14 Recommendations for Visiting New York City

This was originally going to be another "Things We Have Learned Since Moving to NYC" post, but I decided to go a different way with it this time. Not only do we have lots of teams coming to the city to serve, we have also had a number of visitors, who either specifically came to see us, or who came to the city with a tour or for business and we meet up with them for lunch or something. We have some recommendations for what to do and not do, to see and not see for all of them.

The Freedom Tower
at twilight

1. Don't bother with Times Square. It's a glorified intersection. Everything is purely for tourists and is wildly overpriced. Native New Yorkers avoid the area like it's got bed bugs. If you've never been to the city before, go ahead and take a look around, but be forewarned.
2. Do see the World Trade Center. You can pay to go up the tower or just walk around the Memorial, which is free. Either way, it is definitely worth it.
3. Don't freak out about taking the subway. You won't get mugged, you won't contract cholera. You might get lost, though, if you don't follow the directions we give you or pay attention to the signs. Always pay attention to the signs.
4. Also concerning the subway: Riding 30 or 45 minutes on the subway is nothing. It's an easy trip. Some people feel bad for us when we say it takes that long to get downtown from our apartment. Really, it's no big deal at all.
5. Be prepared to walk. Possibly quite a lot. Wear good shoes.
6. Be prepared to take stairs. Especially if you take the subway

   

   Kids love the subway

   anywhere. Sometimes to get down to the platform from street level you must descend 4, 5, or 6 flights.
7. When out and about, carry a couple of granola bars with you to give to the homeless or anyone you encounter who asks for money or help. It's an easy way to contribute.
8. If you're driving in, practice your parallel parking beforehand.
9. Don't be shy about asking questions or speaking to people in public. Long gone are the days of "Don't look a New Yorker in the eye." The vast majority of New Yorkers will be happy to help you if they can.
10. Try your best to see something outside of Manhattan. Yes, there are lots of cool things to see and do there, but the outer boroughs (and even way uptown Manhattan) is what we  call "real New York," where most of the people live. Brooklyn is the trendiest, Queens is the most diverse, the Bronx has some major attractions, and Staten Island is also there. (We're partial to the Bronx, of course.)
11. Central Park is a big park. It's got trees and grass. Sure, it's pretty, but at the end of the day, it's just a park. We chuckle a bit when our friends from rural and suburban Pennsylvania want to see Central Park, because where they live is easily as beautiful as anything Central Park can offer.
12. Travel tip: "Uptown" generally means north, "Downtown" generally

    

    Read the signs!

    means south. The Bronx, though is above uptown. Avenues run north/south and numbered streets run east/west (more or less).
13. New York City ain't cheap. Want to see a Broadway show, go to the Statue of Liberty, look out the top of One World Trade Center? All good things. You're looking at $40 per person at least for each one of those things, and very likely a lot more. Fancy restaurant? Hundred bucks, easy. And it all adds up even more quickly if you've got a family.
14. Perhaps above all: Come to terms with the fact that you will not be able to do everything you'd like to do. The city is just too big and too awesome. We've lived here now over a year and a half, and we've barely scratched the surface of what there is to see and do.

The above list contains some best practices. However, if you come visit us and simply must see Times Square and cannot live without strolling through Central Park, then we'll be happy to oblige. People are far more important than sights and landmarks.

Oh, and if you stay with us, there's a good chance you'll be sleeping on the couch. :) 

We Don't Need Your Help

I bunked with Jake Shenk one night.

Jake and the spider he found

Now, Jake has been a missionary for decades, most of his life I think, and has seen it all. He's pastored churches, served as bishop and overseer, mentored countless leaders, literally written the book on Ndebele, the language of western Zimbabwe (and I do mean literally -- his book is even used in universities), managed farms, successfully talked himself out of speeding tickets, spotted wildlife from miles away, and handled spiders as big as his hand with a boyish smile on his face. He reminds me a little bit of Jack Palance in City Slickers.

I had the opportunity to meet Jake and his wife Nancy in September of 2015 on a short-term trip with Priority 1 Ministries serving at Ekuphileni Bible Institute in Mtshabezi, Zimbabwe. At the end of the week, Jake took our group to Hwange National Park because, as he put it, "You can't come to Zimbabwe and not see an elephant." We stayed at the Park one night, and I ended up sharing a room with Jake.

I was pleased with how it all worked out, because I had hoped for an opportunity to chat with Jake and ask him something. Now I had the perfect opportunity. I wanted to hear his opinion on short-term teams in general, and in his setting in particular. Is it actually worth it to bring foreigners like me all the way to Zimbabwe? In financial terms, the cost of plane tickets alone could supply construction materials for multiple church buildings, and could potentially pay the salaries of a dozen national workers. Basically, I asked him, do you actually need short-term teams?

Why did I ask this question? I work in short-term missions. I have studied them formally. So I'm very aware of both their benefits and their drawbacks. Short-term missions have become a rite of passage for teens in churches in North America today, they are so ubiquitous. Any youth leader worth his/her salt will plan at least one missions trip per year, sometimes more. I know how beneficial short-term trips can be, but I also know that they have weaknesses that many churches, organizations, and leaders fail to address. Short-term groups can bring more hassle than help, if they are done poorly. After the goodbyes, thankyous, and return flights, does anyone truly benefit?

He answered quickly. Yes, he said, the groups are worth it. He told me that the Zimbabweans are beyond flattered that these (mostly) Americans would give up their time and money to come to help them out. They are thrilled and encouraged by it.

OK, great. Then, what kind of teams would be most helpful to you and to the church in Zimbabwe? I asked.

Work teams, he said. He told me all about a system they had going for a number of years through which a Zimbabwean congregation would commit to putting up the church building itself, and the denomination would construct the roof, usually by means of a North American missions team. It worked well, he said. Everyone had ownership of the project, and the nationals loved having the teams come. It was mutually beneficial, and Jake would love to get something like that going again.

Hey, if that's what you need, I told him, then we will do our best to make that happen.

In answering my question, though, Jake said something I may never forget:

"We don't need teams to do evangelism. The locals are pretty good at that."

Wow.

I kept thinking about that statement. How humbling. But isn't missions evangelism? Isn't that our ultimate goal in traveling so far, in going through so much preparation, in raising all that money? I kept thinking how inverted it was compared to the US: We've got beautiful buildings full of people who are lousy at evangelism. Not everyone, of course, but that's the general pattern.

Is it possible that the whole thing is backwards?

Perhaps what we need is this: After our American construction team builds that church roof, you send a team from one of those rural Zimbabwean churches to the US, where they can help us with evangelism.

Because we don't need teams to do construction. The locals are pretty good at that.