FROM THE PASTOR S DESK

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2 FROM THE PASTOR S DESK DEAR MEMBERS & FRIENDS, Greetings in the name of our risen and ascended Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! We continue to celebrate our Savior s resurrection, as we do each and every Sunday of the year! It seems that we no more than broke ground for our new addition on May 3 rd ; and then the rains came. Don t get me wrong, we needed some rain. People were already complaining about how dry things were around here. If you are under 20 years old, you probably have not really experienced what it means to be dry in the Fargo/Moorhead area. Lately, we ve been getting plenty of rain. I m not sure how much the rain has affected the progress of our building, but I do know that it has kept me from getting anything planted in the garden so far. I still hope to get some things planted. Hopefully, we ll have a long growing season with some timely rainfall. May was an exciting time of the year for students who were graduating from Martin Luther College (MLC) in New Ulm, MN, and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary (WLS) in Mequon, WI. Graduates at MLC have completed a minimum of four years of training and graduates of WLS have completed a minimum of eight years of training. Most of the graduates from MLC and WLS also received their first call through the assignment committee at MLC and WLS. Unless a person defers assignment, he or she will receive their first call into the teaching or preaching ministry. People who defer assignment often do so for further study, study abroad, or service to the Lord in another capacity. Some MLC students have deferred assignment to teach in China for a year or two. Another graduate was going to Russia to help with our mission work there for a year. The assignment committee is made up of the twelve district presidents and a few representatives from MLC or WLS. The assignment committee is not perfect. There is the human element involved. Yet, it is about as good a system that we could possibly have. The calls that are extended are mediate calls extended to the graduates as opposed to immediate calls. What s the difference? An example of an immediate call would be God in the Old Testament going personally to call his prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Another example is how Jesus personally called his 12 disciples. Since the beginning of the New Testament Church, calls have been mediate calls. Even the choosing of a replacement for Judas was a mediate call. An example of an immediate call in the New Testament is the calling of Saul to be the Apostle Paul. It is the only one I can think of. Even Paul described himself as becoming an apostle in an abnormal way. We simply praise God that he continues to provide workers to labor in his church. I have posted the MLC and WLS assignments on the bulletin board at church. Two pastors were assigned to our Dakota/Montana District: Andrew Hussman to St. Paul s in Rapid City to be the graduate assistant to our District President Doug Free and Adam Pilarski to a four-point parish of Peace/Christ/Christ/St. Paul in Isabel/Morristown, Bison McIntosch in northwest South Dakota. Three vicars were assigned to our district: Joshua Gebert to Living Savior - Missoula, MT; Joshua Jensen to Apostles - Billings, MT; and Matthew E. Stuebs to Our Savior - Brookings, SD. In Christ s service, Pastor Lloyd Schlomer

3 SUMMER BIBLE STUDY Have you ever wondered about all the different religions in the world? We are somewhat familiar with all the various Christian religions, but the other world religions not so much. In Bible Study this summer, we are going to take a basic look at Christianity, but we will also take a closer look at the many world religions in this eight part study. Since each segment is completely different, it won t matter if you miss one here or there along the way. The study is entitled: Christianity and the Competition. We will begin this study on June 28 (June 14 is the 50 th anniversary celebration and June 21 is an open forum). The eight segments are: The Credentials of Christianity, The Far East religions (Buddhism, Sikhs, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism), The Middle East religions (Judaism, Mithraism, Montanism, Menecheism, Baha i), Islam part 1, Islam part 2, Western religions part 1 (Mormons, Jehovah s Witnesses), Western religions part 2 (The cults, Scientology), Conclusion A Christian response. The study should prove interesting. Join us whenever you can! BUILDING UPDATE So far subcontractors have done a great job working through the weather and getting the addition s trenches excavated to the north of the church s parking lot. The church is already looking quite different as both of the church s vestibules have been removed. The entrance has been moved to the east side the fellowship space, near where the children s coat hangers were previously. However, in the last two weeks Opatril Concrete has set and cast both the footings and foundation walls. Just recently in the last week the interior of the foundations were backfilled with sand. This means that soon the concrete floor will be poured and the rest of the project will be able to run a little smoother working out of the mud. Keep our building project your prayers and feel free to stop by and take a look at the progress. God s Blessings, Richard Wright We will have a second celebration of our 50 th anniversary on June 14 th. We do plan to be able to have services throughout the construction of our new addition. Pastor Martin Schulz, the first resident pastor at Ascension, has agreed to be the guest preacher for our June celebration. We have also reserved the Dilworth Community Center for the dinner and celebration following the service. Mr. Earl Nelson is head of the anniversary committee. There are invitations at church if you wish to invite someone. Also, below is a letter to the church from a former member describing the 1 st wedding at Ascension.

