NW MN SNOW WINTER, SWO CONVENTION JOY. Women of Northwest Minnesota Synod:

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1 NW MN SNOW Women of Northwest Minnesota Synod: WINTER, 2015 Wow, where has the time gone! It seems like it was last week when I was getting an article ready for the Fall SNOW Newsletter, and here it is time for another article! I hope that all of you had a great Christmas season and took the time to remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Christ Child. At times we get so busy and wrapped up with all the planning and shopping and visiting with family and friends that we forget about acts of love and caring for each other that will last longer than the Christmas goodies we baked! Found on page 3 in this newsletter, is an article from our church wide organization urging our units to spend down their excess reserves and direct that money to ministry in our communities and the larger church. Our units were never to be holding on to thousands of dollars. We worry that if we don t have those reserves, what will happen if if the stove or refrigerator wears out, if we need more tables and chairs, if...if...if. I know that in most of the WELCA groups, if happened, the ladies would rally the troops and funds would be raised to take care of the pressing needs! In 2013 your SWO Board voted to give $10, from our reserves to the church wide organization. When your units have year end surpluses, I urge you to look at not only the important local ministries in your area, but the ministries that the church wide WELCA support! We are starting to plan our 2015 SWO Convention which will be held September 11-12, 2015 at Trinity Lutheran in Moorhead. Our theme is Joy! We have picked Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the spirit is joy as our theme verse. Our speaker is Dawn Kaiser from Lake Park. If anyone has ideas or suggestions for our convention, please call or drop me an ! Contact me at or ahhc@midwestinfo.net is my address. Coming to a church near you will be our spring cluster gatherings. A listing of the times and dates for each cluster are found on page 5 in this newsletter. The board members and I are looking forward to meeting you at these gatherings as we travel around NW MN. Please introduce yourself to us as we attend your cluster gathering. Blessings to you all! Sue Ellwanger NW MN SWO President 2015 SWO CONVENTION SEPTEMBER 11-12, 2015 TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH MOORHEAD, MINNESOTA JOY GALATIONS 5:22 BUT THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS AND FAITHFULNESS.

2 !!!! GREETINGS FROM YOUR TREASURER, CAROLYN NELSON Happy New Year! As we begin a new year on the calendar, we haven t begun a new year with the NW MN Synodical Women s Organization. I became your new treasurer last March. I am a member of Cormorant Lutheran Church in rural Lake Park. I was able to attend a few of the spring and fall cluster gatherings last year. This spring I hope to attend the clusters gatherings that I missed last year. If you are the Treasurer of your Women of ELCA unit, please introduce yourself to me. I like to meet those from whom I receive the offerings. Thank you to all the Units who have faithfully given and sent in their gifts. Whether you are big or small, you are making ministry happen---locally and around the world. In the constitution of the Women of the ELCA, they call us to practice four types of giving: Give regularly and without restriction; Give in gratitude for blessings; Give to specific ministries; and Give on special occasions. I hope that will be your stewardship motto for the coming year. I look forward to working with everyone as your Synodical Treasurer. Blessings to all. Carolyn Nelson, NW MN Treas West Lake Ida Lane Lake Park, Mn cell nelsonida@juno.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Haiti Medical Mission of Fargo-Moorhead wishes to thank all of the WELCA groups in the Synod for their wonderful support this past year. If it were not for WELCA groups, we would not be able to make this annual surgical mission trip!!! We just returned from our 17th trip. Thanks to all the Quilters in the Synod who gave me quilts to bring. We distributed more than 40-quilts to patients, as well as baby quilts to the orphanage. Thank You! Thank You! Kevin Wallevand Type to enter text

