YCMT 2011 - Day 2

Every year when we are looking for a hotel the number one deciding factor is whether or not they have a continental breakfast. This year our hotel said that they had a continental breakfast but it was much more than that. Eggs, biscuits, sausage, and gravy everyday plus all of your typical continental breakfast stuff including one of those waffle makers.

I thought this picture below was kind of funny...... 

We began Tuesday morning by going to the Crisis Nursery center. This is not an orphanage or anything like that. It's a place where families can choose to take their children for 24-48 hours and 14 days a calendar year for free. After that they have to pay to bring their children. The families may be without utilities at home, there may be bad situations at home that the children need to get out of, etc. The children are NOT here because their parents don't love them, they are here because they do.

They moved into this 3-story building one year ago. 

Since they are government funded we were not allowed to share the gospel or talk about Christian things. But we did a puppet show for the children there and then spent about 2 hours playing with them. 

This little baby's mom just dropped her off. It was kind of sad to watch. 

Then we went to Fitz's rootbeer for lunch. It was very good! 

After lunch we went to the Cathedral Basillica. It is the most beautiful Catholic Cathedral I've ever been in. In the main dome area you could stand a 14 stories tall building and not quite reach the top. 

Here's a picture of our group outside. 

On the inside the ceilings are completely covered in mosaic tiles, a mixture of Italian and Bizentine mosiacs. Most of the tiles are actual gold pieces that the artist went back with a hammer and chisel and notched/nicked in different directions so that you can see the gold sparkle no matter what time of day you are in the cathedral. These pictures CAN NOT do this place justice. It's one of those things that you just have to see for yourself. It was definitely my highlight of the week! 

Then we went to the St. Louis area Foodbank where we packaged boxes for Senior Citizens around the St. Louis area. 

We packaged 909 boxes which is 20, 077 meals in about 3 hours.

Then we went to eat at City Diner which has a real 50's/60's vibe. The food was delicious but we were so tired, hot, and sweaty that I don't think we really got to enjoy it!