New Member/ Confirmation Welcome! Kathy Thorson has completed Bible Instruction Class and became a confirmed member of Ascension.

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1 February th Avenue N, Plymouth, MN Monthly Messenger Last Month in Review... Thanks to the Western Accents for Beautifying our Worship on January 13th: They are a group from West Lutheran High School. Teacher Gary Bain lead our worship and the choir lead us in a special service of songs based on the theme for the school year: "Built on the Rock". New Member/ Confirmation Welcome! Kathy Thorson has completed Bible Instruction Class and became a confirmed member of Ascension. Youth musicians wanted! Does your child like to sing or play an instrument? We would love to include some students (grades K-12) in our worship services as instrumentalists or singers in an ensemble. All ability levels are welcome! Contact Susan Decker at susandecker13@gmail.com if you re interested or have any questions. Second Harvest Thanks: Thirteen volunteers worked together with others to package 4,306 lbs. of potatoes for the hungry in our community. To God be the glory! Inside This Issue Last Month...pg. 1 This Month...pg. 2-3 Ministry Update...pg. 4 Preschool...pg. 5 WELS Word...pg. 6 God's Blessing of Baby Boys! Congratulations to Dave and Desiree Morrison at the birth of twin boys, Kennedy and Knixon on January 7th. We praise God for keeping mother and children in his tender care and ask for his continued protection until they are reborn in the saving waters of Holy Baptism. Prayers & Support for the Morrison Family: David and Desiree Morrison also learned that their youngest daughter, Jori, has leukemia. She has begun chemo treatment. If you would like to bring the Morrison s a meal you can sign up at: takethemameal.com/meals.php?t=eaqq2000. If you would like to provide financial assistance go to: gofundme.com/jori039s-journey. Please keep this family in your prayers. Treasurer s Report... $(20,930) Offerings... $ 170,322 Other Receipts... $ 90,636 Expenses... $ 217, $ 22,313

2 Monthly Messenger February 2019 This Month s Preview... Downhill Tubing Reschedule: Due to the cold weather on Saturday we decided to reschedule the Tubing at Elm Creek to Saturday, February 2nd from 1-3 pm. Ice skating at the Loop: Join us Saturday, February 23rd at 6:00 PM at Central Park of Maple Grove. A sign up sheet has been posted on the Group Life bulletin board if you are interested in participating. A Voters Meeting is scheduled for February 10th between services to recap the building program fund drive and Council's recommendation on the building plan. Financial information pertaining to the building program will be communicated in advance of the meeting so that voters can make an informed decision. The meeting will also include quarterly updates from the elders and updates about programs including preschool and shepherding. Vietnam Sunday School Mission Offering: The mission offering Outreach will be going to support the building of a theological training center in Hanoi, Vietnam for the Hmong Fellowship Church. So far we ve raised $608.96! 40 for 40 Building Campaign Match Challenge Update: Donations w/ Match $70, for 40 Donations $35,134 Evangelism Seminar: Evangelism Seminar: It s all about relationships. Saturday, February 23rd Ascension. How can we better reach out to people today? WELS District Mission Counselor, Pastor Edward Schuppe, will lead a seminar aimed at helping us wrestle through the difficulties of evangelism in our modern world. Register at by Feb. 21st. Snacks & beverages will be provided. page 2

3 Monthly Messenger February 2019 Preview Continued... Mission Festival and Congregational Potluck: Pastor Schuppe will be our preacher and Bible study leader for our Mission Festival on February 24 th. The Outreach Committee will also be organizing a congregational potluck & fellowship time after late service. Family Game Night: We ll be having a family game night on Friday, February 6:30pm. Please bring a game, appetizer or dessert to share. All church members and preschool families are invited. Please sign up online at: atbsy2dumzhamlfpl or in the fellowship hall. Stewardship Update: As we begin a new year and take note of all the blessings we have received from our Lord, your Stewardship Committee would like to remind you of several special giving opportunities at Ascension. First, is our Tuition Assistance Fund which is designed to help those Ascension members who are college students attending one of our ministerial education schools with the intent of becoming a teacher or pastor. Out of love for our Lord, we pray for, encourage, and support those who preach and teach the good news of the Gospel. Providing financial assistance for the students and the schools that train them are all ways we can show our support. Currently, we do not have any Ascension members who are studying for the public ministry but we invite you to contribute so that monies would be available for future called workers from our congregation. If you would like to contribute to this fund, please direct your donation to the Tuition Assistance Fund. Second, is our Endowment Fund which was established to provide our congregation with an alternate stream of income that could be used to supplement special projects or programs. Currently, the Endowment Fund has approximately $25,000 in assets and is invested through WELS Investments. Individuals often contribute assets to endowment funds in connection with wills and estate planning but cash donations may be made at any time. If you would like to contribute to this fund please direct your donation to the Endowment Fund or contact Dan Fischer who chairs the Endowment Fund Committee. Third, if you have investments or insurance through Thrivent Financial you may have Thrivent Choice Dollars available to you. These are funds that Thrivent makes available to its qualifying members to direct to the church or non-profit organization of their choice. The 2018 Choice Dollars expire on March 31, 2019 if they are not designated. To see if you have Choice Dollars available to you, please go to Thrivent.com and login. Click on the MyThrivent tab and then on Direct Choice Dollars. If you have Choice Dollars to designate, select your designee from the list of eligible recipients. Please note that Ascension is listed under Minneapolis rather than Plymouth. If you have questions you may also call Thrivent at Lastly, we want to encourage all members to periodically review/revise their financial support of our congregation and synod especially for significant changes in income or expenses. Our congregation has been very blessed financially for which we give thanks to the Lord whose goodness and mercy endure forever. Thank you for all of your support of Ascension through time, talents and treasures. Ascension Stewardship Committee Freely you have received, freely give. -Matthew 10:8 page 3

