The weekend of June 15th I boarded a bus that I would take along with so many others to a place that would change my life forever. This may not be the kind of blog post that you're used to - it's not going to be about debates, or travelling in Europe. It's about God, and how Jesus died on the cross for our sins. It's about you, and what we can do to become in a better relationship with God. 

For three days a group from Ss.Cryil and Methodius Slovak Catholic Church was going to a conference at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. 

I first found out about the trip to Franciscan University by my aunt, who was organizing the trip. She did a wonderful job and was hard at work for many weeks to make it possible for all of us to go. Our church teamed up with two other parishes and we filled two buses! It amazed me how so many people wanted to come and share the weekend with Jesus. Around 2,000 teenagers in all showed up at the conference. 

The environment was so amazing there! Just imagine a gym filled with so many people that were so passionate for Jesus Christ. Think about it - everyone there was really kind and all the teenagers (I am sure) felt accepted. 

The conference was called The Eighth Day and we learned that right now we are all living the eight day. God made the universe in six days and rested on the seventh, he is letting us live out the eighth day. 

How have times changed since then? Drastically! The world has changed so much in the past 20 years and we can't really even understand how it was at the beginning. We have to keep this eighth day till we die, and not just live it, but live it with Jesus.

We arrived at Franciscan University around 6:00. The picture above is of Christ the King Chapel where the confessions were held Friday and Saturday throughout the day. After our group got settled in the dorms we made our way to dinner and then to adoration in the Finnegan Fieldhouse. Since there were about 2,000 teenagers there we couldn't have adoration in the church, I was blown away by how many people came to show their love for Christ. 

Pictured below is the girls dorm.

I didn't really understand what exactly I was getting myself into when I signed up for Steubenville. All I knew was that my aunt was organizing a trip to go to a conference called The Eighth Day and I had to take my exams early to be able to go. On the bus ride there my friend informed me: "Tonight is going to blow you away, tomorrow is going to kill you." I had absolutely no clue what she meant, but the words "kill you" sort of frightened me so I began to question my aunt about what I had signed up for. 

My aunt got the microphone and began to tell the bus that the Saturday night adoration we would be experiencing was going to be very emotional for some of us, and for others not so much. My other friend told us that some people cried their eyes out during the adoration, some laughed with joy, others prayed in different tongues, and some fainted. I started to get a little antsy when he told us that people fainted. 

Talk of the adoration seemed to devour the bus: "Do you think I'm going to faint?" "What if someone falls on me?" "Nothing's goin' to happen to me." "I'm going to be that awkward person that doesn't feel anything." 

Thoughts started to take over my mind too. I hate to admit it, but in these past few months I have been doubting God's love for me. I thought he didn't care about me. I thought I wasn't good enough, not important enough. That was soon to change. 

That evening we came a little late to the Friday opening session. Our group entered in the middle of it, not too long before adoration started and the whole room was glowing with vibrant people singing as best as they could. 

For some reason I can't exactly recall all the events of this night in order, but I do remember this. After adoration the priest told us to close our eyes. Of course I followed his instructions and instantly it was as if I had moved to a completely different place. With my eyes closed I could see Jesus carrying up the cross and being whipped. It was as if I could feel a minuscule amount of his pain, just by watching. I don't know how these images came across my mind because I had never seen The Passion in my entire life. After that scene I did not want to close my eyes for the rest of the night. 

After adoration we walked outside the church and gathered into our small groups and shared our experiences of the night. Unfortunately, I have a very terrible memory and I have no recollection of what we talked about at all. (Sorry!) It might come to me later and I'll add it in if it does. 

I didn't realize it then, but everything seriously does happen for a reason. We ended up having an extra person in our room and at first my roomies and I were kind of uncertain about the whole idea, there were five of us and two beds. Good thing I like sleeping on the floor. ;) The new, unexpected roomie was really awesome and we connected because we were going through, how should I put it, a similar situation. Let's just say it's amazing how God plans things. I realized how perfect His plans are and how much they do for people, even if they don't realize it right away.

On Saturday we woke up early for mass and morning keynotes. It really amazed me that there we so many priests celebrating the mass, I had never once seen so many priests all together to celebrate mass at once in my life. 

