Interesting Week

Well it was a different week at Metro Ministries. One of Pastor Bill girls died. She had AIDS since she was born and was 14 when she died. We were all invited to attend the funeral, so I went. It is times like this that remind me why we do what we do. Sunday School is not just fun and games. It is life and death. Pastor Bill flew in Friday morning for the funeral and flew back out that afternoon. It was not the first funeral he has had to do for a child but you could tell it still affects him.

Friday was rainy so we did not have as many people as we did last week, but we still has 155 people. That is pretty good for a rain day.

Saturday we had a good bus ride. The kids were quiter than I have seen them this year.

Well I am ready for another fun filled week.
Bryan

God Is Good

Wow. It is before seven in the morning. I got up really early this morning to spend a couple of hours with the Lord. This is the first time He has really woke me up like that before, or at least its the first time I was willing to drag myself out of bed for it. Man, it's amazing what God can do in your heart if you let Him.

Basking in His Presence
Bryan

Mills Lane Ain't Got Nothing On Me

(Mills Lane is a boxing referee)

Had a fight outside my bus yesterday. Two 11-12 year old girls were arguing about something, so I wouldn't let them on the bus. Then one of their brothers bothered the other girl so she slapped him. Then his sister jumped on her and it took three of us to break it up and to pry her fingers from the other girls hair. Then on the bus their little brothers started fighting, to protect their sisters' honor or something like that. This kind of behavior boggles me. But when talking to the parents its no wonder why they think fighting is the only way to solve problems. Our bus captain told one of the moms about what had happened. She told her daughter that it was "all right" and they would go to her school and she could beat her up. We try to do the best we can for these kids but when they have God's truth for 1 or 2 hours a week and garbage the rest of the time it's difficult to see the truth.

But I had a good morning today. I helped in preschool kids church. On Sunday kids can only come to church if their parents come, so there are not the huge numbers of kids like we see on Saturday. We had about 10 four, five, and six year olds. I spent most of the time buddied up with Marcus. This kid is energy with legs. It was difficult to get him to do anything unless you were patient and talked to him directly. So he sat with me through the whole class. But he did very well during praise and worship. Except he broke a maraca because he was tapping them together. And he did start making up his own words to "Hear I am to Worship," But over all he did well.

Having a blast with the Lord
Bryan

260 WOW

We had so many kids at my site today. We had over 190 kids at John Adams houses and about 30 kids at Cauldwell houses. Plus a total of 40 parents at both sites, for a grand total of 260. God is so good. Each week we try to have a theme to attract more kids. This week was super hero week. We encouraged the kids to dress up like super heros and raffled off The Incredibles DVD. I believe that this was a huge draw. But it was really hard to control nearly 200 hundred kids on a sidewalk. I know its called Sidewalk Sunday School, but in reality it is usually held in a park or school basketball court. So please pray for favor for a new location. There is a park nearby and a school that will work, but we need permision for both. Anyway I am getting tired and it is time for bed. I just was so excited about what God is doing at John Adams that I just had to share it with you all.

Excited that the Lord is my Light
Bryan

Driving Adventures

I drove today for the first time in NYC. It went just fine. Although, I did see things we don't usually see in AZ. Delivery trucks double parked, pot hols galore, and TOll Booths. Well, later Bryan

Let's Try It Again

I'm going to try to post these pictures again.

This is me 25 feet up in the air.

Everybody in the dinig hall at the ropes course.

These are all the guys of the internship at a birthday party.

I posted this earlier but had to take it off because the website that was hosting it changed the name of the picture. This is us Blitzin the first weekend we were here. Blitzing is when you take a whole bunch of flyers and pass them out to everybody.

This is at a games workshop. I'm the one on the left.

Here a re a couple of pics of kids in preschool.

Aren't they PRECIOUS!!

Anyway, if you were hoping for a picture of me eating a fish, I was told it did not turn out. But I'll try to find another one.