3 Churchwide Board Urges Sharing Dollars Why do we have all this money in savings? It s a surprising question, especially when offerings are down in many Women of the ELCA groups. Yet, many Women of the ELCA groups have significant balances in their savings accounts. These are dollars that don t appear in the annual budget and, in many cases, have been in the bank for years. Current leaders often don t know why the money is there and why it wasn t spent in years past. Their question is important: Why are we sitting on these resources? Shouldn t we put the dollars to work to support ministry and build our organization?at its October 2013 meeting, the churchwide board heard this question and issued an enthusiastic yes! The board recommended that congregational units and synodical women s organizations (SWOs) spend down their excess reserves in the next year and direct the money to ministry. The board adopted a policy encouraging all synodical women s organizations and congregational units to spend down their monetary reserves in a way that reflects the interdependent relationships between the units, the synodical organizations and the churchwide women s organization. The policy further encourages all to make similar decisions annually. Here s why this recommendation is important: When money is given to Women of the ELCA, whether through a bake sale or an offering, the giver expects those dollars to go toward mission and ministry. Sometimes, ministry requires that a small amount of savings be held from year to year. For instance, your unit may need money to place a down payment on a retreat facility for the next year or to respond to emergency needs that arise early in the next fiscal year. It is up to each unit and SWO to annually decide how much to keep in reserves for the next year, while recognizing that every dollar saved is a dollar that does not support ministry today. In most cases, reserves of $1,000 or less are sufficient. Women of the ELCA is organized so that the SWOs and units do not need to keep large reserves from year to year. Neither units nor SWOs maintain staff, property, or ongoing liabilities for which significant reserves are necessary. Instead, units are called to be communities of women that support each other and act to bring about healing and wholeness in the church, the society, and the world. The SWO s purpose is to connect units in mission with the churchwide organization. These purposes are best lived out by putting dollars to ministry, not storing those dollars away in a savings account. Of course, another question follows the decision to spend down reserves - What ministries should we support? The board recommends spending the dollars in a way that reflects the interdependence between units, the synodical organization and the churchwide women s organization. Interdependence is an important word for Women of the ELCA. Our founders used it many times in our constitution, especially in regards to finances. Interdependence means that all expressions of Women of the ELCA (unit, SWO, and churchwide) should consider the needs of the others when making financial decisions. Does your Women of the ELCA group have money sitting unused in a bank account? Consider how you can put those dollars to work supporting the ministries of Women of the ELCA. Give to Women of the ELCA General Fund and support our ongoing ministries of advocacy, leadership development, discipleship and program resources, Gather magazine, Café e-zine and podcast, racial justice education, Bible studies, and more. Give to Katie s Fund and help it grow. Through the endowment, your dollars will keep giving year after year to support bold ministry. Questions? Contact Audrey Riley, director for stewardship and development at , ext or audrey.riley@elca.org. The Northwestern Minnesota SWO was the first to respond to the October 2013 recommendation. At its November 9, 2013, meeting, the SWO board voted to give $10,000 from its reserves to the churchwide organization. A week later, the Southwestern Washington SWO made the decision to give $5,000. Both of these contributions are above and beyond their regular offerings and went to support the ongoing ministries of Women of the ELCA. In September 2012, the Upstate New York SWO presaged the 2013 board recommendation when it voted to give $5,000 of its savings to support Women of the ELCA ministries. Marilyn Dyer, the SWO president, explained the decision. The churchwide expression does so much to support us in upstate New York and to help women everywhere to live out our mission. We know that the churchwide ministries depend on our support and we want to do our part. Now, all of these dollars are at work, supporting advocacy, leadership development, Gather magazine, intergenerational programming, Café, discipleship retreats, program resources, the coordination of grants and scholarships, racial justice education, and all we do together as Women of the ELCA.

4 .Celebrating Victories, One Full Tummy at a Time by Pastor Elizabeth Hiller In mid-january, I attended the 2015 World Hunger Leadership Gathering in San Francisco. Representatives from all over the country gathered to brainstorm, review best practices, pray, and share energy, all in efforts to end hunger in America and around the world. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has long been a world leader in providing relief to the hungry. Since World Hunger and Disaster Response s founding in 1974, the face of hunger has changed radically. In 1974, images of emaciated Ethiopian children suffering because of drought in their nation were on nearly every relief poster and information piece. Today, this sight is much more rare. The rate of hungry people in our world has been reduced by fifty percent since 1974! Hallelujah! ~ The face of hunger has changed during the past forty years, and so has the church s response: ~ Today, half of the people who are in hunger crisis in our world are refugees. ~ The Lutheran World Federation runs the largest refugee camp in the world, on the border of Somalia and Kenya. ~ 1 in 20 Americans receives social services through Lutheran Social Services (LSS) in America, from elder support to children s foster care programming. LSS is the largest faith-based social service provider in the world, larger now than Catholic Charities. ~ In the United States, more than 50 million people do not know where their next meal will come from. ~ Every year, hunger kills more people than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. ~ $115 million dollars of the current ELCA fundraising campaign, the campaign for the ELCA, is designated to eradicate poverty. Northwestern Minnesota Lutheran churches are working to end hunger (literally making sure every person who lives in NW Minnesota has adequate food!) town by town, city by city, zip code by zip code. REACH supports the backpack program. See more at So what does this mean for us, here in NW Minnesota. First, thank you. The gifts that you have made to the ELCA and to the Malaria Campaign (keeping people healthy means they can continue to work and provide for their families) literally save lives. Our giving makes an impact. This is in addition to the care, clothing, food and volunteering that we as women share with our local food-sharing missions. The synod Hunger Ride will be June 16 to 23, 2015 see the synod website for places they will stop. As our involvement with the Malaria Campaign comes to a close at its conclusion at the end of 2015, it also means that we have praying to do. God answers prayer and will guide us in how to be a part of a future where hunger is no more. How might God lead us in the ways we serve our neighbors here in Minnesota? The US or the world? Please join in prayer as we unite with God s people around the world to eradicate hunger. God s blessings to you all, Pastor Elizabeth Hiller, Dilworth (A Member of NW Minn Hunger Table Team) Prayer to End Hunger: God of Grace and God of Plenty: You provide food for our world. We pray that you will make wars cease and that you will bring peace to our world. Help each nation and each home be a place of stability and peace, a place where all of God s people are fed in body, mind and spirit. Amen..

