A letter home from New York

Hey family and friends,

Just thought I'd send you all a quick hello.  Right now Jodi and I are on a bus, heading to DC to spend a few days with her family.  It' so new to me that you can just hop on a bus or train and be in completely different city in no time!  Prior to NY we were visiting Jodi's other family in Milwaukee, WI for a few days as well.  I feel like I'm on an undeserved vacation!  Lol.  
However, since we've been in New York we've done a tone of commuting around, getting familiar with Manhattan and Brooklyn.  Also our fair share of getting lost.  Oh my goodness, we even ended up in this "wrong" neighborhood because we were looking for a apartment listed on Craigslist.  Not to be stereotypical or judgmental, but you could tell we were out of place.  But thank God that it was raining hard and we were the only fools running around the neighborhood.  God is good in the way he teaches us a lesson... Lol!
And actually it's been raining quite hard for the past few days.  I'm down to my last pair of shoes 'cause the two shoe I wore on Tuesday and Wednesday are soaked!  Another lesson (and thank goodness we didn't move in winter) dress for the weather.  Never did ever think I'd have to buy rain boots!  Sure Hawaii rains, but never did I ever have to commute like we do here, and never did I have to be exposed to the cold for that long (i'd just hop in my car!).
But, through it all we're living it out!  And enjoying it!  
We still haven't found a apartment yet, but we're still living in Heather and Andy's in-laws place.  And they're so kind and gracious to let us stay there.  The neighborhood is what they call little Odessa because it's a Russian neighborhood, but it's really a nice community and we feel safe and, now, comfortable with the hour subway commute.
Jodi starts work on Monday.  Yay! But, I haven't found work yet, but then again I haven't really looked much because I just want to get a little familiar first and find our own apartment.  Jodi and I did however run into the chefs of one of the new restaurants I was in contact with to work at.  They just had their grand opening this past week, so I should be able to check them out again this next week. But, I'll need to do more this week and hopefully make some progress with the apartment hunt.  It's just so hard not knowing the neighborhoods and the Internet is so unreliable when it comes to honest agents. Maybe if you could help us pray for good direction (a miracle would be good too!) that would be great.
And one last thing, I feel like I may have found us a church!  Trinity Grace Church.  I listened to one of their recent messages online and it was really good.  I know you're all busy, but I'll share the link with you:
http://trinitygracechurch.com/media/current-teaching-series/
If you happen to listen to it, lemme know what you think.  We're gonna go to this Sundays service.  Hope it works for us.

Well, that's it for now.  We send our love to all of you.  Our thoughts and prayers are with you!  

Love & Blessings,
Mark & Jodi