Goodbye for now

Bryan

Something's Fishy

Yesterday I did something I had never done before. I swallowed a live goldfish. I was in the preschool sunday school and they were playing a game which involved grabbing goldfish with your hand and putting them in a jar. They decided that here should be a volunteer from each side to swallow their teams goldfish if their team lost. Unfortunately I was volunteered and my team lost. But, he didn't grab any goldfish, so they only made me eat one. Down the hatch. Someone said they got a good picture of it. I will post it as soon as he uploads his pictures. That will probably be tomorrow. SO other then my free seafood dinner I had a good week. I had about the same number of kids at my sidewalk site as I had last week, 165. It went really well. On Saturday I had a little lesson on submitting to authority. The staff member who is in charge of one of the buses I ride on Saturday was out of town. This wouldn't have been too much of a problem except that he didn't line up a replacement driver. So at the time we were supposed to go get our kids we didn't have anyone to drive the bus. So the director of transportation said since arrangements weren't properly made we wouldn't be able to pick up the route. This means that 60 kids waiting to be picked up would not get a ride to Sunday School. This really bothered me. But his concern was that he didn't want interns on a route if they couldn't control the kids and didn't know the route. Also, he doesn't have also of direct contact with interns so he has to assume that we all know nothing because he doesn't know us. He then came and talked to me and explained that one time they sent out an intern and they ended up in New Jersey. So he asked me if I thought I could handle the route. I explained that there were actually two interns on the bus and that we had directions for the route. He then asked again if we could handle the route, and I told him yes. He allowed us to take the route with another staff member driving. Because of this we left almost 40 minutes late, so we were told to pick up as many kids as we could and head back to the church at 4:00pm. We managed to pick up 45 kids and get back to the church kind of on time. We were the second to the last bus to come in. So this taught me patience and submission. I half considered jumping in a bus and driving the route myself, but of course that would have been criminal so I had to accept what the person in authority decided even if I didn't necessarily agree with it. That is not easy. I also realized how long somethings take to happen in a large busy organization. We told the transportation department at noon that we didn't have a bus driver, at 2:45pm we were supposed to leave, and at 3:25 it was finally resolved. Anyway it was a good learning experience.

Doing My Best to please HIM,
Bryan

Busy Busy Busy

Wow, it's been over a week since I've updated. I have so much to write, I don't know if I want to stay up and do it. But a stitch in time saves nine.

Thursday I did visitation at John Adams Houses. I was able to throw a football with a couple of 11 and 12 year old boys. They were actually impressed by the way I throw the ball. If you know me you know that nobody is usually impressed with my performance in sports related activities. This made me wonder if an adult male has ever taken the time to throw a football with them. It's amazing to me how easy it is for people to lack certain types of relationships in a city that is so large. This is why visitation is so important. it shows them that someone cares in a world where no one does.

On Friday we had 50 more kids this week than we had last week. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in John Adams Houses.

On Monday we went to a high ropes course in Connecticut. They have a thirty foot high "leap of faith" and a twenty-five foot high "Catwalk". The leap is basically a free jump with a rope and harness. The catwalk was a log suspended in the air. I was able to do both but the hard part was climbing up to them. We also had a low ropes course with trust fall, spider web,etc...

Tuesday was the official kickoff for the youth meetings this semester. There were about 400 teenagers in the auditorium. Pastor Bill Wilson was the guest speaker. I was amazed how much authority he commanded over these kids. He spoke about pottery. He illustrated the steps to make a pot.

1. Start with raw material
2. Mold it
3. Smooth the edges
4. GO through the fire

He talked about how if we want to become what God wants us to become we must be willing to let God change us, and we must survive trials. He also talked about the potter's field. It is basically a graveyard for pots that didn't make it. Either they were unwilling to be molded or they cracked in the fire. We are like clay in the potter's hand. We must be willing to be molded. And we must be withstand the fires in our life. Anyway it was powerful to see so many urban teens together in one place hearing the word of God.

Growing in Him
Bryan

Easter Happenings

So I survived the first week of Sidewalk Sunday School. On Friday we had 100 kids at my site. Which is really good considering it was the first week of the semester, and we come on a different day and time than last semester. It was also cold, and there was no school. So 100 wasn't bad at all considering. We also had several parents who came, and you never know who was listening from their apartments.

On Saturday we showed segments of The Passion in Indoor Sunday School. The kids were visibly touched by it. We even asked kids to come up for prayer, which doesn't usually happen when you have 1000 kids in a small area. I was in Big Class Two, also known as the overflow class. This class is used when they run out of room downstairs. So first session we had about 200 kids, second session we had about 60 kids and third session we didn't have a class, because it wasn't needed. Anyway, Saturday went really well.

On Sunday I was able to give Easter gifts to Ali and Niasia. These are the kids my mom and I sponsor through Metro's Won by One child sponsorship program. It went very well. I also helped with the Easter egg hunt at the Brooklyn Church. The had hundreds of eggs spread across the gym floor. They also had a live rabbit and live chicks for the kids to pet. It was a lot of fun. Many of the kids had never seen live farm animals before.

