7QTs on Traveling to 10 Cities in 8 Days

If you were to count airports, I was in 10 different cities these past 8 days. Woof. Please enjoy the following quick takes that chronicle my cross country journey this week.

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City #1: Leawood, Kansas. My whole family was home for a hot second with enough time to go to lunch on Saturday. It was great to be back Friday & Saturday afternoon to spend time with those that were home. I didn't do much, so it was a nice, relaxing way to start this cross country adventure.

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City #2: Kansas City, Missouri. Megan, a friend from Drake, lives in town, so I got to spend a bit of time with her Friday night. Also, she's watching my cat before my allergic roommate moves out, so that was fun.

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City #2: Lincoln, Nebraska. Read about this trip in more detail here. This trip was filled with ALL THE NOSTALGIA. It was great.

City #3: Omaha, Nebraska. AIRPORT.

City #4: Chicago, Illinois. AIRPORT & being reunited with Carol!

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City #5: Nashville, Tennessee. SEEK 2015 is a mere 8.5 months away. Crazy. I am so glad I was finally able to see the space so I could stop picturing the Hyatt in Dallas for this event. The Gaylord Opry is HUGE and has three giant gardens indoors. It's amazing. I could start to picture what it would look like with 8,000 college students bustling through there. Our CSM, Banquet Manager, & Sales Manager were great - it is always nice to have a face to all the emails you're getting.

The best part was spending time in the exhibit hall with EideCom, our production company, and the marketing team brainstorming ways to implement the theme and the feel into the set and the space. I am so excited to keep working on it and to see what happens when it comes together. #whatmovesyou

Something I don't think I'll ever get quite used to as a meeting planner is the VIP status the hotels treat you with. When we check in at the Gaylord, they took us into a room called Celebrity Services. What!? I am not a celebrity. Regardless, it's fun to be treated well every now and then, even though it can get awkward when they discover our whole team is under 30.

City #6: Atlanta, Georgia: AIRPORT.

City #7: Ft. Myers, Florida: AIRPORT.

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City #8: Ave Maria, Florida. We returned to the tiny, tiny town near Naples to prepare for New Staff Training (NST). Not only was the trip fun, it was essential to the success of NST. For the first time we had the Event Managers (the events team), the Collegiate Outreach Representative, Formation, the Committee Heads, and Ave Maria together in one place to talk about NST. We toured, we planned, and we had a lot of meetings. But mainly, we had epic golf cart races from Queen Mary's Pub back to Xavier Hall. Brian, Cait, & I totally beat Christina, JP, & Mark. This team is great, and I think we are going to ROCK NST2014.

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City #9: Indianapolis, Indiana: AIRPORT. When we got off the plane I mentioned to Christine that every single time I've been in this airport the last few years I've run into someone I know. To which she responded, "well, today is the day that will change." Such a naysayer. Approximately 10 minutes later we were waiting for our lunch and Paige, a former camper of mine strolled by. I had her in Teton in 2011 when she was a baby sophomore. Now she's 18 and graduating in 19 days! I'm old.

Paige is Mt. Wister in this picture.

City #10: Denver, Colorado: HOME.

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You know you've been on a site visit when the last 25 pictures on your phone are of different meeting spaces.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

T-Minus 1 Day: SLS14 prayer requests

--Update from the hotel: there are a lot of flight delays and cancelations for tomorrow already. Please add everyone's arrivals to your prayers!!--

Happy January 2, everyone!

Did you know that I've been in Dallas with my team since December 31? We have been setting up for SLS and having a lot of meetings (pre-cons, as they call them in the event management biz). I have loved every crazy second of it. More committee heads are arriving today and we are one day away from 2,000+ Catholics overtaking this hotel to learn how to evangelize and give their all to the Lord.

As we approach this monumental event, I humbly ask for your prayers. Here is a list of my top 5 prayer requests for SLS14.

1. For my team. Christine, John Paul, Christina, Carol, Sean, and myself. Pray that we are able to be calm, that nothing too crazy or out of control happens. And when it does, pray that we are able to handle it with grace. 

2. For all of the students. That they encounter Christ, that they are pulled deeper in their relationship with Him. 

3. Sunday night. Sunday is all about prayer and all about encountering Jesus. As active evangelizers, it is so critical that we are rooted in Jesus. We cannot give what we do not have ourselves; we cannot share a person we do not know. This night (January 5) Sr. Mary Gabriel of the Sisters of Life will be speaking about prayer, followed by a night of adoration and confession. Pray that our attendees will be open to encountering Jesus in a deep way this night.

4. For all our speakers. Pray for their health, for their receptivity to the Holy Spirit. Pray that Jesus uses them to say exactly what He wants them to say to inspire and equip all of our attendees. 

5. The aftermath. What I love about SLS versus SEEK is that we are equipping these students for mission. This SLS will be hands on and so very practical. This event would be a failure if these students left and did not start evangelizing back on campus. So please pray that they will be inspired to spread their joy and love of Christ when they get back to campus!

Thank you! Know you will all be in my prayers throughout this event.