YAF @ GC: Day 2

Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!

All that hath life and breath come now with praises before him!

Let the amen sound from his people again;

gladly for ever adore him.

This morning as I settled in to breakfast alongside a fellow young adult (whom I hadn't seen since 2008!) I noticed a guy walking in and settling down to read the paper and have a bite of oatmeal. When it registered who it was I kind of gasped and got a little tingley--it was none other than Tim Schenk of Lent Madness fame! He was so nice and took a picture with me and I told him how much I had really enjoyed Lent Madness from Hong Kong. It was such a thrill to meet him in person! 

After breakfast I walked over with the rest of the YAF crew to take part in the opening Eucharist for the day. It was such an incredible, heart warming experience to worship with so many other Episcopalians. I will admit to getting a little teary eyed during the opening hymn... It is really amazing to be a part of such an incredible Church and to worship God with an amazing group of people.

The worship ended and I set out to find my Bishop, John Bauerschmidt. I had an invitation to our Young Adult Celebration tomorrow night with his name on it and I was bound and determined to put it in his hands. I found the House of Bishops and basically hung out there until I saw him. I'm not really sure how we are supposed to address him or what the "proper" way is, but I was so startled when I actually saw him that I just shouted out "JOHN!" and he turned and I was all awkward and "Hey uh I'm uh not stalking you or anything haha but um... would you come to this thing??" Such a gracious man, Rt. Rev. John Bauerschmidt... He has dinner plans but might drop in later since it goes on until 10pm. I really hope he can make it because was so supportive of my YASC year! We chatted a little bit more and he bought me a coffee (Thanks Bishop!) and then I wandered off to the House of Deputies. 

I snapped a few photos before I noticed a friend of mine from Murfreesboro sitting in the visitors section. None other than Wes Arning! His dad is a deputy for our diocese so he tagged along to check things out. A nice surprise to get to hang out with him at GC!

When I was in high school I took part in Model UN and Youth Legislature so I was fairly familiar with what was going on, and I knew from experience that legislative sessions can get a little blah very quickly... I was never a fantastic deputy back then (it is extremely tedious work) so I was often on the Press Corps or there in some other capacity. It was good background work though, so I'm glad I had some experience to draw upon. It really helped in understanding the language people were using and how the flow works during a legislative session. 

Around 12:45 we left the session to locate the Taco Truck that had been arranged for our lunch. I ran into David Copley at the Marriott and we chatted for a few minutes. I hadn't seen him since returning to the States! I will hopefully see him tomorrow at the Global Partnerships lunch, which Spencer and I are both attending. The tacos were quite good and I passed the Lunch time with a friend from discernment weekend (Jonathan Potter) and Wes in the Exhibit Hall. After we ate we wandered around the hall checking out the various booths (I am by no means done looking around! so much to see) and I spent a good amount of time chatting with a few of the seminaries. (VTS was very engaging and even mentioned how they are talking with some seminaries in Hong Kong...) I met up with Mary Balfour who is at the Seminary of the Southwest booth and we had a good time catching up. 

It was during this adventure that I had my second Episcopal Hero sighting of the day. Tom Ferguson, the Crusty Old Dean, was at the Bexley Hall booth and I had the pleasure of chatting him up for a few minutes. All crustiness aside, he is fantastic and I enjoyed speaking with him. 

Later on I headed back to the Young Adult Festival Lounge where I hung out with fellow YA's and we talked about what we had been up to. So much is going on today!!

I had dinner with my good friend Lauren from the Diocese of Atlanta and a new friend, Isaac, from the Diocese of East TN. I'm always down for pizza :) and it was good to have a mini-debrief and fellowship before our YAF sessions later tonight. 

It was a delight to learn that Forward Movement would be coming over to visit and bringing ice cream before our de-briefing session and compline tonight. My third Episcopal Hero sighting was Scott Gunn, also of Lent Madness/Forward Movement. He and I chatted quite a bit about podcasts and other things and we all had a discussion about publications for young adults. I'm really excited and energized about their interest in us!

In de-briefing we learned about things that went on during legislative sessions and various committees throughout the day. Lots happened and there are better places to find that out than my blog (here, here, and here) so suffice it to say that things are going about how you would expect... ;)

Compline was beautiful and amazing and I am so digging our worship crew! The music is beautiful, a great blend of traditional and modern. I really enjoyed my chat with Lacey Brown today, our music leader type person.

Big Agenda Tomorrow!

800 Breakfast

930 Community Eucharist

1100 Ministry Panel (knocking another Hero off the list--Father Matthew Presents!)

1245 Lunch with Global Partnership Office 

200 Exhibit Hall again since I didn't see it all yesterday...

400 Young Adult Ministry forum kinda thing

500 The Bishop invited me to come to the Diocese of Tennessee hospitality room sometime so I might check it out then...

800 Celebrating Young Adult Ministries Reception! 

Phew! I better get to bed so I can be up and at 'em again tomorrow. Thanks for reading!

Grace & Peace,

Kathleen