NYG- Zion Heads to Detroit!: Day 5 - Closing Worship and Our Trip Back Home

This morning we got up and packed up to get ready to travel home, had a quick breakfast, and then loaded up our buses for one final trip to downtown Detroit for closing worship for the 2015 ELCA National Youth Gathering. There was plenty of high-energy music as a part of our worship service included liturgy, scripture reading, a sermon, prayers, and communion. ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton preached and also presided at communion. At the end of the worship service, they announced the city for the gathering in 2018: Houston, Texas.

Our bus drivers were able to find parking very close to Ford Field, so after the gathering was over, we loaded the buses quickly and got out of downtown amazingly fast, especially considering there were 30,000 other folks trying to leave at the same time, and with a Detroit Tigers baseball game begining across the street at Comerica Park! We drove about 30 miles out of town for a stop for lunch, and headed on the road for home.

The trip was uneventful, yet long, about 14 hours. We had a couple more stops along the way to stretch and to eat, and made it home around 2:00 a.m. Monday morning. The bus was quickly unloaded and we all headed home for much needed sleep.

We truly had a magnificent time, growing in our faith and growing together. Thank you to you all for your faithful prayer support and financial support. People supported us financially in so many ways, including our pizza fundraiser, concessions at the super sale, gifts from the foundation, the lutefisk dinner, the presidents’ dinner, through buy-a-mile, matching gifts, by providing food and gift cards for our breakfasts on the trip, to name just some. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We look forward to sharing our stories with you on August 2nd at the thank you luncheon after the 11:00 worship that day.

Our hotel in Allen Park, nicknamed "The Pink Palace"