Homeward Bound!

It's Sunday evening and we are on the bus. It's been a great day so far. We woke up early to get the luggage to the bus and to make our final trek to the Superdome. After a cooler (85 or so) degree evening last night the humidity and heat was back with a vengeance this morning as we walked. Even at 7:15am the mile walk to the dome from our hotel covers us in sweat! The Bethel superstars got to enter at the loading dock again to get to our seats before all the doors opened and the 37,000 people ran into the dome to get their seats. Glowsticks in hand, we participated again in the closing worship with the song, We Will Love You by Agape. Worship was great, Bishop Mark Hanson preached, there was great music and we got some killer ideas for our service in August.

After dropping Chayla off with the rest of the LYO Convention delegates we made our LAST sauna walk back to the convention center and then down the endless line of busses until we found our own. Yet again, drenched. Ick. We are looking forward to our MN weather, that's for sure!! As a great LAGNIAPPE (creole for 'a little something extra') the bus drivers took us through the lower 9th Ward. It was good to get the youth out of the area that really didn't show any of the effects of the hurricane and aftermath and into an area that looked like a ghost town.

Now we're back on the bus, trying to catch up on our sleep and hear stories about Calvary's and Vinje's weeks. We are currently in Mississippi... I think.

Stay tuned for more pics, links to more pics, and stories from more youth.

Over and out from the deep south.

News from Khia!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=141223&id=722780925&l=

Hey, Khia here! Today was our official Servant Life day. We helped rebuild New Orleans by painting the 3rd floor of the Dr. Charles Drew School. We worked very hard for more than seven hours. When we finished our shift, the schoo only needed just a few more touch-ups Although it was an extremely warm day, it was very fulfilling..

It's Thursday!

We've been here about 36 hours now and having a blast. We're all still in one piece. Today is our Learning Event day, so we are spread out all over learning about 'going green', liturgical dance, movies and faith and wealth and poverty and MORE!

Wednesday we spent a lot of time at the superdome rehearsing and experiencing the first mass gathering. It was great, complete with pyrotechnics! There were great speakers who talked to us about how we can change the world. They told us their stories of creating change around the world.

This morning we had a mandatory Beignet stop in the French Quarter. Now everybody knows what I was talking about!!! We'll post some of the powedered sugared mess later!

Tonight it's back to the dome for even more fun, faith, and a whole lotta energy!

Check out MORE PICTURES HERE!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140715&id=722780925&l=c0e1d57c0a

Mississippi!

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's just after supper and we are riding on the bus. Thanks to Laura from Vinje and her awesome Sprint plan I'm updating our blog from the road! Woo hoo! I'm also hopefully going to successfully upload a pic. fingers crossed.

This morning we got to see the Arch. It was pretty great and I can say that everybody who went up did end up coming back down even if there was a bit of screaming along the way. A word of warning for those of you with any kind of claustrophobia issues, the Arch should probably not be on your bucket list.

By the way, P Jon is NOT sleeping. He decided to meditate the whole way down to LA.

3 Days!

3 Days until we leave for Jesus Justice Jazz! We are finally ready to go! We will hopefully be updating the blog as we go, so watch for pics and stories!

On Wednesday, Bethel's youth and adults will be on stage in front of 39,000 people singing and dancing, so be sure to catch the live webcast at 7pm that night on the ELCA website!

www.elca.org/gathering

71 days and counting!

The vast majority of our fundraising is OVER! YEA GOD! Thanks to all of our members for faithfully supporting us; bringing in your treasures for our rummage sale, devouring 48 gallons of soup, and testing out our new french toast breakfast!

We are preparing for our experience by writing our covenant and starting to look at the details of our trip. We will be traveling with Calvary and Vinje with a stop in St. Louis on the way down!

We will be updating this blog as we get closer to the trip and then from the road.

Soup's On!

Today is March 4th, the first day of our Lenten Soup Supper Fundraiser! Come enjoy some homemade soup and bread and support our youth and adults who are going to the gathering!