Later that day we had entertainment with Jackie Francois! It was marvelous, and she told us some touching stories too. (Too learn more about Jackie click the link to visit her website.) She called people up on the stage to dance with her and one day we had a contest boys vs. girls to see who knew more songs. 

After the fun with Jackie Francois we separated for men's and women's sessions - Training in the Virtue: The Good Life. I'm not entirely sure what the guys talked about but a speaker came to talk to the girls in the fieldhouse about relationships. How we should want someone who's not going to take advantage of us, someone who loves Jesus with all his heart. 

Sometime around eight in the evening we would start a totally different kind of adoration, an experience that some of us never had.

Our group was so pumped up while waiting for the adoration to start!

As I said before, we were told that some people would be fainting. I thought nothing was going to happen to me, that I wouldn't feel anything special. Again, as much as I hate to admit it, for a few months I became to think that God didn't care about me. I thought I wasn't good enough for Him. I thought He didn't love me. And slowly my love for Him wasn't as great as it used to be. I wanted it to be great like the other teenagers in my group. By seeing how they act, how they pray, and just the smiles on their faces I saw that their love for God was phenomenal.

I was so wrong about what God thought of me.

As soon as adoration started I fell on my knees and started weeping. I had never cried so terribly, I was taken by surprise. My mind could not stop saying "I nailed Him to the cross. I killed him, I hurt him." My thoughts would not stop going over those words. 

I always knew it, but during the adoration when the priest walked five feet away from us with the Eucharist it hit me like a lighting bolt. 

Jesus died for our sins, we put Him upon that cross. He died for us! And for me to think that He didn't love me? How could I think that? He died for all of us, He LOVES us so much. During the adoration I could not stop weeping, I was in my own little world with the Holy Spirit and I didn't notice anyone else crying until a person in my group that sat in front of me caught my attention.

Through my tears I could tell that his eyes were closed, but he was holding something invisible in his cupped hands. I was wondering what he was holding as he grabbed the invisible substance and started tossing it to people. Still with his eyes shut, he turned around to me, and tossed the invisible substance to me. 

I fell back instantly, and was slain by the Holy Spirit. Suddenly an ultimate peace came over me, and I was calm, it was the first time I stopped crying. I felt a different kind of peace, it has taken me a long time to figure out what kind of peace it was. I think I finally got it- it was God's unconditional love. Jesus told me that He loved me so much. I felt Him cry blood because I had the thought that He didn't love me. 

Later I talked to the boy who was tossing the invisible substance to everyone. I figured out that God gave him grace in his hands and he decided to share it with everyone.

Let me tell you something, 
it worked.

This is why we love adoration.

That night was the best night of my life, to be overcome by the Holy Spirit. It felt like no other thing, I cannot even explain it. And I just wish all of you were there to see it, to experience it. 

That night changed things for the better, and I'm going to live my life differently now.

Thanks for reading my story, God bless!

Below is a picture of the celebration of the closing mass on Sunday.

Jesus loves all of you, remember that. He's in your heart always, even if you think He doesn't love you and you can't find Him just keep looking. Look harder, because He is the only one who will never leave you. Every moment He is always there next to you, holding your hand, and guiding you. Keep Him safe in your heart, and never stop loving Him.

Credits:
I don't own all pictures, I got some from Franciscan University's facebook site. Click the link to visit it. :)

I can't exactly remember the rest of the days we spent in Paris so well. I can recall what we did, but not in the correct order. So I'll just talk about one thing after the other, it probably won't be in the exact order we did.


I believe it was the second day, when we woke up we quickly went to a cafe for breakfast and made our way to The Louvre, only a few blocks away. 

Below I have inserted a map of Paris so you can kind of get a feel of the beautiful city.

The entrance to Le Louvre is a massive glass pyramid that is surrounded by a few fountains. We took stairs and we underground within seconds. My mom led my brother and I around the paintings part of the museum. All the portraits were breathtaking, just like everything else in Paris. When we came to the Mona Lisa there was a mob of people fighting their way to the front to get a glimpse of the beauty. Below I put a picture of the little glimpse that I got of the Mona Lisa along with some other pictures from the museum.

Champs-Élysées is the Times Square of Paris! Just imagine a Parisan Times Square with elegant stores, lines winding around the block, restaurants placed in between every other shop, and people from all over the world walking the streets. 

