Reflections from the Youth Minister! (sorry it's a little long!)

I know, I know!! I have yet to post. To be honest with you all it's come between getting sleep (the limited 4-5 hours a night I've been getting) or taking an hour or so to blog each night. Sorry - sleep has won - but not tonight! I just finished a processing session with the kids about the whole conference and boy do I have a lot on my mind!

First, WOW WOW WOW!! These teens are absolutely INCREDIBLE! It has been a dream of mine since I experienced my first NCYC in November of 2007 in Columbus, OH to take a group of teens! And this dream has come true and WAAAYYY surpassed all my hopes for it! I have had a VERY humbling last 4 days. Very humbling. I was walking back from the morning general session this morning with Connor and Chelsea and I asked them what their favorite thing was so far about NCYC. They rattled off Matt Maher, to adoration, to doing "the wave" at the Sprint center (which I can't help but call - the Spirit Center!), to the Eucharistic Procession, to just being with 23,000 other Catholic Teens just like them. I loved my walk this morning with them - I loved listening to them rattle awesome things off and hear them laugh about everything that's happened. My heart was smiling listening to them talk. Then Chelsea turned the table onto me. "What's been your favorite thing Kate?" Hmmmmm... I wasn't expecting that! (Usually I ask, they answer!) I took a little bit to think. I agreed with all they said! Matt Maher was INCREDIBLE, adoration at XLT was awesome, Mike Patin was an incredible speaker, the Popple concert at KC Live was amazing... but as cheesy as it sounds... my favorite has been experiencing this whole experience along side 5 of the most incredible teens! It's been awesome to be right there in the moment with them while at the same time being able to sit back and watch. It makes me wish that I could have worn a secret hidden camera all weekend so that I could show you all what I get the privilege to be a witness too and to be a party of.

So a quick recap - Wednesday was travel day - and a long one at that. After a little "lost wallet" panic - we were off to Kansas City via Detroit! I've flown numerous times being responsible for teens and i've got to say - this has been the easiest! Once we arrived in Kansas City and after waiting about an hour for our bus to pick us up we settled into the Drury Inn! A late night Denny's stop was in order as we were very hungry! Thursday brought a later morning (for the kids - I still had to get up for an adult meeting!) We loaded the buses (all of Region 1 is staying at the hotel - so it's 2 coach buses and a 12 passenger van that take us to and from the conference each day.) Once at the Convention Center it was off to see POPPLE at the Popple booth first! Dan and Kyle are good friends and have come to know many of our teens - including 4 out of the 5 with us! We hung out with them a little, the we wandered the Reign Forrest - it was FREE gift time! :) We sat and ate lunch together and wandered some more. Then we grabbed dinner, courtesy of Kathy Stebbins and the Office of New Evangelization in Boston (thanks Kathy!) Then we went to the Opening General Session in the Ballroom. It was a great night! I got to stand and watch them all dance and sing and laugh and smile and meet new people and be the crazy goofy kids that I know them to be! It brought tears to my eyes... (which isn't too difficult these days!) Then we loaded the buses and came back to the hotel. We headed to Denny's again for desserts - which took forever and a day... so we made a pact that we wouldn't head back to Denny's again! HAHA! Friday morning came very quickly! It was our first morning at the Sprint Center and that was a site for everyone!! Over 20,000 teens in 1 building praying and singing together is a HUGE site in itself! (I promise - I'll post the pics very soon!) Then off to workshops we went! I headed to "The Bible - the #1 Best Seller" with Rangeley. Mark Hart was the presenter and he's known as "the Bible Geek." I've heard him a few times before and he is dynamic! He has a way to bring the Bible alive!! We all met up afterwards to each lunch and then we went all together to XLT (Lifeteen's version of LIFT!) Matt Maher was doing the music and Paul George was the speaker. All around an AMAZING experience! Then we all went to Hall B for Mike Patin's session on Athletes and Faith. Mike is yet another dynamic speaker and a good friend of Jim Flanagan's. Popple also was the warm up band for Mike! A good time had by all! Then we went down into KC Lights for dinner... after wandering in and out of restaurants for about a 1/2 hour we finally found a restaurant that had less than a 30 minute wait. Johnny's Tavern it was and boy it was yummy!! :) Then off to the general session for the evening! Jason and Crystalina Evertt were the keynotes and they were amazing to say the least! I honestly wondered how our kids were going to like them cause they've all heard them before since Jason comes to our parish every other year! But they all LOVED them! Then back to the hotel (this time I was armed with Oreo's, EL Fudgekins, and chips ahoy so no Denny's for us!) The kids have been great (as you've been reading) about blogging! They are really thinking about it and taking it to heart! (Although I never fathomed how long it would take them to blog each night!)

