REFORMATION CELEBRATION: QUILTS, NEW MEMBERS, CLOWNING & MORE

Our Savior's Lutheran celebrated Reformation Sunday on October 25th with a number of special events in worship.

During the sermon, Pastor Laura and Louis Nguyen gave a clown ministry performance to shed new light on the doctrine of justification by grace. Notice that Pastor's clown wig is the liturgical color of the day. She is pictured below struggling with the "X" mark on her, which represents sin.

Then, Louis as the Christ figure approached.

He took the "X" of sin and went to the cross with it.

The Sunday was also the day to dedicate the 10 quilts, which had been made by the Women of the ELCA quilters. These were blessed by the children and will be sent to Lutheran World Relief next week. From there, they will be shipped around the world to refugees and others in need. Pictured below are these beautiful quilts.

Lori Anne Reyes and her children: Melony, Louis, Soraya, and Eden Junior were received as new members of the congregation. 

Here are some additional photos from Reformation Sunday, taken during and after Sunday school. Louis was still wearing his clown costume.

Emilio Rathbun

Ethan Schweitzer and Kai Timmerman

Cameron Lawson

Since Pastor had forgotten the new member flower vase for Lori, she delivered it to their home later in the afternoon.

WOMEN OF THE ELCA FALL MEETING

Our Savior's Lutheran Women of the ELCA group held their fall meeting on Wednesday, October 21. Here are some highlights from that meeting.

President, Kim Timmerman, conducted the meeting.

Mary Schweitzer gave devotions as well as the minutes and treasurer's report.

Grace Ziegelmaier gave the Mission Action report. In it, she explained that the health kits to be sent to Lutheran World Relief would be made by herself and Lee Bjerke.  Here is is pictured showing how the health kits are wrapped in towels.

Grace also reported that the Women of the ELCA had donated $25.00 and a number of "country store" items to the Sugar Creek Bible Camp Quilt Auction. The group has received a thank you from the camp regarding this benevolence. Over $23,000 was raised at that event. A donation was also given to the Camp EWALU Quilt Auction but no information has yet been received from that camp about how that event went.

At this time, the Women of the ELCA have decided not to do group quilting because the tables are now needed by the Sunday school. If individuals would still like to make quilts for donation to Lutheran World Relief, they can obtain batting from the supply currently being stored at Gayle Bahlmann's house. Hopefully, a number of quilts will still be made. The quilts that will be sent this fall are going to be displayed during worship this Sunday, October 25th.

The Annual Bake Sale was discussed. It will be held on November 20th from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Kerndt Brothers Community Center in Lansing. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will match the funds raised, which will also include money raised throughout the year at coffee hour. It was decided that this year, there will also be soup and hot sandwiches served in addition to baked goods and country store items. An advertising campaign was planned, which will include a newspaper ad, a free public service announcement on cable and announcements will be sent to other churches. Grace Ziegelmaier and Donna Thran will do the phone calling in order to get members to bring baked goods.

It was decided that the Women of the ELCA Christmas party will be held at Mary Schweitzer's home on Wednesday, December 16th at 6:45 p.m. Donna Reed will do devotions and Gayle will be in charge of fun games.

The women decided to make a donation of $100 to Helping Hands, a local agency that provides a variety of services to people in the community.

They also made a decision to donate to ELCA World Hunger in the form of their Good Gifts catalog. Through the "God's Global Barnyard" option, the women of Our Savior's will be giving a goat, 2 pigs and 10 chicks to families in need in various places in the world. At present, half of the world's population (about 3 billion) is going hungry. These gifts to the hungry are sustainable in that they will help families feed themselves for a long time to come. In making this gift, the women hope to inspire others in our church and community to do the same. The objective of the Good Gifts catalog is to get people to consider making such donations in lieu of gifts. This is a great holiday idea. To find out more information, click the link above. 

Then the evening's hostess, Betty Estebo, served refreshments.

Here are some of the ladies enjoying the pumpkin bars and other treats.

Mary Schweitzer, Lee Bjerke & Pastor Laura

PASTOR APPRECIATION SUNDAY

Our Savior's Lutheran celebrated Pastor Appreciation Sunday by presenting Pastor Laura Gentry with the bouquet pictured above as well as a figurine representing happiness. Pastor Laura wishes to express her gratefulness.

OBITUARY FOR MORRIS SCHELLHAMMER

Morris R. Schellhammer, 87, of Waukon, IA, died Friday, October 9, 2009, at Good Samaritan Center in Waukon. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, October 13th, at 11:00 AM at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon, with Pastor Laura Gentry officiating. Burial will be held in Lansing Ridge Cemetery, rural Lansing, IA. Friends may call from 4:00 - 7:00 PM Monday at Martin Funeral Home in Waukon.

