An Update from New Orleans!
TONIGHT! Watch us perform as part of the cast for tonight’s mass! Tune in at 7:00 PM for the livestream on YouTube.
As for yesterday’s adventures, the swamp tour was the favorite activity for the majority of our group. We saw lots of alligators and Captain Jason also showed us birds and raccoons. He showed us a part of the bayou that inspiried the Disney movie “The Princess and the Frog”. Then the tour turned more somber as Jason shared how the next area of water we entered used to be dry land but due to Hurricane Ida they lost 100 miles of coastland. He told us that storm was much more damaging than Hurricane Katrina. Jason shared that any strong storm like Ida could wipe New Orleans off the map and is mostly due to humans destroying the natural habitat. There are efforts under way to save what is left of the coastline but they will never be able to restore what’s left.
After the Swamp tour we toured Oak Alley Plantation where over 220 slaves were owned and worked over the years. We heard about the families who lived there as we got a guided tour of the house. Then we walked the grounds and did a self guided tour of the slave quarters. We ate a very good lunch at the restaurant on the grounds and headed back to the hotel.
The opening to the Gathering did not disappoint! We heard from amazing speakers and musicians including Bishop Eaton, Michael Chan and The Afters. Michael Chan told us if we remember nothing else that “we were precious before we could prove it”. His talk was based on Psalm 139:13-14.
We ended the night with pizza, final 15 devotion and prayer cards.
Here is a reflection from Maxx: “Today we went on a swamp tour and I held a baby alligator. Second, we took an hour and a half long bus ride to a plantation where we then got a tour of this 185 year old house that this man and this woman lived in. Lastly, we went to the big convention which was really neat because of the lights, people and environment.”
P.S. Browse the photos to discover the one featuring a special individual from First Lutheran’s past whom a few of our youth unexpectedly met at the Gathering!