And onto Saturday. Last morning general session - where they all learned "The Catholic Dance!" Ask them when you see them! They'll show you it!! :) Then they went off to their workshops - most went to Bishop Round Tables - Joe went to a session on Super Hero's - our Catholic Saints! What did I go to? Well, I spent the morning meeting with Catholic Heart Workcamp higher-ups, and wandering the Reign Forrest to find just the right gift for each teen. I also helped out at the Popple booth - cause man are they popular and very very busy!! (yeah popple!!) The kids met me when they were done for lunch. After lunch they all went off to their last workshops on Discernment themes. I had yet to find the PERFECT gift so I stayed at the Popple booth and planned to wander some more. But Dan Harms (of popple) "misplaced" his Ukulele so his Girlfriend, Meghan, and I went on a little wild goose chase to find it! And find it we did (well Kyle did!) - in their booth of all places! Go figure! haha! I did finally figure out what to get them all... it went over pretty well tonight too if I do say so myself! Ask them what they got when you see them next! Kyle asked me if Joe, Range, and Connor would be willing to dress up and dance around the stage while they performed at the Comedy Club this afternoon. So I sent the boys a text and very quickly had a unanimous response of YES! So they came and met up with me and Popple to figure out what they were doing! We met up with Chelsea and Kevin along with Jim's crew for the Comedy Club! Which, yes, was very comedic! The boys did what they do best - be silly and goofy and danced behind Popple! Definitely a high light for me - as for them too I believe! We made reservations at a restaurant for dinner tonight with Jim's crew at a place called "Bull Dog." It was good and we laughed a lot!! Then off to the closing general session and Mass. We had nose bleed seats - but we had a great view! Mass was of course - incredible! A few hundred priests, deacons and Bishops and 20,000+ teens all praying and worshiping together - can we say CHILLS?

All in all it's been an incredible 4 days. Emotional, humbling, Christ Centered, prayerful, and fun! These are 5 leaders. 5 Cream of the Crop. 5 faith filled, Christ loving, CATHOLIC Teens. 5 teens who are going to change the world. 5 teens who touch my life. 5 teens who bring tears to my eyes when I look into their eyes - because their eyes twinkle with God's love. I can see into their hearts - hearts that are on FIRE for Our Lord. Hearts that want to do good, hearts that want to grow in relationship with Christ, hearts that want to make a difference, hearts that love, hearts that break, hearts that are soooo very large, hearts that are carefully wrapped and loved and held by Our Father. 5 teens who have left imprints on my heart that will never ever go away. 5 teens who I firmly believe represent their peers. 5 teens that will come back to St. John's renewed, alive and ready to lead their peers. 5 teens who ARE the Church - not of tomorrow - but of TODAY. 5 teens who represent and remind me daily why I do what I do. I received the most backwards compliment tonight from one of them during our processing of the conference. They were talking about how it has been an awesome 4 days.. but that they felt like something was missing. That they were still craving/looking for something. An analogy was used. It was said that it's like they are in AP Calc, but this weekend they were taking Pre-Algebra Classes. They were looking for the AP classes - or the upper level college courses. I layed there on the floor diverting my eyes to hide the tears that were quickly forming, I said a prayer of thanksgiving. That was the BEST compliment I could ever have gotten. I've done my job. I've done exactly what i had set out to do - grow teens closer to Christ. Lead teens into personal relationships with Christ. Not just be fun and games and a prayer here or there... but authentic prayer, depth of our faith, getting dirty in our faith, getting in deep waters with Christ. If they leave with anything from this week - I know in my heart they are leaving knowing that they are on the right path; that they are leaps and bounds ahead of their peers; that Christ is their friend - and that they have 5 other people who have experienced the exact same weekend as they did and are trying to live the life that Christ is calling them to live. That they have a Youth Minister who loves them, cares deeply about them, believes in them, prayers for them, and regardless where I am - close by or far away - a youth minister they can call a friend - a youth minister who is always there for them - a youth minister whose life is better because they are in it.

To Jenn, Tom, Andrea, Dan, Joan, Joe, Julie, Keith and Terrie: THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for raising such AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, INSPIRING, FUNNY, LOVING, CARING, AUTHENTIC teenagers. It is because of YOU that they have the foundations that they have to build upon. It is because of you and your love and your support and encouragement that they are growing into being the most amazing young men and women. It is through you that they experience God's love first hand day in and day out. Because of you - my life is better.

To Chelsea, Connor, Joe, Kevin, and Rangeley: THANK YOU for this NCYC. Thank you for being the incredible teens you are. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for saying "Yes" to the call to lead. Thank you for trusting me to take you on this faith journey. Thank you for touching my heart day in and day out. Thank you for showing me God's love. Thank you for being the Face of Christ, the hands of Christ, the feet of Christ and having a servants heart. I love you guys!

Thanks to everyone who's been following our journey and praying for us! Know we've been praying for you all every single day - lots of times a day! You've been lifted up in prayers of thanksgiving this whole time!!

Pictures and more reflection posts to come..... Time for bed... 6:15 comes in about 4 hours! See you all once we're home! God love you all!