Another Thank You to the Utah Zone!

I received this nice note from Pastor Alan Borcher and his sweet wife Gayle. He is the Pastor at Light of the Valley Lutheran Church. He is thanking us for a gift card we gave him to Christian Gift and Bible to use for his church and mission work. Light of the Valley Lutheran Church is a new mission plant on the southwest side of the salt lake valley. They just had their first worship service on December 14th! Praise God! Here is a link to some pictures from their first service: http://lightofthevalley.com/firstservice.html

Utah/Idaho District LWML had the privilege of issuing a grant to Light of the Valley Lutheran Church for $5,000 in 2008; that money went to the start up process. How wonderful it is to see our pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters in our mite boxes grow into $5,000, then God using our grant money along with many others and blessing Light of the Valley Lutheran Church in so many ways!

Please also note there is a link to their website on this blog below on the lower right hand side under "our churches". If you are looking for a mission project, there is information on Light of the Valley's website for things they need. Please continue to keep this new church, the congregation, Pastor Borcher and Gayle in your prayers. So exciting, to God be the glory!

Christmas parties LWML style!

I have be so blessed to serve as your Zone President for the past year, and I want to thank you all for the opportunity. It has been so wonderful, I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for 2009! It comes with many perks, and one of my favorites is to travel and visit with all of you at your churches. I very much enjoy coming to your society events and meetings and spending time with my fellow Women in Mission!

Last week I attended St. Marks' Ladies' Christmas party. When I walked in everyone was just getting warmed up by singing Christmas hymns together. Then we had a wonderful potluck finger food dinner with hot chocolate and homemade biscotti. Lane, the Society President had some fun games prepared for us including a Christmas Bible Trivia. Thank you Mary Martha Guild, it was wonderful.

The ladies at Grace Lutheran Church in Sandy invited me to their Christmas party this year. I learned that every year the ladies collect goodies to put in gift sacks and deliver to shut-ins who are in the area or belong to the congregation. Society President Cindy was all ready to go with Christmas bags and map quest directions to each home. We broke up into two groups and away we went.

The bags we stuffed full of everything from baked goods to devotional booklets. Some ladies even brought left over (blank) Christmas cards and put those in too, what a great idea!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that tradition calls for dinner afterwards at Spaghetti Mama's! What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, thank you ladies of Grace for inviting me. May God continue to bless your mission work.

Merry Christmas

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:6

He is the reason for the season, Merry Christmas everyone!

Hello everyone! I received this from Beth at St. Paul in Ogden, it is an article about the Women's Day Retreat "God's Grace Filled Seasons" that they hosted for us in October. I wanted to share it with you all, God's blessings on your day! Thanks Beth and all the ladies at St. Paul for your faithful service to the Lord.

The women at St. Paul, Ogden, spent a beautiful day with Elaine Bickel at their annual women’s retreat on Saturday, October 4. The theme for this year was “God’s Grace-Filled Seasons,” Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

More than seventy women attended the event including District President Melody Rosenwinkel and Utah Zone President Ashley Willoughby. Most guests were St. Paul members and friends but many women came from the Salt Lake area for the fun day of fellowship and spending time in God’s Word.

The day began with coffee, tea, homemade scones and a Bingo icebreaker. The women learned some interesting and extraordinary details about the women in the room. Who drove a combine? Who plays bridge? Who has a pet reptile? Who is a stamp collector? Who married her high school sweetheart? Who has a PhD? Who is a root canal specialist?

The women spent the rest of the day singing, sharing, and listening to Elaine Bickel who shared her joy in the Lord. She led everyone in a Bible study, “That’s A Bunch of Bologna!” She encouraged women to open their Bibles and read Hebrews 13:8. “What is the comfort given in this verse?” she asked.

She also shared her bologna metaphor: “Chances are you have never spent much time thinking about what a piece of bologna might feel like when it is stuck in there in the middle of two pieces of bread—knowing it is about to be devoured—knowing it must “meat” the needs of the very ones who are getting their teeth into it. It probably feels trapped—stuck in the middle—trying to keep the two sides together and yet feeling pressed and pressured. Even though we have never been a slice of bologna, or even pressed ham, many women who are in the middle of their lives feel much like that piece of bologna would feel if it could feel…overburdened! We need to remember our entire lives are in His hands. As we are serving Him by trying to help carry others, He is carrying us.”

Sandi Dellermann led the women in singing and praise music while Dina Scheifl was the soloist. Pastor Gary Trickey joined the women for lunch and closing devotions and prayer.