New Orleans Day 6

Our final day went by way too fast! It started at nine in the morning...yay. We went to a Sunday worship with lots of music and high spirits. And you will never believe ware the next Lutheran gathering will be...DETROIT!!!! Now everyone is pumped. When we left we came to the conclusion that we were all very hungry... so as all hungry people do we went to subway. We were in line for about half an hour, but it was  well worth it! We then went on a swap tour. A giant group of us got on a boat and went out. They were every ware! Alligators big, small, and extra large! They would swim right up to the boat. Then(if it could get any crazier) the tour guy unfolded a ramp and got out of the boat and fed them! He would put meat on a stick and dangle it above the water and the "gaders" would jump out of the water to get it. And if could get any stranger, Our guide got back in the boat and out of no ware pulled out a baby alligator. It was about a foot and a half long and he had its mouth taped shut. And you will never guess the best part... yup he let each of us hold it! He(or she) was very interesting to hold, his stomach was soft and his back was very hard like armor plates. He also passed around leeches (in a glass jar don't worry!) they were gross. Really gross. we headed back to eat and found a great restaurant that was a great final eating place. We all had a wonderful time and each of us has gotten closer to god and we will come home stronger and more involved people. This trip has opened up our eyes to the wonders and horrors of the world. We are truly grateful that this opportunity has came to us and we will never forget this!
-Erin

New Orleans Day 5

Today was super packed! We woke up and went straight to the convention center which is this huge space that the gathering used for all kinds of different activities. We split up into smaller groups and participated in all kinds of unique things. They put a massive wall up that weaved into a path. The wall was split into sections that represented countries. There was information on the countries, their struggles, and their history. I learned so much about things from the past and from right now. MY eyes were completely opened to what was happening in the world. Countries like Bosnia, Palestine, and West Africa were just some of the places we learned about. The wall was both sad and inspiring because, although there was much pain, there were also so many programs committed to helping people. We talked to a man named Albert who told us all about Palestine and the youth he takes there and back. I came out of the wall feeling informed and thirsting for more.

                The day’s seriousness lightened up later on… a lot. My group was on our out of the center and stopped to take pictures with wigs and all kind of props. The man running it told us that they were leaving and it would help them if we took one prop each. We left with two hot pink wigs, which the boys wore, two blue and green wigs, a lobster hat, and a jester hat. We basically wore them for the rest of the day. We took a trolley into the French quarter, which was a new experience, and then found a horse and carriage tour. The tour guide was a native New Orleaner and was in the business for thirty years. I learned so much about the French Quarter! He recommended a place to eat which we went to. A small diner called “The Clover Grill” made their burgers under a hubcap. They were delicious! We ate one of the yummiest greasiest burgers ever then almost ran to the superdome for worship. The worship was a little hard to keep my eyes open for but it got better towards the end. We went to a hotel across the street from our hotel for a concert by a band called Lost and Found. We split up because there was a dance across the hall, but I stayed at the concert. The band was hilarious and sounded great. Today was crazy and filled but I loved it.
-Jamie

New Orleans Day 4

Today was a very special day! Today was Miranda’s Sweet Sixteen! Our day was pretty chill. We got to sleep in a little later, if you consider 7:30 sleeping in. The first thing we got to do today was attend a Michigan only gathering. We spent the whole morning in a room full of Michiganders. We sang songs, had communion, and discussed our faith with our peers. We met a lot of new kids (AKA CUTE BOYS) and got closer to God. We unfortunately didn’t have time for the aquarium, but we are going to try our best to go another day (we will make it happen). After the Michigan gathering we spent a couple hours with about 150 postcards. After all the stickers, stamps, and postcards were finished our hands were dead. But we love everyone for helping us make this trip happen. Wow, did it storm today. The storm today was pretty intense. We could barely see out our windows and our phones beeped with storm alerts and flood watchings all day. After an hour or so it finally let up. We got to go out to dinner for Miranda’s birthday at the Hard Rock Café. The food was super yummy and Miranda got embarrassed a lot due to our obnoxious singing. After dinner we went to the superdome for the evening mass. The main speaker was a woman from Africa who had won the Nobel peace prize for ending a civil war in her country. The entire crowd of 33,309 people stood and swayed to the song “Hallelujah” as brilliant white balloons floated to the ceiling.  Some of us went to a dance when we returned from the dome and partied it up for Miranda’s B-day! It was an awesome day in New Orleans (as always) and we can’t wait for tomorrow!

