New York City Mission Trip 2017 {Part 4}

Days 3 through 5 followed much of the same pattern of activity and ministry 

opportunities for our mission trip in New York City!

Each morning we began the day with two training sessions by veteran

missionaries there on the field of NYC!

We learned techniques for subway ministry,

 ministering to the Spanish community,

the challenges of pastoring a multi-ethnic church,

 the challenges of Bible translation work in other cultures,

 understanding Jewish culture

and how to share Christ with them.

After the morning sessions, we split up into our teams and traveled

to our area of ministry and to have lunch together as a team.

The afternoons were spent in various ministries on the streets of New York, 

followed by dinner either at one of the church's that we were participating with,

or at our hotel.

Each evening was filled with another challenge from God's Word,

and finally some time to rest up for the next day!!

At the very beginning of our preparation for this trip,

 our leader challenged us to begin praying for an opportunity to lead

 at one person to Christ while we were in New York City.

This became the goal, the purpose of each of us as we prepared and traveled.

I was praying to lead at least one child to Jesus because I know that if you reach

a child, the chances are high that you'll reach an entire family for Christ.

Every day each of us were looking specifically for "our one."

But by Wednesday, many of us, including myself, did not get that chance.

Simply by the nature of the type of ministry we were chosen to participate in each day,

there was not a minute to engage anyone who was lost.

One afternoon, my team and I were up on a platform of a subway train where

the missionary had a few moments between each train

 to share a Gospel object lesson

and give his audience an opportunity to take a Bible booklet with them

 before jumping on their train.

Then we as team members would distribute Gospel tracks to the hundreds

 of people either getting on or off the train.

We had literally minutes to pass out as many as we could

 before the platform was empty

and we would start all over again as the time approached for the next train.

I referred to that afternoon as "speed planting!"

People had plans for their day, a mission to reach, and most did not have time

to stop and chat.

Pastor Dan Shafer of All Nations Baptist Church of Woodhaven

Evangelist David Tinsley

By the end of Wednesday evenings prayer service, several of our teens were

simply broken-hearted that they would most likely go home without

having lead a single lost soul to Jesus.

But then we were reminded that that is often real-life on the mission field.

Some missionaries go months and months without any fruit at all!!

Lots of prayer.

Lots of pouring themselves into reaching people, and nothing.

Lots of locals taking advantage of the good works of said missionaries

with no intention of accepting the life-changing work of Jesus into their lives.

Missionary work is not easy.

It's not always as fruitful as we would like to think.

But Christ did not call us to do all the converting ourselves.

We are simply called to go and tell others the way.

A delicious Thai meal!

Pastor John Gibson of Shalom Baptist Church in Queens 

Evangelist David Tinsley

Pastor Humberto "Tito" Martinez of Iglesia Bautista de La Fe in Corona

Can you see the Empire State Building in the distance?

Dr. Ken Fielder, Director of World View Ministries

Missionary Justin Levine to the people of Nepal and Tibet

Dr. Bill and Marcy Patterson and their daughter Trisha.  

Director of Mt. Abarim Baptist Mission International and

Our Fearless Leader!

An amazing lunch of Tibetan Mo-mo's and Chicken Chow Mein!

Goat head's for sale in a local grocery store.

On Wednesday evening,

we also said goodbye to so many friends who we would not be seeing

again until next year.

Another real-life experience of missionaries!!

New York City Mission Trip 2017 {Part 3}

 Our first full day in New York City dawned bright and clear!

I had forgotten how early the sun comes up on the East Coast.
The mornings are earlier (5:30) and the evenings linger longer (9:30)
giving summer days a delicious length that's energizing and lovely!

But it always takes me about 24 hours to adjust to all that energy!!

Our team was out of our hotel by 8 am so we could catch a train or two

for the hour trip to Iglesia Bautista de la Fe!
This beautiful Spanish ministry is led by Pastor Humberto "Tito" Martinez

and what a great work he is doing there among the Puerto Ricans, Dominicans,

 Ecuadorians and other Spanish groups in that area of Corona, NYC!
What an experience to sit through a Sunday School and morning worship
that was entirely done in Spanish!
Our team sang through a beautiful arrangement of "Be Thou Exalted"
in both English and Spanish which was a blessing for all of us!

What a terrific example of life on the mission field

 for missionaries who have not yet mastered the language of the people

 to whom they have been led to minister to.

Attending church is the highlight of my week where I am encouraged and fed

by the preaching of God's Word and through the beautiful music that prepares

our hearts to be receptive to the preaching!
But what a challenge when you can't understand anything!!

Especially when you feel a little out-of-place culturally.
How difficult for the children of the missionaries to be excited

about going to church as well!

I was challenged to pray for our missionaries and to remember that

being spiritually refreshed and encouraged may not happen for them at church!

 

After church services were over, tables were moved in to the main

gathering room and this delicious "snack" was shared by everyone.

