Welcome

Good morning from our apartment in Elmhurst, Queens. Lately, there have been a bunch of new subscribers to this blog. This humbles me for who am I, what is there about my ordinary (to us) life that interests you? Who are you? I would like to know your names and how we’re connected.

We never witness a sunrise or a sunset from our apartment, but this morning the sun’s rays beam on the red of the fire escape and the brown of rooftops. Laurence walked to his job at Elmhurst Hospital a few minutes before 8 a.m. Lately, he’s been working in Senior Care. At breakfast, he told me about a bus driver who was there yesterday and was having stroke-like symptoms so Emergency was called.

If I’d walk a couple blocks to the small playground just now, I could watch the Chinese and Korean groups exercising to music, some in uniform, and one group might be using swords or popping colorful fans open. Recently, a young man told me, while riding the elevator together, that his mom dances there in the morning. “It’s a competition. You should join them.” They are all slim and trim! Likely, a volleyball game is going on, basketball, and ping pong. The drunks are sleeping and some Asian men gambling. However, we are not all godless in this community. The Gospel story is being told, tracts passed out, and prayers offered. This too happens in the playground.

To step into our apartment is to see a Mennonite home. Though small, our home is not much different than yours. I often thank God that I get to live here. My restless spirit finds fulfillment in walking these streets, in browsing the Asian markets, and tasting the ethnic foods all around us. I am most interested in the cultures of the people we live amongst. I like living by one of the busiest libraries in the nation – a people who enjoy reading.

We worship at Sugar Hill Mennonite Mission in Manhattan. I feel a little sorry for those who don’t know what it is to worship there, how the Spirit brings people from multiple nations to sing, pray, and share together. On Sunday, there is no place I would rather be.

This is not to say that we don’t miss the country. I do get lonesome. I long for more fellowship with sisters and brothers of like precious faith. I do miss family.

But for now, God wants us here. It is home.

Thank you for reading.  “Soli Deo Gloria” (to God be the glory).  Berniece