Reflections

Wow, so much has happened in the last year. I can hardly believe that this time is already here.  In just a couple of weeks it will be time to move back to PA.  I have yet to figure out which to call home, Lancaster or NY.  When I first moved up here I thought that this time was a long way off and when it would be here I would be ready to leave.  I was wrong on both of those.  When I think of leaving here it seems like I am leaving home again.  I am excited to move back but also not really looking forward to leaving NY.  Many people knew me as a total country boy and not even close to having any kind of city life in me.  That has changed quite a bit, i still have my country roots but the other part is coming out as well.  I think that God knew exactly what I needed when he sent me up here.  When I came, I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I have.  My time up here was well spent and I would never give up the experience that I have had.  Some days the work was a little over whelming, but the opportunities that I have had to meet know people and make knew friends is all worth it. 

News from New York

I know that it has been a while since I wrote here but here is a bit of an update.  Just a little over a year ago I decided to make a move that I thought I would never do, move to the city.  Just to say that I would never change the last year of my life.  Since I wrote on here last there was Christmas and New Years and a lot of other fun things.  Getting to know people up here has been a lot of fun.  It is hard to believe it has already been a year plus.  It is also a little hard to believe that it is a year since the house fire, last year at this time I was at home, or in Lancaster not sure which is home, helping to rebuild the house.  It is kind of exciting to know that I could move back in about six months or so, but kind of sad as well.  I kind of have mixed feelings and don't really know what I want to do, or where God is leading me.  I really enjoy living up here, not really the city, but the people up here are just so much fun.  I do not think that I would enjoy my time up here if it were not for the people from church and the youth.  Moving on to some things that have happened lately.  At the end of February we had youth retreat.  It was a well spent weekend of hanging out and learning what God's word has to say about leadership.  The first weekend of March some of us went down to Camp Andrews for Urban Youth Workers Retreat and was again a well spent weekend of learning.  Lots of good memories of hanging out late and also of sitting in on workshops.  Two weeks ago, March 15, Choice Books sent us down to Lancaster for REACH.  That was another great day, we were only there for one day, of talking to others about our ministry and our time here.  We tried recruiting people to move here, but didn't here of any success.  So if there is anyone from the youth group in Lancaster that is looking for a place for VS, I would highly recommend here, but it is not as easy as it sounds.  Currently as a youth group up here we are trying to get the church service ready for next Sunday.  The youth are in charge of most of the service on Easter Sunday.  This is just a short summary of the last almost three months, so many details I could write.  So hopefully I can find the time to write here more often, it just kinda falls by the side with so much happening.

Hurricane Sandy

 I know this is kinda late to be posting this but here it is.  On Sunday night there were a lot of quietness around here.  By nine o'clock on sunday night there was no mass transit at all.  A lot of the train tunnels in downtown manhatten were flooded and some roadways.  On we decided by Saturday night that we would not be working on Monday because of the storm.  On Monday morning we went out to see some waves at the beach before the storm started.  I also should mention that we decided to play some football in the hurricane just to say we did.  By Monday night we had decided not to work on Tuesday either which was exciting.  So on Wednesday when our boss came up we decided that we would just take off for the rest of the week.  We decided to go down to PA to get our books together for our christmas displays.  On Thursday all four of us went down to VA to get the books.  It was only three days and we had already forgotten what it was like to get up at four o'clock in the morning.  It took most of our day to go down and get the books and get back to PA.  When we were down in VA we got a lot of questions from the staff down there.  When we got back to PA we met the new guy that was coming up here.  On Friday we spent most of the day getting the display books together.  We decided to come back to the city on Friday night and spent the weekend hanging out.  The whole next week we did not work either because of the gas shortage.  We decided that instead of having to sit in a line for gas for four hours we just would not go out and service.  Instead we volunteered with MDS.  So we had about two weeks off because of the hurricane which was nice. During this time we cleaned the house and painted one room. 

