Story Time with Mitch: Bronx Style

Hello family and friends back in PA!

So my experience in the Bronx has been AMAZING so far and I am a little sad that our ministry time here is almost over. God has been teaching me so much through the actions and words of others that I feel like I am learning more about Him than I am teaching to others! When I am teaching a lesson at youth group at McBIC, I like to do a little segment called “Story Time with Mitch,” so sit back, relax, and enjoy this edition of “Story Time with Mitch: Bronx Style.”

I’ll start from the beginning. The first day we got into the Bronx we settled into the Pilgrim United Church of Christ where we would be setting up camp for the next week (and apparently the rats did too!). We met Harve and Robyn, who work in the church and would be hosting us during our stay and leading us in our ministry adventures. After a quick orientation about what to expect over the next few days and the culture in general, the group headed for a treat; a hip-hop concert. We had no clue what to expect going into the concert, but we were pleasantly surprised to hear Christian rap (Eminem isn’t the only white guy who can rap!). It was so powerful to see how much the congregation was on fire for God and to see the cultural difference of worship. The music and lyrics were very easy to get into and the group had fun dancing and singing to some Christian pop and rap (not to mention being able to do the DB and not get looked at funny!).

It was amazing to see how much God had impacted the group already, and this was only day one! So the next day we led two church services, one at a place called Casa Promesa, which is a hospital, and another one here at the church. I was pumped to share my testimony at Promesa and it was cool to see how jacked the people were to hear it. God was truly present when we were praying with the people there as well and it is so awesome to see teens stepping out of their comfort zones and be able to go pray with a random stranger. God has definitely instilled boldness in our team, and the boldness would continue to help in the next coming days.

God taught me something in every ministry I was a part of, but the one that hit my heart the most was having the opportunity to live in poverty for a day like some people here have to do every day of their lives. The group woke up for breakfast one morning and Chad and Robyn greeted us and explained that for the day we would live on one dollar for food. We were all given a dollar and we could purchase any food from a local store we wanted with the dollar, but that is all we got for the day. I was pretty excited to do this and was ready to go out when Robyn said, “And just so you guys realize, that one dollar you have is a dollar more than what some people have for food in a day.” This really hit me and so I prayed to God before we left for our first activity and I made a promise to Him that I would be like one of those people and not eat for the day. This fasting was tough with playing basketball in the park on an empty stomach and having to sit and watch the group eat pizza in front of me when at the end of the day Chad treated the group to pizza at around nine o’clock at night. So I was faithful and didn’t eat till the next morning, so I ended up fasting for 39 hours. I will never forget the lesson God taught me. That day of not eating made me realize that I need to be grateful not only for the food in front of me every day, but also for all the possessions I have. God was so good to me during the fast as well, protecting me from total fatigue and migraines that I usually get. I will never forget that experience and I continue to pray now that I would not take this lesson lightly.

As the days are winding down and we approach the day we head for home, I keep praying that God would reveal himself to me in new ways and that I would be a faithful servant to Him now and when I get home as well. I cannot thank God enough for allowing me the opportunity to spend time here in the Bronx and minister to fellow brothers and sisters.

I love you all and may God bless you!

Mitch Wirth

Love you and miss you mom! (Dad says hi too!)

A post from Maddie Lutz!

Hey this is Maddie Lutz! Oh my goodness, God has done some incredible things this trip. We have this thing called an ATL. That stands for Ask the Lord. We first meet together within our group and talk and pray for God to open our hearts and our ears to hear what he wants us to hear. Then we broke up individually and prayed and made a list of every thought that came into our minds. We then met back together and combined our lists. It was amazing to see that 3 or 4 people in our groups had the same thoughts or visions. We knew it was from God. One thing that God showed practically all of us was the color purple. We didn’t know what it meant at the time but boy did we find out later. After some more prayer to confirm what we heard the first time we left the church/house and walked to the place God told us about. One of those places was a train station with a tunnel. As we were walking we saw a woman in a purple dress. This was one of the visions God gave our group. We felt called to follow her into the subway station. We did as God was leading and it turns out that she and her friend were both having serious financial problems. We prayed for them and paid for their subway fare and then left. Later on while we were on the subway Chad who was in our group for the day saw the lady in the purple dress! It was amazing to think about how impossible it was for us to see her. Considering that even if she had gotten on in a different door we wouldn’t have seen her! It was definitely God all the way! It was amazing. Before I go to eat dinner I want to say hello to my parents and my sister. I love and miss you all so much and I can’t wait to tell you these amazing stories in person! J

A post from a guy!

