There is not much for school children to do during the summer, so the diocese took the opportunity to establish a Youth Eucharistic group. On Sunday, over 5,000 youth from all the parishes descended on Van Hai parish for a day of song, prayer, and fun.
There are special neckerchiefs worn by the youth indicating how old they are. This girl is in my English class and decided that we had to have a picture taken. The hats were special for the day.
This is one small section. There are always tarps for either the sun or the rain, and today it was for the rain. Everyone had a chair or stool, to it was easy to hang out.
On the massive lawn, the buses were parked side to side. Also, many street vendors came. The trash was constantly picked up by parents and water stations and a first aid tent were present.
This little guy followed me around so we took a photo. The kids were everywhere, but well-behaved...probably because of the hundreds of parents walking around.
This parish group gave me a free ice cream. How could I resist chocolate?
Before 20 priests and the bishop concelebrated mass, I got to hang out with the Bishop Nang and three of the elderly priests. Each was jailed by the communists and tortured. Today they are peaceful men who harbor no grudges, true heroes.
Acting crazy in the rain. What could be more fun?
After the mass, the bishop met with the student musicians and joked around. He's a guy who's pretty easy with a smile and always makes you feel welcome. The kids enjoyed it.
This is the last song of the mass. I have to say that the energy was contagious.
