Yankees, and chicklets and parties. OH MY!

Well, this has been a crazy, hectic week here in NYC! It’s been a great week for two reasons:

1. My parents came here (and dad took to me a Yankees game, along with a few others from HBC)! The Yankees beat the Indians and it was my boyfriend, Derek Jeter’s, birthday. What a great present for me to go see him, right?!?

2. Today ended our first official City Uprising! It was a fantastic week with some great people! So thankful for all 125 people that came up to help us pack and pass out gum with Gallery Church cards, (I lost track of how much one it hit the ten thousands), host block parties and worship together daily.

City Uprising was a huge success. There were lots of great responses to the free gum! Along with a few negative ones, but hey; someone hasto plant the seed and if they weren’t willing to listen this time all we can do is pray that they will be open to listening the next time that we or someone else tries to tell them the awesome news that changed all of our lives. I hope to see lots of new faces at The Gallery Church tomorrow and I look forward to this next week as we have another City Uprising Tuesday though Friday! 

The interns along with everyone at the Gallery are very sad for tomorrow to come because it is Brandon's last day and going away party! We are going to be doing everything by ourselves next week! (if that's even possible. Brandon is superman.) Please pray for him as he prepares to move to Louisville and finish up seminary! 

Here are a few pictures from the week:

One of my favorite places!

Derek and I ;)

All of the bags full of chicklets to pass out on the streets.

Went to the park and stopped for a picture.

Lillie wanted her own picture with the crab.

A 5 year old beat me in chess. Crazy!

Working hard stuffing gum!

Sweet Lillie and Elliott.

Silly kids!

Sad times as Brandon hands us his keys to the church!

Thanks for keeping up with my trip and me! Prayers are still greatly appreciated. J

Becoming a New Yorker

Well, first off, sorry I am just now starting my blog. I have been a “New Yorker” for exactly 3 weeks now. And might I just say, it has been wonderful. Most people think I’m crazy for moving to New York at 18 years old, but who cares? J These first three weeks have been very busy.  My first full week I was here, I was babysitting Freddy T Wyatt’s (the pastor of The Gallery Church) kids, Jack, Lillie, and Elliott. I had an absolute blast with these kids; they are so full of energy and so precious.

Also, during that week my roommate and fellow intern Brittni and I went on a scavenger hunt. We had a list of items to either take pictures of or bring back (the point of it was to get us better acquainted with the city and how to et around).

Here are a just few of the items on the list:

            -Take a picture in the Barbie house in Toys-R-Us

            -Take a picture at 30 Rock

            -Bring back a Yankees Baseball Schedule

            -Breakfast at Tiffany's

            -Visit the Statue of Liberty

- Take a picture outside of the Broadway play ONCE. (which, by the way, The Gallery’s own Elizabeth Davis Richard is Staring in! Pretty cool J )

Each item on the scavenger hunt had a point value, and we were racing against the other two interns to see who could get the most points in 6 hours. (Brittni and I won)  But, it was fun!

The next week, we did random jobs around The Gallery doing anything we could to help make the staff’s lives a bit easier. We ran errands, cleaned, organized, and I babysat some more! (and we all know I LOVE babysitting J )

This week, I went over to Freddy’s house again on Tuesday and helped Susan, his wife, around the house doing laundry, dishes, and taking the kids to the park! She is pregnant with their 4^th child, so anything I can do to help her I gladly do!

Next week, we have about 125 people coming into the city from all over, including Hilldale, to help us at the church. We will pass out free gum that has a Gallery Church card along with it (no one here can pass up free gum!) and host block parties for the local kids and teenagers to attend to start their summer off! Kids here are still not out of school until next week! So excited for the coming up weeks and to see what God has in store for our community and the church.

 I live in one of the best parts of town! One of my favorite things to do it to go sit up on the roof at night and read or talk on the phone. It is so beautiful and not too loud! Not many people have the option to just go sit on the roof! I'm lucky :)

I am still adjusting to being away from Clarksville and my parents, but I am managing.  I know this is where God wanted me this summer and I am going to make the best of it despite the fact that I miss my parents, my sister (shocking, I know!) and my dog.  Prayers are greatly appreciated for the Gallery Church of New York and me!