4 Monthly Messenger February 2019 Shepherding Ministry Update: Last November, the new Ascension Shepherding Ministry was announced. In summary, the Shepherding Ministry aims to respond to God's grace by Serving the Lord and Serving Each Other! Please read on for additional details around this exciting new ministry. page 4 Congregational Tasks As previously communicated, part of our Shepherding ministry involves flocks helping with basic congregational duties such as providing Sunday snacks, greeting guests and ushering. Our plan calls for the flocks to cover these responsibilities for a given week, every eight weeks. This means on average, a given flock provides these services around six times per year. The Flock Shepherds have a calendar showing weekly flock assignments and they will coordinate with you when it is your Flock's week to serve. The official start date for this program is Sunday, February 17 th and Mike Tripp's Flock #3 is assigned this date. Flock #4, led by Dean Lahren, is scheduled for February 24 and Flock #5, led by Wayne Johnson is on deck for March 3. If you would like further information on greeting guests or ushering, please feel free to contact Wayne Johnson, Outreach Elder or Mike Melott, Worship Elder. In addition, you can visit with your Flock Shepherd for assistance. Shepherding Ministry Display Hopefully you have noticed that the west wall in our fellowship area has been transformed into a beautiful display of our eight flocks including your assigned Flock Shepherd, flock member names and pictures. We also plan to post a calendar depicting the schedule for weekly flock assignments related to congregational tasks. It is our hope that this display provides further clarity of the eight Flocks and helps foster a spirit of caring for each other. Questions Any questions can be directed to Randy Hebb, Group Life Elder, Jeff Rindt, Senior Shepherd or Pastor Brian Roloff. Your Flock Shepherd can also be contacted for assistance. We pray that God blesses this ministry. We are cared for by the Lord and we should care for each other. In Christ, Randy Hebb, Jeff Rindt and Pastor Brian Roloff

5 Monthly Messenger February 2019 From Mrs. Melott s Class... The 5-day class has been focusing on how Jesus did everything necessary to take away our sins. They ve learned that this wasn t just dying on the cross, but living a perfect life of doing God s will. We need to show our love by obeying God s commandments also. The children enjoyed a unit on animal homes. They made underwater shadow boxes, forests with animals and a rainforest mural. They just finished a unit on polar bears and penguins. Check out the foot penguins and polar bear cups on the bulletin board. They also enjoy the various handson learning activities in the Saxon Math curriculum. Some of these activities can be seen on our TV in the entryway. Because of the success of our Gerten s plant sale last year, we are going to offer it again. Look for information about ordering in the next couple of weeks. Finally, don t forget to sign up for our family game night on Friday, February 8 th at 6:30 PM. We hope to see many of you there! From Ms. Mays Class... This month the 2-Day and 3-Day have been learning about staying healthy and what doctors and nurses do to help us. We have started an experiment to see all the germs we have on our hands. Along with make stethoscopes and doctor s bags, we talked about all the instruments that doctors and nurses use and why they use them. We also talked about snow. We made a couple of snowmen. We watched videos of snow growing and looked at different types of snowflakes. One day we had a snowball fight in the big room. Our snowballs were crunched up newspapers that we had fun throwing at each other and the teachers. We have also been learning about Jesus miracles, how he fed over 5,000 people with just a little amount of food, how he brought Jairus daughter back to life, made a blind man see and healed 10 men who were sick. In all of those lessons we saw Jesus love for the people and how he shows that same love to us everyday. We also saw Jesus great power over everything even death. page 5

6 Monthly Messenger February 2019 I NEED MORE I Need More FAITHFUL FRIENDS A friend is someone who knows all about me and likes me anyway. Have you heard that description of a friend? How would you define what a friend is? Are you happy with the friends you have? Do you wish you had more friends or different kinds of friends? That your friendships were healthier or more helpful? People might define friends in various ways, but one thing is certain. God designed people with a need for friendship. When he created the first man, he offered this observation: It is not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). We naturally feel the need that God observed, but faithful friends might be hard to come by. In the internet world, friends often call each other BFF s Best Friends Forever. But those same friends often turn on each other and end up more as enemies than as friends. No matter how well someone knows and likes you, there really is no friend who knows all about you. Your innermost secrets remain locked within you, and there are deeper feelings than anyone could ever understand. God wants you to know what you might have suspected all along. He does know all about you. He observes that you need someone to whom you can pour out your heart, and he is willing to be that one. But do you want God to be a BFF, when deep down you know what he knows about you? As his own Word says, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8). Few of us would make such a claim, but the good news is that God still wants to claim us as friends, despite our shortcomings. That is why Jesus Christ, God s Son, came into the world long ago. He came to do what only the best of friends would do he came to lay down his life for you. He came to stand in for you and take whatever punishment God s justice demanded for your sins. And God accepted his own Son s sacrifice to wipe out the guilt of your sin. That is why God invites you to see him as your best friend. He knows all about you and everything that you need. He extends his love to you without conditions, for the sake of his Son s death on the cross. page 6