We have arrived in Detroit!

Blog Entry: Megan Morris

Today started off bright and early with a prayerful sendoff and (somewhat) prompt boarding of our bus to Detroit. Along the way, we picked up our friends and bus buddies for the week - from other churches St. Luke's of Culpeper, Our Savior of Warrington and St. Peter's of Stafford. The ride was thankfully smooth and uneventful; though the afternoon did pass by rather slowly, we were all just happy to be in each other's company and filled with excitement for what the week has in store for us. Besides, what better company for a long bus ride than your awesome youth group? We finally arrived in Detroit about 8 p.m. and are all settled into our hotel rooms for the week. After our fun-filled bus ride of movies, card games, laughs with friends and much needed sleep, we can hardly wait to get started with our scheduled activities tomorrow! We want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support; we certainly would not be here without all of your help. We are faithfully looking forward to what God has in store for us this week. We will continue to keep you updated live from the ELCA National Youth Gathering here in Detroit!

Bookmark these links!

ELCA Youth Gathering Home Page:
https://www.elca.org/YouthGathering

Youth Gathering YouTube Page:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD2BE6D47D7169CB5

A List of Speakers Each Night at the Gathering:
http://www.elca.org/YouthGathering/GatheringDetails/SpeakersMusicians/Speakers/

Hotel Information:
Crowne Plaza Novi
27000 Karevich Dr.
Novi, MI 48377
www.crowneplaza.com/Novi‎

We are a week away!

Peace Lutheran Church is very excited to be heading to the ELCA National Youth Gathering for the second time. Please check back and follow our blog for thoughts and pictures throughout our time in Detroit. We also ask for your support through prayer!

Traveling to Detroit will be 17 youth and four adult leaders.

Youth:
Brooke Bauman
Taylor Bauman
Aaron Bock
Garland Carter
Wade Jackman
Karen Kohler
Elle Lewis
Rachel Matthews
Logan Maynard
Irina McCay-Pedrick
Megan Morris
Anne Ridenhour
Kat Seitz
Emily Voight
Eric Williams
Jacob Wessel
Valerie Wessel

Adult Leaders:
Jennie Carter
Katharine Palmer
Chris St. Germain
Kayla St. Germain

God Sightings

While we were in New Orleans we asked, "Where Did You See God?"

Here are some of the responses:
"In all the loving hugs I received." - Garland

"In helping and supporting a friend in a time of need while we were there." - Kelly

"In the joy on the face of a stranger I hugged." - Aaron

"In the rain which opened my eyes to the fear, panic and devastation that occurred during Hurricane Katrina." - Jennie

"In the enormous white balloons lifting to the heavens and the beautiful white bands as 33,000 people sang Hallelujah." - Megan

"In the hundreds of people dressed completely in white sending the balloons and ribbons up to the heavens." - Kelsey

Don't forget, our New Orleans shareholders dinner is set for THIS SUNDAY (Aug. 12) following the 5 p.m. service. We hope to see you there and thank you for your support!!

Can't Wait to Share With You!

We have "come off the mountain top" and are now home from New Orleans! It was an incredible time of worship, fellowship and serving and we can't wait to tell you all about our trip. The shareholders dinner will be Sunday, August 12 after the 5:00PM worship service and the following Sunday, August 19, we will share our story during the worship services. Thank you again so much for your financial support, your prayers and love.

Youth Blog Entry: Sunday

Ryan Powers


The day began with a select few who aspired to get up around 5 a.m. to eat beignets, which if you have never had eaten before is pretty much a fluffy doughnut with the texture of a funnel cake and covered with powdered sugar, at the Cafe du Monde. Absolutely worth getting up for; the cafe is open 24/7 and serves nothing but beignets and their special coffee served black or my personal favorite, Cafe au Lait.

Later that morning, we motivated the rest of the group to get up and started to transfer our items to the bus. Around the same time just a few blocks down an old gutted building was scheduled to be imploded at 8 a.m. and we were able to only see the small dust clouds rise above the city skyline. After we watched the implosion we head down for the last time to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for worship and conclusion. The message was great and the communion was wild (all 38,000 were given communion)! 


After the service, we hugged and embraced the friends that we meet had met and become closer to and left the majestic city of New Orleans. It saddened me that we were leaving but I was still happy to be heading home.

Youth Blog Entries: Saturday

Part I
Taylor Bauman

This morning we woke up and walked to the Superdome to get our instructions for our day of justice out in the city! We were so thankful there was no rain like the previous two days. We arrived at the Superdome early so to pass the time, we played card games. When we were inside we had to find our group by bus number and then that followed with a mini worship service complete with some awesome music.

We headed to our bus with our group for the day which included other churches from New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Our leader for the day was Mary, who attends school at the University of Alabama. She was very nice and funny!

We soon arrived at a small Lutheran church. We gathered in the small sanctuary and ate our lunch. The beautiful wooden pews had water marks from when it was flooded during Katrina. We split into groups and helped pick up trash in the neighborhood. As it turns out we had been bused to a rain site and we weren't where we were actually supposed to be, but we still were able to make a difference.

Part II
Kelsey Carter

For our second part of our day of justice, we helped the American Red Cross and Homeland Security with handing out flyers in a Vietnamese neighborhood in East New Orleans. As it turns out, this was our original location all along. We went go door-to-door in groups of two or three handing out pamphlets and talking with the people who lived there. These documents contiained important evacuation information should there ever be another hurricane like Katrina. The Red Cross also has a program in place where you can sign up to be evacuated if you don't have a vehicle or a way out of the city. The people we spoke with shared amazing stories of hardships and hope with us. God touched us through the stories they told and the strength and faith they possessed.

After we returned, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed back to the Superdome for a fun filled night! We sung, we danced, we worshipped, we prayed, and the highlight of it all was ending the night with a concert by Switchfoot.