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.
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!
We walked though Jackson Square and too many group pictures. 
Also, we walked along the Mississippi River and watched the boats and barges come in, while we watched for Anderson Cooper, who never actually showed up. We did get to see Randi Kay though! 
We had a "bathroom adventure" in a hotel that has a mini mall and 5 floors, and a total of 2 bathrooms, both of which were closed. After our adventure downtown, we took a quick dip in the pool, which was full of lots of crazy people. Everyone avoided the craziness and came up to shower. We ended our day wiht sharing our highs and lows. Most of our highs included just being here in New Orleans and our lows included the humid weather and the early start to our day. Our first day of the gathering is tomorrow and we are so excited! Good night everyone!
With a quick layover in Kansas City, we safely arrived in New Orleans around noon. We took shuttles to the hotel and everyone got settled in their rooms. Since everyone was starving, we walked right next door to Arby's to eat a good lunch. Then Ashley and Jaime walked to the Convention Center to get our backpacks and Bibles. 
The rest of us went to the outdoor pool located on the 5th floor. After about 3 hours in the pool, we went back to change and had a small group meeting discussing the backpacks and bracelts, which must be our "best friends" for the week. We are getting ready to head out for dinner and do some sight seeing before it gets dark! Hope everyone is doing well at home!
