Day Two... or is it day three....

Well it's our second full day here in the Big Apple and today we visited a few VERY different churches,  took some great photos, had some deep discussion, and maybe did a little touristing...just a little bit. You can see our pictures here... the theme "holy." We traveled to Alphabet City to visit Metro Baptist's sister church, Graffitti. We spoke with the youth director there, and we learned about how the church is helping kids from the area through the after school program. For those of you who love NYC, we walked through Tompkin's Square.  The park has changed quite a bit in the past few years. We jetted across town to see the ornate churches on 5th Avenue, 5th Avenue Presbyterian and Saint Patrick's Cathedral. They're much larger than our church, the 5th Avenue Church was nearly vacant, except for one man seeking respite from the day, but there were dozens and dozens of people in the Cathedral. Three fourths of the people were like us, tourists taking in the spectacle of the place. The other fourth was made up of homeless folks sleeping, and pilgrims praying to the various saints that resided inside. Afterwards, some of us were lucky enough to play on the big piano at F.A.O. Schwartz and we attempted to get a look at the iPad 2, no surprise the place was packed. Now, we're sure that some people are wondering where the "mission" is in this mission trip. Don't fret. This evening we partook in a lovely little project of cleaning the...less than spotless hallway and lounge of our current residence. Our focus tonight was space, which in Manhattan is nearly impossible to come by. We thought it was appropriate to thank our staff by cleaning their space and then decorating it with thank you notes for the work they do. We're learning a lot through this "Urban Immersion" and all of us are extremely excited for tomorrow. We're off to Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, and the bright lights of Broadway! BILLY ELLIOT, HERE WE COME!

Question of the Day:  What makes something Holy?

You can see our answers in the pictures.... what's yours? 

If you have questions about our pictures, leave them in the comments and we'll answer them in our next post. 

Rachel's Rules:

1. Don't get arrested.
2. Don't go to the hospital.
3. Don't burn down St. Patrick's Cathedral.
4. Don't get rabies.
5. NO MORE PRUNE JUICE DRINKING COMPETITIONS!
6. Don't eat off the floor...even if you've cleaned it.

Notable Quotables:

"Oh my gosh! It's Justin Bieber!" ~Elmo to Peter

"2, 4, 6, 7...Daniel!" ~Rachel (counting us)

"When I grow up, I want to be a cartoon voice!" ~Rachel

'' So...Mom, I got a tattoo and a body piercing, but I did get vaccinated for the flu" ~Anna V. & Katie (in the hipster sketchy part of town)

"Come to the Comedy Central Club, we have racist jokes!" ~Man selling tickets in Times Square

"Come to the Comedy Central Club, kids too, it's family friendly!" ~Man selling tickets in Times Square

Man of the Week: Lennox

Long live Dirty Dan and the Boys.


Primary Author (day 2/3) Anna G. (with help from the peanut gallery)