The Epiptó̱seis, some final thoughts regarding RestoreNYC

My journey with Restore NYC began on June 17, 2013 but will dwell within me throughout my journey home to Texas, and where I’m called to next. In Titus 3:14 the lord says to devote time in works that will be productive in urgent needs, and that is exactly how the staff regards their careers. Interning with them was not just a time for experience; it gave me time for growth as well. The volunteer like experiences at the safehomes did not just leave a one way beneficial relationship for the survivors, I prospered from them also. 

During the adventure to the Natural History Museum with the girls, we ate outside for some fresh air. They were joking and laughing and we were all having a grand time. There was a man asleep, who was outwardly homeless. As we got up to enter back into the building I stepped back and gave the man a resource card (part of the feed 500 program Jonathan Walton revealed to us) and food. I did not think much of it, until I saw one of the girls mimic genuine kindness to a stranger. After our adventure throughout the museum we hit the MTA transit. The girls were sitting down when an elderly disabled woman enters the subway. One of them looks at her stands up and says "Here have a seat" and looks over to myself sending a smile. I told her she was very thoughtful and she responded with how I was nice to the homeless man. That was straight up God in pure form.

The girls and I were making bracelets one day and one of them taught me a different method of doing so. She communicated to myself through action verses English words in which she did not know. A different day, I was sitting in the kitchen and one of them was preparing food singing and creating a wonderful aroma. When I was consumed with my work on the computer the girl came by with some guacamole and pushed the bowl towards me, offering me something she had made by motion. Within the same day the girl and I painted each other’s nails. Throughout these experiences they taught me how to speak through action because, that is our universal language. Even though I didn’t speak their native language, they still attempted to communicate with me, when I had no idea how.

The first time at the safehomes I went in not knowing what God had sent me into, but I knew he sent me. The houses are not only a houses they are a homes. The atmosphere is extremely welcoming and I could truly feel the presence of the Lord. The girls within the home do not even speak the same language but are in unison. Developing a relationship with the girls was the most profound impact. Spending time cooking, watching movies, shopping, creative arts dancing, and making bracelets were all truly joyful. The laughter and smiles upon their face display that God reveals beauty from the once broken or within the currently broken. When the girls would share about their life back home with me, I felt truly blessed to listen to their experiences. The fact that they felt comfortable enough with me to share, was extremely flattering. Not every moment was easy, there were language barriers, and sometimes unfortunate moods, but I never felt uncomfortable or helpless in those situations. God granted me comfort, peace, and the knowledge to work with what he sent me into. He never sends me unprepared for what he has prepared me for. I can genuinely say I’m going to miss these girls. With that being said, I know they ultimately belong to the Lord and I trust them in his care (Ps. 125:1)!


I cannot be more thankful for this internship, in which has provided me with more confidence, experience, and growth to run after what God has called me to do; an invitation to restore justice in his name.

Does God Hold His Nose When He Gets Close to Us?

I'm down in the tunnel sweating along with the others in NYCUP, waiting for the train to arrive. I hear the rushing screeching attempts to stop as the bring light comes shooting down the tracks, and a gust of hot metal radiates through the air.  The train stops. Air conditioning. Finally. A relief from the heat, we enter a subway cart that was nearly empty.

Along the ride I chatted with my fellow interns, just going about my business, and dozing in and out of sleepiness, for I lacked on waking up in time for a good non-rushed cup of hot coffee, as normal. My hand began to reach to clench my nose. An unpleasant smell had rushed up my nostrils and filled the space around. I looked around. A woman sat lonely and isolated at the end of the cart. Jonathan approached her with a friendly smile and helpful resources, out of his love for Christ.

The subway came to a stop and we crowded around J Wal to hear his prophetic rhetoric. "Does God hold his nose when he gets close?" A statement I personally will never forget.

Helping homeless people, kids with disabilities, and working with people in general is always okay when it's comfortable correct? Justice is not always comfortable. That is pure truth. Have I been put in uncomfortable situations and encounters since I've been here? Of course. But when it comes down to being extremely uncomfortable, I hold my nose. 

Is that the love of God?
No.
Of course not.

Just because something is uncomfortable to me for the slightest moment in my tiny little puzzle piece moment of GODS big plan, I cut off contact from it so I can remain at homeostasis.

Convicted.

So convicted.

Joy.

Peace.

Love.

and

Forgiveness.

Is granted by the savior himself, as he has revealed a situation I could only imagine remaining in filth and guilt has turned to beauty and learning experience.

I sit here and realize that I am just as filthy and if not worse smelling in my spirit than that woman who sat isolated on the bus.

All my sin.

My lies.

My hurtful truths.

