Apartment F

     Our first full week being in New York City as a family may be coming to a close, but many more doors are just now opening. We've unloaded boxes, totes, and luggage and are settling nicely into Apartment F. We feel very grateful to be in such a nice building and neighborhood for our first residence here in the city. We are not sure what we would have done without NAMB's apartment building here in Brooklyn, because the difficulty of finding/affording an apartment for a family to live in NYC is overwhelming. 

     This week I've had the opportunity to talk with a half a dozen church planters in the area which has been encouraging and informative. I look forward in getting to know them and their families more as we are here. One thing they all have said is that they are all grateful for NAMB's support and very appreciative of NAMB's SEND City Missionary, Steve Canter. Many of them told me that Steve was vital in shaping NAMB's property that is called the David Dean House, which is where we live now. The building was transformed from a lodging for groups and shifted into 6 temporary housing units for missionaries and church planters to live in while they get their feet on the ground. 

     We have a few photos of what Apartment F looks like, but the pictures don't show the cleanliness/newness of the apartment. It smells pleasant, there's fresh paint, new furniture and clean sheets on the bed. It is a studio apartment that measures to about 500 square feet, but it feels much larger because of the high ceilings. Our street isn't too noisy. We haven't heard any ambulances or gunshots in the middle of the night (some of y'all were asking). We live on a one-way street and park our car along the street. I'm not getting any better at parallel parking. I need to YouTube "How to Parallel Park" or something because I am no good. I mean...in Oklahoma that wasn't even on my driver's test. Anyways, there have been some adjustments in moving to NYC, but nothing too serious.

     We still have boxes to unpack and things to organize, but more than ever we feel that this is right. Everyday we've gone walking we've met new people and talked to them. Some nice. Some in a hurry. Some willing to talk a lot and spill their guts about everything. But all of them need Jesus. We are early in the church planting process, but we are encouraged by how open some of the people have been with us so far.

Please pray that:

- Our conversations are blessed by God

- We build relationships in the Bronx

- We would meet a "person of peace" in the Bronx to help connect us to the community