Serious New York Overload

Ok, so I didn't blog yesterday. But I have a good excuse. I'm on serious New York overload. We have been NONSTOP since Sunday.

Yesterday was a good day. God worked some good things out for us and then let some things fall threw just because he can do that.

We started off yesterday, well a small group started off yesterday, with an early ministry at St. Paul's mission for the homeless. A couple of people sang and my Dad spoke/delivered the Word and then they served breakfast and cleaned up the place.

At around 9:30, those who didn't go to St. Paul's met them in Chinatown to walk around and sight-see. It was very interesting. Kumar (our tour guide) warned us of all the shady business that goes on there so we could really be on our toes. He told us that many of the people that are selling purses on the street with just a sheet of paper usually take people up in an abandoned building to sell the purses to you and you know, no good can come from an abandoned building.

From there, around 11:30, we headed over to the Bowery Mission which was probably the highlight of my day. We walked all the way through Chinatown to the mission. As soon as we got to the mission we rehearsed a few songs and then prayed over the pews that were in the little chapel where the service would be held.

I'm telling you right now, God was madly apparent in that place. The choir rocked the place Sister Act-style, coming of the street after hearing the music from outside. Then my sweet Daddy brought it with the scripture and there's no doubt in my eyes that some lives were touched.

Next, we booked it to Union Square for our next concert. We arrived a little early so most of us went to Whole Foods to get something to eat. This was a huge Whole Foods with so many options you could ever think of.

Things kind of fell through after we stood around Union Square for two hours waiting for things to get set up. The power wasn't working really well and there were so many complications, we ended up canceling the concert and going back to the hotel. Several people approached us and asked if we were going to perform and we had to tell them that we had to cancel. However, we told them we'd be performing in Battery Park on Wednesday and they said that they would definitely try to make it. So that was encouraging.

For dinner, we went to Ellen's Stardust Diner for the birthday of a lady in the group. It's 50's-style diner staffed by aspiring Broadway talent and the sing and dance while serving. It's amazing. They also do a special song for your birthday (besides Happy Birthday), and so we just knew this was the place to go. So nine of us ladies headed, with Kumar guiding the way. The food was delish and the entertainment even better.

After we were done there, we walked a bit downtown to Rockefeller Center. We passed Radio City, David Letterman, NBC Studios, FoxNews and the Today Show. We ended up at a great restaurant for dessert: Junior's Cheesecake. It's like a New York version of Cheesecake Factory.

Today (Tuesday) was planned like this:

9:30 - 11:00 a.m. -- Ground Zero

11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. -- Fire Department Outreach

2 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. -- Free Time

6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. -- Concert at Harlem Bandshell

9 p.m. - 11 p.m. -- Tour of Empire State Building

Well, it didn't happen that way.

We woke up to rain so we ended up heading on over to Ground Zero but the FDNY outreach was out of the question because when it rains they have to close all the doors to the station and there is absolutely no access to the stations when that happens. Harlem was out too because there were no alternative indoor spots to sing. So we ended up having the whole afternoon to ourselves.

This was a wall on the way to Ground Zero that was made from images that had appeared in magazines and newspapers.

We also got to go to St. Paul's which is where the Ground Zero workers would come and sleep during clean up. It was really neat to see.

The cross in the picture was actually found in the rubble of the Twin Towers. Just like that. The piece of metal on it was found with it.

So after Ground Zero and St. Paul's, my parents, Kumar and I went down to Grand Central and ate lunch and then we decided to go to Central Park and to the Museum of Natural History (like, the one from Night at the Museum. Yeah, that one.). Well, when we actually got into the museum, we found out it would be an hour before we could actually walk around. So we decided to just go to Central Park and walk around.

Here's a little slideshow of our own little "Sunday In The Park With George". Except it was a Tuesday. And we were in the park with Kumar. Not George.

Central Park from Katie on Vimeo.

I think we spent about two or two and a half hours just walking around the park and taking pictures. And it was so much fun to just hang out with Kumar. He's just a great guy and has so much information. It's been really great getting to know that kid. Well, I say kid, he's 33.

Anyway, so we caught the bus back to the hotel and now we are resting up for the Empire State Building. The time has been moved up to 8 p.m. so I hopefully the rain will be gone by then.

Tomorrow is the last day of busyness. We go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island tomorrow morning and then we sing at Battery Park from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. The afternoon we have off until 7 p.m and then we get to see Wicked!