On Monday I was given a chance to go to the circus. A friend of one of the staff member's bought us all tickets. It was really pretty cool. Madison Square Garden is considered one of the premier spots to see The Ringley Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. About twenty of us went, it was fun.

Going Forward with Christ
Bryan

Sidewalk Is Better In The Snow

Well I experienced something yesterday that would never happen in Chandler. We did Sidewalk Sunday School in the SNOW!!!! We did about 5 very short sessions. We waited until we got five or ten kids then told a quick object lesson and quick salvation prayer. It was cold but fun. Sidewalk kicked off on Tuesday. We had one hundred and sixty kids. My site is tomorrow. I am very excited to see how many kids show up.

Keep going and going and going
Bryan

Mailing Adventures

Yes, even mailing a package in Bushwick is a little different than in AZ. Robberies are common in this area so the want to protect the mail clerks. In order to prevent someone from getting to a clerk with a weapon the have windows between the clerks and the customers, much like at a movie theater or court house. But people have to mail large packages too, So the have this chamber that you place you packages in. If the clerks side of the chamber is open you can't open your's. But when it's closed and your's is open you can't reach through and open the other side. This is done by a bar that prevents the other door from sliding up while on is open. Anyway, always something new in Brooklyn.

Trying to figure it out, Bryan

Bus Adventures

Today I rode the buses for Saturday Sunday School. The contrast between the two buses I rode was amazing. In the morning I rode with a volunteer co-captain who only had about twenty-five kids on her bus. The bus I rode on the third session was much different. We were in East New York, which is one of the neighborhoods that has historically had difficult children. We had 68 kids on the bus. Carlos was the bus captain and our driver. I was the only other adult on the bus so it was basically me and a couple of well meaning but poorly qualified teenage volunteers trying to control the bus. Unfortunately the teenagers caused more problems than they solved. But everyone made it home safe and I survived, maybe it will be better next week. I am assigned to teach in the classroom known as Big Class 2. This class is used as an overflow for the 7 to 12 year old class. This week, however, we did not have enough kids to use the overflow so I hung out in Big Class 1, which is the main class where Pastor Bill leads he's here. This week they talked about not getting discouraged. It was a good lesson, and seemed to get the kids' attention.

Well thats all for now.
Not getting discouraged, not quiting
Bryan

John Adams Houses

I went on visitation for the first time today. What a different culture these kids live in. John Adams Houses are six 21 story buildings siting on less then 10 acres, housing over 2,300 people. While there I saw a stairwell with soot all over it from a fire two weeks ago, a boy trying to get his dog out side to pee (He didn't make it), another girl had a cockroach on her shoulder that I brushed off for her, and of course lots of kids that need to here the gospel.

Pray for John Adams Houses. That God will move amongst the people. That I will have divine ideas on how to visit all these buildings plus smaller houses outside the projects in just under three hours. That we will find a knew place to do Sunday school. Currently we plan to have it directly on a sidewalk, but we only have room for maybe 100 kids. We need to get permission to use one of two nearby basketball courts in order to have room for the 200-300 kids I know God can bring. That God will give me wisdom and safety as I visit.

Serving Him no matter what it costs, Bryan

P.S. In case you were wondering about the dog: Yes, he peed in the stairwell. No his boy did not clean it up.

South Bronx Here I Come

We found out yesterday what Sidewalk Sunday School divisions we will be in. I will be in division number nine, in the South Bronx. We only have three staff members (Tamara, Jenn, Al) and two interns (ME and Sabine) which makes us the least populated division. But Leo (the director of Sidewalk Sunday school) said I count for three people. So being that our group is small I will have my own site. So pray for my as I take this bold adventure. The south Bronx is a lot different than Chandler, AZ. Also I may be taking another adventure in the next couple of weeks, driving in New York City. Honestly I am probably more nervous about driving than I am visiting projects by myself. But I am looking forward to both opportunities to expand my experiences. Given God All I Got Bryan

Lambs In Leadership

This weekend the Metro staff and interns went through the semi annual Staff retreat.

This semester's theme was "Lambs in Leadership". The theme is derived from Luke 10 when Jesus sends ot the seventy and tells them they will be as "lambs among wolves".

The general idea is that although we are called to be leaders we are still lambs. It is important to balance the two.

