A Weekend in New York City. . .

 Edited to add: 
   Sorry readers, I have no idea why the font is varying sizes. It almost gave me a headache, so just grab a magnifying glass to read the post.

    A few days ago, I was going through some of my pictures and I realized that I didn't write about my time in NYC a few weeks ago. The program was called World Outreach Weekend (WOW).

       The group was composed of folks from all areas of the US, and Canada.  I carpooled with a few other girls from PA, and we arrived in NYC during a little bit of rush hour traffic. At one point, it took us over an hour to go only 7 miles. And Suzanne was driving a stick-shift vehicle. The only time the car stalled, was not at an intersection as you might have guessed, but as we were pulling into our parking space as we arrived. 

     The first night, (Thursday evening) we had a class, and a intro to life in New York City. It only took me 24 hours in the city to agree that the city never sleeps. I heard cars honking as I crawled into my bed. I heard car horns throughout the night, and the first thing I heard when I woke up in the morning was a driver using his horn to the fullest extent.

      On Friday morning, we had a class on Islam, and then the whole group got to go to a Muslim Mosque, and observe their Lecture time.

 

 Our tour guide is on the far right.

 We visited the Mosque the day after the Mosque shooting in New Zealand. We could all tell that the people here were very concerned. They had called for a squad car to come and sit in front of the building for protection.

After we had observed the prayer time, they had us stay for a meal.

 We sat on the floor to eat our meal. The WOW Director was quite impressed that we got to eat lunch with the New York Press. They were there doing a write-up because of the New Zealand shooting. (The press people are at the far left of the picture)

      After the Mosque experience, we had a class called "Tools for Personal Evangelism". This was definitely my favorite class. The subtitle was:  

Practical tools for sharing your faith with others. This class will help you feel more confident approaching a stranger and starting a spiritual conversation. These ideas can be applied in your own communities or wherever you go.

     During this class, there was a quote that really challenged me:

If you were paid $1,000.00 for every person with whom you shared the Gospel, would it make a difference in how often you share? If so, you would do for money what you are not willing to do for love of God and people. 

~ Mark Cahill

       In the evening, we handed out tracts (and other Gospel Literature) and sang at the train station.

       After the train station outreach, one of the interns took us to see Queens Bridge, and we rode this trolley car back across (off the island we were on - sorry, I forget what island it was) to the main part of the city.

The trolley that we rode.

Queens Bridge

      Saturday morning, we had a few more classes, a prayer walk, and then we were sent out on a scavenger hunt! We were divided up, and headed out to explore NYC without an NYC resident. It was mostly things to do with your group; find someone that was not born in the US and ask them what they miss the most about their "home" country. . .  stand on Broadway (once you figured out how to get there, and Google Maps were off limits) and count people for 5 minuets - and then estimate how many people walk through there in a days time. . .  find someone that knows another language and find out how to say hello, please, and thank you. . .  find a church that is over 100 years old and take a selfie (Evidence that you really found one), and other stuff like that. . .  

     Then there were some personal goals as well; handout 10 tracts. . . ask 2 people (strangers, not someone from your group!) if they know Jesus. . . find 2 more people and ask if they have religious background. 

     My group found an Ice Cream truck in a residential area, and we enjoyed some ice cream while counting people on Broadway.

 

     I'm not sure why the ice cream guy gave me 2 straws and 2 spoons in my shakefloat.

Maybe if I set my refreshment on a solid surface, stick BOTH straws in my mouth, and use a spoon with each hand. . . . .

 A market we went to while out on our scavenger hunt. We were supposed to find "Tibetan Yak Butter Tea". This store didn't sell it, and we didn't find it anywhere else.

 This aisle was not very wide. Most of the stores had aisles about like these. Space is defined much differently in New York City! 

     Saturday evening we went out to Chinatown for supper. One of the interns told us that the way to tell if a restaurant was authentic or not was to look for a restaurant that had carcasses hanging in the windows!

 

I had my supper at The Peking Duck in Chinatown. I can't read Chinese so I can't tell you what it was called, but it was delicious! There was a sign beside their cash register that I thought was amusing: Restroom Use, Free to Customers. All others, $2. With being in the city, it kinda makes sense that they don't let just anyone use the restroom, it just seemed strange that they charged for use of their facilities.

That Tea. . . Our waitress declared it was much better than water.

    Outdoor market in Chinatown. Reminded me of our farmers market, minus a few strange fruits (or maybe they were vegetables) and the skyscrapers and taxis in the background.

Nuts or mushrooms anyone?

My siblings didn't seem excited that I thought of bringing these home for them to sample.

      After supper, we did some sight-seeing and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Because I wanted to be a good tourist, I snapped a few pictures.

 Sunset over the city. . .

A charcoal artist that was advertising his wares on the bridge. . .

     Sunday Morning, I got to visit an Indonesian Christian Church. We were the only people there that didn't speak Indonesian. I now have to admit that I have worn earbuds during a church service. (Never fear, I wasn't trying to block out the sermon. This was how they translated for their visitors.)