Youth Blog

ELCA Youth Gathering Houston, TX – Monday, July 2nd, 2018

This week was hard for all of us at the youth gathering. We all went through the good and bad times but ended on a good note at the end of the day. Today was our chill day and we went to the pool and hung around the hotel. This week at the gathering we struggled with the heat, the lines, and finding something to do. Triumphs were surviving the days and seeing the good we all did in one way or another. The place I saw God today was in the people working at the airport enjoying their job as they get to communicate with so many different people from all different countries. This week was one of the best weeks of our lives and one that we’ll never forget. Thank you to the congregation for donating money and helping us get to and from Houston for this chance to come and serve this community.

– Sam L. & Gracyn M.

 

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ELCA Youth Gathering Houston, TX – Sunday, July 1st, 2018

Today we were reminded of how God changes everything.We saw this in the church service, where they did a recap of the entire week. We talked about how hope affected us, and visited the zoo after the church service was done. We saw many cool animals like orangoutangs and ostriches, and had fun with friends. We ended the night with some chicken tendies from a restaurant down the street.

– Caleb B & Nathan M


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ELCA Youth Gathering Houston, TX – Saturday, June 30th, 2018

Saturday- Synod Day

Today was Synod Day at the gathering. Our day started off with us getting to the lobby at 7:00 to get shuttled to ihop. Once we were finished eating we walked to the hotel where our synod day activities were being held. During that time we volunteered to be the ushers. Throughout the time there we had many jobs. This included being greeters, blessers, handing rocks that were inscribed with Jesus, handing out note cards as the offering, and giving communion. After that we were shuttled to the NRG Stadium for mass gathering. We got there early so we were able to get floor seats. Mass gathering was really fun and enlightening with all of the guest speakers. The singers were also inspiring because of their passion, optimism, and hope with continuing their faith. They share their experiences and beliefs with others to encourage others to not shy away from being yourself because you are exactly who God intended to create.

​- Kali K & Lily C

 

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ELCA Youth Gathering Houston, TX – Friday, June 29th, 2018

This morning was the morning we got to sleep in. As we waited for our bus, which was 2 hours late, we jammed to music, made new friends, and played games. When we got to the interactive learning place, we played disability foosball and many other games. For the mass gathering, we sat in the box seats. There were 5 speakers, all who talked about personal issues but how God was with them and loved them unconditionally through everything. They were all so inspirational and I think all 30,000 people took something from them. Today my struggles were definitely trying to find something to do because all the lines at the interactive learning stations were very long and we only had limited time. However, my triumphs today were meeting new friends and building closer bonds with people we already met. Today, we saw God in the courage the speakers had to talk about their issues but how they are helping and helped us all. We also saw God in the power and meaning of the speakers and the struggles they tackled and messages they delivered. Overall, there were many personal struggles throughout the day, but none could keep the group from having fun.
– Sydney F & Kenny B

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ELCA Youth Gathering Houston, TX – Thursday, June 28th, 2018

Today was our 2nd day. We did service. We went to Our Park. This is a city park, funded by the residences of Houston. We cleaned up trash around the park. We had many struggles, including the hear as well as exhaustion. Though we did have many triumphs like cleaning the park thoroughly. We saw God throughout the park as well as at Mass Gathering.
​- Ashely R & Abby C
 

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