A Day in the Life of a WYD Volunteer

I am sure you have all noticed that we are not blogging at quite the same rate as we were before. It is not hard to imagine that with 26 days to go before WYD and only two weeks before our various groups begin to arrive, everything now happens at once, and deadlines range from 5 minutes to the "end of the day", which can be quite late. However, my prayers this morning left me renewed with a sense of perspective and so I thought I would take the moment to up date the blog and share with you a bit of what my day looks like, using yesterday as an example:

• 4:50 am: Rise and (think about) shining; eat breakfast; prep for the day
• 5:30 am: Out the door and walk to bus stop
• 5:50 am: Catch the bus
• 6:10 am: Depart bus, walk 20 minutes to office
• 6:30 am: Went for a run as it was a beautiful morning (that is, until I passed the WYD countdown sign: 27 days to go)
• 8:00 am: At the office, Morgan and I gather for morning prayer
  

After that, everything is a blur, but here are the highlights:

• Finalize playlist and burn a CD containing the soundtrack to be played throughout High Park during the Pilgrimage to the Cathedral.
• Make final changes the two movies I had to create for the big screens around the city and burn them to DVD for proofing by the communications department -- one is a series of advertisements for various events, the second is a video highlighting the ten patron saints of WYD. Both are five minutes long.
• Finish my part of the final draft for Activ8 the Parish, which is the 64 page document that will be sent to all the parishes in Australia post WYD. We received the Bishop's edits the day before and it has to go to the printer by the end of the day -- thank goodness, the changes were minimal (thank you to all my professors at the Faculty of Theology).
• Write my bio for the media correspondence I will be doing during WYD week.
• Confirm all groups of people who will be on board the Papal boat during his welcome to the city. Set up a site visit and prep the program runsheet for a meeting with the Bishop later in the day.
• Called into meeting regarding the Papal Flotilla, of which I am one of the managers.
• 12:30: Mass
• 1:00: Lunch (which last 8 minutes because I was called into another meeting) On the way there in the lift, I was approached by the promoter of a band how they could get into the WYD line up.
• 1:30: Scheduled departmental meeting
• 2:00: Run through final draft of Activ8 with my supervisor, who approved it with minor changes
• 2:00 - 5:00: WYDMOC (WYD Master Operations Control), or the command center meetings. I was just informed that I will be in the command center at various points in the week to provide the evangelization and catechesis point of view. However, I never made it to the meeting.
• Revised and finalized two videos for Communications
• Reviewed the latest applications for the vocations expo
• Met with the Sisters of Life who just arrived in town.
• Sent emails following up on various issues regarding the Activ8, Xt3, Vocations Expo and the Papal Flotilla
• Communicated with Salt and Light Television as they are providing content to be shown on the big screens between events.
• Responded to various emails and phone messages as I wrote up the to-do list for tomorrow.
• 6:10: Morgan and I gathered for evening prayer
• 6:25: Caught the train to the ferry station because we didn't have time to walk
• 6:35: Have 10 minutes, so we decided for a brief walk towards the Opera House on a beautiful evening along the Harbour.
• 6:45: 10 min. Ferry ride to the other side of the Harbour, where we have a 5 min bus ride home.
• 7:00: Come home ready for a quiet night only to find the dining room formally set with a note telling us there would be guests.
• 7:30: Guests arrived and dinner started. It did not end until 11:30.
• 11:45: Literally fell into bed and set the alarm for 4:50 am so it can start all over again.
  

So there you have it. I am sure I missed things (which is sad to say given the length of this list), but it gives you an idea. Please keep us in your prayers as the days get longer and demands increase. We certainly keep everyone at home in our prayers as well.

Blessings and G'Day!