My lack of discipline

In spite of all of this God never holds his nose and is always close to me.

New York Expericences Are Continuously Capturing My Heart

(Fellow interns /friendies from NYCUP )

[Beauty of the Broken]
I have never witnessed more of Gods beauty than in these beautiful survivors of Human Trafficking eyes. Within this past week I have had the blessing of spending quality time with one lovely lady from the safe house in particular. Honestly she is the one I have been praying to open up the most, and she definitely has. This girl is so beautiful and is so sweet, as they all are. We had time to do a little browsing through K-Mart and my favorite... thrift shopping! She told me a little bit about her home town and cooked me authentic food!

Also, this week both of the safehomes that Restore NYC operates, came together for the first time for a outing to the Natural History Museum! We had an absolute blast! I truly believe events in group settings every once in a while is very character building for the women. Just to be out of the house is a wonderful time for them.

So many of you may know, God has called me to study Art Therapy in college, so I decided to work on getting some donations set up for the girls to receive art supplies. From the sounds of it, looks like we will be very successful in that department ! (Thanks Jonathan!)
----> clench to my [❤]


[Broke down in tears at church this past Sunday.]
Many of you have heard of the story in the bible regarding the widow who is to be stoned. That story had a major impact on me during the message at New Life Fellowship Church in Queens this past Sunday.
I would say many people in society read this story, and think of themselves as the woman getting stoned vs the ones throwing the stones.
Take a step back and think a little outside of the box and reconsider the situation.
Everyone goes through situations in which they have to forgive people.
Forgiveness is a process for sure, but how many stones have you personally been holding onto ?
Bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, and hate get pretty heavy after a while of carrying them around.
I personally realized I've been carrying (or dribbling you could say) a stone of bitterness against a family member for quite some time now.
This is when I broke down and tears fell...
Not because I couldn't drop the stone
Not for the anger because I felt the bitterness is justifies
Not because I felt guilty

But for the pure joy of realizing God wants to take that stone off my hands.
 --->clench to my [❤]


[Generosity of strangers]
 ---> clench to the [❤]

[Crazy love by  Francis Chan]
Seriously go read this book if you haven't read it. Its absolutely breath grabbing truth.
Throughout this book I became convicted of feeling Lukewarm. Chp 4.
Read it and you will understand why I felt that way.
---> clench to the [❤]
 

[Intricate details of every single building]
 ---> clench to the [❤]

[The process of LOGOFF developing]
When ever I first went to NYCUP Spring Break Plunge 2013 I was introduced to this thing called LOGOFF which is an acronym for Local, Green, Organic, Fair Trade, and Free (slave free).

Have any of you, who do not feel particularly called to work with the poor or the oppressed wonder about how you could help make a difference just by going about your daily tasks? Or even those of you who are called to serve.

LOGOFF is here to help answer on this matter.
First off all LOGOFF online website will be published by this coming fall (I believe)
2ndly are you a consumer?
Statistics show you are!
We all buy clothes, food, and other various products.
Have you ever really thought about where they come from?
If you buy bananas chances are they are coming from Ecuador, and you as a consumer connected with those workers in the process of growing to shipping to in hand bought at the grocery store.
P+I=E  Poverty+Isolation=Exploitation.
This is a chance to connect with others positively around the world.

If we all do our part in consuming LOGOFF goods we can literally make the world a better place from our normal everyday lives.
"That's  too expensive" "I don't know where to find LOGOFF products"  you say..
WELL GUESS WHAT!?
THIS IS WHY IM SUPER STOKED LOGOFF IS DEVELOPING

The website that will be published will be there to help you with all of this, and will explain everything a lot better than I just did! haha
There might even be a phone app.....:)
STAY TUNED! LOGOFF IS GOING TO BE HUGE YOU GUYS!
 ---> clench to the [❤]

[Process of my thoughts being challenged to change radically]
---> clench to the [❤]

LOVE YOU ALL !

XOXO -MANDA

Many of the Firsts :)

Within these past five days, I have had many new firsts!!

• Watched the movie "Rising Girls"
• Visited a K-Mart
• First Visit to the Safehouse!!! :)
• Dinner Date with friends from Texas (Shout out to the Carignans)
• Night out in the city with the group
• Shake Shack! Just...Yes :)
• Laundry in the City
• Attempt to finish the book "Girls like Us" //I highly recommend this//

The movie Rising Girls was a highly satisfying documentary like film, with a movie like feel. Also, the information is elementary age appropriate as well as mind quenching for the aged human being. Various aspects and stories from women in numerous countries are revealed, and how they became "Rising Girls". I don't want to be that *spoiler alert* gal, so no more details shall be shared, GO WATCH IT!
P.S. Wadley is so Adorable.

