While in New Orleans, the NOLA Team became guest bloggers for The Lutheran's Jesus Justice Jazz blog. In addition, there was an article in the September issue of The Lutheran describing the event and sharing the views of some of the youth that participated, including a member of our team, Ashley Seenauth.

Click here to see the article on all of NOLA, "Shaped by 'Jesus, Justice, Jazz' "

Click here to see the article, "What you said".

Back Home...

We have all arrived back home again. I think many of us are resting from our trip still (and Janeane is celebrating a birthday today! Happy Birthday Janeane!!).


Here are some highlights from our trip that we haven't gotten to post about yet:

Saturday evening we were greeted by the Mayor of New Orleans, C. Ray Nagin. After this, Bishop Hansen read another letter from President Barack Obama. Here is a video from another participant:



While in the Interaction Center, we got a few chances as group shots. Here is one of our goofy ones from outside the Thrivent Builds trailer:

And while in New Orleans, we were welcomed by many people in many ways. Some locals would stop us on the street walking and others would say something quick as they passed by. There were signs throughout the city welcoming us and this billboard as we exited the airport (photo from gatheringpics.elca.org):

I am sure you want to learn more about our trip -- We'll be sharing more videos, pictures, and stories during Our Saviour Lutheran Church's worship services:

Sunday, August 16th (8:30am, 10:00am, and 11:30am)
Wednesday, August 19th (8:00pm).

NOLA trip ends

Dear Church

Today was the end of the youth gathering we just had a final morning
service that was like a regular Sunday worship except for the
different bands and the the concert-like feel. I think it could have
been more exciting -- like the opening one was. Overall this trips was
good it had its ups and downs but i had a good time meeting new people
from all across the world and the country. But I missed home and i
cant wait to get back. I still miss you Shawn and family.

Love Janeane

Closing Worship

Presiding Bishop Mark Hansen presided this morning for worship with
communion. He spoke to us about what will happen when we come home,
how we have changed New Orleans and let New Orleans change us. This
afternoon we will be seeing a little more of the city that has
welcomed us before returning to the hotel with plenty of time to
prepare and rest for our trip home in the morning.

Spoken To

Once again today we were woken up to the great upbeat service of
agape. Though Agape isn't a real pastor, today he spoke from the heart
and made me believe he was a pastor. Though we have so much fun at
Agape services don't be misinformed; the Word of God is still passed
right on through. Today's sermon was on finding your way and turning
to God when all else fails and learning to forgive. Agape sermon
consisted of telling us on about his childhood in which his mother
divorced his father and taking him. Though Agape hated his father for
never being there and was so tired of carrying this hatred that he got
to his knees and prayed. In doing so he was able to call his father
and forgive him. In talking about this experience he was able to put
it in such a way that almost put me in tears. Me -- cheerful Mark who
is blest with both parents yet somehow I found my eyes watery. Even in
writing this blog I still get water to my eyes. How could this
ordinary HIP HOP rapper preach about something completely opposite
from my life and yet I felt more close to this simple man's life then
I've ever felt to someone else. Though I have the utmost respect for
pastors and appreciate all they go through to become pastors, I think
Agape would give them a run for their money.

I started this blog to talk about my day and yet somehow I ended back
at this non pastors sermon and actually its been on my mind all day.

I know I should go back to my day but I hate people that post long
things so... Bye

--Mark

Visiting the City

Today we did several activities. We went to two morning worships this
morning, one at 7:30am and then 9:00am. The 7:30 worship was hip hop
worship with Agape while the other was calm and more traditional.
After that, the group split in two. My group decided to go visit a
cathedral and the city a little more. We also rode in trolleys for the
first time, gettig to look at NOLA homes. After the entire group met
up at the convention center and we went to learning centers. One of m
favorite learning centers was Jesus in movies. We saw how people
portray Jesus and how it might be different from our own views. After
he interaction centr we went to evening worship at the superdome.
Tommorrow is the last day and I enjoyed my time spent here in NOLA.

Here's the Finish Line!

As we wind closer and closer to the end of the gathering tomorrow
morning, I've started to think about home. For the past week, I felt
like I've been completely submerged in a seperate place. And while it
is good that I've been able to solely focus on being here while here,
it can also be a bad thing. Several times today, we were told about the
importance of bringing back the lessons, wisdom and experience that
we've learned home where we can spread the good news of Christ. When
I do eventually get home on Monday, that's when it's all going to
settle in -- but for now, I'm going to enjoy my final hours here.
There's a dance awaiting me 27 floors down. Peace.

--Ashley

After an amazing start to our day with the hip-hop worship service, we headed to the convention center for another worship service which was very traditional.

After the service we had a break and so I ask if we can go to the Aquarium - it was awesome.

We had lunch in the food court and then we headed back to the convention center for our learning experiences. We focused on "peace like a river", and "dying inside" - the global impact of HIV/AIDS". We had a pretty relaxing day which we needed.

After the convention center, we grabbed a fast dinner and headed to the superdome for our final evening service. It was great, we had wonderful guest speakers who were very talented and inspirational. I really enjoyed it. I don't want the gathering to end but I also can't wait to get home.

