Please join us in prayer:

FOR… Our Team:

• Safety (Travel from Iowa to New York…& back home!)
• Unity among our Team members
• Spiritual growth
• Freedom & faith to embrace our true identity in Christ
• Good health & safety
• Prepare us with humility & compassion for however God will use us.
• Focus amidst distractions of the city & sites around us.
• Sensitivity & understanding toward the people we meet.
• Spirit-led ministry as our team prepares & during our outreach in New York.

FOR… Outreach & YWAM-Metro NY

• Guidance as YWAM prepares our ministry together
• Physical health & endurance for YWAM Staff.
• Spiritual strength for YWAM Staff.
• Softened hearts toward those we serve.
• Openness & opportunities to develop encouraging relationships with people we meet.
• Effective Spirit-led ministry.
• Protection over the hearts & lives of youth/young adults in NYC. .
• Encouragement & provision for the homeless in NYC.
• Financial provision for YWAM's ongoing ministry.
• Growth in YWAM's ministry partners in NYC 

Thursday, June 17, 2010
Last night ended with a teambuilding adventure, doing the WEB…. Although it took the team a few hours to get organized and focused, they worked well, communicating and developing a plan. Just 3 hours and 45 minutes later, they accomplished the task with a strong dependence on God through prayer and new sense of teamwork and accomplishment. In the morning, we left Advent Lutheran… it was a tough goodbye! We were welcomed like old friends and the team quickly grew a great heart for the congregation… and even the families of deer that lived in the neighborhood wandered closely to us and the church. But, we were off! We had beautiful traveling though Pennsylvania and only encountered brief stretches of road construction. Decided that I-80 East “everywhere” is under improvements this year… the ride home should have fewer obstacles. We arrived in New Jersey late afternoon and approached our entry to the city, the Holland Tunnel, which runs under the Hudson River. After we inched toward the tunnel in congested traffic, there were many comments regarding how much we love Iowa and our simple life. Nice to hear! J We were just 5 miles from our destination, but we spent nearly 90 minutes waiting to enter the tunnel…and then made quick time as we weaved our way through the neighborhoods of the southern Manhattan Island…. Tribeca, Soho, and then arrived at First Ukrainian Assembly of God Church in the East Village. Our church home is an old building with 20 foot high ceilings, or higher! It has amazing architecture… and lots of stairs! The girls are staying on the second floor, and the guys on the fourth… stairs only. We moved in and then set out to find a late night dinner at 9pm. The neighborhood is full of eateries and little shops – some decided to try out a Chinese spot and others found a lil’ pizza joint with pizza by the slice – huge! It was all tasty and gave us a literal taste of the diversity of the city. We walked around and navigated the area before heading in around 10pm. We were lulled to sleep by the traffic, sirens, voices of passersby, and songs of happy birthday echoing the streets.

Friday, June 18, 2010
Our morning started leisurely with a New York City bagel breakfast at 9am. After some info and orientation from the YWAM staff, we were off to our first trip on the subway and then a ride on the Staten Island ferry; from there we had a great view of all of the city, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. We enjoyed our sack lunches in Battery Park and then took the subway back to our base. Now our mission more officially begins. We split up into work groups to serve the Ukranian church for a few hours in the afternoon. Cleaning, sweeping, mopping, picking up garbage, vacuuming,...etc. The church home was formerly a bank, and built 150 years ago… in the 20s, when the bank fell, it became the Ukranian Church. So, they have a long history here. Later on in the day after enjoying some authentic Thai for supper,, we enjoyed a time of worship and bible study with the Ukranian youth group. It was powerful and encouraging. Our evening ended with a trip to a neighborhood yogurt shop… yogurt by the ounce. Let’s just say, some could have bought a gallon for the price they paid for a nice sized cup...it hit the spot and our day was complete!

