In the summer of 2018, I went to the ELCA Youth Gathering. The ELCA Youth Gathering is a national convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for youth that are high-school-aged. Every 3 years, it is held in a different American city. The gathering is focused on service and lasts about five to six days. When I attended the gathering it was hosted in Houston, Texas. The trip lasted from June 26th until July 2nd. I was super excited to have the opportunity to meet new people and experience a trip like this, but unfortunately, we didn’t get to Houston until June 27th.

Our flight was supposed to take off at 6:30 P.M. on June 26th, but then it was delayed. Delay after delay after delay, until the workers at the gate told us that our flight was moved to the next day. I didn’t think I had any more patience left. I also started to question if this trip was even going to be fun. It had felt as if time was ticking slower than a three-toed sloth. We then were provided mats to sleep on, but we didn’t get much sleep because of the bright lights and people scurrying by us. We were awake early, and ready to take off by noon. We then arrived at the Houston Airport by 3 P.M on June 27th.

We were finally in Houston, playing cards and listening to music as we waited for a bus to take us from the airport to our hotel. Another hour goes by and it was still not here. I kept wondering how much time I had until I lost all of my patience. Eventually, it arrived and we had to ride a bus for half an hour.

Approaching our hotel, I felt such a sense of relief knowing we had finally made it. The many joys of rolling our suitcases into the hotel, getting our keys and unpacking our bags. We then got ready to go to NRG Stadium, where everyone attending the gathering goes to worship and praise God. We had to walk quite a few blocks to get to the light rail that would take us to NRG Stadium. Then we had to wait in line to get on the light rail. We arrived at NRG Stadium and I’ve never seen such long lines in my life. I thought those lines would take a year to get through. Then I thought back to the airport and bus ride. I had told myself then, that I thought I was going to lose all my patience. Well as I stood in that line, I didn’t think that anymore. If I wanted to have a fun trip, I needed to have patience, even if the lines were super long. I had realized standing in those lines and meeting new people from all over the country, is what made the trip really fun and interesting.

The trip was not just full of delays and waiting around. There was a pool, hot tub, and lazy river at our hotel, so when we had free time we enjoyed it there. We also went to many restaurants with some very delicious foods. One day, we had the opportunity to help clean and organize a school that was affected by Hurricane Harvey. The worship services at NRG Stadium had people share stories or times when God had impacted their lives. Their messages had touched us all.

The ELCA Youth Gathering started off not so fun, with lots of delays. But overall, the gathering turned out to be one of the greatest trips I’ve ever gotten to experience. It was so much fun. After attending the gathering, I had learned that in order to have a good time, I needed to have patience. Meeting lots of new people and having a great time has encouraged me to go to the next ELCA Youth Gathering, which will be held in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the summer of 2021.