Power Struggle

Today started off with us going to Agape's hip hop worship in the morning, which I enjoyed. We then went to another service immediately after - a very traditional one. I found it boring and dry, and when compared to all the other options that we had before us, it felt like a waste of time. Because we weren't allowed to go back to the hotel, we walked the streets of New Orleans, hot and sweaty, until some of us decided to go to the aquarium, which was fun.

We then went to our learning sessions, where we went to a workshop about the AIDS crisis in Africa. One of the activities they had us do was write a letter to the people of Africa about the epidemic. I was apalled at the poor quality of most of the letters - an abundance of misspelled words, poorly constructed sentences, and incredibly insensitive statements... It seemed that many of the people writing them were either ignorant or just plain stupid.

Evening worship wasn't really anything too special I thought, except for an amazing violinist named Amanda Shaw.

Almost to the end

Dear Church,

Today we went to 2 sevices this morning. The first was a very interesting hip hop service that was very exciting, the second was a  
traditional service which was a little boring compared to our sevices back home. After, we had a few hours before we had to go to the next  activity so we went site seeing. We got to see some cool sites. After, we went to our learning activity. We went to a meditation one which was very peaceful. Then we went to and HIV one that was good but people who wrote letters were realy ignorant and just made no sense but others were very well thought. Then we went to night service which was the same as the other services at the super dome. Overall today was a pretty relaxed day. P.S. I still miss u Shawn and family. 

--Janeane

African pen pal

Kadin wrote a letter to the people of Africa sympathizing with the AIDS crises.

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Servant Life Day

Today we woke up at 5:00 AM in order to be on time for the bus to do our servant life projects. It was a 45 minutes bus ride, so we got to catch up on a little bit of sleep on our way.

As we arrived in the Covington area we were greeted by the city Mayor. Our project was to clear sidewalks which was covered with wild vines and bushes and dirt. My job included cutting trees, pulling out weeds and vines, raking leaves and shoveling dirt that covered the sidewalk. We worked from around 8:30AM to 1:30PM but had half hour lunch break and other water breaks when we needed.

I was really excited to do community service work, helping the people and making a difference.

We ended the day at the superdome with an amazing service which included inspiring speakers that told their stories of hardships and not being able to fit in. We also got to see the band "Skillet" performed for the first time. The crowds went crazy, it was totally amazing!

Service Work

Walking to the super dome at 6:00 in the morning and brushing my teeth
on the streets of New Orleans; These are the obstacles that you face
when you wake up late.

Yesterday was our service day and boy was it fun. We met new friends
and cleaned up some of the worst streets of Louisiana. Separated, we
couldn't have possible tackled the challenge but together we blew
threw it. Like a machine working in perfect sync everybody was doing
their part. There were people that picked up the trash and people that
cut the vines and bushes and other people doing other numerous things.

Though this might seem like hard work, the hardest part of my day
yesterday was waking up.

--Mark

ServantLife!

We stayed busy clearing the sidewalks of Covington, LA.

Day 6: Servant Day

This was my favorite day of the week. Today we did our servant day
activity. It was tiring at first but after lunch I was set and ready
to work. The task performed today by our group was to clean sidewalks
covered with trees, large plants and hard soil. In the sun, it was
pretty difficult and every half hour we'd take water-breaks. At first
my job was garbage duty. A few of us had to clean any teashthat we
found. The second job I had was to rake leaves, remove soil, cut roots
and a few more things. We went around doing this from 8 am to 1:30 pm.

Worship today was also great hearing Spencer West and Michel
Chikwanine. Both of their stories were touching. Both stories involved
a bad thing in life turning into a good thing.

Skillet performed at the dome. I really like there music and I am
going to put some of their music on my iPod. Tommorrow is the last
full day and I look forward to it.

One more thing. I haven't become as brown as I thought I would.

Showing where we're from

Our Day of Service

We finally got a little dirty today as we traveled to the town of
Covington. There we cleared up sidewalks that were completely
overtaken with overgrowth. Armed with clippers and saws we attacked
the the bushes and vines with full force. If you've ever seen how
poorly I've cleaned my room, you'd never believe how much of a good
job I did. But don't tell my mom. The work was fun and worthwhile, but
not as much as I expected. As we worked through the day, we recieved
many thanks from the townspeople who genuinly appreciated our efforts
and time.

Don't stop believing...

A little impromptu kareoke while waiting...

The climax of the trip

Hey Church,

We had so much fun doing our servant life project. Some people painted
things but we cleaned the side walk. We cut bushes and picked up
trash. I felt a great feeling of satisfaction like I made a
difference. After we finished it you could see the sidewalk and the
natural beauty. I had a lot of fun and p.s. I still miss you Shawn and
family.

Love Janeane.

>

Celebrating God's Unconditonal Love.

Yesterday we started the day with a hip hop worship service, it was amazing to see a different way of worshipping God. I really LOVED it.

After woship we headed to the convention center. It was our day to learn about the environment- our purpose for being here in New Orleans. We watched a 30 minute video about environmental issues facing New Orleans after the devastated Katrina.We were then guided to the interaction center where there are many fun things to do - I got a free foot massage. It felt really good because we've been walking a lot since we arrived.

