Dear Friends,

I hope your week is going well!  There are a few things I want to update you on today.  First: as many of you know, on October 9, one of our members had a catalytic converter stolen from their car during worship. Since this is not an optimal situation, we are going to take some precautions over the next few weeks to ensure that friends and member’s cars are being monitored while we are in worship and fellowship. The church parking lot will be monitored as well as a couple of major events when cars are parked in the lot for longer periods of time. We will reevaluate the situation in January. We want everyone to feel comfortable being in worship and knowing that cars are secure while you are in the building. Please contact me with any questions or concerns.

Update on Casa:  As many of you know, we had been working with a Hispanic congregation in hopes that they would use our Fellowship Hall as a worship space on Sunday afternoons. While we were in a pause pattern, waiting for background checks to finalize, they found a church in another suburb and moved with that congregation. We require that background checks and due-diligence are completed before entering into formal relationships with other clergy and congregations, so during this, Casa made other arrangements. I was excited about the possibility of having another congregation be able to use our space and am currently seeking other non-English groups that may have an interest. If you become aware of such a group, please contact me.

The Peaceful Country Boutique is the last weekend of this month. There is a sign-up board in the Fellowship Hall for you to volunteer!  Otherwise, be sure to attend and bring family and friends! This is a wonderful community event!

Trunk or Treat is coming up, and we hope that you will consider hosting a car on Halloween evening from 5-6:30pm: we will begin parking cars at 4:30 pm. We expect a good crowd and are hoping that we will have a good turn out of host cars. We are also in need of bags of candy for the host cars. For those of you who have done this before, you know that we give out a great deal of candy. Thanks for helping in any way that you can!! You can bring bags of candy to the church during the week or on Sunday mornings.

All Saints Sunday is November 6. Please fill out your order form for roses in memory of loved ones and bring them to the office or put them in the offering plate on Sunday mornings. Forms are available on the table in the entry, by the church office door.  If you have any questions, or need to call your order in, please contact the church office as soon as possible.

The Men of Peace will be hosting the pancake breakfast on Sunday, November 6.  Confirmation students are invited to volunteer!  If you can help, come around 8:00 am for set up or if you come later in the morning, check in with the kitchen for volunteering for the second half of the morning!

We are beginning our work on the Thanksgiving Holiday baskets for Peace members, friends and our school families. If you or someone you know needs a holiday basket, please contact me or Julie Barthels in the Church Office. All contacts are confidential.

With basket preparations, we are asking for food donations of peanut butter, jelly, pancake mix and syrup, mac and cheese, pasta, pasta sauce, boxed oatmeal packets, cereal, canned vegetables, boxed dressing, and turkey gravy. As you know, we provide Thanksgiving dinner and groceries for over 60 families during the holiday season. Thank you for your help and for your generous donations.

We are in the process of getting a newsletter ready for you. The holiday worship services will be listed along with dates and times. The newsletter will have a lot of information in it, and we hope you enjoy it.

If you can help serve refreshments on Sunday mornings, please contact the Church Office or sign up on the “Treat and Coffee Serving” list on the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall, as you come into church. We will continue to need volunteers on Sunday mornings to make coffee, lemonade and serve cookies and other treats. It’s not difficult and it is a lot of fun, so let us know if you can help!

If you want to help in worship as a communion server, please sign up on the bulletin board as you come into church. I encourage our confirmation students to sign up to be basket holders, and to contact me if you would like to be a reader in worship!

I hope you have a great week!  See you Sunday!! Take care… be safe…

Pastor Valerie

Cell:  612-280-6493              Email:  [email protected]

Church:  763-757-4459        Email:  [email protected]