So exactly how many hours are in a GA day?

About 21.

I apologize in advance for the lack of energy which this post will have in comparison to the last two. I am completely exhausted! It's after one in the morning and I just returned to my hotel room for the first time since leaving at 6 in the morning! My dad was right when he said they cram a lot into GA days...one day feels like forever here and I'm definitely getting behind on sleep.

I started the morning off with what I thought was a breakfast, but quickly realized it was not once I got there. Oh well, no time for breakfast! The meeting was called "Presbyterians for Renewal General Assembly" and we were basically given a rundown of how each committee planned to take progressive action in their specific orders of business over the next few days. Each spokesperson from the committees represented at the meeting had the common goal of moving forward and thinking creatively within the Presbyterian Church.

I was one of only 4 or 5 YAADs at the meeting, so those in attendance were appreciative of our presence (7 in the morning is early for teens!). I sat at a table with five other women from all parts of the country. They were excited to talk to me about my participation in the church, but even more so about my personal life: where I'm from, where I go to school, what I'm majoring in, etc. Some of these women were former YAADs and we compared what the General Assembly is like now as opposed to forty years ago.

After my first meeting of the day, I headed to the Convention Center where a friendly Hamilton grad directed me to my next event: "Riverside Conversations." There were six sessions to choose from and I decided to attend "Reports from the Stated Clerk and Executive Director of the GAMC." The GAMC is the General Assembly Mission Council which serves in between assemblies and works to improve the General Assembly from year to year.

The 7 "Hopes for GA" which the presenters suggested were:

1. Prayerful decision-making
2. Deeper awareness of the whole PC(USA)
3. Issues facing congregations
4. Common calling to a changing church
5. Attention beyond ourselves
6. Enthusiastic sharing of the faith
7. Furthering the mission of Christ

After the presentation, we gathered into small groups and shared stories from our home churches and brainstormed ways to increase motivation and enthusiasm within the church. One of the men at my table was from Saranac Lake and another was the Executive Presbyter of the Carlisle Presbytery in Carlisle, PA which is relatively close to Gettysburg (connections are always good!).

After the Riverside Conversations, I looked around in the Exhibit Hall and Marketplace and met some great people from PPC (Presbyterian Publishing Company) and Outlook Magazine, as well as other Presbyterian-affiliated organizations. For lunch, I skywalked over to the Hilton for the Presbyterian Outlook Luncheon (did I mention all the buildings in Minneapolis are connected by Skyways?) and sat down to a meal that was much fancier than anything I was expecting.

I sat down at a table with two ministers from Ohio and Kentucky - we talked about our churches and the differences of city churches vs. country churches. The minister from Ohio told me all about his $7 million church with its new additions and state-of-the-art architecture...he seemed quite enthusiastic until I asked him how many people he got on a Sunday. Lowering his eyes, he replied, "About fifty."

How do I put this nicely...I guess it's interesting to see how some people make excuse after excuse for the low populations of their churches while others move forward by instilling hope in their congregation and a positive attitude towards expanding membership levels in the future.

To my right was a woman named Mary Martin who looked to be in her late seventies to early eighties. She was from New York City and explained to me that she had been coming to General Assemblies as an observer for years (a GA junkie, one might say). She told me about how her husband and she had used the annual GA as an excuse to travel, and since his death in 1992, she had continued attending by herself. My conversation with Mary was a great opportunity for us to tear down age barriers and talk to each other simply as one human being to another.

As more people joined the table, the minister to my left asked me if I knew who I was sitting across from. Confused, I looked at the man across the table and shook my head. I had never seen him before in my life.

"That's Don Griggs! He's an acclaimed Presbyterian author...if you ever go to seminary, I'm sure you'll read one of his books."

I had never heard of Don Griggs, but the minister somehow convinced me to go over to the man himself and ask for a picture with him. He and his wife were glad to meet me and we ended up having a nice conversation about combining writing with the church. It turns out he co-authored a book with Buzz Myers, a religion professor at Gettysburg College whom many of my friends have taken classes with over the last year (connection!).

After lunch, I headed back to the Convention Center for our first Plenary meeting in the big hall. The room was huge and absolutely filled with commissioners, advisory delegates, observers, etc. I finally found Harry Young and he gave me three chocolate bars to split up between Katie, Janet and myself (apparently this is some GA tradition among the Utica Presbytery representatives). We had praise and worship followed by a short video on Minnesota and its contributions to the Presbyterian Church.

The next few hours consisted of more orientation for the GA...

• green paddle = speaking for
• red paddle = speaking against
• yellow paddle = asking a question
• blue paddle = presenting a motion
• orange paddle = calling the question

And yes, these are badminton paddles which they use. After hours of lectures on procedures, we were finally dismissed so Juli and I headed outside the hall to indulge in some free GA wi-fi (aka checking our facebook pages and e-mail). Juli introduced me to pretzel M&Ms which made a delicious pre-dinner treat. At 6, we met up with some other YAADs and waited in line for an obscene amount of time for a dinner which disappointingly consisted of appetizers. We took our baby plates full of cheese, crackers, vegetables, and other tiny delights outside for a relaxing meal on the lawn.

At 7:00, it was back in the hall for Plenary Meeting #2, the meeting we had all been dreading. In this meeting, we would not leave until we had elected a moderator for the 2010 General Assembly. The moderator serves for 2 years and we had six candidates to choose from:

• James Belle
• Cynthia Bolbach
• Jin S. Kim
• Maggie Lauterer
• Julia Leeth
• Eric Nielson

Nomination speeches were given first, followed by a 90-minute question and answer session with the candidates. I kept a running tally in my notebook for whenever a candidate made a point that I felt was especially impressive or inspiring, then voted for the candidate which I felt was most qualified and most enthusiastic.

Then came the voting nightmare. We were all given wireless keypads which we were instructed to use in order to vote for whichever candidate we wished to select. Unfortunately, some of the wireless keypads were not working, and we went through a series of glitches until the techies finally figured out what was wrong. During this waiting period, delegates found ways to keep busy such as blowing bubbles or striving to keep three balloons afloat simultaneously.

After the tech crews had identified the problem, we were able to continue on with or voting. A majority was not reached on the first, second or third votes, but by the fourth round we had elected a moderator: Cynthia Bolbach.

In receiving this tremendous honor, Cynthia's committee brought a cardboard cutout figure of John Calvin up onto stage with Cynthia and he remained there as she was sworn into office.

Apparently YAADs have limitless energy, because we met after the Plenary Meeting for a YAAD gathering at 11:30 and didn't get out until after one in the morning. Needless to say, I am utterly and completely exhausted...which is a good thing, right? It means I'm getting the most out of this experience and cramming a lot into my short time in the midwest. Anyway, I should probably sleep because it's almost 3 in the morning and my eyes are starting to close as I write this. Luckily I don't need to be anywhere until 10:30 am tomorrow. Wish me luck in surviving this week!