2023 KidMin NYC Trip Blog
2023 KidMin NYC Team
And they're off! The team is traveling from August 13-16. Follow along below!
We've Arrived! (8/13/23)
We made it! We safely navigated New York City traffic and arrived at the NYC Envision site. We had the opportunity to connect with our partners and two of their kids, share dinner with them and plan for a busy week. After an exciting and wild evening of games and a time of affirmation, we called it a night. We are excited for what God has in store for tomorrow!
WHAT A DAY! (8/14/23)
We started our morning with a great devotional about being called to go out and bring Jesus to the ends of the world. We followed that up by walking through the city and praying for all the ways we saw God working and all the ways we hope He works. We walked to an African market where we shopped for souvenirs, talked with the vendors, and played some music! And yes, some of you parents will be excited to know that a few of those instruments are coming home to you! We then took the subway to the Bronx where we had an authentic West African lunch at the Bamogo's home. With full bellies, we decided to a stroll past Yankee Stadium before we hopped on the subway and went down to Times Square for a quick tourist visit. We finished up our day with pizza from John's Pizzeria. John's is located at the site of the original Alliance church. It was so cool to sit inside the building where A.B Simpson founded our denomination and look up the original stained glass windows. That bit of history may have been less exciting to our kids, but they sure did love the pizza. We had a great day and are looking forward to what God has in store for us tomorrow!
Diving into it! (8/15/23)
We had another packed day. We spent our morning making a drink called bissap for a future ministry activity and baking cookies to hand out to friends in the Bronx today. After lunch, we split into two groups. The ladies left to help with ESL and citizenship classes. They were broken up to be one-on-ones with the women from the community to help with vowel sounds, letter recognition and short sentence reading. The ladies were outnumbered for the citizenship class, but had a great time helping women prepare for the citizenship exam - an exam that we barely passed this morning when we took a practice test with our group before heading out. Meanwhile, the guys walked through the Bronx, stopping to visit West Africans that our Envision partners have established relationships with. We had some great conversations, learned a ton about different cultures, and were able to bless them with our cookies. Once our group reunited this evening, we were able to share our experiences with one another. We then ended our evening with burgers, sandwiches and MILKSHAKES at The Shake Shack! We are ready for one last day of serving tomorrow before we head home.