5 SPRING 2015 CLUSTER EVENTS CLUSTER 1 -MAY 2, ZION LUTHERAN, WARROAD, 8:30 AM REGISTRATION CLUSTER 2 -APRIL 18, GRACE LUTHERAN, GRYGLA, 8:30 AM REGISTRATION CLUSTER 3 - APRIL 25, ST. PAUL S LUTHERAN, CROOKSTON, 8:30 REGISTRATION CLUSTER 4 - APRIL 18, CALVARY LUTHERAN, BEMIDJI, 2508 WASHINGTON AVE. NW, 8:30 REGISTRATION CLUSTER 5 - APRIL 29, AUGUSTANA, HALSTEAD, 5:00 PM REGISTRATION CLUSTER 6 - APRIL 23, GOOD SHEPHERD, MOORHEAD, 5:30 PM REGISTRATION CLUSTER 7 - APRIL 25, EKSJO LUTHERAN, LAKE PARK, 8:30 AM REGISTRATION, $10 CLUSTER 8 - APRIL 13, HOPE LUTHERAN, FERGUS FALLS, 4:30 REGISTRATION CLUSTER 9 - APRIL 28, FAITH LUTHERAN, MILTONA, 8-9 REGISTRATION CLUSTER 10 - APRIL 25, FAITH LUTHERAN, EVANSVILLE, 8:30 REGISTRATION, $10 President: Sue Ellwanger Cluster 8 representative Vice President: Vicki Heydt Cluster 4 representative Secretary: Sharon Mortrud Cluster 6 representative Treasurer: Carolyn Nelson Cluster 5 representative Board Members Mission Growth: Margaret Kragerud Cluster 7 representative Carol Gealow Cluster 10 representative Board Members Mission Action: Mary Peterson Cluster 9 representative RoxAnne Goulet Cluster 2 representative Board Members Mission Community Merrily Burmeister Cluster 3 representative Judy Reger Cluster 1 representative Please send photos and articles about your cluster meeting to Ardys Horner SNOW editor at ardyshorn@arvig.net. Thank you. We are also looking for area churches to serve Tuesday noon meals at Lutheran Campus Ministry (the Blue House) this spring. Please contact Carol Johnson Carol has taken on the responsibility of lining up churches on a weekly basis. The students like conversing with the women who come to serve home cooked meals.

