Guys. I seriously cannot believe my first teams have come
and gone. The week went by so quickly. Maybe that’s because by the end of every
day I was completely exhausted and my feet were throbbing. I thought I would be
done with throbbing feet since I’m not waitressing this summer, but I was sorely
mistaken. Get it? Sorely? Anyway, my feet are getting more used to all the
walking, which is great. :-)
I had six people coming with me to the Bronx every day, and
I could not have picked a better group if I had tried. I had the team leader,
James, a youth leader, Kali, and four amazing high school students. I, in my
usual fashion, dubbed them team awesome, but it’s an apt description for these
kids. We became great friends and had a blast regardless of the little bumps in
the road we experienced this week.
So, since so much happened every day, I figured I’d just
give you a few stories.
On Monday when we were helping with the soup kitchen in the
Bronx, one of my girls and I were both hit on and proposed to by the same,
elderly Puerto Rican man. I didn’t catch his name because he was too busy
flirting, trying to kiss my hand and convince me to be his girlfriend and go
with him to Puerto Rico. He even licked the other girl’s face. I’m glad I
escaped that part, but it was an interesting start to the week!
The same girl who he licked also got in a really long
conversation with a man who told her his life story about being in a gang and
all the things he did and had to go through. And when I say long, I’m talking
over an hour. But don’t worry, James, her youth leader, was there watching over
her the whole time just in case. This individual told Allie that she was the
only person he trusted and that he rarely gets to honestly talk to anyone. I
hope this conversation restored some hope to this man’s life.
Toward the end of the serving time that same day, I met a
man named Robert. He came up and introduced himself to me on his way out. I saw
Robert again the next day as he was waiting in line at the Bronx Citadel’s food
pantry. I went over to him with a big smile because I was excited to see a
familiar face on my second day. He had recognized me too, and we got to
chatting. I commented on his smile, because Robert, though in his 70s, has a
warm, inviting smile on his face at all times. He said it was because he had practiced
Buddhism for 27 years and it had given him peace. He went on to say that after
27 years, he went as far as he felt he could go with Buddhism, so he stopped. I
took this opportunity to ask him if he had ever considered looking into
Christianity because it had given me a lot of peace and joy, too. He said he
knew a little about it, but not much. So I told him I’d love to talk to him
about it sometime if he wanted because it had changed my life.
I walked with him through the line as he cracked jokes, and
when he was finished, I went to hug him goodbye and wish him a nice day, when
he said to me, “I thought you were going to talk to me about that Christianity
thing?” And I was honestly a little taken aback because I didn’t think he’d
take me up on it, or if he did that it would be a few weeks from now once he
trusted me more. But no, the moment was right then, so I said that I would pull
out some chairs and we sat and talked for over an hour.
I can’t say that Robert accepted Christ’s sacrifice right then
and there, but I can say that our conversation made a difference in his life.
Robert had a terrible childhood – the kind they write sad books or movies
about. His wife died and his son hasn’t spoken to him in years. He goes to the
soup kitchen and food pantry and goes home and that’s about it. He told me that
he hadn’t had a legitimate conversation in years. We talked about anything
because he was just so happy to be talking. I can’t wait to see him again. When
I asked him if I could pray for him, all that he asked was that I pray that he
could see his son again.
So please, I’d ask you all to pray for Robert, and also that he and his son be reconciled.
And one last story, I promise.
Thursday, my crew finally got to play with kids and help
lead a VBS that that citadel was putting on. The kids took to my crew quickly
and we spent most of the afternoon playing in a sprinkler and a kiddy pool, so
we were completely drenched, but it was awesome! One of my guys, Sam, helped
lead the kids in some songs, both of which had hand motions. And it was awesome
to see the kids grow from timid, to asking him to sing the songs over and over
again. He seriously sang the songs like 50 times each. It truly warmed my heart
to watch my team just love on the kids with everything inside of them. The
whole day was spent centered around the kids, and it was a perfect end to an
already great week.
Let me know what y’all are up to and don't forget to check out the team blog! And join our Facebook page!