Conference
Really that's what this is about. You may be asking yourself, "What is conferenec?" Well, I'll tell you. Conference is where about 4,000 college students, crazy about Jesus, get even more crazy about Jesus, and happen to celebrate New Year's Eve with Matt Maher. Sounds a little nuts, right? Well, you'd be right in that thinking! I wanted to write down my conference experiences, as I'm seeing conference in a new light - as a missionary. While it's my second year on staff, making me, I guess, a seasoned veteran, I've never experienced conference in this way before - work. I'll take you day by day in the life of Manda Poffel at conference - it's hilarious.
MONDAY - I left my parents' house in Denver at 6am. My mom and dad sent me on my way (both had already left for work!) to drive through Nebraska to get my disciple, Sarah Phillips. Jesus is funny. I made it most of the way without getting lost, but once Sarah and I stopped in Lincoln for gas, life was over. We ended up miles from highway two, which connects people who are in I-80 to I-29 getting them to Kansas City. Luckily, a dear friend is a missionary there, and he was willing and able to direct us the right way. Thanks, Chris!
We finally made it home, and waited for my college roommates (who were riding the bus with us) to get to my house in Kansas City, Missouri - where we would eat the chicken lasagna they would be bringing. Mmmmm. They made it, we ate, and life was great as we all hunkered down for sleep that night. Pam and I made our way to the airport around midnight to pick up some girls from California. I suppose the pre-conference job of a missionary is never done! ;)
TUESDAY - Waking early for Mass at 8:15am, we made our sleepy way to St. Peter down the street. This is where Amanda (former college roommate) fell on the ice. This is where the jokes about a donut pillow started. After Mass, the craziness began. The buses were going to be at St. Peter's at 1:00. It was now 9:00am. I needed to unpack from break, pack for conference, get about twelve different documents printed off, call a speaker, call another person who was on staff, and make sure things were set with the bus company. Needless to say, I was late to the bus. I told students to be at the bus at 1:30pm. I started getting phone calls at 12:45pm asking where the buses were, and where I was. This added stress and anxiety. I tried to steady myself, but eventually gave my phone to a student to have them start answering any questions about directions or where the buses were.
I finally made my way to the buses, met the drivers and set up a system for checking in. I met with my bus captains, and then just let them take over from there. I found out my teammate Pam was on her way to the airport, just around the time that everyone was on the buses. We tried to stall the buses so that Pam could make it back in time, but that just wasn't going to happen. We got the buses on their way, and gave Pam good directions to St. Louis - where we were going to meet about twenty-five more students to load up. So, we get on our way. I sit in my seat and try to relax, but I realize that I'm still in charge. Even though all of our students are here, on the bus, and I have four AMAZING bus captains running the show for the next 26 hours. However, my security blanket, my team director, my Pam, was not with us. She was driving around Missouri, no clue where she was going, and I was on a bus, scared out of my mind because I was suddenly in charge of everyone! I tried to settle down and just have conversation with those around me, but I realized I wasn't fully present. I made my way to the back of the bus to meet everyone on our bus, and escaped to the restroom. I hid myself in it for a few minutes to pray out all my fear. I had no idea what was going to happen!
Moving on, my bus captains did such a great job, that the four hour drive to St. Louis seemed to fly by. I finally got there, and Pam pulled in about 1/2 an hour later. Life was good again, and my security blanket was back. :) Students were happily (really, more grudgingly) eating their McDonald's, and we were back on the road. I hadn't lost anyone yet.
WEDNESDAY - Tuesday night into Wednesday morning was interesting. We hunkered down for the night, and I got myself some Tylenol PM in order to be able to catch some Zzz's. Eventually, Morgan and I realized that both of us trying to sleep on the bus seat was not going to work, no matter the amount of Tylenol PM. I threw my sleeping bag under the seat and stretched out on the floor. YES! Sweet, sweet sleep.
Until 3am when we swtiched bus drivers. Ok, time to not judge Manda. When the new driver got on the bus, she made her presence very much known. I was awake, and I could hear her. I chose not to get up until we were securely on the highway. I just asked her to continue to drive until more students were awake for breakfast. Again, back to sleep, sweet sweet sleep.
We finally rolled into Florida around noon. Nancy, our wonderful new bus driver, made a stop at the first rest stop in Florida because they offer a free cup of orange juice. The students were so excited for the sunshine and free juice! What a gift!