Saturday, June 19, 2010
Today, we had an awesome day of ministry planned for us… our team was split into two groups to serve The Father’s Heart (a food pantry) and the World Vision Storehouse. Neither group new quite what they were getting into. We split up after breakfast. The World Vision(WV) team took to the subway, and made their way to the Bronx. They found the massive WV building, met amazing people working, and discovered a highly organized ministry filled with unlimited resources to be shared. After capturing the vision of the ministry, the team went to work… mostly sorting sizes of donated clothing from the Dress barn and folding them to be distributed.  Clothes came from various stores. In addition while there, Target delivered 8 semi-loads of notebooks. So cool…so many corporations are part of a movement to reach out to people in need.  The team worked hard and could really get a sense of being part of something bigger; World Vision strives to provide for tangible needs by partnering with ministries and organizations that are on the front lines. The second team walked through the East Village neighborhood to the Father’s Heart. As they arrived, they were oriented to the heart and mission… to restore dignity and provide for those in need of food with the underlying mission of sharing our heavenly Father’s heart for each person. As we split into service areas, some on prayer team, serving meals, flyers to keep tables stocked, and some in various serving jobs in the kitchen, it was time to open the doors! With worship music playing and hands clapping people were welcomed in.  A very busy but joyful 90 minutes later, we were cleaning up and sharing the joy of serving with our new sisters and brothers. We were able to serve 701 people! Amazing. We joined up with a Philadelphia area youth group afterwards and took leftovers to a nearby park and were able to distribute all of that as well. The two teams met up at Central Park later in the afternoon where we used sidewalk chalk art to share a message of God’s hope and love. We wrapped up with pizza in the park and after a nice walk, headed home on the subway.

Sunday, June 20, 2010
Happy Father’s Day!!!! We were all thinking of our Dads, Grandpas, and other special men in our lives that we are thankful for. It was super hot today, somewhere between 94 and 97. Our day began with a trek to Brooklyn to worship at the Brooklyn Tabernacle; this is a non-denominational church housed in an old theater. People line up down the street and around the corner waiting for one of the 3 services on Sunday. We attended the 12:00 service; two hours of amazing worship led by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir and a wonderful message about keeping our eyes focused on things of the  eternal instead of the temporary of this world. We enjoyed lunch at a local park in Brooklyn and enjoyed a long walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge. There is a pedestrian walk that is actually above the road. It took a good half hour to walk across…and what an amazing view we had of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, again. We then entered into a time of prayer walks through lower Manhattan, praying for various issues there: As we walked by the Stock Exchange we prayed for the more than 8000 individuals just in that area who have lost jobs in the last year. At an area park where there has been some disturbance by an anti-white group, we prayed they would recognize God’s love and hear the message of hope. We also prayed for issues surrounding a new Muslim mosque being built in Lower Manhattan. Finally, we made our way to the site of the World Trade Center Towers where we prayed for continued healing and peace for families of victims and smooth paths as the new tower and memorial are built. As well, asking for growing stability for businesses re-entering this area, and anything else God placed on our hearts. We returned to our host church for a Latin dinner of chicken, rice and beans. After all the walking and emotional out-pouring in prayer, we had a relaxing evening enjoying ice cream sandwiches and some crazy team bonding times!