6 NW Minn Scholarship Applications Due May 1 The Northwestern Minnesota Synodical Women s Organization invites scholarship applications from high school seniors planning to attend an ELCA college following graduation. Students must meet the following criteria: Be a graduating High School Senior with a C average or above. Be a member of an ELCA Church. Be a resident of the Northwestern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA. Be attending an ELCA College. The scholarship is awarded to second semester college freshmen to be used for tuition or books. If sufficient funds are received from the local congregational units of the NW MN Women of the ELCA, $250 per eligible applicant will be allocated. It will be matched by most of the ELCA colleges that our students attend. The scholarship money is sent directly to the college. Students will be notified of scholarships awarded by the end of May. Student Scholarship Applications may be downloaded from Completed applications must be mailed to Merrily Burmeister and postmarked no later than May l, The Scholarship Committee will meet shortly thereafter to determine eligibility. Please contact Merrily Burmeister, Scholarship Committee, 8510 Red Pine Lane NE Bemidji, MN with any questions you may have. Ph: or mburmeister@midco.net Dear NW MN Synodical Women s Organization and Scholarship Committee, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for awarding me this scholarship! I am happily looking forward to continuing my education at an ELCA Lutheran College. I recently attended registration at Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter, Minnesota, and it now seems to be more of a reality. I am studying Pre- Medicine so my first semester as a freshman will be tough and require long hours of studying as well as an open mind to the many new challenges. However, I am beyond excited to open this new chapter in my life and begin my journey as a college student, but I am also grateful to be surrounding myself with students who are living life through Christ and who want to grow together in Faith. Once again, I want to thank you for your support and thoughtfulness towards not only me, but all students who were awarded this scholarship. It truly helps us in more ways than you could imagine; it will help me make my life count! God Bless, Abby Obright Please give to the NW Minnesota Women s Scholarship program. We give a $250 scholarship to help our young men and women that attend ELCA colleges. If you do not currently have it in your annual budget, would you consider adding this as well a gift to Lutheran Campus Ministries to enable campus pastors to reach those in our state colleges.

7 Healthy Living How much water should you drink each day? It's a simple question with no easy answers. Studies have produced varying recommendations over the years, but in truth, your water needs depend on many factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live. Although no single formula fits everyone, knowing more about your body's need for fluids will help you estimate how much water to drink each day. The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly about 13 cups (3 liters) of total beverages a day. The AI for women is about 9 cups (2.2 liters) of total beverages a day. Here are seven ways to make plain way taste better! 1. Add fresh fruit. Citrus fruits, such as lemons, limes, and oranges, are classic water enhancers, but other fruit flavors might also tempt your taste buds. Try crushing fresh raspberries or watermelon into your water, or adding strawberry slices. Cucumber and fresh mint are refreshing flavors as well especially in summer. 2. Use juice. Any fruit juice can be a good base flavor for water, but tart juices, like cranberry, pomegranate, grape, and apple, are especially delicious. Go for juices that are all natural, with no added sugars. And remember: Fruits and their juices don't just taste good they contain vitamins and antioxidants that can benefit your health too. 3. Make it bubbly. Many people prefer sparkling to still water. If plain old water isn't inspiring to you, try a naturally effervescent mineral water which will give you the added benefit of minerals. Or try bubbly seltzer, a carbonated water. You can add fresh fruit or natural juice flavors to your seltzer, as suggested above, or look for naturally flavored seltzers at your local market. If you become a seltzer devotee, you might want to consider getting a seltzer maker for your home. 4. Get creative with ice. Some say that ice water tastes better than water served at room temperature. If that's so, flavored ice cubes may make an even better drink. Use some of the flavoring suggestions above and start experimenting with fresh fruit, mint, or cucumber ice cubes. Simply chop your additive of choice, add it to your ice cube tray along with water, then freeze. You may also consider juice, tea, or coffee cubes. If you want to be more creative, use ice cube trays that come in fun shapes, like stars, circles, or even fish. 5. Drink tea. Herbal, fruit, green, white, and red teas are generally considered to be better for you than black teas (or coffee, for that matter) because they contain little to no caffeine. And there are countless flavors of these teas to choose from. Start with the selection at your local market or health food store. If you're interested in pursuing more exotic flavors and sophisticated teas, start researching the vast array of specialty teas that come from all parts of the globe. 6. Try bouillons, broths, and consommés. If your palate leans toward the savory, you may pass on tea and start sipping one of these hot and savory liquids instead. Choose low-fat and low-sodium versions for maximum health benefits. Because soup is water-based, a cup of hot soup will count toward your daily fluid consumption. 7. Add fast flavor. If you're looking for a quick-and-easy flavor booster, you might also consider sugar-free drink mixes, and flavor cartridges that can be used with your faucet filter system. The above information was found on the Mayo Clinic Website.

8 NW MN SNOW Newsletter Ardys Horner, editor E. Fox Lake Road Detroit Lakes, MN PRESORTED STANDARD U.S. POSTAGE PAID FERGUS FALLS, MN PERMIT NO. 210 NW Minnesota SWO Board Members: Sue Ellwanger, Margaret Kragerud, Past Secretary K. Englund, Merrily Burmeister, Carolyn Nelson, Vicki Heydt, Mary Peterson, RoxAnne Goulet, Carol Gealow, Judy Reger and Sharon Mortrud are looking forward to seeing you at the Spring Cluster events and at our Fall Convention in September.