Around three or four pm we got ourselves to the hotel in Orlando. We were so exited when we finally saw the Mariott World Center Resort. We gout ourselves checked into the conference center, and made our ways up to the hotel's check-in desk. At this point I was experiencing relief because all of our students were safely in Orlando. Nothing too drastic happened, outside of having to make one stop for Dramamine. My relief was quickly drained when I made my way up to the front desk of the hotel - the line was almost three hours long for check-in. I began to make my way to the front to the missionary check in. I checked in, ran my bags to the room, and came running back down with my computer. In the back of the line were our students from NWMSU, MWSU, MSU, UCM and UMKC. I started getting them together by their rooms. I did the best I could with the students who were from the other universities, but I had no guarantees that the room assignments were going to remain the way we had sent them in. You can imagine my relief was quickly draining when I noticed that our students were not going to get their showers, dinner and room keys before the first talk of the evening and Mass. I was UPSET. I got them squared away, made my way to my room to eat a quick dinner of salad and ran down the stairs to the first talk and Mass. Our students started trickling in slowly. We were exhausted, but Matthew Kelly did an amazing job keeping our students awake. He challenged them to be more awake in weekly Mass, to bring our Bibles to every Mass and to bring a "Mass journal" to every homily in order to take from the Mass. Mass was amazing. Finally we had a concert by Matthew West. He was amazing; the girls swooned until they saw the ring on his left hand. Haha. One of his songs was played at one of our women's nights last semester - History - and so some of the women were really excited about it when he played it. The students were exhausted, so we all hit the hay.
THURSDAY - Happy New Year's Eve! My day started with a 7:15am meeting about Impact Session Speakers. That day I had an impact speaker to take care of, and an Archbishop to pick up from the airport. I was excited - conference was in full swing. I got myself ready, and found a spot to make sure all of the details from each pseaker were confirmed, and that I knew where I was going. I spent the first Concurrent Session getting my bearings. Our students were in talks, getting their excitement on for the concert that night. I made my way down to Mass, and then lunch. Ate with the students - it was awesome. We moved our way to the Impact sessions. I had a blast introducing Jenny Uebbing for her talk. Got the students excited about their Matt Maher concert that night - and made them practice their countdown. :) Jenny's talk was about Green Sex - it talked about how artificial contraception, the pill in particular, wasn't "green" and, more importantly, that it was bad for women's bodies. It was unfortunate that Jenny had to leave immediately after her second talk, but it was a joy for me. A young woman approached me after the talk and asked me questions. I got to share with her the joys of NFP - Natural Family Planning - and why the pill is bad for her, in particular. It was wonderful. I gave her Jenny's email address so she could ask more questions, but I also gave her mine. She hasn't emailed yet.
After the Impact talks, I had to run over to the Impact office and grab keys to one of the cars - I was on my way to the airport to pick up Archbishop Chaput. Let's just say I was a lot nervous. I made it through the traffic and made it to the airport early. I had my sign that said, "Archbishop Chaput", but I knew what he looked like, and he knows me. He mentioned it was silly for me to have the sign, when I finally saw him. I felt so proud of myself as I successfully navigated through the airport and found the rental car. I made my way out of terminal, and onto the interstate. Life was good, our exit was about a mile away, and the Archbishop and I were having excellent conversation, and I was feeling great. When I exited, I didn't see that the exit was a regular exit, a left exit and then another exit on the right. Well, you miss one of those, and you end up in Disney World. So, Archbishop Chaput, the kindest, gentlest, most patient man I know, just said, "Well, it's ok because I wanted to see Disney World." Ha. What a great guy. We get turned around, and get back onto the right road - International Drive. I got a little confused about the left turn lane into the hotel, ended up turning too early, and was forced to make yet another U-turn. As we pulled into the valet spot outside, Archbishop asked if it would be ok if he took a cab to the airport Sunday morning. His timing was impeccable. I know his intent was to be nice since it was an early flight Sunday morning, but it was hilarious the timing. We got him checked in, and I asked if he wanted me to help him to his room. He declined; hey, who knows how lost I could've gotten inside the monstrocity of a hotel we had.
That's all I have for now, but I wanted to start updating more and more about conference and the post-conference festivities. Keep an eye out for the days following conference!