We left 26 days ago on a journey that would bring us many new adventures that we couldn’t even imagine yet! Some of us were returning to New Orleans for our second Youth Gathering, and couldn’t wait to explore the sights and relive the feeling of being at the gathering with so many of our friends. Others of us were experiencing this trip for the first time and just trying to soak in as much as we could.

Each day of this trip brought new and exciting adventures, whether it was meeting someone new on the bus, exploring a new site in a new town, worshiping with thousands, or experiencing a different culture while in New Orleans. At times it is hard to wrap your head around everything that did happen on this trip, because each day was filled with so many wonderful opportunities and brings back so many memories.

One thing we know for sure is that this trip had a lasting effect on Friends in Faith. New friendships were created, old friendships were strengthened, and memories were made to last a lifetime.  One of our youth put it best… “This is not the end, it is the beginning. Nothing can break what we have created.”

Join us THIS Wednesday night, August 8th at 7pm in Gooseberry Park for an outdoor worship service. Stick around after the service for a NOLA Reunion starting at 8pm!! We hope that all of you will be there. Please wear a trip shirt and bring a dessert to share with everyone.

See you there!

We started our day in Little Rock, Arkansas, with melt in your mouth, gooey, sticky, Krispy Kreme goodness. Birthday boy, Drew K., ate a dozen, all by himself! Our lunch bus stopped in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the playground was sizzlin’ (as was Will T.’s hand from hanging on the jungle gym!) We sang happy birthday to Kathy! We experienced 100+ degree temperatures the whole way North. Bus 1 slept in the morning and had a dance party in the afternoon. Bus 2 napped it up, had heated debates, and played bus games. When we made it to Council Bluffs, Iowa, we sent Josh H. on a Greyhound bus overnight, to meet his family in the land of the cheeseheads. After supper, (Drew’s b-day supper)

we got to the hotel in time, so many FiF went swimming! Tonight is our last small group meetings. We’ve all grown together in faith so much in our small groups! Tomorrow, we drive to Augustana College for lunch and worship, where we celebrate our 24 graduated seniors. Boo hoo! We are anxious to get home to see our families, to sleep in our own beds and sit on our own thrones! 😉

Farewell, from your fellow Citizens with the Saints,

Am-i-e, Birthday Boy, Drex, Sleepy KateLynn and PJ

Hello our wonderful families! Will Thom says hi mom and dad! As we begin our journey back home, we reflect on our time in Nawlins, that can be summarized in three words: awesome, inspirational and fantabulous! It is safe to say we have all thoroughly enjoyed our time here. This morning we went to Worship service in the dome, where we sat up in highest section possible. Holy Communion was quite a sight, with 33,000 people in one place. We could all feel united as one, as we looked down at everyone feeling the same as us. Being so high up ended up being a great thing, as then no one else could see  many of us bawling our eyes out with the idea of sending off 24 seniors in two days, along with Rachel going to South Africa and Laura to Jerusalem. At the end, the Detroit Choir came out and sang a gospel version of “Lose Yourself,” orginially done by Eminem. The announcement was made that the 2015 gathering is to be in Detroit, MI. We then began our long bus ride home. The hours were mainly filled with all of us sleeping in a coma, catching up on all the sleep we chose not to get in New Orleans. We celebrated John Deelstra’s 18th birthday today and we’ll celebrate Kathy’s birthday tomorrow! What more could you want than worship in the dome, a seven hour bus ride and a shake from Sonic! That’s a FiF birthday to remember! At the end of the day, in the Hampton Inn in Little Rock, Arkansas, we gathered one last time for evening large group. There, we sang our favorite songs and shared some great and memorable stories. We laughed together during the funny moments, and reflected during the God moments. We are all looking forward to tomorrow morning’s breakfast( there are Krispe Kreme donuts waiting for us!) and getting a great night of sleep! We will see you very soon:)

Lots of love, Dani, Sierra, Allison, Katelyn, Kate, Hayden, Josh, John, Skyler, Jana and Sara

ps: enjoy these fabulous photos!

Happy Birthday John!Larissa ordering Sonic!waiting for our bus to come bring us home!

