We believe has landed

We are returng to you with tired children. . . dirty laundry. . . stories to tell. . . And Gods work to do. See you soon

We are at the airport

Exhausted in the Hallway...

The aftermath of the most wonderful and exhausting and exhilerating and empowering event of a lifetime.

Too amazing to leave

Boomwackers rule

Prayer and praise, prayer and praise, prayer and praise...

Beginning of Boomwhacker concert...

What can I say...

Getting Ready to rock the house...

Mass Event Chaos

Mass Event Chaos...so loud and so much energy you can't imagine.

Firing up to worship...

You can't help but be up on your feet...

Hangin out waiting for concert to begin...

As always the FGALs saving seats...they are a sturdy lot those FGALs...

Bad picture but the mass of people leaving the Dome is massive.

Tonight mass event includes Communion with 25000 other Lutherans absolutely awesome

Your loving FGALs (Family Group Adult Leaders) saving seats while the Youth wander and hang out with new found friends.

Mass Event 4

A view from the mass event. These are spectacular and I hope folks are watching them. We want to watch them again...I hope they are kept on the site for awhile...

More boys with garden tools...

Off site Servant event. Cutting tall grass sounds pretty easy but, add in that it is really tall and the temp is 90 and the humidity is like 80% and the sun is shining....this is a formidable job....but we did it and we made a difference.

This is a very eager group

Mass Event Walking

Walking on over to the Mass Event. This is a 1 mile walk. We make it in fine shape, with dinner in our bellies and all, but the trip home is a little more tiresome.

Bob Lenz is always a Gathering favorite. He didn't dissappoint this week either. He passion for describing and teaching "Grace" is amazing. Chris says "He is one awesome speaker and I don't want to miss him".

Teens doing what teens do best... hangin' out

Box Lunches

Box lunches brought to you by your loving FGALs Mrs. Roth and Mrs. Weiss. They were good and tasty and economical and no waiting in line. They were a great deal.

Our shirts are washed and folded and ready for another wearing. Mrs Weiss says "Adult leaders love matching shirts...."

Beginning of day Update (long)

This is late start Monday (much like late start Tuesday for you Valley folks). We have a day in the schedule when we do not start till 10:30 and this is it. Great time in our schedule as it is in the middle. We had the best of days yesterday. Began the day with a fantastic bible study. We have the same Pastor today and are thankful for that as he was excellent. From Bible study we proceeded to the Spectacle. This was comprised of many big inflatable games etc and a Persecution site. Our boys did the Persecution option and said it was thought provoking. We went on the Katrina Tour and saw just a small portion of the devastated areas and just a few homes still abandoned to the flooding. We visited a small lutheran church and heard the pastor talk about 10 feet of water in his sanctuary. To sit there and imagine that was chilling. He spoke of parishoners being scattered about and of some who never returned. You could hear the sorrow in his heart for that and the joy for his Church and community coming back to life. That was the feeling of the whole tour. Sorrow for the loss and joy at the rebirth. We ate some fantastic seafood and steak (we were starving) and proceeded to the mass event. This was a much more orderly affair or maybe we just knew what to expect and were more tolerant. To close out the night we saw the Skit Guys at a nearby hotel (parents google them and watch some of their stuff). We met briefly for Oreos and milk and discussions about "what do you believe when it's hard to believe", what was coming tomorrow and what everyone wanted to see and do on Monday. And so another day begins....

Parents: we keep looking for comments and find none. Let us know you're out there. Really you should look at the Skit Guys, they are sooooo funny. We are doing laundry, need to keep them in those matching shirts, don't want to lose anyone. Keep us in your prayers, things are going great. One little aside "random Red Bull give aways" not such a great thing.

Mick at the edge of the levi. Part of the Katrina tour.

We are on the bus for the Katrina Tour.

FYI parents

You have amazing children and they are doing great. They definitely have more stamina than the adults, but we have coffee...
This afternoon we head off on a Katrina tour. This promises to be an eye opening experience for them.
We will keep you posted.

Gary and Sue say "Hi" from Vegas, having a great time wish you were here. Karla how are the kids doing?

( sarcasm intended).

Just kidding, visiting the Nevada District booth.

And now on the Main Stage

Who says we don't have multi-talented children. We did have to pick up a singer to round out the group.

Expectantly waiting for Bible Study to begin. Our speaker today is Rev. Scott Giger from Concordia, Ann Arbor. Wonder if he knows the Wolf''s?

