Happy Independence Day!

Okay I'm writing now so I don't get stuck trying to recap my day at 3 in the morning again!

At 10:00 this morning, we had a huge worship service in the Convention Center which around 8,000 people attended. The feeling of being part of such a large group was incredible and Bruce Reyes-Chow (the 218th GA Moderator) gave an engaging and inspiring sermon.

The service had lots of special music and a big choir made up of singers from several congregations in the area (or so I'm assuming from the variety in robes).

For the first time in GA history, we had a baptism at the worship service which made the event even more memorable.

A mural was created during the service which is meant to depict the verse around which the 219th GA is based:

"Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water." - John 7:38

After the worship service, we had a huge lunch in the ballroom and met with our individual committees for the first time. We went through parliamentary procedures and set the agenda for the next two days. Oh yeah and we got free candy. Three other YAADs and I thought we would be assertive by sitting front and center so that we can make a presence on the committee and show the other people that we're serious! Of course none of us are as prepared to talk about the overtures as the commissioners who have studied these topics in depth for months, but at least we can stay in the middle of the action and make sure our opinions are heard.

Now it's off to Nicollet Island for a picnic and fireworks on the Mississippi River!

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!

Food, Worship, Orientation, Repeat

Today was our official YAAD orientation, beginning at 9 am with breakfast and ending at 10 pm with a closing worship service. Annie and I woke up around 8 this morning to the words "Housekeeping!" ringing at our door, followed by excessive knocking. We needed to get up anyway, so the charming voice at the door was a gentle reminder to us that our day was beginning, as was our official involvement in GA 2010. We walked over to the Hyatt for a delicious breakfast and conversation with other YAADs.

After breakfast, we gathered in the Regency Room for morning worship and the start of orientation. This included ice-breakers and plenty of introductions. We split up into different groups, met people, compared colleges and hometowns, told each other our "life stories," and found odd connections (I met two Hamilton students, one of whom had taken classes with my grandfather and the other whose best friend is dating someone from Tom's a capella group). After plenty of meeting and greeting, we sat down for a message on rivers and growth. We had a time of quiet reflection and thought about God's presence in our decision-making throughout life. At 12:00, we broke for a nice lunch provided to us free of charge.

I was a bit disappointed when I saw that a tray of "NY Black and White Cookies" would serve as dessert. They were nothing like real "NY Black and White Cookies," or halfmoons as we know them. It made for a good conversation topic at lunch, as I explained to my fellow YAADs that what they were experiencing was in fact a fraud. Lunching with all new people provoked some interesting discussion: I was seated at the same table as Jamie Garrett's cousin (Jamie is one of my best friends from college!) and two girls from Pittsburgh. One of the girls told us how Mr. Rogers went to her church and that his wife had accidentally short-changed her at a church bake sale.

After lunch, we returned to the Regency Room to take care of some necessary business. All eyes turned toward the projector screen in the room for powerpoint after powerpoint explaining the fascinations of:

• Points of motion
  
• Points of order
  
• Substitute motions
  
• Incidental motions
  
• Amendments
  
• Committing or referring
  
• Calling the question
  
• Etc., etc.
  

Luckily I understood most of what the presenters were talking about because of my participation in Model UN in high school (I knew that would come in handy someday!). After we had received a sufficiently overwhelming amount of information on rules and procedures, we set to electing two co-moderators (one male and one female) to represent the YAADs as well as organize and lead YAAD gatherings throughout the week. My friendship-bracelet-making friend from my flight yesterday was elected, as well as a seminary student named Michael. We finally finished around 6 and attended a dinner hosted by the Presbyterian seminaries from around the country.

Representatives from the seminaries had booths set up with information and swag (apparently "swag" means "free stuff" out here), all happily promoting their individual institutions. We played seminary trivia and by the end of the game I knew all the names of our nation's top seminaries: Pittsburgh, Austin, McCormick, Louisville, Princeton, and my favorite, Dubuque (which turned out to be the answer to a mysteriously disproportionate amount of questions…by the end of the game we were yelling "Dubuque!" regardless of the question, and were usually correct).

After dinner, I ran to Target with Juli to stock up on bottled water for the week since the vending machines ripped us off…a 300mL bottle of water cost $1.25 (normal water bottles are about 550-600mL). With a few more minutes to kill, we stopped by the park near our hotel to toss pennies into the water fountain (symbolic much?), then returned the water to our rooms and went back to the Hyatt for more YAAD activities.

In this final YAAD event of the day, we got to meet the candidates for moderator, then ended the day's festivities with a small service. Each of the five candidates had an opportunity to address the YAADs, choosing their words carefully as we all formed thoughts and opinions in our minds of how we would vote in the elections tomorrow. I know my pick…we'll see how s/he does!