Finally we got one of the gentlemen to type a post :) This is from Andrew King...his thoughts may or may not express the views and opinions of this youth pastor...specifically the last paragraph on animals :)

Andrew King

What is up Pennsylvania? I am trying to get my gangster, or gangsta, on for the rest of our trip in the Bronx. After our group went to the Christian Hip Hop concert Saturday night I have been trying, without much fruit, to become more hip, no small task for a 16 year old who only knew one hip hop move before coming to the Bronx (thanks Dr. Barnes).

Last night was really amazing. We went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle, as Aubrey said before, and experienced an amazing worship and prayer service. The passion with which they prayed was unbelievable. I kept getting goose-bumps throughout the whole experience and I don’t think I will ever forget it.

I just came from helping at the Bronx Senior Center. Our group, composed of Ian B., Mandi B., Sarah B., Mitch W., and myself enjoyed talking to a sweet older lady named Matilda. She was an amazing crocheter (sp?) and spent the next 2 hours trying to teach 5 teenagers how to accomplish this great skill. She spoke Spanish and I tried to tell her that my mother, grandmother and great grandmother all knew how to crochet, so how hard could it be? One hour and forty-five minutes later, Mitch, Ian and myself had a four foot long strand of yarn all completed. When we asked her if she could make Mitch and myself a headband with it, she said yes (or si) and then proceeded to undo all (and I do really mean all) of our hard work. However, the final product was well worth it. As I write, I am sporting a green, crochet headband and looking very gangster tooJ.

While we are unharmed, I cannot say the same about our furry, four- legged friends in the basement. So far Kenton has killed two rats, one with a broom stick handle and the other with a dustpan. While I was walking in the basement, a rat charged me, but I picked up a dodgeball and hit it before it could run away. I didn’t kill it, in case PETA is wondering, I might have broken a leg though J.

Peace out. I think I’m going to have to work on my gangster slang a little more.

Andrew King

More Posts!

Hey everyone! All of the students are doing great! We are having an amazing and very stretching experience. I am so proud of everyone!

Here are some posts the students made earlier today. This first one is from Aubrey Barnes

Hello! This is Aubrey. I am in Billy’s group. The last few days have been awesome! I love my group (Emily C., Madi S., Colin, and Jeff) and we have really done a great job connecting in everything we’ve done so far! Monday morning our group took lunches to a group of migrant workers. These are mostly Hispanic men who wait along the side of the road waiting for people to pick them up and hire them. We packed about 20 lunches in the morning with sandwiches, granola bars, and a drink. We had the chance to bless these men by providing them lunch while they wait for a job. We got the chance to talk with about 3 guys and that was awesome! Madi, Jeff, and I got to use our Spanish speaking abilities to communicate. J In the afternoon, Robin led us in a listening prayer exercise called Ask The Lord (or ATL) where we spent some time individually listening to God to see what He wanted us to do in the afternoon. That was an awesome experience! I’m not supposed to let the others on the team know what we did until they all get a chance to do ATL, but I look forward to sharing about that later!

Yesterday Robin and Harve told us at breakfast that many of the kids they work with only receive about a dollar a day from their parents to spend on food. They said that they wanted us to get a glimpse of what that is like, so each of us received a single dollar to buy all 3 meals yesterday. We weren’t allowed to combine our money at all. At about 2:00 I bought a pack of 3 blueberry muffins. I ate one right then, I saved one for dinner, and I still have one in my room now. J They surprised us and ended up giving us pizza before bed, so I didn’t end up eating the third muffin. It was definitely a challenge to go almost all day with so little food, but it was also very eye-opening and a good experience!

Also, yesterday our team walked to a nearby park in the morning and handed out flyers for the kids’ vacation Bible school that we are doing all week. In the afternoon we went to Casa Promesa (House of Promise) which is like a hospital/nursing home. Colin played guitar and we sang worship songs to the residents. We went around and asked them if they would like prayer. I prayed for two residents, George and Lydia. Later on while we were worshipping, a man asked us why, at such a young age, we were so passionate about God. We all shared and the man said that he hoped his son who is currently 7-years-old would have the same desire for God when he was our age. We prayed for the man and his son along with two other ladies who were in the room. It was such a great experience! I can definitely feel God moving on this trip!

Lastly, we had the privilege of taking the metro to the Brooklyn tabernacle last evening and we participated in a prayer meeting there. That was awesome! The church is huge!! No, we didn’t get to hear the Brooklyn Tabernacle choir L, but it was still cool! Thank you all for your prayers! We are having a great trip and we are looking forward to the continued work that God is going to do on our team!

Mom and Dad, I miss you and love you! Ian and I are both doing well J