Day One: Saturday - November 21, 2015

Today was the 2015 team's first day in New York City. After leaving the college early this morning, the team arrived in the city around 3:00pm and moved into the two apartments that have been loaned to us for the trip's duration. After settling in and eating dinner, we headed out to Grand Central Station for our first round of surveying and split into mini-teams from there.

P.C. Elaina Kimpel

Team Highs and Lows

Hunter's low was cleaning greasy dishes, but we appreciate him for it! There was a cool interaction with a homeless man that his group surveyed, who appreciated being approached and said that he was thankful for the freedom to talk with the team.

Tim's team was able to spend an hour talking to one of the men that they surveyed, who had a lot of really interesting insights about his own philosophy on life. Their group had the chance to talk through the gospel and the way that it effects a person's life with him.

Kaitlin, who is on the trip for her second year, was very encouraged today that surveying the second time around was a lot easier than it was for her last year, but she did not love getting up so early this morning to leave the college.

When Arthur, Katie, and Rachael got Starbucks, they were very encouraged that the cashier was very friendly, which you don't see terribly often in New York. He also spelled Rachael's name correctly, which was a win for everyone.

Katie was discouraged that a lot of people we surveyed didn't identify with any particular religion, which made it difficult to have longer conversations. On the other hand, her group talked to one person who was very enthusiastic about getting to know them and answering the survey questions, which was a huge blessing.

James' low is that he forgot his team sweatshirt at college, but he's loved watching the team interact with each other and with all of the people we work with and survey.

Kira's high was walking back from surveying and past the Richard Rodgers theater where Hamilton is playing, and being struck by the juxtaposition of her passion for bringing Christ back onto Broadway and the work that we are doing in New York City this week.

Julie, Tim, and James surveyed at Grand Central Station.
Hunter, Kaitlin, and Elaina surveyed at Grand Central Station and on their way back to the apartment.
Jackson, Kira, and Daniel surveyed at Bryant Park and walked to the Empire State Building.
Arthur, Katie, and Rachael surveyed at Grand Central Station and walked through Times Square.