New York City

Just because of the lengthiness of the trip (a mere one week...but tons of stuff happened!) I decided to write one day at a time. Maybe two. :)

Anyway, to start things off, I woke up at 1:15am on a Saturday morning, the 22nd of July. Took a shower, quickly ate a little oatmeal with no toppings or flavor, and then went to the door to open it for Dan, who will take us to the train station. Well, I guess you could say that that is where my "bad luck" started happening, with me getting the wrong key to open the door. Things just started going downhill from then on, though I think it was a part of God's plan to humble myself which is all very good and fine, thats what I've been praying for after all. Just, you know, its kind of like: "Why now Lord, cant it wait until Im actually in NYC and working?" On the way to the station, Dan decided to take a shortcut (no, we didn't get lost), and told us to start counting deer. Well, we found a total of 2o some deers on that backroad! It was amazing as one of them was even pregnant! As we reached the station, another bad news, Amtrack decided to delay the train for a whole 45 minutes, the train will now leave at 4:45am instead of the planned 4:00am. We are to be there 1 hour before departure. Actually, it wasn't that bad, the Lord used the time to prepare me with some fellowship with the fellow teens there. And you must understand, I am the introverted, not-talking and quiet type so this was kind of a little push for me. We started playing Apples to Apples which is a cool game but not my type, it's a little boring imho. The way you play is, someone from the group deals everyone 6 cards, and then picks one from a pile that contains words from "Suspicious" to "Dark". Everyone will pick a card from their own pile that they feel best describes the word and definition, the goal is to get the most "Word Cards" at the end of the game. It can be funny at times, just by everyone's choice of cards, but, to me, a little boring. Im not the word type. :P After an hour of that, we piled on the train and luck would have it that I would be at the very back with an old lady. It was alright, I didn't know that many people from my group anyway, and she was very nice. The train ride was delayed by seven hours all together, however, so instead of a 12 hour ride trip it became a 19 hour trip. Fun, fun, fun! The others told me that it was an experience that brought them closer, and many wanted me to move up there to them, but I refused. The little stubborn and shy buggard that I am. It was fun though, the train ride was. A little long, but alright. The lady told me how she never flies anymore because the last airplane she flew on got sucked into a tornado but managed to get out somehow. People were screaming and praying, and a soldier held her broken chair up all throughout the ride. She'd rather deal with Amtrak.

There's one thing that I learned from the trainride though, now that I look back and include my thoughts from the rest of the week as well. It is that God can use anything, anything at all, for His purpose. He used a 19 hour trip and brought the community closer, and made me think of all the things I am losing by staying in my comfort zone. He taught me that talking and being embarrassed is a lot, lot better than staying back and just looking on. That trainride was just the start of our adventure for the week, and what a ride it will be!


May God bless and guide you in His love forever and ever,
sc