The Pastor shared with me the story behind this amazing cross

 set up in the corner of the church. 

 It had been hand made and stained by a deaf man in another state

and brought here and assembled for this Pastor.

After about 30 minutes of fellowshipping with the Spanish church members,
they left to go on to a meeting about VBS or something,
and this amazing Dominican food was brought in for our team's lunch!

This Dominican Fried Chicken was absolutely delicious.  I couldn't get enough.

Think popcorn chicken only better.  

I found a copycat recipe here!!

Beef!! This dish was a taste sensation as well!!
Notice the little green olives!
Here is a copycat recipe!

Pork!!
Check out how to make this delicious dish here.

Pastor Tito Martinez (far left) with Dr. Bill and Marcy Patterson, Linda Fielder,

and Cynde and Tim Matthews.
Our amazing team leaders!!

What a blessing to meet this Spanish Pastor and the beautifully, warm people

of his congregation!!

Some amazing sights as we traveled to another church for the evening.

That evening we enjoyed New York style pizza and an amazing movie called
"Ee-Taow:  The Mouk Story."
You can watch that here!
What an incredible story of the dramatic conversion of an entire tribe 

of natives in Papau New Guinea through the faithful teaching of an American missionary.
We were later challenged by the testimony of God's leading in the life

of a missionary there in NYC that we worked with last year,
and finally a wonderful message by the Pastor of Shalom Baptist Church,

Pastor John Gibson.

Pastor Josh Byrd
{Formerly the pastor of Redeeming Grace Baptist Church in Brooklyn}

Such a full day, but so full of blessings and challenges to think

about real life as a missionary foreign or domestic!!
God is good!

New York City Mission Trip 2017 {Part 2}

Whenever you are convinced that God is leading you to do something for Him,

be prepared for the Devil to oppose it.

And the Devil was in high gear trying to cause confusion and discouragement

with this trip!!

It seemed like every week leading up to this day,

there was a new challenge to work through.

From difficulty in raising finances, to an unexpected physical issue

 in one of our leaders requiring surgery

 and rest at home the entire week of camp training, 

to spiritual battle in the lives of teenagers during the week of camp training.

So, it really was no surprise that on the morning of our flight out of DFW

that it was raining.  

Let me rephrase that......pouring!

As in monsoon type rain.

Akin to driving under a waterfall.

All the way to the airport.

But we made it through security without difficulty and our flight was seamless!!

{Picture courtesy Mrs. Cynde Matthews}

As I learned last year, everything moves at warp speed in New York City,

so I did not get many pictures between landing, traveling by shuttle to our hotel,

and dinner.

 We did learn an important lesson at the airport though.

Always check your bag tag when you grab your luggage from baggage claim.

Chances are you are not the only one with the exact same luggage design.
By the time one of our teenagers found that she grabbed someone else's bag,

the other people had already left the airport with her bag!

They were not happy about the switch and it took until the next

morning for our girl to get her suitcase.

 Thank the Lord, it arrived at our hotel just in time for her to get ready

for our first church service there in New York!

And isn't that just how our Heavenly Father works?
He always meets our needs (not necessarily our wants) right on time.

I was simply craving this delicious Peruvian food that we were served for dinner

 and it did not disappoint!!

An absolute taste sensation!!

Rotisserie chicken with Peruvian Aji Sauce
Rice with more Aji sauce

Fried Plaintains

Salad

New York City Mission Trip 2017 {Part 1}

Since January, Ashlyn has been looking forward to returning to

New York City for her second missions trip.
She worked really hard to earn her money and we prayed in

what was needed for me to go with her!

Last summer was our first experience with the MIT (missionaries-in-training)

program, and it was, very simply, life-changing.

To read about that, click here.

It changed my perspective on what a 21st century missionary experiences

on a daily basis.

It challenged me to pray more for our friends who are missionaries in difficult places.

It challenged me to think that any place is a difficult place when your job

is sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others.

That's not a popular message. 

It's not easy to sit, week-after-week, in long church services where you

have no idea what is being said.
And next month, you still can't completely follow along.

It challenged me to consider learning another language

so I can be ready to communicate with someone outside of 

my own culture for at least once in my life.
It challenged me to think how narrowly I live.

Is that even Biblical?

It challenged me to think wherein my identity lies?

Outside of my identity in Christ.

Does it lie in my language?

My religion?

My race?

My family?

My material belongings?

This program is a two-week journey, and it always starts with a week of teen camp

in collaboration with Southland Christian Camp in Ringgold, LA.
Because of child care logistics those two weeks, Ashlyn went to teen camp

for training sessions on missionary work and its challenges,

and then I joined her for the second week in New York City.
Now that she is 17, she can manage her Type 1 Diabetes much better at camp

than in years earlier, and it has been amazing to watch

her grow in that area of her life!!