After the candidates spoke to us, we had more worship, listened to a short message, took communion, and ended with a fast-paced hymn set to the tune of Cym Rhondda. I wonder if anyone else at GA caught that Welsh reference...

Oh, and just for the record, we were informed that GA will pay for our wireless, so I ordered 24-hour access and am just a teensy bit less frustrated with my internet than I was last night.

Wi-Fi Fail.

Well this is going to be difficult. I'm finally in Minneapolis and I logged onto my computer in my hotel room, opened up Google Chrome and the screen asked me how I would like to pay for my internet access ($9.95/day). Wow, thank you lovely Minneapolis hotel for failing me on free wi-fi. How am I supposed to update my blog or stay connected with the outside world (ahem...facebook) with no internet access?

My new friend Juli and I found the answer: Starbucks/Barnes & Noble! Free Wi-fi!

...right?

Well, we parked ourselves with our trusty laptops perched on our laps in two seats facing windows overlooking the streets below (perfect positioning to spot other potential YAADs out exploring on our first night in the city) and clicked "connect to a network."

Fail. There's a teeny-tiny connection that goes really slow and keeps going out of range, but I guess this will have to do for now.

Apart from terrible wireless, I have had a great trip so far! I survived the Syracuse airport and, more importantly, O'Hare Airport in Chicago.

Despite warnings from my father, I paid too much for airport food and even bought a copy of Glamour to keep me entertained in my three hours of waiting for the next flight. After looking at pictures of jeans for five minutes (it was the denim issue), I gladly resorted back to my trusty Crime and Punishment for the wait.

Luckily I was able to find Janet after her flight arrived, and together we waited for our own flight to board. The trip went smoothly and I later discovered that the girl sitting two seats down from me (whom I had engaged in conversation regarding the colorful friendship bracelets she was creating!) happened to be a YAAD as well! We sat together on the shuttle running from the airport to the hotel along with loads of other Presbyterians, all eagerly discussing the topics which will provoke debate over the next week. I had the opportunity to meet the current GA moderator who was seated just across the aisle from me. He told us how his friends had bought him a shirt that read "Remember Me?" to wear the day after the new moderator is selected and his term of service has officially been completed.

After checking into my hotel, I went across the street to the Hyatt Hotel to check in for the YAAD registration. We got more packets and papers and a debit card with $219 on it to last us the week for meals and such ($219 for the 219th GA? Clever...). They encouraged us to go enjoy our first complimentary meal so I headed downtown with my new friend Juli to find some eats.

We decided on Chipotle and were treated very nicely by the staff (especially the drummer with an f clef tattooed on his forearm!) until our debit cards were declined. So we called customer service and they transferred us to another number and another number and finally to some mysterious woman named "Diane" who was sure to fix all our problems...that is, if she had picked up the phone. With a dead end on the debit card situation and burritos that were begging to get eaten, we gave up and paid with our own money. Apparently the cards don't start working until tomorrow...go figure.

Eating outside was a lovely opportunity to drink in the sights and sounds of downtown Minneapolis!

After dinner, Juli and I walked downtown and looked at all the nice stores, including the Target headquarters which we will be sure to frequent later on in our excursion.

We finally made our way back to the hotel in order to get our laptops and snag some Starbucks wi-fi from the joint down the street. It's about a five or ten minute walk from the hotel, but here we are! See what I go through to keep the public informed of my crazy adventures in the Midwest?

It's been a relaxing first evening, but I'm sure the days to come will be jam-packed and exhausting. More updates to come, assuming I can figure something out regarding my wireless situation!

Prepping

On Thursday morning, I will wake up bright and early, eat my daily bowl of Cheerios, and smile because I will not be spending my day in a library. There's nothing wrong with the library...I actually love my job there. But Thursday marks the beginning of a ten-day journey for me: a journey into the Midwest, into the uncomfortable, into a taste of independence I have yet to experience.

This will inevitably be a trip of firsts for me. I have never been to Minneapolis, let alone anywhere west of Ohio. I have never flown alone and I have never devoted a week of my life to discussing Presbyterian politics. But hey, I'm young, and growing up is all about delving into new experiences and trying new things, so I had better embrace this one-time opportunity in a positive way.

What exactly will I be doing at the 219th Presbyterian General Assembly? I know that I am serving as a Young Adult Advisory Delagate (YAAD). I know that I have been placed on the Polity Committee in which we will review and vote on pending amendments to the Book of Order. I know that my vote as a YAAD counts for some things and not for others. And I know that I will probably be completely lost on the first day.

I have one more day to prepare (and pack), then it's off to Minnesota I go! Wish me luck, and I'll be sure to update as soon as I can.