We end our day with a bible study and discussion of what is to come tomorrow.

Jessica says "this food is amazing"

Poplular thought for tonight is "This is amazing"
We are sent off to think about "What are some of the truths the world would have you believe?"
Tomorrow we go on a Katrina tour. More tomorrow....keep watching...

Every effort is being made to make sure we don't dehydrate. Ask your teens what it means when Mrs Roth says " What's your UC?"

There are literally hundreds of people on the streets making their way to the dome.

Trip to Mardi Gras World was great fun as you can tell. These are amazing men, your son's and a lot of fun to be with. We learned many fun facts about Mardi Gras and saw the artistry involved with the creation of the floats.

Fwd:

Karla Says " I never in my life saw so many lime green backpacks, and never dreamed that 12 of them would be so heavy. But we have ours and feel like we are really part of everything now.

Bible Class tonight with FGAL's leading. This has been totally amazing and we are truly blessed to have come. We say good night eager to greet tomorrow.

Bubba Gumps...

FW: From: 9894500473 Msg: We are on the ground in New Orleans

We are on the ground in New Orleans

We are in the air and Bethany says "are we there yet"

We are on the road

3 days and counting

Can you believe it? 3 days and counting. In 72 short hours we will be sitting in the Super Dome singing praises to our amazing Lord!!! I am so pumped and I bet you are too... At my house we are packing and doing laundry and making lists... Lots of lists.... Kind of like Christmas, making a list and checking it twice...bet I will still forget something, I sure hope not, but it's inevitable. We will simply have to cope when it happens. We will adapt. I will adapt... So make your list, pack your bag, sleep a bunch, pray alot and get your heart ready for a close encounter with so many other believers, get ready to absorb it all and fill your heart with WE BELIEVE...

By the way Mr. Roth says...I think this hot weather in MI is just a warm up to the weather we will have in New Orleans....temp today, right now is 88...

What color shorts match the green shirt

Chris says "I am all about a trip to Bubbla Gumps how about anyone else?"

Sent a Picture, but now to add text...

Yes we really like wearing matching t shirts


Yes, yes, yes this was sent by mobile upload. I then edited it to tell you that I did it....yeah

Last Bible Study/Meeting Before We Go

This morning we met for the last time before we take off on Friday. We gathered in church, sat together, dressed alike and experienced the commissioning service. This is another leg of the journey we began a year ago when we first decided to go to New Orleans and the National Gathering, We Believe. We are excited and nervous to go. We have expectations for the week ahead, we have plans for our time in New Orleans. What I know from previous events is that we also need to sit back and let the journey our God has planned for us unfold. We need to be open to new experiences, we need to step up to what is presented to us, we need to "let go and let God" use us and nourish us and provide for us what only He has in store for us.

I am currently trying to get the whole mobile phone to blog thing hooked up. If any of the Youth have phone to internet connectivity please contact me. You may see odd little posts as I perfect this. Nothing like undertaking this at the last minute. Who said Mrs. Roth plans ahead....

And starting something new...Mrs. Roth said "I am so excited to go I can hardly stand it"

Packing our suitcases

We are excited to go...we are excited to experience New Orleans...we are excited to share with other Lutheran Youth the wonders of our God...because We Believe...

We are packing our suitcases, programing phone numbers into our cell phones, finishing our Bible Studies and just plain talking about how exciting this is going to be.

Some words about packing. Remember it is going to be hot. Pack a few extra articles of clothing and an extra deodorant (Mrs Weiss and Mrs Roth will appreciate it). Make sure you have good shoes (one pair of flip flops won't cut it). We already have a number of shirts printed up to wear and you just need to coordinate with those. We will get another shirt at our servant event. You might also want to pack some small snacks in your suitcase. We will talk more about this and other things to pack on Sunday.

WE GOT A SERVANT EVENT...yes we did. We will be traveling into the city to work on a construction project. You might want to pack a pair of not so good pants/shorts for this. We also need closed toe shoes for this morning, your athletic shoes will work for this. I am excited to go out into the city and make our presence known. In the past cities have been very impressed with you as you work in their community. We will have a positive impact on the city of New Orleans.

For those of you following our progress we thank you for the support and request your prayers for us and all the youth in New Orleans as we celebrate
"We Believe"

Here We Begin

We are The Grace Youth Group. This is a blog created by us and for us. Enjoy with us as we travel to New Orleans for the National Lutheran Youth Gathering, We Believe. This is an exciting time for us and we invite you along for the journey.