The evening service at the superdome was awesome as it was on Wednesday. The service was about God's Unconditional Love for everyone.

Off to ServantLife!

With only a slight rough start, we got to the Superdome by 6:30am and
got on our bus. We are traveling 45 minutes to our project site.
Currently we are going over the 24 mile bridge -- we can't see any
land on the horizon, only water on all sides.

Our work here has been on the news. We are the largest convention to come to New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina. City officials said that the work we will be doing in three days of the gathering would have otherwise taken 3 years to complete. Check out a local article here:
http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/wwl072209cbcity.68f400a1.html

Day 3 without Febreze. Still had a Good Day.

Kanye West singing at church?
That's what it felt like this morning in worship.

It wasn't actually Kanye West. It was Agape, a hip hop worship leader
leading Church in a completely different way. From the crazy beats to
his gospel rays (which actually made sense). He put God's word into a
hip version and was able to still keep the basic aspect of Church.

Another interesting thing today was that I almost got adopted. At the
convention, a South Dakota church played basketball with me and
treated me like a fellow South Dakotin. I even got invited to lunch.
Even though I didn't go, it was still cool.

Today was good!!

--Mark

Hoping for a better day !!!

The best part of each day since I arrived here in New Orleans is the services and activities - which is basically the purpose and reason I ever wanted to be here.

Yesterday started off well but ended unexpectedly disappointing and discouraging but nevertheless I thank God.

We've been up quite early today and I am hoping for a better day.

As we walked the street this morning to the bus half the group were way ahead of the other half.

The funnies thing was Mark brushing his teeth on the street because he work up late.

The next thing - Jeneane trip and fell but thank God she is fine.
We just arrived at the site and our way to do the best part of the trip - community service!

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Day 5: All You Gotta Do To Change The World Is Love

Today was a day full of activities such as hip hop worship with Agape
and visiting the Interaction Center, but the best part if the day was
worship. During worship the message was love. We can use love to
create change. One of my favorite speakers was Viola Vaughn. She had a
very inspirational speech. She devoted her life to education and is
now the executive director of 10,000 Girls, an education and
employment program for village girls in Senegal. Viola said how her
love for education and helping people made her who she is today. A
band called Group1Crew ended today's worship with great music that I
plan to listen to again in the future. Worship was beautiful and I
look forward to tommorrow because it's servant life. Everyone should
be getting brown and pink tommorrow.

A Welcome Change

Today we woke up early to go to see Agape's Hip Hop morning worship
service. I can honestly say this was the first of the worship services
that I genuinely enjoyed. Although it's easy to see David Scherer is a
very religious guy, he's not super serious and grim when he speaks.
He's very funny and entertaining, and he gets his message across
without being too preachy. In fact, that was one of the things I liked
most about him -- he didn't really preach. He simply spoke to you. And
being lucky enough to talk with him a bit afterward, he's just what
you would expect -- very cool, very friendly, very down-to-earth, very
genuine. That was easily the best part of the day for me.

--Kadin

The trip is coming to it's high point

Dear Church 
I'm having a great time here. Thanks for helping us to get here, and to experience this event. We had a hip hop morning service that was very energetic. We also went to the interaction center were we discussed our service life projects and played games and other fun activites. So thanks Church and I miss you Shawn. 

Love Janeane

Hello Minnesota!

Today was our day to spend time in the interaction center, a huge place full of many different activities, booths and stations (think mega church carnival) that sought to help us learn a bit about our purpose here while throwing in a bit of fun.When we first visited the interaction center yesterday, we were overwhelmed by all the things we could do. I did everything from racing go-karts with Kadin to learning about different Lutheran colleges and organizations.

While I was thoroughly entertained throughout the day, my highlight would most definitely be enjoying all of the people that I got to meet or "visit," as they say in Minnesota (There are herds of them here and I love love love their accents!). Barely anyone was hesitant to smile and ask where we were from. As the Gathering continues to become more "personal," I have been developing a better understanding of the people who make up the congregations of the ELCA beyond our synod, one of the reasons that I chose to attend the Gathering.

Each gathering, people choose to bring in small gifts to give to random strangers or new acquaintances. So far I've received tons of wristbands, buttons, candy, a clothespin and a bookmark. These gifts, called "swaps," are often exchanged in return for something else, but if you have nothing, a simple smile will do. The little action of giving to random strangers is a beautiful one, reflective of the unifying spirit of the gathering.

Thursday Evening Worship in the Superdome

We're here and ready for our second night of worship with 37,000 other people.

Don't forget to join us with the live webcast at www.elca.org/gathering and check back later for some reflections on our day!

Hip Hop Worship !!!

So ... this morning at 7:30 AM we were all ready for the hip Hop Worship at the Grand Ballroom, Sheraton New Orleans. It was a unique and dynamic form of Lutheran worship led by hip-hop worship leader David Scherer (Agape). David is just full of energy, excitement and passion for what he does...

All of us had a great time !!!

Jesus Justice Jazz at the Superdome - last night's worship !!

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