National High School Youth Gathering, New Orleans, 2009

A few days ago I got back from the National High School Youth Gathering in New Orleans, Louisiana. There were 37,000 high school students and adult leaders. Yay for Lutheran gatherings! I saw a bunch of camp people and friends. Such a small Lutheran world. The gathering gave us free t-shirts, bags, and Bibles.

We were supposed to pray at 4:24pm every day, but that was kind of hard to remember sometimes. It was because of the scripture, Acts 4:24. We did the "Final 15" every day, which was the daily devotional. We reflected on our days during these.

There were 37,000 people in the superdome, including awesome bands. Skillet, The Katinas, Lost and Found, Agape, Amanda Shaw, the House band, and other amazing performers.

Our service project was painting the inside of an elementary school. It was partly under water during hurricane Katrina. We were able to see houses that 4 years later were still damaged and not rebuilt after Katrina. The people there were so grateful we were there. They thought that no one cared about them, but after seeing all 37,000 of us there, they constantly thanked us. They said we were blessing them, and that was pretty amazing!

Cajun food is tasty! I tried alligator and frog leg, which I've never tried before. It was good. My youth group of 11 people, including myself, Rich and Andrea had a great time overall. We did an incredible amount of walking on the trip.

On the airplane ride there I sat next to Spencer from San Luis Obispo, and Leslie from Arroyo Grande. we talked a little bit. On the way back, surpisingly I sat next to both of them again. This time we were excited to see each other, and talked a lot about the trip. This trip was somethimg that changed us.


Yesterday I went to Disneyland with Sean, Anthony, and the SITs. Oh man, I love my job. Well, we are all meeting now, so peace out. Lata friends!