"You aren't here to hit a home run. You are here to do a sacrificial bunt in order to get them to the next base." – Pastor Brian Steadman
Day 2
This is what was said to us by Pastor Brian right before we head out to work. I think it was very necessary to hear because I (Hayley) know that I was going into the day wanting to go at it, get everything done possible, and see the finished product. After arriving at our site, that definitely was not going to be the case. Our group, consisting of myself (Haley), Nick, Allison, Bri, Rebecca (or as we now like to call her, Reba), and Brandon, were working on a gutting project. The site was in Manhattan Beach, only a few minutes from our house.
When we got there we saw we would be working in a shop that was actually a basement underneath an elderly couple's home. Our job for the day was to chisel away at the walls to tear off the dry wall and mortar to get to the cinder blocks underneath. It sounds a little easier than it was. By an hour or two in, our forearms were on fire. It all made it worth it when we met the elderly couple and their daughter. They brought us cookies, juice, and were so grateful for us being there. We also learned that the homeowner, Mr. Blum, was a 91 year old Holocaust survivor. His passion was creating stain glass windows and his workshop in the basement was flooded and ruined during the storm. You could still see some of his projects hanging off of the string to a light.
After our first day of work, arms sore but looking forward to more chiseling the following day, we went back home to get ready for dinner hosted by members of the church congregation. Going into it, I assumed it was going to be short and awkward conversation and then we would leave. How very wrong I was. We had dinner with some of New York's finest. This group of friends who decided to host us were extremely welcoming and honestly felt like family to us. We sat and ate and talked for almost four hours! As we sat drinking coffee and talking about topics ranging from Snapchat to my fear of clowns, we all realized that this was a moment we would never forget. After hours of eating, drinking coffee, and laughing at and with each other, we decided it was time to leave or else we probably would have stayed all night. This real-life version of "Friends" became the highlight of our week and topic of conversation the rest of the night. We are so thankful for their genuine friendship and hospitality!
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Today was the first day of our service, and I can't lie we were all somewhat bummed that we ended up with the mold remediation job. Hearing at 8:30 am that we would be working with mold until 5 pm wasn't exactly a pick me up but myself (McGuire), Kelsey H, Kelsey N, Jon, Sydney, and Julia were up for the challenge. Our Resurrection Brooklyn site leader, James, immediately made us feel comfortable even though we were thrown into an uncomfortable environment.
So we put on our all white suits, googles, and masks and began to scrub the mold off of a basement here in Brooklyn. Our arms got tired after 30 minutes in, but we kept on scrubbing! Our team attitude was unbelievable and we continuously pushed each other to keep working despite the smell, the dust flying, the MOLD flying, and all our sweat under our bodies. After scrubbing wood frames for a total of 4 hours, we successfully de-molded about ¾ of the basement. Our leader James continuously thanked us and told us we were making record time. His positive reinforcement made everyone feel very blessed for this opportunity to be on MAB.
Later that night, four of us went to the home of Mary and Christian, who lived in 'Brownstone Brooklyn' and are part of the Resurrection Brooklyn relief group. They welcomed us into their amazing apartment, that was at the top of an artists' house, and fed us the best chili any of us had ever had. After 3 hours of talking about school, guns, health, food, NYC, they had us in awe. The way the two loved Brooklyn and NYC made us want to move here (more than we already did). The way they talked about the culture and experiences made us feel so very welcome and we didn't want to leave. To end, they gave us the most amazing cookies, that were a New York Times recipe. Even though the cookies were as big as my head, I left their apartment with a happy belly and a good attitude to continue to serve Brooklyn and explore this area of New York.
Love, MABrooklyn
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