The Good Morning Lady

I commute by public transportation twice a week from the Bronx to lower Manhattan.

It's typical to have a long commute when anyone is working in Manhattan and my commute is no exception.

It takes me 1 hour and 15 minutes to get to work:
I start on an express bus (the stop is 4 blocks from my house) and it takes me from the Bronx to Manhattan. I get off the bus (at 23rd street) and walk a block to the subway. I ride the train 4 stops and then exit, walk up 4 flights of stairs out of the train station and finally 2 blocks to the store.

I wake up very early and am at the bus stop at 7am (which is early to me). I sometimes sleep or pray on the bus, because its the longest and most comfortable part of my journey.

As I take the final steps of my journey and I come up the last flight of stairs to be above ground, I'm met every time with a smiling older Chinese lady. She has a huge smile and yells out "GOOD MORNING". She is one of the people who hand out a free NY paper. Most of them don't say a word and are grumpy. They hand the paper to you and look away - its their job.

Now the Chinese lady isn't required have to say a word, but her morning cheer is sincere and contagious. I walk away smiling too and encouraged to pass it on. I'm really not the most outgoing person in the morning. A lot of people aren't.

Say Good Morning, whether they say it back or not. Initiate a smile, a word of kindness and go beyond your comfort zone, whether you feel its deserving or not. It goes a longer way than we'll ever realize!

Make someone's day. It could mean the world to them!

Appliance Sales Diva

Sometimes at the Appliance store, they send me to visit clients at their work place. I visit designers who buy their all their kitchen appliances for their clients from us and also have appliances that belong to us displayed in their showrooms. Its alot of fun stepping out into the city, seeing parts of the city I would not normally see and have a glimpse into the world of high end kitchen design. I also have the opportunity to meet people and build relationships. I'm almost always asked why I'm part time and it gives me the opportunity to talk about my ministry in the Bronx at UHM.

When I'm out, I introduce new products from various manufacturers that they might want to consider in their upcoming client designs. I give them the scoop on the latest and coolest appliances that have become available, so they can be up with the trends.

Last Monday, I visited NYKB (New York Kitchen and Bath). There I met my new friend, Ted - who is the marketing director for NYKB. I'll let the rest speak for itself. I'm now part of the NYKB blog and officially an appliance sales diva. Who would've thought I would grow up and become a diva??

Click here: NYKB

My Little Angels

At the Harvest Center, one of the things I do is work in the After School program. This is my 5th year being involved in this program.
The children, who are 1st-4th graders, come to us straight from school for two hours. There we tutor them in their academic subjects, teach them a bible lesson and then break into small groups to do homework.
Yesterday, I was elated because in my small group for homework time (which usually is the most difficult), I had perfect children! Yes, it was amazing..... they didn't complain, paid attention, didn't mind being corrected, completed everything and if they didn't understand, their attempts to understand were met with the ability understand! Wow. I had to brag. This is a big deal!
I gave them tickets (rewards for their behavior).
Then later on after the children went home, one of the tutors took me aside. My group wasn't so well behaved after all. I had to step out of the room for a minute. Yes, just only a minute. When I was away, one of the girls started making fun of the girl across from her. They had to be disciplined. This burst my bubble. We had such a good day, so productive and smooth.
Oh well. I'm still going to remember this day as a perfect day!

Best of New York

Good News!
The store that I work for was just rated "Best of New York" by New York Magazine.
Wow!!

Click: New York Magazine

Trusting God for My Healing

I haven't been feeling well the last few weeks and have been pretty sick. I have always trusted God with my health, especially being in a position where I have no health insurance. The pain got so bad last week, I went to the doctor. On my way to the doctor, God spoke to me to go ahead to Pastor Pablo and Wendy's during our normal class hours (I was going to cancel it and go straight to the doctor). Pastor Pablo has a healing annointing and has prayed alot for sick people who were made well. We prayed together and then I went ahead to the doctor. The doctor found a cyst on my right ovary. While these can be common, they can be quite painful and sometimes cause further problems. I was in pain for the next couple of days but it started to gradually go away. Today - three days later I can say I am pain free! Thank You Jesus!!
I don't have health insurance but I have health ASSURANCE!

Psalm 103: 1-3 says:
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Let all that I am praise the Lord;
may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.

Taken at my sales job in Manhattan.
I'm laying out an acknowedgement sign to go on the appliances outside our showroom.
Being multi-talented makes your boss very happy!!!

Life

Its a month later and this is only my second blog. Often at times I find that I am so busy that its as if I have no life. But yet I look back and realize what makes my life busy.... teaching English, lesson plans, tutoring children, making a cake for the teenagers banquet, driving someone home, running to BJ's to get paper towels, visiting soup kitchens to coordinate volunteers .... then going to manhattan to work a sales job, putting together proposals for a designer, training to learn about the latest washing machine from Germany ....... the list goes on and on and on.
When I speak with my friends and supporters that live outside NYC, who know what I do, my life seems exciting to them. Funny, my life seems so busy that to me, I have no life. Then I stopped to think about it. They see me as having a great life and yet I see it as having no life. Then the Lord reminded of my purpose here and why I do what I do. I am serving Him here on the frontlines. Although it fills my everydays, sometimes with the mundane, its still for Him. Then I thought of the scripture in Matthew 10:39
Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
I really have no life because I have lost it and for His sake, I really have found it!!
So next time I tell myself "I have no life", I remember all the little things that add up and make an eternal difference.

Welcome!

Hello
This is my first time "blogging", so here it goes. I am from Michigan and Tennessee and currently live in the North East Bronx.
Life in NY can be interesting day by day. It is literally a melting pot of different backgrounds, cultures and points of view. What we have in common is that Christ is creator of us all and He loves us all. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we might live the life He purposed us for and find our eternal destiny.
I work with a ministry in the South Bronx. It is a place that is known for poverty, drugs and crime. Things have cleaned up over the years, but the aftermath and residue still exist. They now call it "SoBro". The neighborhood is 99.9% hispanic and black. I am usually the only caucasian person around, even within a block's radius or more. I don't really notice, but sometimes others notice (I also stand out because I am of Swedish heritage, having blonde hair, blue eyes and European features). I love rice and beans and tostones (did I mention I LOVE tostones?). I have assimilated into the community and even though I'm different, I'm the same as everyone else. I teach English as a second language (ESL), Adult Literacy (working on development of a faith based curriculum) and tutor children in the community (I also do other administrative duties but I won't bore you with the details!).
To assist with my income, I work at a kitchen appliance store in the East Village. I sell refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers etc. The place is very established, having been around since 1918. I am their first female salesperson in the history of the company! The environment is quite a contrast from the ministry in the Bronx. I work with architects, designers and contractors, they refer clients and we work together with their specifications. It can be facinating, interesting, frustrating and challenging like a puzzle. New York kitchens are highly visible to the rest of the world!!
There you have it in a nutshell. A brief overview of my life in NYC.
Let the blogging begin ....