Well, where should I start?? It has been a few days since my first post, and much has happened!! The first full morning here, we had a sit down session with Tim and Anne, the departing house papa and mama. We went over current policy for everything. Wow, a lot to take in for sure. The unit here is well structured. Papa Tim and Mama Anne have done a superior job and we can only try…. Our current four boys are doing well adjusting to the transition.

I will introduce our boys in proper pecking order: Nolan Isaac from Scotia Nebraska is the senior boy, he will leave in mid January. Next is Brett Warkentin from Dewberry Alberta. The third one is Riley Johnson from Lone Tree Kansas and the fourth one Carson Kanagy from North Carolina. Very fine boys to say the least. It will be a pleasure to be with these four boys. That said, boys are much different than girls and we are learning things…….

There are many things to learn in NYC, parking a vehicle takes almost miraculous power, the available spots are few! No right turns on red anywhere in city, street cleaners run four days a week, Monday and Thursday on outside lanes and Tuesday and Friday on inside lanes. I have moved my truck twice today already, hopefully have it figured out. No parking within 15 feet of a fire hydrant, and some spots no parking ever??

The subway system is an amazing thing. Uptown, downtown, across town, ABCDEF lines, all color coded will get you about anywhere in NYC. I have downloaded 3 apps that tell the schedule, where to and what line to ride. The better you understand the system, the less walking, needless to say we have walked more than needed!

Our apartment is a brownstone building with 6 floors. A basement below street level and next room is about ten steps above street where we enter and each remaining floor about 17 steps up to each apartment. We are on the fifth floor. You can also access the roof if you want a fresh air view of the city. No, I don’t drink diet coke!

Today is our first day of being responsible for the unit, quite a feeling! Two of the boys are at Lincoln Hospital and other two are with Stan Ensz running the tract route. Stan and Marilyn are the missionaries here in NYC. For those who are not familiar with our tract outreach, our church prints a few pages on simple gospel truths in pamphlet form and leave them at various places that agree to display them. There are also many distributors in NYC that use our tracts. Next week Monday, I will go with two boys. The boys have a schedule for each day of the week. Working at food pantry and hospital is a lot of their work. Tonight we have a service at a rescue mission affiliated with Bowery Mission. Think we have a service at the real Bowery Mission sometime.

We have seen a few things in the city so far, Tim’s taking us around to places the boys work at and we needed to register at the hospital for ourselves to work there and sign up the new boys as they arrive, so a lot of learning to do. The boys have Saturdays off, so after they do their cleaning in morning, they have the rest of the day to themselves or we do something together. We all went to the Empire State Building and went to the top (102) floor and checked out the city as the lights came on. Quite an awesome experience. Many things to see, come see us and we will explore together. Much more could be said….