First, a quick clarification. I've gotten a few comments like "impressive for writing a blog on your iPhone" or "It's rather good for an update from a blackberry." Although I would love to admit to such impressiveness, I cannot. Yes I am using an iPhone, partially. It acts as my screen, but I have a little blu-tooth keyboard I'm typing on (picture included at end of blog). So though it is compact, it is nowhere near as petite of a task as typing on a phone would be.
Secondly, I will let you know that this post will probably not be as detailed or as long as most of my previously ones. This has two reasons. The first, I'm not feeling to well. I've had a peculiar stomach ache these past few days, including a brief moment of up-chucking last night. I'm fine and recovering, but I'm still slightly under the weather and typing a long time is not very appealing to me right now. The second is that part of the reason some of my previous updates were lengthy was because I had some background to give or just little comments about the team or events from our week or workings of the schedule. Seeing as much of this is already covered, this post does not need to cover it.
Talking about sickness, you can always be praying for good health among the team. We're in a new area, with some new things that our bodies have to get accustomed to. Plus, we all share one apartment, so sickness has more likelihood of spreading. So ya, just pray for our good health.
Sunday was a pretty basic day. We did not have anyone to do music at church so it was "Hymn Sunday" where we just sang a cappella hymns. Unfortunately, most of the songs were sung in keys that were both too high and too low for my vocal range, so I mostly just attempted to harmonize. After church we had a lunch of left overs, one of modern societies greatest conveniences. With all our refrigeration and preservatives, saving good things for a second go later is very easy, and delicious. After some book discussion on the books we're reading as a team (Search for Significance and Ministering Cross-Culturally) I laid down for a nap. That was at about 3:00pm. I did not awake till about 7:00pm, seeing as no one thought it necessary to wake me, though they usually find it so in the mornings. Anyways, after a small dinner I got to work on re-finishing my blog (as explained in my previous post). That evening we watched some "Saved by the Bell," an old TV show that I had never seen before, and then played some Quelf. Now let me just say that Quelf is a magnificent, fabulous, and wondrous game. 'Nough said. We ended up staying up late waiting for Mike to arrive so that we could let him in, but he ended up being later than he originally expected, so we just went to bed and let Bonnie handle it.
Monday, as usual, was a day with our Mentor, who, as previously mentioned, was Mike. We talked about evangelism and how it can apply to different circumstances and to our every day lives. After our lunch break and a little more talking from Mike, we went out and actually did some street evangelism, in a sense. As a means to initiate conversation on a topic we had interest in talking about, we asked people a survey on Spiritual Interest. Nothing was forced, we didn't make anyone take it, it was mostly yes-or-no questions, and it was a nice way to open up conversations with people. After about an hour and a half of surveying, we had a little debrief and prayer. For dinner that evening we had my family's recipe of burrito goo, which was so yummy and delicious, as well as a nice taste (haha, pun) of home. After dinner I got some reading done, but not much because I was so tired and falling asleep. So of course the extravert in me went out to the living room to rejuvenate with people. While sitting there, Bekah made a comment about how she would like to see what I would look like with teased hair, and was very excited and surprised when I was willing to oblige. We also played what has probably been the best game of Quelf yet. So much fun!
Tuesday was very similar in it's early parts. We again met with Mike and discussed for quite some time. He got so into it that he forgot to give us a break, and we were all so tired that it was hard enough to stay focused, so we finally asked for one. Again we went out and did surveys, but this time we first did some singing together in front of the church. Karla and I were survey partners for this day, and ended up encountering someone who was truly lost and confused and who had a twisted perspective of the truth, especially of the end times. Other wise though, the street time went pretty well. That evening we had language study with Dorine before going to a prayer service at one of the local Spanish Churches. They had a guest speaker from Venezuela, but I didn't really understand much. The rest of the evening was hang out time, mostly just conversing and informing each other about ourselves. Interesting thing I learned on Tuesday is that Canadians, or at least Aaron who's from Canada, calls Cocoa Puffs "Nesquik." Like our name for chocolate milk mix, but instead for him it means chocolate cereal. Weird, right?
Wednesday we got to sleep in because the Bowery Mission, the place we usually volunteer at on Wednesday mornings, had double scheduled us with another group, so they ended up not needing us. After lunch and a short group-devotional, we left for our other Wednesday commitment, Operation Exodus' after school program at Manhattan Christian Academy. I mostly just wrestled, chased, and played with the kids that were done with their homework and didn't have anything to do during homework time. We also went outside and played some four square, a game in which my talents have become rusty, but not inexistent. I was still able to hold my own (after a few warm up rounds). After dinner that evening, back at the apartment, we had some more book discussion on our assigned reading from Search for Significance. I then lost a game of Rummy 500 to Renee and Aaron. But then I got to go to bed, which is always a blessing for those who are tired, so that cheered me up.
Thursday I was supposed to get up early to go with Bekah and Beth to help with Breakfast Ministry, feeding homeless people a small, warm, and comfortable breakfast. All that did happen, except the getting up early. I woke up quite a bit later than I had planned to (problem with my alarm) and so was rushed to get ready. Because of this, my hair was still wet when I put it up in the hair-net, so I had puffy, lopsided, and out of place hair the rest of the day. After getting back and having some more group devotions, free time, and lunch, we went to our usual Thursday engagement, The Love Kitchen. We again helped hand out groceries to homeless people, as well as help with other little things that needed to be done to keep a Food Pantry like that running. After our time there we again went to help with the after school program, which was even funner (yes that's not a word, but I allow myself to use it because it describes "funner" better than "more fun" does) than yesterday because we already knew some of the kids and got to expand on that. It was about this time that my stomach started hurting, as did Aaron's and Karla's. That evening was another free one. Some of us played some more Rummy 500 and others went to the park to look at stars. We also tried to order our Broadway tickets for Wicked, but weren't able to find any in the price range we had hoped for.
Friday was what I called in my journal "a bit of a drag day," mostly because I was still feeling sick in the stomach. We again helped at World Vision, cleaning out the old warehouse and helping organize the new one. We planned to go again to Times Square Church that evening, but it ended up being a smaller group of us because Aaron and I weren't feeling well enough to make the trip. I'm really sad I didn't get to go because it was their missions conference weekend. I watched some of "Kate and Leopold" with Renee and Bonnie, and seeing Hugh Jackman in a movie rejuvenated my super excitement about the new Les Mis movie. But the biggest plus about Friday was finally getting our Wicked tickets, and for a reasonable price too. It's really happening, we'll be seeing it on the 24 of this month!
Saturday for me was mostly just more ugh, because I was again not feeling well. In the morning we went with Manna of Life Ministries to serve different groups of homeless people and day workers. One of the best moments of the week was when one of the ladies, a little old lady, we were serving soup to stopped, mesmerized and happied by a small bird she saw. After she got her soup, she took one of her packs of crackers, crushed them up into crumbs, and gave them to the bird. It was so sweet to watch. Pretty much the rest of the day for me was just lying around not feeling well. Some of the team went to a park in the afternoon, and later that evening to Little Italy. Bekah got me ginger ale there, which was very nice to have.
This wraps up my update. As usual, if you have any questions or would like my address, or just someone really cool to talk to, you can shoot an email to Hope at costanceh.95@gmail.com. And if you'd like to be added to my prayer supporters email update you can contact Mike and biblebeach@hotmail.com.
Thanks again for reading, giving, and praying. Loves and misses,
~Asher Fickett~
ASHER. you're face is so fantastically horrible in that picture! hahaha
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