Monday, July 8, 2013

New York City Mission Trip - 2013

On Saturday, June 22 a group of mostly “strangers” left the parking lot of Prairie Ridge Church ready for an unknown adventure!    The 20 hour van/car ride, with an overnight stay at a church in Cleveland, created lots of time for great conversations and getting to know each other.

We pulled up in front of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Manhattan on Sunday evening and received a very warm welcome and kisses from two elders from the Church, George & Michael!   Just to see their delight in our presence, we were already sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit among us!


On Monday morning we were up early and started off our morning with devotions and “quiet” time.  As the day unfolded we were amazed to find out that God had definitely come before us and prepared this particular group for this particular time!  Before we left Ankeny, we were told that our main focus would be dry walling the 4th floor of the building next to the Church.  This will be the new Pastor’s apartment.  Well…..this very old building is in a state of great disrepair and before we could even start on that project it was evident that leaking plumbing was taking place on the 3rd, 4th & 5th floors.  It was causing quite a few issues behind the walls.  Can you believe that we had a licensed plumber on the trip?  We also learned that they wanted us to fix the large wooden front doors of the Church.  There were places in the door that were rotting and they were covered in a cheap veneer over the original wood.  Would you believe it if I told you we had a carpenter among us?  He was able to restore the original wooden doors that week!   And this is how it went, with God revealing himself all week long with incidents such as these!

We started each day off with devotions & quiet time.  We had a brief devotion during our lunch break and we gathered at the end of the day (usually around 11pm each night) for closing worship together.  We all felt very centered and focused on God during the week.

While working we had great conversations and lots of laughter.  Plumbing was fixed, front doors were restored, pews were painted, a bathroom was re-painted, and lots of cleaning was done!  A lot was accomplished.   But even greater than that was our connection with God, the friendships that formed between our group of 16 and the many new friends we made from Trinity Presbyterian Church.  This church is known as the “little church with the big heart”.  They are a light on West 57th Street.  There are 4 other churches that use their Sanctuary for worship, there are 2 AA groups that meet in two different places every single day over the lunch hour, and several other organizations that use the building during the week.  We were told that over 800 people are in and out of the church on a weekly basis.  People in the neighborhood know this church & the elders of the church and for some, this church has been a life-saving presence in their life.  Sal, who runs the homeless shelter on the 3rd floor, but was addicted and broken just two years ago, now has a job and place to stay.    Michael, a homeless man, who has lived at the Church for almost 8 years now, has refuge and people to take care of him.  Michael is a brilliant man who suffers from mental illness.  He sleeps on the floor of the Church and is given $20/day from his social security check to buy what he needs for the day.  He has a book sale out front each day which keeps him busy.  George, an elder of the church, who was given a janitorial position in the church many years ago after coming out of prison with no place to go, has become a man of God and is the superintendent of the church.  The previous pastor hired George and even paid his salary out of his own paycheck.

And this is how it roles at Trinity Presbyterian Church.  This little church saving lives on a daily basis, giving away every resource they have to those in need, while 12 blocks away, the buzz of Times Square, Broadway Shows and materialism on steroids is raging.  It does something to you.  It breaks you down.  It reminds you of the important things of life.  

The 16 of us who went on the trip………we returned different people……..better people.  Praise the Lord!


No comments: