I Left My Heart in New York City

New York flew by so fast! I feel like I blinked and we were back! Well here's a recap for you all with photos included. Enjoy!

Started off the trip by watching the team leave a day before me as I stood in a wedding.

Monica and I stayed behind and made sure Laurie was all good and married and then we peaced out and hopped on a plane to New York to meet up with the team.

We were pretty excited when we got there.

This was the view from our hotel.

The first morning we got to go check out Hillsong NYC for a Sunday service. It was pretty legit.

Hillsong NYC meets in theaters and while one service is going people line up outside the door and wrap around the building to wait to get in the next service.

Then we spent the rest of that day and the next day checking out New York and shopping.

I found the biggest Barnes and Noble I've ever seen in my life. 4 Storys!

 Of course we hit up Times Square

It was pretty crazy how many people were there just hanging out.

The next day we hopped on a ferry to go see Lady Liberty and visit Ellis Island. (you can't take knives or tasers on those btw in case you were wondering)

It was funny to see all the things in New York that you see in movies and feel like you're reliving hundreds of movies. They're really there!

We went to the 9/11 Memorial. (Which you also cannot take knives or tasers in btw)

They have these big pools where the twin towers used to be and the names of the people that died are engraved on the outside of them.

The new buildings they're building to replace them are going to be pretty aweseome

One of the most awesome things about this trip was getting to see my long lost friend Jil Smith. We have known each other since we were probably 6 years old. Our parents have been best friends since then and used to lead worship together at our church. I go waaaaaaay back with this girl and hadn't seen her since I graduated highschool with her 4 years ago. She's in New York interning with a fashion designer and doing awesome things with her life. I was so encouraged after getting to talk to her for even just the hour and half that we did.

After 2 full days of sight seeing and shopping I was very ready to get to work. We got to Metro and got settled in and everything and then they took us out on a prayer walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. It was really cool. The city is so pretty at night.

The next day we hit the ground running. We, along with a couple other teams that were there to work with Metro too, toured the facility that Metro has and heard all about what they do and then it was time to go out and invite people to the carnival we would have the next day. We walked up and down streets going door to door and talking to people, inviting them to the carnival. It was really cool to see the reputation that Metro has there with all the people that recognized the ministry by the tshirts we wore and would yell down the street "Yogi bear Sunday school! I went to that when I was a kid!"

One night we had a change of plan and decided to have our own church service. I got to lead worship. My fav:)

The carnival was a huge success.

 I taught the kids how to play Ninja.

We had a pretty great team.

We also got to do some street evangelism that was very cool. It was incredibly intimidating at first but got to have some really cool conversations.

By far the best part of this trip for me was getting to meet and hang out with some of the staff at Metro. They are incredible women and God is using them in incredible ways. I was so blessed to get to know them and I can't wait to see them again.

I've never been very sad to leave when a missions trip is over. Not that I'm sick of being there but usually by the end of a trip I'm ready to go home.

I was not ready to go home this time. I would have totally stayed if I could have. But goodbyes had to be said and we had to leave so we got in our 15 passenger vans and started the long trek back to Arkansas.

I got to drive one of the vans for some of the trip back. I was so excited. We made it back to Arkansas safe and sound, but I think I left my heart in New York City.

Trucks and Fences and Pianos, Oh My!

Wow! What a week it has been! 

First of all, I've been getting to drive this baby all week! I told Grandpa that he might not get his truck back after this.

Uncle Steve and his crew came in town for the weekend. I helped him build Grandma a fence. It went something like this:

And just like that it was done! (lots of sweat, a day and a half, and a couple of sunburns later) 


In honor of extra family being in town we had a cookout and then us girls played cards. Gotta get some practice in for the reunion! Danielle and I will dominate. 

Sunday we had church in the living room. My family is full of preachers.

After church I took a trip to Starkville to spend some quality time with my good friends Danielle, Ben, Jerry, and Shrek and enjoyed my first mountain dew in a month!

And then it was time to get back to work. 
 

I took all the keys off all the pianos and knocked the lead out of each one and took the pin out. 

Very tedious and time consuming but worked out well as a project to do inside in the afternoons when it was stupid hot in the warehouse. 

My least favorite part of this whole process is taking the strings and pins out. That's a lot of strings. And a lot of pins. 

 Did the first one completely by my own strength and a little wrench thing and it took me almost all day...Then we decided that was dumb and we got some reinforcements. 
 DeWalt and I quickly became friends.

I managed to do all of them with very few casualties although, sometimes strings pop .

We are only going to be able to get half of them done while I'm here this time so we moved the 4 finished ones to the door to be picked up. (that's right, grandma and I moved 4 pianos, we are pretty hardcore)

 Look at all the space we have now!

 I bet my Grandma has more tools than your Grandma.

By far my favorite part of being here has been getting to hang out with my Grandma and see where certain character traits and quirks of mine come from and why I am the way that I am.

She never seems to come across something she can't move or a screw she can't unscrew (even if I couldn't get it loose) or a project that she can't accomplish. If she sees something that needs to be done, she does it. She doesn't ask anyone else to do. 


"It's pretty amazing the things you can accomplish with a sledge hammer!" -Grandma







We've had a blast. I've learned so much from this woman in just a week and a half.











If I live to be 75 years old, I hope I'm even half as awesome as her.