One thing God showed me through this retreat was that it's not about me. I don't need notoriety or fame because I'm not doing it for me. Every time I get on that stage or give a kid a hug it is only by the grace of God and it is Him that the kids are glad to see. Nothing I have is good enough, but through God's strength ordinary people can do extraodinary things. Even Paul when he was at the end of his ministry said he had not obtained the prize. If the man who evangelized two continents in a time when the fastest transportation was a donkey and wrote most of the New Testament, didn't feel that he had accomplished everything God had for him: Then I have just barley scratched the service.

One thing Pastor Bill Wilson said this weekend (paraphrase) was if you are satisfied with what you are doing you might as well pack up and go back to wherever you came from because you have become ineffective as a minister. We must always be pressing on toward the prize and we must understand that the prize will not be revealed in our life. In other words, it's like a timed race when you don't know how well the other racers have done or will do when it's your turn. So you have to give it all you got until the end. If we can do that then we are doing what God wants.

Yes, it's snowing here in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, there aren't any hills to sled on. In fact, the snow that doesn't melt immediately because of the steam coming from the under ground, gets very dirty very fast. Central Park has a few patches of white snow, but only in the areas they don't allow people to walk. Any way got to love New York. Yesterday we went on a scavenger hunt through the city. We had clues like find the concrete garden (Madison Square Garden) and take a picture with the tallest pedestrian. Note: Madison Square Garden is where the New York Nicks play. Our team however was less competitive then I would have liked and we stopped and had lunch after the second clue. Oh well, it's just a game, but those of you who know me know I hate to lose. Maybe it was God's way of teaching me patience and humility. We came in fourth out of five. Actually, because of our extended pit stop, we didn't make it to the last clue. But another team quit all together after not being able to figure out the fourth clue. It was fun anyway. Can't wait till we get to do some ministering, but that's still two weeks away. Serving Him with all I have, BSS

New York New York

Spent a few hours in Manhattan yesterday. The goal was to walk through the city and then take a stroll through Central Park. However, one of the young ladies I was with was quite a fashonista and wanted to stop at every high end store she saw, Coach, Armani, Sofirah, Bannana Republic. But I did get to go into my favorite Fifth Ave store, The World of Disney. Anyway we did make it to Central Park eventually, Took a quick stroll and went to the train. One interesting thing about New York is that not very many places have public bathrooms. So if you got to go you need to find either a Starbucks or a McDonald's. This usually isn't to much of a problem though because there are approximately 4 McD's and 10 Starbucks in every square mile in Manhattan. That means over 200 Starbucks on an island that is 13 miles long and no more than 2 miles wide at its widest. Any way we had a good time, but I can't wait until the real training begins on Tuesday.

Hanging Out

Not doining too much today. Most of the interns are still arriving so we're pretty much on our own, but we can't leave the building unless we are in groups of at least three or more. Went shopping this morning. One of the girls is from San Diego and didn't have any warm clothes. So she needed to find some. It has been in the twenties and thirties. It is supposed to snow this weekend BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. It's a little much for this desert dawg. Found some boots for 15 dollars, and an alarm clock. They should help me through this adventure.

Here In The Big Apple

Ok I'm in New York now. Flew in early this morning. I'm only the second intern to arrive here so I got first dibs on bed, comforter, pillow, storage areas, etc. I flew in a day early on purpose, I'm no fool. The gentlemen are on the third floor, so I will be getting plenty of exercise during the next four months. I will be sharing my room with thirteen other guys from all over the world. There are also 28 ladies with us in the building, although they stay on a different floor of course. There are four continents represented in the interns this semester, including the countries of germany, Switzerland, U.K., France, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Canada, and the USA. I will be meeting these people in the next couple of days. A few come in tonight but must come in tomorrow and a few more on Saturday. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and can't wait to see what God has in store.

Ready for a New Adventure

(by Bryan)

For those of you that don't know, I'm am about to embark on a new and exciting adventure. I am moving to New York City for the next four months. I will be participating in Metro Ministries International's Internship program. This is a six day a week whatever it takes program in one of the largest cities in the world. Metro Ministries was founded by Pastor Bill Wilson in 1980. For twenty-five years Metro has been delivering the gospel to inner city kids through bus ministry and sidewalk Sunday School. For more info on this ministry visit www.metroministries.com I will update this journal as often as possible, which will probably be once a week on mondays, which is our day off. But I will update more often if I have more time. Good bye for now.