There were even some interesting auto stores!

My family was also lucky enough to go to The Arc de Triomphe! When we climbed up the stairs I lost count at around 400 something. The view from the top was amazing! It seemed like all the roads diverged from it lead to a special monument like the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre. I will let the pictures explain what I can't in words.

We visited Notre Dame on our last day in Paris. Unfortunately my computer is not cooperating with me and won't allow me to download the pictures we took from Notre Dame to this blog post so I'll just have to show you the one to the left. 

First we walked into the church and once again our breath was taken away by the magnificent art. There were stain glass rose windows around the perimeter of the church. Once we made it to the top my brother and I had a contest as to who could find the famous gargoyle with its head in its hands first. A person behind us from Texas beat us to it though, and several people stopped to take pictures. Our tour guide led us to the church bell and I can't remember if we got to ring it or not. This was two summers ago, cut me some slack. ;) I think out of all the places we were able to visit in Paris I enjoyed Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower the most because - well I can't really even explain in words - they're just so marvelous and the second you step in front of them you can't take your eyes away.

Pictures are from-
Sight of Paris     Map of Paris    Notre Dame

Paris! Such a lovely city! 
Paris! The city of love! The city of lights!

I remember this day almost perfectly. My mom, my brother, and I arrived at the airport in Paris around 10 a.m. We took our luggage and waited in a line for about half an hour to enter a cab that would drive us to our hotel. We stayed at the Normandy Hotel.

We set our suitcases down and plopped on the bed like a dead corpse not having slept on the 13 hour plane ride. But we were in Paris, so there was no time to rest! We got everything situated and within fifteen minutes we were on our feet, with a map, walking through the Tuileries Gardens, and attempting to find out way to the Eiffel Tower. 

We came across a bridge and made our way to the other side of the Seine river that runs through the middle of Paris. We walked a good amount of kilometers that day. My brother and I were seeing who could spot the Eiffel Tower first. (I ended up spotting it first ;) just for the record.) The Eiffel Tower was just marvelous! We stopped in front to take a picture, I was completely speechless. The architecture nearly blew me away. While standing in front of the huge monument I could see a yellow and red elevator climbing up the side. Diagonally! Under the tower hundreds of people gathered, maybe thousands of people, everyone speaking in different languages. There were gypsies, pestering people to buy a small key chain of tower for six euros. After shaking a gypsy off our backs my mom led us into the long line that seemed to wrap around the tower. The worker crammed us into the rather large elevator that would take us to the first floor. As we went up and the speed of the elevator accelerated the floor of the box we were in started to shake. I'm not too particularly fond of elevators so that kind of freaked me out. Let's just say once we got toe the first floor I felt much better. 

We put a euro in the binoculars that they have bolted to the ground and I found our hotel, the Louvre, and a Ferris wheel. After taking turns with my brother looking through the binoculars my mom bumped into some people from Texas that seemed to bump into us several other times on our trip. 

After we were finished looking around the first floor we once again waited in line to make our way to the very top floor (the third one). The elevator shook even harder this time. On the third floor there was a cage leaving no room for anyone to jump out. I wonder if anyone has ever tried to jump from the Eiffel Tower, but I really hope not. The view was even more marvelous on the top! I could see just about anything in Paris. Once again I saw The Louvre, our hotel, the Ferris wheel, and even the Arc de Triumph. Definitely a sight that I will never forget.

It was really late when we started to make our way back home, around midnight actually. We came upon a cafe that night and had dinner outside in the cool air. I remember that my brother and I were so tired that we basically walked like zombies on the way back to the hotel.

I do have to say, the Eiffel Tower probably was one of my most favorite monuments/places to visit in Paris. I can now understand why people like it so much. 

I got pictures from the websites below. (hyperlinks)
Normandy Hotel   The Louvre   Tuileries Gardens    The Eiffel Tower picture I took myself.

I'm thinking about writing about the places I have traveled. Two summers ago I went to France, Slovakia, Italy, Germany, and drove through some countries in between. It's incredibly lucky that I've been able to visit these places so I might as well share my some of my experience with you. So jump on the plane and come along for an and adventure you'll never forget. ;)

I chose a new website theme that seems to represent my travels - visiting the mountains - oh how I wish I could go back!