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I was so thrilled that
the Lord opened the door to minister in New York December 16-24.
I had expected to work mainly at Mt. Sinai hospital and part time in
the evenings with the Billy Graham Prayer Center as a counselor.
When I called Chaplain Florence Sunday

Ministry in New
York December 2001
| I was so
thrilled that the Lord opened the door to minister in New
York December 16-24. I had expected to work mainly at Mt.
Sinai hospital and part time in the evenings with the Billy
Graham Prayer Center as a counselor. When I called Chaplain
Florence Sunday, she had dislocated her knee and could not
meet with me until Tuesday afternoon and the Rabbi was out
of town until Thursday. I reported for orientation at
Harvest Christian Fellowship Monday morning. There were 300
volunteers most came from Calvary Chapel churches and came
in a group. There were five of us, without groups, so we
became a group. We were given our assignments each
morning. Some to work at Ground Zero, some to Nino's
Restaurant, some to Saint Joseph's, some to Saint Paul's,
some to the Salvation Army, some for street evangelism, some
to the fire stations, and some to the Lamb's store. There
was also work to be done at Harvest, receiving and labeling
literature, preparing the room for orientation and other
meetings and preparing framed lithographs for fire
stations. Lithographs was my groups assignment on Monday.
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and some Sunday I did get to work
in the hospital briefly. I went to a two hour prayer
meeting at the Billy Graham Prayer Center but did no
counseling there. The Lord used me to minister to the
chaplains at Mt. Sinai and provide them some long term help
from others and a lot of literature. There are three pages
of pictures.
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| Departing December
16 7:00 a.m. from Ontario |
Connecting to
Dallas/Fort Worth |
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| We were delayed
two hours due to rain. |
I stayed at the
YMCA on 63rd near the SW corner of Central Park |
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| On my way to
Harvest each morning I would go down Central Park South which
becomes 8th St. to Broadway then left on 46th St., about a
3/4 mile walk. |
A closer view of the statue on
the corner |
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| The main dispatch
center for the Billy Graham Prayer Center is at Harvest
Christian Fellowship on 56th near Carnegie Hall. |
This is the view
from the church up towards Carnegie Hall. |
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| Believe it or not,
this is the front door to the church which also serves as a
dance studio during the week. |
The fellowship
hall on the third floor was our meeting place for orientation,
worship, devotions, and deployment. |
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| The church was so
gracious and hospitable to the 300 volunteers that came to
help the week of Dec. 17-24. Bagels, creme cheese, orange
juice and coffee served daily at 10:00 a.m. |
Most people came
in groups of ten or more, mainly Calvary Chapel churches. I
and four others came alone, so we became a group. Our first
assignment was to work at Harvest to mat and frame lithographs
for 150 fire stations in Manhattan. Two of my team members
were Patrick on the left, who is a V.A. chaplain from South
Dakota. Diana is a jail chaplain in Arizona. Raul on the
right is on staff at the church, giving instructions, setting
up sound and refreshments were among his many
responsibilities. |
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| Here are my other
two team members, Camille, and her granddaughter, Nicole from
Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Camille's son, and Nicole's dad's
name is Dana, so I was instantly adopted into their family. |
Monday afternoon
our team got on the subway to deliver lithographs to two fire
stations. At the first the fireman in charge accepted the
wrapped gift and thanked us. The second station invited us in
for a long visit and pictures. |
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| There is a ladder
company and an engine company in each station. |
The whole team
from left to right: Camille, Dana, Diana, Patrick and Nicole. |
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| This station had
lost nine men on September 11. The families are very close.
The Captain who died was promoted postmortem as he had already
earned the promotion. The roster for that day is permanently
posted. |
Coming back from
the fire stations Monday night, I got lost in Central Park but
found some beautiful trees. |
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| The Lamb's Store
at the Lamb's Theater Manhattan Nazarene Church on 44th St.
offered free Christmas shopping for laid off and displaced
workers. My team and I worked here four days. After
shopping they could enjoy punch and cookies and a warm fire.
Then go upstairs for counseling, Bibles, tracts, and Christian
CD's. |
Since I speak
Spanish and many of those seeking aid did, I sat at the front
desk taking people's name address, and phone number, and
inquiring about the number of children and adults they would
shop for and giving them a number. Another volunteer would
then help them shop, and another would pack their bags from an
inventory in the basement. |
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| The Lambs Theater
built in 1904 continues to show off-Broadway plays |
This is some of
the literature given out from Harvest Christian Fellowship.
All of it is stamped by staff or volunteers with stickers for
both the Prayer Center and Harvest. |
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| The first of
couple of days the weather was mild then it cooled off and
rained. |
If you look close
you will find a black poodle in this mans bag on the subway. |
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