New York City: Monday May 9, 2011

For many of us, our journey to New York actually began Sunday night. Six members from our group (Lacey Colborn, Matt Lange, James Leezer, Erin Jeffries, Jared Doyle, and I) stayed in St. Louis at the home of Kyle Morrison, another member of our group. We arose Monday morning and headed out the door at 4:30 AM, just a few short hours after going to bed, and arrived at Lambert Airport around 5 AM.
Our group of 11 was divided between two different flights, one leaving at 7 AM and the other at 8 AM. My flight was a little late in taking off, so we actually arrived at NY-LaGuardia Airport around 10:30 AM (Easter Time) with the other group arriving shortly after. We met up with Richard Medina and his uncle, Carl, who set us on our way. Richard is a native New Yorker that now lives in Hannibal and works for Hannibal-LaGrange University.
Richard and Carl drove three people from our group to the Metropolitan New York Baptist Association (MNYBA) building on 72nd and Broadway while the rest of us traveled in a 12 passenger van and experienced our first time in the CRAZY New York transportation. I think we almost died several times. It was truly frightening.
After unloading on 72nd Street, we were quickly met by John and Anna Ramirez, our hosts at the MNYBA. They led us up to the 5th floor where we are staying, and shortly after, we went to eat lunch at a nice little place called West Side run by East Indian men. It was cheap and delicious! 
The three (Kyle, Erin, and Lacey) who rode with Richard and Carl arrived around 2:30 PM and we quickly began our orientation with John and Anna. After an hour or so of that, we traveled to the Subway station down the street and bought our month long Metro Passes that would allow us unlimited access to practically the entire city!
Shortly after our Metro Pass excursion, John and Anna took us to a small bakery that specialized in making gigantic cookies originally made to give marathon runners an extra boost of energy. Jared and I bought and ate a walnut/chocolate chip cookie and have every intention of making our way back to that bakery to try their other cookies!
We were then taken to Ray’s Pizza for a bit of supper and then headed to the Subway to make our way to the all famous Times Square! The constant flurry of activity, of people passing and cars zooming past, the bright lights and advertisements were all enough to put a person (me!! haha) into sensory overload. It was amazing to see it and I know we will be back to experience more of what Times Square has to offer.
The long day really began to take its toll as the night quickly progressed. By the time 9:30 rolled around, Katy Aleshire, Dani Bothe, Jared and I were back at our housing and ready to call it quits. The day was long and our next day was to be busy as well.
Bright lights. Crazy drivers. And many, many people. Seems like any big city. But it isn’t. This is New York City. The Big Apple. A placed loved by God, and therefore, loved by me.