When you send someone halfway around the world on assignment, you never quite know what to expect.

That’s the position we’re in this week. Our intrepid reporter Marie Elena Giossi, who covers the youth beat among other things, is in Australia with almost 200 young people from Brooklyn and Queens to participate in the celebration of World Youth Day.

The highlight of the week will be the prayer services and liturgy with Pope Benedict XVI. But before the Holy Father even makes an appearance, the delegates, who number approximately 225,000 from around the world, are busy with service projects, catechetical sessions, and socializing.

What a great idea it is to bring together the youth of the world to be with each other in an atmosphere of faith, prayer and just plain fun. This was the idea and vision of John Paul the Great who put so much faith in youth as the future as well as the present of the Church. He loved being among young people and they always responded enthusiastically to his presence.

The same excitement has continued under Benedict XVI who by all reports is more of a private person. But the crowds respond to him and he (as we saw in New York) is perfectly at ease and charismatic on the world stage. We truly are blessed to have had one great pope follow the other.

For Marie Elena, the journey to Australia was an adventure in itself. After arriving at JFK Airport in the early hours of the morning July 10, she was off with stops in London and Hong Kong before completing her 22-hour plane ride to Sydney, Australia.

We had expected to hear from her early on Monday morning but there were no e-mails, the easiest way to file stories and photos. We wondered what had happened because Marie Elena is as efficient as anyone can be.

We got our explanation on Monday afternoon. Her first transmissions were delayed because, when she arrived Down Under, she discovered that her laptop computer required a three-pronged electrical cord and the one she had was two-pronged.

Marie Elena politely asked her husband, Daniel, if he would take to the streets of Sydney in search of a three-pronged hook-up. Intrepid man that he is, Daniel finally found such a contraption and Marie Elena was able to send her first reports on Monday afternoon. But keep in mind that Australia is 14 hours ahead of us. By the time her first batch of photos were arriving at The Tablet’s Brooklyn office, it was 5 a.m. the next morning in Australia. As she signed off, she simply wrote, “I’m tired and I’ve got to get some sleep.”

She had earned her pay and the week was only beginning.

On the following day, her first story about the opening Mass arrived with this note: “I hope I didn’t worry you. The Opening Mass was packed and I didn’t quite know when I would get out of there. I did, thank goodness, and I’ve been typing away ever since. I’m attaching that story.”

Marie Elena reports that she hasn’t been eating three meals a day. Breakfast is great at the hotel so she always has a big “brekkie” (breakfast).

Pilgrims are given passes for free lunch and dinner. But one evening, Marie Elena opted for an Elvis-themed pizzeria where she had Blue Hawaii pizza with pineapples and fresh ham.

As we go to press, we have Marie Elena’s report of the opening ceremonies beginning on Page 1. This is accompanied by the first photos of our young people in Australia. You can see them on our front page and on Page 3. To accommodate Marie Elena’s daily dispatches, we are updating our website (www.thetablet.org) every day with the most current pictures.

Parents can be comforted by seeing photos of Bishop DiMarzio and Bishop Caggiano as well as the adult chaperones who are accompanying our young people. The bishops celebrate daily Mass with the delegates in the hotel and churches that are available.

What a way to spend two weeks this summer! For the next few weeks, we will continue to feature coverage and reactions to World Youth Day on our pages. As our young ambassadors begin to return to their parishes next week, greet them with open arms and ask them to share their stories. They have done something extraordinary this year. They have enriched themselves and us by their faith-filled adventure. This certainly is a story worth telling and hearing.