Love Miranda and Nerissa

New Orleans Day 3

HI YALL IT’S MEG AND NAT!!! You might remember us from the spring break mission trip in which we also wrote our blog together. Oh and btdubbs Mal is kind of here too. So just to get this out of the way, our room smells…really bad because Mal has a broken ankle and her brace cast thing smells like the worst thing you have ever smelled times five. SO today we woke up at 5:30am. It was so great…just kidding….I mean it was okay but we would have rather slept longer. Then we went and sat around for like four hours. Then we did mission work by deconstructing houses (which is kind of like demolishing but better for the environment and cheaper), taking nails out of wood, handing out fliers, picking up trash, and manning the first aid table. Then we ate lunch which consisted of a sub that only had meat and cheese on it…yeah we are pretty hardcore I mean WHO NEEDS VEGGIES ANYWAY!?!!?!?!? After that we got back to the hotel and Nat and I took a nap. That may sound boring to you folks but IT WAS SO FANTASTIC! We fell asleep with like nine people in our room and slept through them leaving and then three different people knocking and a maid that tried to get into our room…actually she walked into our room saw us sleeping and then left. Then Eric woke us up and Nat yelled at him and then we went back to sleep for another hour. After that smashing adventure we went and got din-din at daisy dukes. But we ate super early to avoid crowds which didn’t work at all because we still had to wait in line to get in the restaurant. There are so many people here it’s mind blowing. Anyways after dinner we went and bought ponchos because it keeps raining like every ten seconds and we were tired of being soaking wet. Then we went to Mass gathering!!! I think that we all decided that today’s mass thing was all of our favorites. This one armed guy played the guitar for us and we heard stories from Shane and Megan and Valarie and this guy that kind of had a slam poetry thing going on. All in all everything said was very inspiring. After that we went back to the hotel. Now remember folks every time I mention going to the dome thing for mass it’s a 20 minute walk, yeah we exercise hardcore. On the walk back to the hotel I (Meg) met this guy named Tom that is my soul mate. But I’ll probs never see him again. When we got back to casa de Sharton we went to this dance thing with Moriah and Nerissa. It was toats crazy and there was a huge crowd that we kind of shoved our way into and just started jumping up and down. IT WAS SO FANTASTIC AND AMAZING AND FUUUUNNNN!!! At this dance thing me and Nat met these two guys (one of which was Jewish lawlz) who were SUPER CUTE and we hung out with them a bit. But don’t worry parents we just talked and jumped up and down together. We may one day go get coffee together and discuss religion, but don’t worry Tom, Meg will never forget you. We are some classy teens. NEWS FLASH someone brought a wash cloth out into our room and left it on the floor. Who does that? There are also clothes all over our room because we just kind of leave our clothes wherever and hang our wet stuff to dry on like the television and chairs and lamps and door handles. Boys don’t really like going into our room, except for Eric who keeps using our bathroom. That kid needs to get his own bathroom. On Saturday there is going to be a thing for donating blood and hair and Stasia is going to donate like most of her hair to lock of love. What a gem that girl is. Okay we are officially out of things to say unless it has to do with those cute boys we met at the dance and I’m sure as our parents you don’t want to hear anymore about them. GOODNIGHT MICHIGAN LOVE YA XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO! LOVE MEG AND NAT AND KIND OF MAL AND STASIA LOVES YOU TOO!!!! SENIORS 2013 <3

New Orleans Day 2

Today we went to the French Market and there were restaurants and a flea market and I got some sunglasses.  When we had walked through the flea market we headed the opposite direction and ate lunch at an outdoor café with a band and ate alligator sausage.  While we were on the way back we stopped a store that sold only salsa and several of us tried the second hottest salsa in the store called “Death by Salsa” and we didn’t try the hottest because you had to be 18 in order to try and Nathan chickened out.  Then we came back and regrouped before going to the Superdome, (where I lost my sunglasses) for the mass gathering which was way cool and the speakers were great and then it started pouring rain and we walked back to the hotel soaked from head to toe except for Laura who had a poncho.  So far the trip has been great and I’m not homesick although I do wish my mom was here.
- Nick

New Orleans Day One!

Today has been the longest day in the history of the universe. For me it started at 4:30 with a trip to the donut cutter, then a spice girl filled bus ride to the airport, a short little plane ride and an introduction to the amazing city of New Orleans (or as people here tend to refer to it, Nawleans). Every part of the day has been perfect. Our hotel is gorgeous. The elevators are extremely fancy, with little keypads that tell you which elevator is coming to pick you up. I think that’s my favorite part. After we looked around the hotel, we went to explore the city, and check into the national gathering. While waiting for the advisors to check us in, we started a little game. We asked every group that walked by us what state they were from, and the results were interesting! Surprisingly enough, Minnesota and California were the states that had the most groups out of those that passed us. Next we looked for somewhere to eat! With so many hungry teens here, it was rough finding a place to eat that could seat all 16 of us. Finally after a little walking and determination, we found a delicious little restaurant. The food here is incredible. It’s probably my favorite part of the city so far. I’ve been here less than one day, and already I’ve tried seafood gumbo, alligator balls, shrimp creole, fried oysters, and famous garlic fries. YUM! I think food is something we’ll be looking forward to all week. The day ended with a trip to this little place called Preservation Hall, where they play the best jazz music ever! The room was seriously crowded and hotter than the air outside. Every single space was filled with people, and music. The trumpet player/lead singer had an astonishing voice that was so sweet, I was sad to leave. The piano player was inspirational. The trombone player taught me the possibilities of what a trombone could actually sound like, which I really didn’t know until tonight. The saxophone was so smooth. Finally, the drummer and bass player had personality unparalleled by anyone I’ve ever seen perform. The last last thing we experienced before we reached the hotel for the night was Bourbon Street, which was pretty interesting. Let’s just say all kinds of people roam that street at night! Back at the hotel we’re experiencing a stuck elevator, but luckily all of S.T.A.G.E. is safe and sound in our hotel rooms. The first day has been incredible and full of new experiences! New Orleans is so fun! None of us ever want to leave! I can’t wait to see what we’ll be doing at the Gathering tomorrow. 

-Moriah

P.S. CONGRATS TO MIRANDA AND NICK ON A SUCESSFUL FIRST FLIGHT!!!

NEW ORLEANS HERE WE COME!

The STAGE youth will be flying out of Detroit around 7:30a on Tues for the National Gathering in New Orleans!

Its going to hot and humid, maybe even a bit stormy, but nothings going to stop us from living out an awesome week  of growing as a group and growing in our faith.

Keep us in your prayers and stay posted for more stories from the youth throughout the week.

MUCH LOVE,
Mallory Bennett, Miranda Hunt, Eric McChesney, Moriah Moore, Anastasia Rogers, Megan Seamens, Erin Schindler, PJ Schindler, Natalie Snay, Jamie Stafford,

Nick Young,Nerissa Zoller, Nathan Schleicher, Diane Marshell, Mike & Laura Galat