Today we went to the bayou…not the bayou, by you…but the bayou by us (read with southern accent). We took two buses down to the lower ninth ward, the hardest hit area by hurricane Katrina seven years ago in 2005. We cleaned up debris, over grown shrubs, and garbage in vacant lots. Along with the Trinity Friends in Faith crew a few neighborhood kids  came to lend a hand with our valiant efforts to better the lives of the residence of the Lower Ninth ward. These kids quickly grew on all of Trinity Friends in Faith with their southern hospitality, kindness and willingness to lend a hand. The vacant lots are vacant because legal issues of who actually now owns the lots after most of the previous residents were killed by the rushing flood water of the Mississippi river behind the levee. One of the residents we talked to had not had neighbors till 3 weeks ago. After all the debris, shrubs, garbage, and don’t forget the overgrown Bayou was cleared from the lots you could see the broken foundation of the house. You could distinctly tell where the kitchen, living room, bathroom, and bed rooms where. Then you start thinking about the family who lived there at the time, were they killed in the flooding water after the levee broke right outside their front door or had they survived and never wanted to come back to what used to be. We ask that you keep not only the citizens of New Orleans, but the 36,000 citizens with the saints that have lent a willing hand to practice Justice in your thoughts and prayers!

Be the change you want to see in the world!- Mahatma Gandhi

Peace,
Emily, Jason, Will, Brianne, Jens, Kianna, Lizzy, Jadon, Kali, Ashley, and Colin

As we walked to the convention center for worship, we looked back and saw rain coming. It reminded some of us of Exodus 10 when the Lord brought locusts into Egypt. We worshiped with a couple thousand of our friends with great energy! We then rehearsed for three hours with our balloons and fabric preparing for the mass cast show. This consisted of untangling fish line and running around with capes of glimmering silver fabric! The rain threw a wrench in our plans by closing champion square and causing up to hotel hop for food and sing in the rain! The evening focus was peacemaking. One of the main speakers talked about bullying. The main points were to tell the bully to stop, tell someone that can do something about it, and invite the victim into your group. And with a hallelujah we lifted the balloons into the air and concluded worship for the evening. Many of us then traveled to the Marriott for the Agape concert with a special guest appearance by trinity’s very own Bjorn Beat-boxing Hunstad. “My name is Bjorn, I make noises with my mouth, pretty much.” John 14: 27 Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not let them be afraid.

-Parker Jacobsen, Billy Bruce Thom, Chuck Swedberg, Ira Bailey, Evan Bailey, Rachel Oberg, Amber Dorow, Jake Odegard, Abby Tietz, Rachel Hunstad, Josh Freeman, Katie Beedy

HELLO from Anna and Kathy’s small groups!!!!

Let us bring you up to speed:
—Today, after eating a delicious, yet nutritious breakfast, our entire Trinity youth group went down to have a synod-wide worship. Let it be known that Trinity Lutheran Church’s worship participants made up 1/8 of our entire synod. A few of our youth even helped lead the worship session. During worship we learned about the 7 ways to show discipleship: give, encourage, worship, serve, study, prayer and invite. This worship period also provided for a great opportunity to mingle with other youth from our synod in the form of small groups. After worship, Trinity had a few hours to explore the city of New Orleans. A fair majority of the youth found restaurants that showcase the area’s unique flavors. After a delicious Cajun lunch, we headed to the convention center to practice peacemaking with other youth. David Hunstad’s Old Lutheran booth was a huge hit and the youth donated their extra change to a charity that makes water wells in Africa. After an exciting afternoon, we headed off towards the Superdome/Lutherdome. We managed to score some well placed floor seats for the 2 hour long mega worship. Great live music and very inspiring speakers dominated our powerful worship experience. After our Lutherdome worship, we had the option of heading to a plethora of nightlife activities that were located at a number of hotels. Youth went to multiple dances and intimate live concerts featuring our own BJORN HUNSTAD performing with the wonderful Rachel Kurtz! A wonderful way to end an amazing day. This blog was written in the comfort of our downtown hotel in small group, too late at night! 🙂 We sign off wishing the people reading this our love, and that we have safe 5 more days on this incredible adventure.

Sincerely,
Sydni, Shontel, Matt, Larissa, Kole, Ben, Lauren, Noah, and Elizabeth!

