Today was nothing short of a full one. We headed to the convention center at 9:30am to begin attending sessions at 10am. Youth and adults had the opportunity to attend several sessions all the way up until 4:30pm. Talk about some serious learning! Our youth attended several different sessions, including ones just for boys, just for girls, and one about different religions. When kids weren’t in sessions during the day, they were able to explore the interactive floor with exhibitors (tons of free stuff!) and games.
At noon, we gathered together for our large group Bible study, hosted by Pastor Matt and Deaconess Sylvia. They showed us a video of New Orleans residents being asked “who is Jesus?”. There was a wide array of answers, from “our Savior” to “I don’t know, but I know he’s handsome!”. What a great reminder that we are called to share the gospel message with the world so that all know who Jesus is. We continued by looking at Scripture and what it says about who Jesus is.
Dinner was a delicious buffet in the convention center with chicken alfredo and amazing sides. After dinner, we took time to read notes written to us by our prayer partners (thank you to everyone who is serving as one!). What a blessing it is to be encouraged and prayed for from afar. We wrote notes back to let our prayer partners know how things are going and what we’ve been up to.
We made a “quick” (20 minute) walk back to the hotel to drop things off before heading to the Superdome for the mass event. If you’re wondering “is walking the streets of New Orleans with a group of 30 people a challenge in the midst of 20,000 other people?”, yes. It’s a “fun” challenge. Walking fast enough to get to places in a timely manner but slow enough that you don’t leave half of your group on the other side of the street after using a crosswalk…it’s a special time. Good thing we have a large UW flag on a long pole so everyone can see where our group is!
Mass event tonight was an incredibly impactful one. As a part of the drama, we heard from youth who have struggled with things in their life, like finding worth in social media, having sex before marriage and looking at porn, suffering from self harm, and feeling the need to drink and do drugs. Individually, each one came forward to share their renewed thoughts about finding worth in Christ, that He loves us through our struggles, and that we are not alone.
FLAME, a gifted Christian rapper that works a lot with the LCMS, was our speaker tonight and reminded us that Christ endured the cross for us. Additionally, we had the opportunity to attend a post mass event concert with him, and if you’re wondering how loud it got…let’s just say I’m not sure I’ll be able to hear anything once we leave the Superdome. The kids had a BLAST though. FLAME truly loves the Lord and is passionate about sharing that love with all people, especially the young people here.
Like I said, it was a full day, but a good one. Hopefully our sleep will be good tonight for another full day tomorrow!