4 May 25th, 2015 Ascension Lutheran Church Avenue South Moorhead, MN Greetings Brethren in Christ, Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary. The Lord has indeed blessed your congregation throughout the years and especially this year with building construction starting. There were many 1st's over the 50 years of Ascension. My wife and I, along with your guest speaker, Pastor Martin Schulz participated in a 1st, but first a little history. Upon my return from Viet Nam in January, 1968, I was stationed at the Induction (AFEES) station in Fargo. Being from Milwaukee and brought up in WELS, it was with great joy there was a Christ centered Wisconsin Synod Church in Moorhead, albeit a very young church at the time. During my tour, I happened to meet a beautiful woman working at Northwestern Bell in Fargo, who was from a little town in ND, named Ray. We began dating and she began attending church with me. To make a long story short, we fell in love and marriage was the next step. Although churched, my fiancée was not Lutheran. Pastor Schulz held instructional classes for my fiancée (as well as me). On a very bitter cold, blustery Saturday evening of March 29, 1969, Pastor Schulz performed the 1st wedding at Ascension (it may have also been his 1st). Despite the weather with bitter wind chills, the church was nearly filled with guests from IA, WI, ND, and MN. Pastor Schulz performed a lovely ceremony, as the Lord has blessed him with the gift of great sermons. One of Ascension's members at the time, Dennis Duin, was the soloist. Pastor Schulz blessed us in marriage. More importantly, God blessed our marriage with two children and three grandchildren. We have now been married 46 years and counting. After my service time ended, we stayed in Fargo and attended Ascension until I graduated in 1973 from Moorhead State. We then moved to IA where we attended Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids. In 1979 we moved back to Fargo and once again became members of Ascension with Pastor Kanzenbach leading the flock. In 1983 we moved to Omaha, NE and became members of Gethsemane Lutheran Church took us to Pleasanton, CA and Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. In 1992 we were on the move again, this time to Alpharetta, GA and Messiah Lutheran Church. In 2000, we moved to our current home in Dunnellon, FL and are now members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School, Beverly Hills, FL. It was of great comfort in all our moves to find the Word is being taught and shared in WELS congregations such as yourselves. Enjoy your Anniversary celebration. My wife and I will always have fond memories of our time at Ascension and the Fargo/Moorhead area. Yours in Christ, Jeffrey W. & Linda M. Heebner Enclosures (3) (These are posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex to preserve print quality) P.S. Does Pastor Schulz look the same as the wedding pic? My wife and I sure don't.

5 OPEN FORUM We have scheduled an open forum for Sunday, June 21, during the Bible study hour. We try to schedule an open forum during each quarter of the year. Anyone is free to bring up any subject you want discussed. We want your input! There will also be an update on our new building addition. 52 nd Annual LWMS Convention If you have questions or would like more information, please check out the information posted on the bulletin board in the Narthex or speak with Trisha Dominguez. LWMS will continue to take registrations by mail until June 19th. SYNOD CONVENTION The 63rd biennial convention of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod will be held at Michigan Lutheran Seminary (MLS) in Saginaw, Mich., July 27-30, The theme is "One in Christ." The Book of Reports and Memorials (BORAM) has arrived. The BORAM is basically the guidebook for the delegates to the synod convention. The synod's first vice president, Rev. James Huebner, will present an essay on the theme. Another congregation was not able to provide a delegate and Ascension was next in line to provide a lay delegate and an alternate to the delegate. Our delegate to the synod convention is Sergio Dominguez and the alternate delegate is Troy Aswege. We thank these two men for their willingness to serve! It will be a tremendous experience for the one who ends up representing Ascension in Saginaw.

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8 Lutheran Mobile Clinic Malawi May 2015 Greetings from Malawi, We ve had a very busy month; lots of patients at clinic, and a lot of behind the scenes things to get done. The weather is busy changing, as well. Although the days are still fairly warm, we are starting to get out the long sleeves most nights because they are a bit cooler. I enjoy the change in weather because, I hate to say it, but sometimes I miss the cold. The next couple months in Malawi remind me a little of September in Wisconsin with its warm days and cool nights. Of course, the palm trees and ripening papayas next to our house don t quite fit in with the Wisconsin image, but it s the thought that counts, right? The other thing that is different from home is that the rain will stop altogether now for 6 or 7 months. That may sound like a bad thing, but that s not entirely the case. Thankfully it means that people are able to harvest their maize and malaria begins decreasing. However, it also means that whatever they harvest now needs to feed them until this time next year. Most Malawians rely on conventional farming methods that rely heavily on the rains and focus almost exclusively on maize and soya. For this reason, I am very grateful for the work that our village staff members have been doing at our Suzi and Msambo clinics since completing their permaculture training. They have been working hard to continue the sustainable organic year round gardening and farming practices they learned and have been enthusiastically sharing what they ve learned with anyone that asks. We are looking forward to the next follow-up visit the trainers will be conducting shortly. They will be checking the conditions of our existing gardens and fruit trees, answering questions the staff and volunteers have and providing guidance for planting and irrigating during the upcoming cool and dry season. They will also be providing an assessment and additional guidance on how to prepare a large field at Suzi for planting and potentially further involve the surrounding community. Once the field has been cleared and prepared, it has great potential to provide a low cost source of food for our nutrition program and a training ground for sharing the valuable practices with the community. Lord willing, this will be of great benefit to the long-term health of our patients and the surrounding communities as well as give us more opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ to his people in word and action. There is much work yet to be done before the full potential of this opportunity can be reached, but we know that with God s help and guidance we can do immeasurably more than we alone could ever hope or imagine. A Sister in Christ, Alison Westphal Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go to the heights. Habakkuk 3:18-19 If there is any information that you would like included in the monthly newsletter, please either drop a note in Trisha Dominguez s mailbox or send an to: stdominguez@outlook.com ***All information for the July calendar is due by June 22nd h ***