Youth Gathering Reflections - Day 1

I'm in New Orleans with a group of 16 youth & adults from Windsor Heights Lutheran Church; the congregation I serve in Des Moines, IA.  I invited our group participants the change to offer their reflections throughout the week on koinonia.



The bus ride started with a walk across the street to the Kum-n-Go to get nail polish remover for Kirsten...they didn't have any.

We then loaded the bus and headed to the back and got situated, then we left for New Orleans, LA.  It start out with Megan being really hot.  Then we met some interesting people sitting in the seats in front of us.  They seemed most interested in our friend, Petir.  We attempted to sleep on the bus as we drove through the night.

Then we arrived at the Convention Center, which caused a major Chex Mix situation.  (Don't ask)  The adults went to orientation while we went into the huge Interaction Center.  While in there we saw Allison and Caitlyn from our church, who are volunteering with the Gathering.  We went to play mini-golf, but quickly noticed that mini-golf was something we weren't the best at.

From there, we went to our hotel to check in.  While waiting for an hour to get our room keys, we played spoons and other card games.  After putting our stuff in our rooms we took the trolly and walked to Dooky Chase, where we ate lunch.  We learned that the founder was the inspiration for "The Princess and the Frog"!  We had a delicious meal of authentic New Orleans food, laughter and conversation.  The walls were covered in various art pieces collected over the years, all very native to the culture of New Orleans.  Walking back, we felt with our skin color and a big group, we definately look like tourists.

Parts of New Orleans look renovated and new, while some places distinctly show the damage of hurricanes, along with the large poverty here in the city.  The southern accent has been fun to listen to, along with all the different pronunciations of "New Orleans".

We are back at the hotel now, relaxing and getting ready for the Superdome tonight.  We are all very excited and can't wait for the fun to begin.

     ~ Julia, Becca, Emily, & Kirsten