October 2011

Great times in the house this week.  Monday and Tuesday were both short days.  Now on Wednesday we had a really short day at the warehouse, only from about 7:30 to 12:30.  Spent the afternoon playing some basketball and playing guitar.  This evening we have some visitors and listening to christmas music.  Yes we are actually doing that this time year.  And had a surprise birthday cake at lunch time today thanks to Esther King.  It was special to have a birthday cake a couple of days in advance.  Either way I am having a good time here in NY and the coming into winter and I am not sure about the snow in the city but I am looking forward to the winter.  Can't wait to go snowboarding again.  It is also football season again so its time to toughen up for some injuries in the next couple of weeks.  I have already had some and I only played two weeks now.  The first time it was my thumb jambed bad enough I could not use it for a couple of days.  Then I didn't play for a couple of weeks because of my injury and some visitors.  Then this last Saturday I got an ankle injury and a knee to the side of the head.  So its just been just me playing some football.  But this is my life in October so far and we will see what the rest of the month will hold.

Boys Camp and Youth retreat

On August 26th we left for boys camp at Camp Andrews.  It was a hard and stretching week.  It was kinda nice to get back into a week of routine.  I was a counselor for six ten year old boys.  We had a lot of fun and a lot of testing times.  It was good to get to know some of the boys from the neighborhood.  Four of the boys from my cabin were from within about five blocks of our house.  I had known some of them from boys club so it wasn't too bad.  what helped my cabin to go smoothly was that five of the six boys were there for the first time, but the hard part was that both of us as counselors were there for the first time.  But all in all it was a good week, teaching young city boys about the woods, and the bugs was quite a lot of fun.  We got home around six o'clock on friday evening and then had our debriefing meeting at seven and that lasted till about nine.  We all had a lot of laundry to do before nine the next morning which is what time we were to leave for youth retreat.  That was an awesome weekend, just hanging out and chilling with the youth from up here.  Playing games and walking through the woods in the dark, and going barefoot in the dirt and grass, I miss that so much.  That weekend did not consist of a lot of sleep.  Then on the way home I had an accident, someone ran into the back of me and pushed the rear door way in and smashed the back window in.  Do not worry no one was hurt.  We had thought about taking someone else with us and if she would have come along someone probably would have been hurt.  Also about the same time that it happened the pastors wife from up here, whose van we were using, laid down to take a nap and felt an urge to pray for those using the van.  So we owe her a big thanks for her prayer and God a lot of gratitude for putting it on the heart of her to pray.  The two girls in the back seat were laying down so the glass that did come forward flew over them and the two guys in the middle were pretty much protected by the seats.  It was amazing because the guy in the passenger seat found glass in his lap.  And there was glass on the floor by the passenger door. 

 this is the rear of the vehicle

Then on Tuesday it was not a good day to start work off after a week off.  At my first stoore it took four tries to print the invoice right and then at the next store my hand held wouldn't even print.  So I had to come home and try to replace some things and the finally figured out that it was just a cord.  All of this pushed my day back about two hours.  But I got everything done I could and things just happen they way they do. 

July 4th week

This week was a lazy week for me, kinda nice though.  Monday and Tuesday were nice short days servicing in Long Island, and Thursday and Friday went on an overnite run to Connecticut and Rhode Island.  Wednesday was great and very hot.  Slept in and then played some basketball.  In the afternoon we went to the beach where it is a little cooler and the water is amazing.  In the evening there was a group of people over and we had a cookout.  It was a lot of fun hanging out, playing some music, watching fireworks, and just being stupid, as we all do sometimes.  There was also a house fire on wednesday night which makes the second building fire since i am up here.  A vacant building beside us burnt a couple of weeks ago and now a house a couple of blocks away.

Odd week

This past week was an odd week for a booker week.  For starters I hung out with youth later than usual which meant less sleep on Sunday night.  On Monday I had to drive the whole way out to New Jersey to do four stores and then back to Brooklyn for the rest of the day, so I put a lot of miles on in the morning.  On Tuesday we only put in a half day of work because one of the guys is leaving soon and we went on a "biketrip".  The "biketrip" didn't work out because of bad weather so we just went camping instead.  And on Wednesday we went and toured the Martin guitar plant.  That was very interesting to see how the guitars are made.  It was a refreshing time to go and get away from the city and get into the country again.  On Thursday we left for an overnight run at about 3:30 in the morning.  We got home a little after four this afternoon.  This evening we were cleaning the house and went to boys club. Looking forward to weekend when we can sleep in and play with our new toys.  I almost forgot, the rest of up here all got helicopters too, so now we have about four of them flying around here.  They are a ton of fun, can't wait till we can take them up to the park someday.