rewards

yesterday was a good day, a rewarding day - and it may take a while to explain why it was that way, but i will try to be brief.
first: i spoke for a while with a young lady in the chapel. she was having a bit of a rough day and just wanted to talk. she was really frustrated with a lot of the other kids in the shelter, how some of them don't appreciate the staff or the services that the program offers. She said "i can tell you guys care, and i love you all for that". She meant it. This poor girl hasn't encountered much love in her life, and she truly appreciated people that showed her just a little bit of compassion. It was so good for me to hear that.
number two: later in the evening there was a motivational speaker coming in - while we were waiting for people to show up, a couple of the guys were talking. one of them has been at the shelter for a few weeks, and he's been in the chapel just about every time i had it open. during our time together, he has done most of the talking - he is a really great kid, has been through a lot, and has learned a lot from where he has been. I really don't feel like I have done much for him. But as the three of us were talking last night, this kid recommended me to his friend. He described me as a cool dude, who is real and who has a lot of wisdom. I'm not sure what my face looked like but my mind was running, trying to remember even one thing that I had said or done that would make him think that - I couldn't think of one. Somehow, though, I had made an impact. That....was rewarding.
last of all: i was on my way out from work and i stopped at a pizza place on the corner because they have slices of pizza for a dollar. as i stood in line, a young man (roughly my own age) finally worked up the courage to ask me the line he had probably going over in his head for the last few minutes: "excuse me sir, do you have a dollar so I can have a piece of pizza?" At that moment I froze - this has always been a dilemma for me, especially now that I encounter beggars more often in the city. obviously, yes, i could spare a dollar - but i can't reasonably give every time someone asks me if i do. so sometimes i do, others i don. then the bible says that if someone asks you for something, and its in your power to give it, then you should. this is my dilemma. so there i am, frozen with this young man looking at me. after a few seconds of silence (although it seems longer) he says "if you can't than just say so". As he said this my mind though a million things at once: how many people had refused to help him out, how many had ignored him, how many had dismissed him as lazy, or given him some other stereotype. As all these things went through my head, I answered him honestly - I said "yeah, I can do that". He said thank you, but showed no emotion - (how many times had he been forced to degrade himself, swallow his pride and beg just to feed himself). Then I tried something that neither of us expected, I asked "do you want a soda, too?" You should have seen the smile that came across his face. He said "are you serious" and I just smiled back. He must have said thank you 50 times in the next two minutes that we were standing in line. That was honestly the most rewarding moment of my day, maybe since I've been here. If only you could have seen his smile. Peace.

fun saturday

Yesterday I slept in. When I woke up I really didn't have much on the agenda, so I grabbed my guitar and headed to central park. Once there I found myself a spot on a bench and started playing and singing. I really only know christian songs, so those are the ones I played. I guess it went well, I mean no one crossed on the other side of the sidewalk or had grimaced faces or made mean gestures, so I count it as a success. Many people smiled, a few nodded, one man played his air guitar as he walked by. Good times.

Once my fingers were sore and I had played just about every song that I have memorized I decided to take a nap. So I found a nice spot under the shade of a tall tree. I rested my arm on top of my guitar in hopes that I would be aroused if anyone attempted to steal it during my slumber. I woke about an hour later with guitar still beside me - another success.

I went home to grab something to eat and drop off the guitar. I then went to a Johnny Cash tribute concert. It was a lot of local bands playing Johnny Cash songs in their own style - some I liked, some I didn't. My favorite were "The Persuasions" (pictured above) which were a 60's a capella group and a Cash impersonator (also pictured above). The last picture is of the view over the Hudson river from the Irish Hunger Memorial (one of my new favorite places in town).

Today I went to the Catholic Church that is connected to our convent. It was interesting, because I don't recall ever attending a Catholic mass before (although it was similar to the Lutheran services I have attended). It was neat to see how Catholics 'do their thing'. Peace!

busy week - surprise surprise

Lets see....Wednesday night (community night) my housemates and I went to watch a movie in a park on a big screen, about half way through the movie lightening was too close so they had to shut down - it was a good experience though. Last night I went to see Wicked on Broadway, it was really good. It had a lot of important underlying themes that I didn't really expect - but to put it simply, it showed why it is such a bad idea to judge people because, for the most part, we don't know their backgrounds or experiences that have made them the way they are. There were also many other important ideas woven into the script, but too much to think about at 1:30 in the morning. Tonight I (along with Father Placid) took a group of the kids to Times Square Church for a youth service - it was a really good service and I feel like it dealt with a lot of the issues that our kids are facing daily. We took 12 kids and many of them commented on how much they liked it and asking when we could go again - whenever people are anxious about going to church its a plus in my book. I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend - I don't have one thing on the agenda, so we'll see what ends up happening. Peace.

