One Year and Counting

Bethany kept asking me why I needed to know where the birthday candles were. I avoided giving her a straight answer.

Dinner that night wasn't fancy, just take-and-bake pizza and salad. We would be leaving for a 5-day Lancaster-Pittsburgh trip in a couple of days, and we didn't want a lot of leftovers in the fridge.

I found the candles in a bag of party supplies in the top of the pantry, took out 5 candles, and put one each in the 5 slices of pizza waiting on the table to be eaten. Then I lit 4 of them -- Juliet cannot yet be trusted not to respect the destructive power of the simple birthday candle flame.

Today is exactly one year since we moved to New York City, I told them. We made it a year! Then I prayed a commemorative prayer before our simple meal and we all blew out our candles. Bethany then lit Juliet's so she wouldn't feel left out, and -- with her mommy's help -- she kindasorta blew out her candle.

Then Ginny said, "Can we celebrate the anniversary every year by having pizza?" I thought that was a splendid idea. 

We then each said something we'd learned in the past year. Ginny said that we walk a lot more than drive in the van. That's true, we do. Cora said that there are ice cream trucks everywhere, sidewalks, big buildings, and dog poop. Yep, that's true too. Bethany said that it can be hard to make friends at the beginning, but once you get to know some people you see how nice they are. 

As for Juliet, she's learned lots of words, learned how to climb up and take all the diaper wipes out of the package, and gotten much better at taking the stairs.

I can't begin to list all the things I've learned over the past year. You can read some of them here, here, and here. I won't make another list today, though I probably could. Mainly, though, I continue to learn how dependent I am on God for everything, from the floor underneath my feet to the coffee in my cup to the words in my mouth when I meet yet another man who is homeless to the family I share this cramped apartment with.

I also know how much I have to learn. That list would be quite extensive as well.

A year is a milestone, and no small one at that. I can relate personally to each of the items listed in the link below, and can give examples from my own experience for many of them:

Big Appled: 14 Things I Learned During My First Year in New York 

So here's to the next year, and the one after that. And to seeing more every day of what God is doing in this city and in us.

Here's to many more years!

"For you, what was the best part of the trip?"

The beginning of May was the most densely packed stretch of activity we’ve had since moving to the Bronx. On Thursday, April 30 a group of 12 from Community Christian Fellowship in Carlisle, PA arrived, ranging in age from 12 to It’s-not-polite-to-ask. They stayed until Sunday. Sunday afternoon Bonnie drove to Newark Airport to pick up four girls from the University of Florida who would stay until the following Sunday morning. The next Thursday a small group from Carlisle Christian Academy arrived, and they stayed until Monday the 11^th.

Ginny (in front wearing the green shirt) accompanied
us on the Prayer Walk around the city. Here they pose
in front of the Survivor Tree at the WTC site.

Tuesday we all took naps.

It’s not that hosting groups is drudgery. Not at all. I love taking people around the city, especially if they’ve not been here before. I love seeing people boggle at all the people, all the buildings, all the bustle. I love seeing people jump right in and have a conversation with someone who doesn’t look like them. Some take to it quickly, some need a little nudge, and some never quite get the hang of it – at least during the brief time they’re with us.

So despite the long days, we love the groups who come. And the teacher in me particularly enjoys seeing team leaders and members alike learn things about God and the world He created. Here are a few of their responses to the question, “For you, what was the best part of the trip?”:

• Knowing that everything we were making or doing was going to someone right there in NYC who really needed it and needed to know about the love of Jesus and how special and loved they are.
• The best part for me was helping the students become aware of how many lost souls are out there.
• The best part of the trip was really just seeing the impact that we were making and it was amazing to see all of the dedicated people willing to serve the kingdom of God in a large city. I loved preparing meals for the homeless and handing Bibles out, I also enjoyed the prayer walk, it was fun and eye-opening.
• Working with the Homeless downtown. It was so cool to serve them, and talk with them. It was also awesome as a leader to see the kids love on them.
• I really enjoyed being able to make people smile, especially when they were having a rough time with life at the moment.
• The best part of the trip, for me, was what I found to be most meaningful and that was my time at the homeless shelter—The Living Room. I was able to speak with an older woman there and I will never forget that experience—I see homelessness in a whole new way now.
• Being able to see my students engage in serving others hands on!



Members of two teams praying for a man
on the subway (who is blocked from view)

• Being able to talk to people and reach people for Christ.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. These responses encourage us, but they also humble us, because we know with absolute certainty that it is not because we are so wonderful that these teams have such great experiences and have such an impact. All the credit and glory goes to God for using broken and weak people to further His kingdom.

(If you’re curious about what the trips look like, visit our Facebook page and look through the photo albums we post after each team.)

13 More Things We've Learned Since Moving to NYC: 8-Month Anniversary Edition

1. Don’t leave stuff in the lobby of your building (like a stroller), even if you plan to come down and get it in an hour or two, or else it will undoubtedly be gone when you return. [Author’s Note: Someone had taken our stroller and put it down with the trash cans, so there was no harm done.]
2. Snow makes the streets shrink. Piled snow prevents cars from parking right next to the curb, so where two moving cars could previously squeeze past one another, now only one car can drive at a time.
3. A corollary to #2: Snow takes up perfectly good parking places. More than once I drove right by a wide-open space because I knew that I’d have a heck of a time getting back out again.
4. In the midst of a bitterly cold winter, if the temperature rises at all out of the 20s, it feels as though everyone comes outside.



The frozen Harlem River

5. Leave plenty of time for doctor’s appointments. Yes, we can walk to their offices, but the sheer number of people in the city and the demand for medical services mean that no appointment ever happens when it is scheduled. Ever.
6. Simply being made in New York City doesn’t mean that the pizza is any good. Some of it is pretty lousy, in fact.
7. Don’t park over manhole covers during winter or early spring. Apparently the salt they use on the roads has been known to seep underground and eat away at underground wiring and – I kid you not – the manholes can explode. Check out this video: https://youtu.be/I8go5G3-J5g
8. Leave your windows open a little when you go out so that when you return to your apartment, you won’t be walking into what feels like a pizza oven.
9. Twitter is great for keeping up with what’s happening in New York City and our Bronx neighborhood. Just be ready for the bad news along with the good.
10. Mormons are vigilant in our area. We’ve had at least four pairs knock on our door since we moved here.
11. Perceptions vary: To some people our neighborhood (Bedford Park) is a nice, quiet one; others, however, have described where we live and where the Priority 1 apartment is located as “the hood.”
12. Melting snow is a blessing and a curse. It’s great that there’s more than just a narrow pathway to traverse, but every pedestrian ramp turns into a sludge-filled puddle, and all of the trash and dog poop that had collected (and been preserved) in snow banks now reappears as a disgusting obstacle course on everywhere you turn.
13. We live in a predominantly Hispanic area (and of that, the majority are Dominican), and as such, our girls get called “mami,” Bethany gets “mamma” or “mami,” and Greg has heard “boss” several times. All of these are familiar, friendly terms.