Monday, June 21, 2010
The Team’s morning was off to an early start… we finished breakfast and had some Prayer Station orientation. We’ve been waiting for this ministry opportunity.  Prayer Stations involve, setting up a table with a banner announcing “Prayer Station” with each team member is clothed in a red pullover apron. The team is split into flyers, who hand out info sheets half a block before the station in two directions, and the rest of the team is around the station, available to pray with anyone who stops. It’s not an overt operation. We simply make ourselves available to anyone who decides to stop. Today we set up in the Bronx at an intersection of 5 roads nicknamed ‘the Hub’. (kinda’ cool!) Here we set up on two corners in two teams. Over the 3 hours we were there, the team prayed for more than 100 people… it’s hard to count. We were busy in conversation and prayed over requests varying from healing, to job seeking, incarcerated family members, hope, and the list goes on. It’s a largely Latin (Puerto Rican) and African American population. This is an area where they return often to offer prayer, and we encountered some people who thanked us for prayer they received weeks ago… obviously not from our team, but from the Prayer Station Ministry. So, that was very cool! By mid afternoon we packed up and made our way to a local park to play a little bit…. Open water fountains to cool off, more sidewalk chalk fun, and basketball were some of the entertainment. We returned to church and had awesome Italian take out for dinner and were off for ice cream to bring a final cool to another hot day! God has been good and faithful to grow our team in our prayer lives. We are still sharing prayer cards daily with our team members and continue to add ‘others’ to our prayer cards as we encounter hearts in need. Tomorrow we will have some time of discipleship within our team, an afternoon of outreach in Alphabet City, and then outreach on the NYU campus, which is just a few blocks away. Looking forward to what God will show us, teach us, and be at work through us.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010
This day began a bit differently after breakfast. The guys and girls were split up for different activities. The girls remained at the church and spent time with Ange (from YWAM) talking about Identity. Ange is leading a 10 day camp for girls in NYC called Reflection that will address image, identity, and worth from the world’s standard  versus Biblical perspective. She shared her testimony and God’s heart and our identity in Him with the gals. It was an encouraging time for the girls; make up, dressing well, and our physical beauty were not condemned but our perspective on them was addressed.  She ended by sharing make up tips and did many of the girl’s make up, for fun! The guys spent some time at a local park, after doing some garbage pick up, they also spent time discussing worth and image. We all met up for lunch and then walked to a low income neighborhood called Alphabet City where we spent time just playing with kids in the park. The guys got schooled in basketball and many of the girls played 4-square and did chalk art. From there we walked across town for dinner at Johnny Rockets--- that was an experience. After the wait-staff did a few dance numbers and we’d all finished our burgers and fries, our team joined in the dance fun to Stayin Alive! It certainly livened up the place; many patrons were videoing and taking pictures! After a subway ride, we arrived at the NYU campus where we met up with some student’s that are part of their Intervarsity Ministry. We had planned to do chalk art to invite the incoming freshman on campus to ministry activities and offer “free prayer”, something they do regularly. However, soon after we met up and dispersed, the clouds opened up and a down pour began. So, after waiting out the down pour, we regrouped and spent some time worshiping and offering ‘free prayer’ in the park near the NYU tower. It was a long but encouraging day! God has been faithful to give us energy and pour into us as we serve Him this week.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Today was our last day of ministry. In the morning, we loaded up for Prayer Stations… we were off to Harlem. We spent about 4 hours offering prayer again on alternate corners of the block. We continue to be amazed that people willingly come forward…  we see the brokenness and captivity so many experience through hurts, health issues, provision struggles, and on and on. We are reminded that all of us carry hurts and experiences within that at some point may have separated us from God. What an opportunity we have had to stand in the gap, intercede, for so many hurting hearts. It was another hot hot day. Temps have been in the 90s all week long! God has cared for us and we have had no problems with anyone on the team suffering from the heat—other than the usual. Mid-afternoon, we made our way to Times Square. Here, the team had a lil’ time to adventure in the area and then accepted a challenge… the 5 Dollar Challenge. Each team member took $5 of their own money and had to find a way to bless a random person. They came up with some creative ways…you’ll have to ask about their stories! We had dinner at the Dallas BBQ and spent the rest of the evening at Rockefeller Center enjoying the view. It’s hard to imagine our time here is coming to an end. It has been a transforming, challenging, and life-giving week for the team.

Thursday, June 24, 2010
Well, today we are off. First……we must celebrate Joshua’s BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! We are spending a few hours just hanging out in our neighborhood, maybe making our way down to SoHo. Grabbing lunch, and then we will head out about 2pm. We are staying in SnowShoe, PA tonight; and the word is that the youth director is making us supper. It’s a short 4-6 hour drive, depending on traffic… A nice beginning to our long trip home. Friday we will drive all the way to Dubuque, IA; probably arrive quite late. Then we will have some team time Saturday morning before arriving home in the afternoon. Can’t wait to see you all and share about our experiences. Hope you will join us on Tuesday evening for our time of sharing and Celebration! Thank you for your prayers and support as we prepared and throughout our mission in NYC!