The Gathering begins today (DAY 2)....

I never realize how yesterday is going to be classified until my morning run. I realized yesterday (while out on my morning run today) that yesterday was full of realizations (How funny, I realized realizations). These realizations are both serious and not-so-serious. But first, a run down of how our day went.
Breakfast at the hotel yesterday was like herding cattle. When our leaders tell us to be at breakfast when it opens at 6:30am to have a "peaceful and quiet" breakfast, everyone decides that's a good idea. Add to that the fact that we all (360 YAV's) had to be at the convention center by 8am and it becomes a mad house. Either way, I got my b-fast and was filled. Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day.
We all met for morning bible study, but we first got our backpacks and bibles. Can you guess what color they are? (Jeopardy theme song) Da da da dada da da da...LIME GREEN!!! It is actually a pretty incredible color. I like it already. Instead of orange (2004 Gathering) or tan (2007 Gathering) we will be a sea of green in New Orleans. We also got our shirts. But as they tell us to be FUN-FRIENDLY-FLEXIBLE, we had to be flexible with the shirts. They ended up not getting all the shirts they wanted which means we only get one shirt instead of the two they promised. And, there were no small size shirts. Everyone had to size up. Thankfully, more shirts are on their way for Monday afternoon and we won't have to wear the same shirt all four days.
After our morning meeting, it was pretty much time for lunch. We met up with the CLBs (Community Life Builders for those who are uninformed. They are pretty much the older generation YAVs. So, if you think you are too old to enjoy the gathering, think again) and had a great sit down lunch. They served some New Orleans favorites, rice and beans, jumbalaya, salad, and of course, brownies. Funny side note, the air conditioning in our lunch room was on WAY too high and it would blow in spurts. It wasn't a constant gust from the vents but it would ebb and flow. Anyway, everytime it would blow I was picturing pterodactyls flying around and the gusts coming from their wings. Lack of sleep? who knows. Kind of pointless.
We finally jumped into our specific job duties after lunch. My group, Team Oscar (all YAV teams are named after military designations for letters, IE: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, etc.), are the usher captains. Why are we captains? Because we are awesome! That's why. But seriously, I have no idea. But I couldn't be happier about it. We traveled the long trek to the other side of the convention center and the auditorium where one of the bible studies is going to take place. They went over our duties and we had some time in between our second training of the day: Mass Event ushering at the Superdome.
After getting lost trying to find our way into the dome, we met up with Linda and her husband Randy who are leading the charge on ushering at the mass events. Can you say incredible! I feel so blessed to experience these huge spaces (convention center and Superdome) when hardly anyone is in there. It is both humbling and exciting knowing that the LCMS needs such large arenas to hold all their incredible youth. I cannot honestly say that any other church organizations do it bigger or better. As captains, we are to train the other ushering teams for mass events. Which means we get radios!! Importance at the gathering is shown through how many radios you have on your hip (or something like that). And we get radios.
We booked it back to the convention center (a mile away) for 7pm worship with all the staff of the gathering. We wanted to grab some dinner first, which we did at a place called Red Eye Grill just behind our hotel. We didn't anticipate how long it would take and walked in a tad late to worship, but the chicken fingers and fries were top notch. Plus Worshipping with all the other workers of the Gathering was AWESOME!!! I love being surrounded by so many other Lutherans. I am very proud to be who I am here.
After worship we walked down to the famous Cafe du Monde for Beignets (pronounced ben-yays, which are small, holeless donut type desserts, buried [and I truly mean buried] by powdered sugar). And since we were already in the area, we took a quick jaunt down bourbon street. I don't know what to say about that, except that I will probably never go back. It is just all about alcohol and debauchery. But, it was something that needed to be experienced while in New Orleans.
Now to the realizations of the day and the importance of this blog. Number one, I don't remember the last time I had this much fun. Honestly, probably not since the last gathering. I had some reservations coming into the week. I didn't know what to expect, didn't know anyone and wasn't sure I was going to like being a worker instead of a participant. But, I don't remember being so happy. And the Gathering hasn't even started yet!! All of that leads me to my second realization. I am seriously thinking about youth ministry again as a possible career course. I would love to work within the LCMS church in a young adult or youth ministry capacity. Next realization, God creates the most beautiful sunrises (I already knew this, but I am reaffirmed every time I see one). Last (serious) realization, this gathering is going to be incredible. My home church youth flew in last night. One of them had never flown before and survived that. She was pretty excited, I have no doubt. I hope I can meet up with them today and get their first experiences and impressions.
Now to teh not-so-serious realizations. One, Flagstaff doesn't even let homeless individuals sleep in our forests and New Orleans lets them sleep practically anywhere there is flat ground. Saw no less than 3 or 4 dudes this morning on anything from door stoops, to benches, to stairs of the Harrah's casino. Saturday morning in New Orleans is a far cry from Friday morning. No one was out yesterday at 530am. Today, tons were still out after a long night of partying. It was hardly the same city. Third, water doesn't get cold here. When I get back from my run, I am hot. I can't even take a cold shower to cool off. The water was luke warm at best. And lastly, I have never sweat more in my life. I always tend to say in my head, "check out that guy, his shirt [or shorts] are soaked! Goober). I was the goober today. You can't even tell how much you are sweating until you enter the air conditioning of the hotel. The air, with humidity is almost the same temp as your sweat and it does nothing to cool you off. I made the mistake of running with a shirt on yesterday, and needless to say, it is still largely damp after a day lying on our hotel room floor. And my shorts this morning are half soaked. Gross.
Anyway, another day down and one closer to the end of the gathering. Gathering kicks off this evening with our first Mass Event. There are going to be huge surprises in store for these youth. Some of which I know about and others of which I am still in the dark. Either way, nothing can compare and I am already planning to come back in 3 years. And as I have already said, the gathering hasn't even officially began yet.
If you have read this far, first off, thanks!! And secondly, the mass events are going to be streamed live at lcmsgathering.com. They begin at 7:30pm CST. That's 5:30pm AZ time or 8:30pm EST. Experience it with us!! Til tomorrow!