It’s day two here in NOLA and we’ve already done so many things. All of us woke up and left the hotel by 9am, we started our day by stopping at a local coffee shop called the French Truck Cafe, where some of us got coffee and other got specialized lemonades. After that we headed toward the French Quarter where the items of our scavenger hunt would be.
We got to see lots of cool things, one of them being the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis King of France. The Cathedral had beautiful stained glass windows and amazing architecture. One of the groups favorite stops of the day was Cafe Du Monde, where we all got Beignets( If you haven’t had one, you need to try one).
After our scavenger hunt was done, we headed over to the New Orleans Convention Center. Inside they had numerous activities like bouncy houses, gaga ball, coloring sheets, pickle ball, and more. We all ventured around there for close to two hours then met back up with the group and headed over to worship.
We worshiped with 2,600 other Minnesotas and got to hear from Bishops from each Synods in Minnesota. After an hour of worship we walked outside to see that it was down pouring outside, by the time we go back to the hotel we were all drenched. Shoes were soaked, hair wet, and all of us in need of ponchos. Erika, Lucy, and Teagan headed over to Walgreens to get ponchos and candy while the rest of the group dried off at the hotel.
After drying off we headed over to a small local shop called Royal Burrito. The owner of the store was very kind and treated us all to free apples and mangos. Mass gathering started at 7pm so we booked it out of the restaurant to catch our trolly ride. There were so many people packed onto the trolly that many of us were squished due to impact of other people #traumatized.
Anyway, we made it to the Smoothie King Stadium and due to the lack of open seats we were seated in one of the highest sections. I (Teagan) did not favor the high seating and was afraid each time I stood up. Speaking for everyone, worship was very inspiring and engaging tonight as we heard from many different speakers that shared their stories and how faith has helped them through the struggles that come along the way.
At 9:30, when worship ended, we went back to our hotel, had free time for a little bit and then did devotions and went to sleep. We are all excited for what tomorrow brings us and thank you all for supporting us as we dive deeper into God’s love this week. Talk to you all soon. Prince of Peace out.
– Teagan Wetteland and Lucy Rawitzer