Yesterday was too full of activity that our overwhelmed and sleepy small group went right to bed as we returned to the hotel, so this is a bit later than we hoped. Wednesday began by kicking the day off small group bonding around the city, partnering with Pastor John’s group! Hit up Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, Voodoo museum, and Sarah’s favorite store– OLD LUTHERAN! We tested our limits with some new foods, muffulettas at a local Italian deli! And spent quite a bit of time working on our fashion sense with masks and feather boas. All of which resulted in a much needed drink on Bourbon… Water that is!

After a fun filled afternoon, we rushed to the SuperDome for our mass cast rehearsal as Kristin and Noah rocked the lip dubbin’. Being in the presence of 36,000 fellow enthusiastic Jesus lovers was incredible! We pulled up our ‘Lutheran bootstraps’ and hopped in a conga line or two, and listened to inspiring speakers and musicians truly encouraging all of us to ‘Make a Change’!

Topped the night off with a delay in our departure but some much needed singing in the cool rain!

Lovin’ Nawlins!

– Amy’s small group! Sarah, Matt, Shea, Sheyanne, and Amy!

Hi Y’all, Greetings from the Bayou. This is Patty and Mike’s group. Tom, Grete, Ben, Catie, and Kaleb. We hit the highway again today and stopped at a nice rest stop and had lunch. Then we had an hour and a half drive to get to New Orleans. We crossed lake Pontchartrain on the longest driveable bridge in the US. We were told Pastor Colin’s uncle provided the concrete for the bridge. While the youth watched a movie on the bus, some of the adults checked into the Hilton Riverside. We had a special dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and had a rockin’ good time. Afterwards we did a walking tour to Jackson Square, and on our walk we stopped at a set of stairs across form Jackson Square, took pictures and started singing camp songs for the passersby. We also got some applause and cheers from the bystanders. We stopped in front of Saint Louis Cathedral and Pastor Colin told us the history and that his cousin plays the organ there. We are back at the hotel now looking forward to a great night’s sleep. Don’t forget to look for us at the Superdome at 7 o’clock Wednesday night. We are also being streamed in the CLC at Trinity. Blessings from Patty, Mike, Tommy, Grete, Ben, Catie, and Kaleb.

Hey pals, hows it hangin’ back home? We had a great day in Pensacola! The group started out in a state park for our service project. It was an awesome and very sweaty time painting an extremely long boardwalk a weird color. Some of us also cleared brush in the park. After that we had the rest of the day to enjoy the breathtaking ocean, and have some free time. Everyone had fun jumping and riding the waves. G-dog (Greyson) got to parasailing with his mother (G-dog’s Momma dog (Patty)). To round off the day we worshiped in large group, then went to the beach to end the night with reflection and lighting off lanterns to fly above the ocean. Tomorrow we are off to #Nawlins.

Signing off this is Young Kaspy(Joe Kasper), G-dog(Greyson Grinde), KRae(Kristin Drechsel), DestinAyyy(Destiny Brewer), and our group leader Shafnation(Brenda Shafer)

On the road again for most of the day.  We left Memphis via Graceland.  We didn’t stop but were able to drive by the gates of Elvis’ home.  Then it was off to Pensacola and the beach.  But…en route, bus games took a turn for the worst.  Rocks smashed scissors, paper cuts abounded, paper concealed rocks in what became an epic Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament on Bus 2.

Bus 1 went with normal bus game questions so there’s really not much more to say about that. But, Eric reports that quiet time on Bus 1 was particularly restful.  And…more getting to know one another with great conversation questions.

But, on Bus 2, Champions in many categories were crowned from Bus Champion to Biggest Loser to the Battle Royale of the Sexes.

For those those of you at home, the wounds were merely psychological and, we believe, short term.

As the day progressed, we finally made it to our hotel on the beach at Pensacola – all thanks to our able bus drivers Mark and Doug.  They rock!!!!!  We dropped our bags and some dashed for dinners of crab legs, shrimp or pineapple burgers while the rest of the group dashed for the surf.  Lots of boogie boarding, body surfing and all around splashing.  Some of us found out that the Gulf of Mexico tastes salty.  Who knew?

Laura and Eric’s Group – Ally, Lily, Grant, Gabe and Taylor.

PEACE OUT!

Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament competitors Destiny, Ally, Elizabeth, Shontel and Drew.