Nebraska Synod ELCA

The Nebraska Synod Journey is a week-long experience for high school youth and their adult leaders.  While some congregations bring 20 or more youth, many participants come with a group of five or fewer young people and their adult leader.  The Journey is an opportunity to form relationships with people from all over the state and with service learning partners where we travel.  It broadens our perspectives of what the church can do outside its walls and its community, and it’s an opportunity to see where God is at work in the world and to join God in that work.

This year, the Journey team traveled to Denver, CO and served in a variety of ways! Marke Zeleny of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Wahoo shares her experience as a high school participant of the Nebraska Synod Journey!

Hello, my name is Marke Zeleny and I recently went on the Denver 2023 Journey with my congregation, Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Wahoo. I had an amazing experience from the service projects to worship and just getting to know each other.

The service project I experienced was painting houses with Max and Josh for Nancy and Pam who were truly amazing people. They told us amazing stories about their lives and were always so cheerful when we were there. It was hard work especially in the 90-degree weather, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. As a youth group, we grew together, and we also grew as individuals in our faith as we saw how something that took us two days to complete impacted their lives.

The worship services were something that I could never forget especially knowing that we were worshiping with Bishop Scott of the Nebraska Synod! He came as a father to his daughter and was with us the whole time helping with the projects with us and worshiping with us. I helped serve communion to everyone on our last day of worship and I found it an incredibly special experience to be able serve as a youth.

Meeting people was the best part of this trip. I have made lifelong friends from these types of trips that I still talk to when I see them at sporting events or out and about with my friends and family. It’s a great way to make new friends and get to know other Lutheran youth from all over Nebraska. There were two incredible young ladies I got to meet on this trip named Abigail and Madison. They are funny, kind, and confident girls. I am so glad we met, and I still text them all the time!

It was an incredible experience that I think all youth should do. It shows you that there are still good people out there and it also shows you that there are people out there who are struggling. It’s a week of your life to help make a big difference in their life. If you get the opportunity to go on a service learning trip, you should!