or disaster relief throughout our country, they also do great ministry to the local needs of their communities.
In NY, we have worked with World Vision for four years now. Today, we spent several hours organizing and boxing women's clothing that was donated by Dress Barn. These clothes are given free of charge to women who have gone through rehab and are attempting to get back into the job force. These clothes enable them to make a fresh start and to give them confidence as they prepare to interview for new jobs. We were able to make a small dent in a massive project. There are literally boxes stacked to the ceiling that needs to be sorted. This can not happen without the help of volunteers. This is always a highlight of our NY mission trip.
The rain fell hard and loud on the storehouse roof at WV. We were glad to be inside. But just before we left to head back to Manhattan, the rain stopped and we were able to commute back without anymore rain. Following World Vision we stopped off at Grand Central Station for a midafternoon lunch around 3:30. We then had the rest of the afternoon free to nap or shop. We had 8:00 reservations for our favorite NY restaurant, Carmine's. It is an Italian eatery that serves family style. It's a great place with lots of noise and wonderful food. It was a great ending of a great day.
Pray for us in the morning as we head to PS 89 at 8:00 to get ready for the Easter Egg Hunt. The hunt begins at 11 and goes till 1:00. There will be games and crafts and, of course, all those colorful eggs. Pray for the families and the children that attend. Pray that the weather is dry and warm. Pray that this event will open up relationships between Mosaic Manhattan and the community. Thanks for your prayerful support.
Saturday 4/4/2009 11:16 PM
Tom Wideman
What a great day we had! We arrived at PS 89 at 8:30 to get ready for the Great Easter Egg Hunt. We had prepared over 4000 eggs and given away an additional 2000 eggs along with invitations to the hunt. We blew up 500 balloons, set up several games and opened the doors at 11:00 for the festivities to begin. When all was said and done, we had over 575 people come through our Easter Egg Hunt. This event was a great way for Mosaic Manhattan to build relationships with the people in their community. They have worked hard to serve their neighborhood and let them know that they are there for them. They strive to be a safe place for seekers to investigate Christianity. They don't judge, they don't expect those who attend to look or dress a certain way. They just welcome everyone. I think you would be blessed to meet the folks at Mosaic Manhattan. They are making a difference in New York City.
After we helped clean up the school, we loaded the last of the supplies and headed out to lunch at around 3. Walked a couple of blocks to the Gee Whiz Diner. We then walked over and looked around Ground Zero. They are starting to make progress on the Freedom Tower. We also went inside the St. Paul's Chapel that sat in the shadow of the original towers. They have turned the little church into a memorial for the victims of 9/11. It's always a moving experience to visit there.
Tonight we spent some time getting last minute souvenirs and having a great dinner on Times Square. Came back to room to pack and get ready to head home tomorrow. We will be checking out of the hotel at 9:00 and heading to the service at Mosaic Manhattan. We will help them set up for a special Passover celebration. They have invited their Jewish neighbors to demonstrate some of their traditions and observances surrounding the Passover. Pray for them as they reach out to their Jewish friends.
We will then grab some lunch and head to La Guardia airport for a 4:30 departure. We look forward to being home and sharing stories and pictures. Thanks for supporting us as we have sought to minister to the people of Mosaic Manhattan and New York City.