Morris Ralph Schellhammer was born July 30, 1922 on his parent's farm in Center Township rural Lansing, IA, the son of George and Minnie (Uren) Schellhammer. He was baptized and confirmed at Churchtown Presbyterian Church in rural Lansing and attended Churchtown School. Morris went to work for farmers in the Churchtown area and helped at home after his mother died when he was 13 years old. On December 25, 1941 he married Rose-Mary Fulghum in Decorah, IA. They farmed together in Jefferson Township for over forty years. He also did electrical work with Leo Klocke for many years. Rose-Mary died in 1990. On November 12, 1994 he married Dilles Martens Sess at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Lansing.

Morris was a past member at Zion United Church of Christ in Waukon and was a member at Our Savior Lutheran Church since he has been married to Dilles. He enjoyed working with horses on the farm as well as raising and breaking riding horses. Morris also enjoyed taking trips to visit family in Minnesota and Montana, fishing, deer hunting, playing cards especially euchre and five hundred.

Survivors include his wife, Dilles of Waukon; 2 sons, Owen (Rosalette) Schellhammer of Strawberry Point, IA and Gary (Colleen) Schellhammer of Waukon; 2 step-children, Joan (Larry) White and Jim (Melissa) Sess both of Harpers Ferry, IA; 4 grandchildren; 4 great-grandchildren; several step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren; 1 brother, Glenn (Margaret) Schellhammer of Ames, IA; 3 sisters, Marian (Thomas) Reppe of Winnifred, MT, Elsie Meyer of Manchester, IA and Lila Weipert of McGregor, IA; and a siter-in-law, Mary Schellhammer of Milwaukee, WI. He is preceded in death by his parents; his first wife, Rose Mary and a brother, Ernest Schellhammer.

BAPTISM OF CHLOË MAGNUSSON

Chloë Diane, daughter of Melanie and Carl Magnusson was baptized on Sunday, October 11, 2009. Her sponsors are Ashley Chappell and Clayton Burke. We warmly welcome her into the family of God!

GEARING UP FOR RALLY DAY

It is Sunday school time at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church and we hope you and your children will join us for a lively year of learning. Sunday, September 13 is Rally Day—the kick off of our Christian education program. There will be an installation of our teachers in worship at 9:00 a.m. The classes will then begin at 10:00 a.m. They will continue to meet each Sunday until Christmas break, then resume again until the end of the school year.

Sunday school is an important way that our church community can help support the faith development of all it’s members. Each week, kids learn about God’s love for them through the Bible’s many stories. They make connections between the Bible and their own lives in a fun learning environment. Over the summer, the young people were given Spark Bibles or Spark Story Bibles, depending upon their age. If you child hasn’t gotten one yet, we’ll see to it that he or she gets one this fall.

As an incentive to get and keep kids involved in this program, we offer a free week at a Lutheran Bible camp to students who attend 20 Sunday school classes or more. This is approximately a $300 value. We are excited to make this opportunity available for our students. The on-camp programs at Sugar Creek Bible Camp in Ferryville, Wisconsin and Camp EWALU in Strawberry Point, Iowa are for students who have completed the 3rd grade through 12th grade.

We also produce a Christmas program each year in December, which features the Sunday school children. This is a special treat for our congregation. It makes the Christmas story come alive in a wonderful way.

This year, we’ll begin each Sunday school hour by meeting in the church sanctuary for a group singing session. We’ll also be collecting Sunday school offering for a special project. We are excited to announce that we have enough students to break into several age classes in our newly refurbished basement learning center. They include:


The Sunshine Class—for kids 3 years old through Kindergarten taught by Mike Schweitzer

The Celebration Class—for kids first grade through fourth taught by Susan Finley and Lisa Rethwisch

The Cool Kids Class—for those in fifth and sixth grade taught by Carla Pleasants and Wendy Morris

The Confirmation Class—for seventh grade and older taught by Jamie Horkheimer (on Sunday mornings) and Pastor Laura (for extended classes which meet monthly)

Meanwhile, the confirmed teenagers and adults meet upstairs for Bible study.

Would you be interested in helping? If you’d like to be an adult volunteer, please contact Mary Schweitzer at 538-4710. We look forward to a great year!

FIRE DEPARTMENT RECEIVES BIG CHECK

Pastor Laura Gentry and members of Our Savior's Lutheran Church attended the Lansing Fire Department meeting on September 3, 2009 to present a "big check" in the amount of one thousand dollars for the building fund. This money was raised at the benefit concert by Tom Bourcier held in July. Additionally, the Women of the ELCA and the church council added contributions. With the check, Our Savior's brought thanks for the outstanding work of both the Lansing Fire Department and the EMT.

Pictured above are Lansing Fire Chief, Dave Mortiz; Firefighter John Rea; Pastor Laura Gentry; President of the Women of the ELCA, Kim Timmerman; Firefighter Kenny Becker; Our Savior's church council member and EMT, Wendy Morris. (double click to enlarge)