I didn't want to be the tiny tiniest bit late for an event I needed to attend... so I arrived an hour early sort of by accident. *oops* Anywhoo, since I had some time on my hands I visited a K-Mart! I see the commercials on TV back home for this store, but never actually was in the location to visit one. Let me tell you... ITS FREAKING COOL... well actually it was just really conveniently placed because I really needed to buy socks for my flats... walking around in the city has really revealed how woosey my feet are. Seriously though, DFW lets protest to get K-Marts when I come home! (that sell fair trade LOGOFF products of course) ;)

My first day at the safe home was a blast! For those of you who do not know what a safehome is, here is a brief description: a location in which victims of trauma (in the case of this missionary internship they are survivors of human sex trafficking) can have a safe place to stay, restore, and rebuild their life. I will admit I was a bit nervous to converse with such, what I personally viewed as fragile beings, but they are just like any other girl. They like to be pampered, they love the beach, they like to go on bike rides and walks. All the while there is a slight verbal barrier, this will only strengthen my desire to fluently learn a 2nd language even more so. It's really inspiring to see people of multi-cultures combine as a unified support system to rebuild each other under one roof. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to converse with these ladies, whether it be through verbal sound or actions. Also it is not just a one sided impact, as much as I am there to help them during their restoration period, they are having a significant impression on my own journey of growth  as well. No one is ever fully out of construction, until we reach the BIG G, and even then we might be forever learning. So on that first day, the girls and I baked chocolate chip cookies! Oh my, my, my, what a lovely treat that was for my taste buds! We also watched Sherlock Holmes and painted each others nails! I cannot wait to see their smiling faces again this coming week!


This past Friday as a group we had free time and decided to grab a treat at the legendary Shake Shack and wander about Times Square. It's been wonderful to see many of us going from strangers to knowing each others quirks to pondering ideals with in one week. I truly see so much potential for everyone of these people called to intern with NYCUP Summer 2013! Love you all!  

XOXO -Manda

NYCUP Summer 2013 (first weekend impact)

   New York City Urban Project 2013 (NYCUP)

Its only been three days since I have arrived in my short term home (hopefully to be long term one day) in New York City and I have already connected with many wonderful people and participated in various events.

The opportunity to  even be here is an absolute blessing and I cannot express my appreciation for those who have made it possible!

After my interesting morning adventure to the housing location, I settled into my cute dorm like room, then we split into groups and went on prayer walks around the neighborhood. We are staying in the Inwood /Washington heights region. As we were walking around we noticed numerous daycares, that particularly struck me, as many of you know, God has given me a passion for kids.

Day two is the one that is still reminiscing in my mind, and will stay with me hand in hand the entire trip, and pleasantly intrude on my life back home. NYCUP introduced me to the feed 500 hundred program. The program is designed to help the homeless People in a way that makes them feel accepted. First of all, I will outwardly admit that about a year ago homeless People use to freak me the heck out. Something I  genuinely believe makes the Feed 500 program impact the volunteers experience differently than say working in a soup kitchen, is the fact that we approach the homeless People in what you could say would be their natural habitat, in which many New Yorkers would just walk by. Opening up to the conversation was very basic by offering them food. Some may not accept, but we are also equipped with resource cards if they desire other needs we could not necessarily provide. I met 3 unique People yesterday Joseph , Brother James, and Nick.

Joseph is an older man who loves to create artwork, my group and I ran into  him after coming out of the Subway staircase. He welcomingly told Matt and I his story. He was a homeless Person for 15 years and was approached by a man who offered him housing, he was skeptical because people have deceived him in the past when offering help towards his situation. With that being said, it is very difficult for myself not feel angry with the people who have deceived the helpless, but like I said earlier I was once freaked out by homeless People, and that's where grace intervenes into my thought process.  

Brother James is a blind man, which was caused by a systemic disease and we also ran into him on the subway. Despite his situation and disabilities, he has a very humorous upbeat personality and  has 3 daughters. Our conversation with someone who merely could have been a stranger to me, literally brightened up my day. Homeless People have a story just like everyone else and I was fortunate enough to have had them open up and share their struggles they have gone through.  The immense hope many of them have is doubtlessly admirable.

Honestly I could go on for pages about this past weekend but I have more adventures and learning experiences to get to! I will keep this blog updated every few days! Also, I might be posting some original poetry. 

Love you all back at home!!

P.S.
If your a Grammar Person... Or perhaps even a non grammar person you noticed that the P in People is bold and underlined. This did not go without a purpose. The homeless are PEOPLE.. so please lets treat them with the respect and the love PEOPLE deserve. All assumptions and stereotypes aside, not all PEOPLE are the same. :)

xoxo -Manda