Monday Night

The Gathering has officially started, and it's been a whirlwind of activity ever since! We started out with our first Mass Event on Saturday night, and it opened up with bang! Literally! Fireworks, music, praise and Bible Study started our focus on God right away!

Sunday morning started out bright and early for our 5K runners: Drake, Bryce, Kaitlin, Emily and Kelly. We left the hotel and headed to the Superdome at 5:15am, and watched them run around the Superdome 6 times to complete the run. Sunday night we got to see the "Jesus Painter" and heard from a mom who's daughter died in a car accident last summer, just after her 18 birthday. She reminded us that no matter what, we are always in God's hands and He has our plans laid out for us. Monday morning we left for our Servant Event. We boarded buses with 120 other kids and went to the future home of a Youth Center. The current contractor is renovating the buildinng in a green way and is attempting to get it done to provide a place for young people within the neighborhood. We worked on bundling the planks so they could be used by others, tearing out plaster, and cleaning up some of the rooms. We returned to the hotel to shower before heading back to the Convention Center for our afternoon sessions and concerts. Monday night we heard from Rev. Matt Popovits who reminded us that our story isn't about us, but about Jesus.

We're amazed that tomorrow is the last full day of National Youth Gathering already! But, we're really looking forward to more sessions, activities and concerts! And we're really looking forward to worshipping with 25,000 other people tomorrow night. Don't forget that you can livestream our evening Mass Events at lcms.org. If you're watching Tuesday night, don't forget to look for Taylor who is going to be dancing!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers during our trip! We definitly know that God is watching over us while we're here!