what a weekend

My family came to see me this weekend, and what a weekend it was. Here's some of the things we did: visited the world trade center site, walked through battery park, ate in little italy, saw mama mia (on broadway, not the movie), went to the bronx zoo, ate pizza in central park, watched a movie, went to church at the brooklyn tabernacle (a church of nearly 10,000 according to their website, and i believe it), and went swimming in the atlantic ocean at coney island. Amidst all this fun, there were a couple of mishaps: at the theatre friday night, i was pick-pocketed, but luckily they just took the cash and threw my wallet down, so when i went to look for it all of my credit cards, insurance cards, ID, etc were still there - a blessing in a very weird disguise i guess - i was so relieved about it that i really didn't feel that bad about the whole situation. then on sunday we were driving to the beach when a woman decided to stop in the middle of the road and back into our car - an unfortunate occurrence, yes - even more so when the cops came and the woman told them that we ran into her. so since it was their word against ours, nothing could really be resolved. not the best way to end my family's visit - but i think the weekend as a whole was positive just because we got to see each other (although i don't know if dad will feel that way when he gets the bill for the car). they are now home safely and i am back to work. Exciting things coming up this week: I'm seeing Wicked (a broadway show about the wizard of oz's witches growing up, and why one of them turned good and one turned evil - should be a good time) and on friday I'm taking some of the kids to a service at times square church specifically for youth - another good time. Peace.

birthday

Yesterday was my birthday - and it was a good one. I started off with a productive day at the shelter, I got a lot of good stuff done. I got off work at 5, then met the rest of the people I lived with at 7. It was community night the night's objective was service, so we decided to make and serve dinner at another shelter in the city. The shelter was called Sylvia's Place. It was much smaller than ours and the facilities were not as good, or very clean. The residents there basically come in at night and find a place on the floor to sleep. They keep their belongings in plastic bins, but they could upgrade to a shelf if they lived there long enough. They were very happy to have a nice meal - we had prepared lasagna, salad, some type of apple dessert, and cookies. They were also very appreciative. It was a good time.
When we got home, my housemates had prepared a cake and brownies and icecream for us to enjoy - and we did. Then we proceeded to play a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game except it involved paper ducks substituting for the tail and a painting of saint francis substituting for the donkey. It was fun.
Today will be a long day. I'm on my lunch break now, and I get off work at five. At that time I will be going with one of my housemates to "rumble on the river", an amateur boxing event in southeast Manhattan. Then we will hang out in the city until 11, when we are meeting some of our other housemates to get in line with our tickets for good seats to the 12:01 showing of Batman. I'm pumped. Peace!

hiking

Today, I helped lead some of our kids on a hike in New Jersey. We took 19 kids, almost twice as many as have ever volunteered to go before. I must say, it was very interesting to see these "tough" kids outside of their element. When encountering different aspects of nature almost all of them were uncomfortable and a few were scared, even terrified. At the end of the day, though, the trip was a huge success. Each of the kids conquered the mountain, and each will have stories to tell their friends. A great experience for both them and myself. Peace!

a good week

These are a few pictures I took at the Metropolitan Museum of art yesterday - pretty cool place all in all.

As always, I've been staying busy. Wednesday was our "community night" - all of my housemates get together Wednesday night for either business, social activities, etc. This week happened to be a social-type night. We walked the Brooklyn bridge which gave us a great view of the city at night. Then we stopped in at city hall park where we had our prayer/reflection time in the middle of a sidewalk - and where Clint, a housemate, decided to take a dip in the public fountain (for which he was verbally reprimanded by a security guard. Then we went downtown to have pastries/deserts - it was wonderful.

Thursday night I went to a comedy play called Boeing Boeing. It was very funny, and I stuck around afterwards to get autographs so that was cool.

Friday at the crisis center we had a youth group from Katy (outside of Houston) Texas come in to share. They had about 10-15 kids, and 10-15 of our kids showed up as well so it was a pretty good turnout. We basically just opened up for people to share their story. A girl from Texas told her story first, and another girl from Texas finished up. In the hour between those two, our Covenant House kids shared. It was very moving, and powerful as they they told us about abusive, drug-addicted parents, about addictions and gangs, and about their faith journeys. A Texas girl summed it up well when she said "its amazing that you guys have been through so much, and you still believe".

Its been a good week. I'm looking forward to another good one -hopefully a hiking trip with some of the kids will be a part of it. Also, my family is coming to see me next weekend - so I can show off how well I know the city to them! Peace.