J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 5 SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER Volume 1, Issue 1 Shepherd s Office Hours; Mon-Thurs 6:45-10:45 a Youth Group News Pastor Randy s Office Hours; Mon & Fri Temporary Pastor Brian Brandt Tues Thurs 10:00-2:00 p And by appt. Office phone; 503.645.4994 Sovlutheran.com Worship Services 8:30 a & 11:00 a 9:45 a Sunday School The youth group is gearing up for their trip to the ELCA Youth Gathering in Detroit this July. Please be on the look out for posters in the sanctuary. The youth that have signed up and made the commitment to attend are Emily, Amber, Mitch, Jean, Jonathan, Amanda, Taylor, and Anita. They have all written letters expressing why they want to go on this trip. These letters will be posted in the church very soon and we invite you to read them and talk with the youth about their upcoming trip. Inside this issue: Pastor Brian s message 2 Council President 3 Donations Red Cross Parish Education Kids of the Kingdom 5 Contd. Thank You Prayer Shawl 4 6 The youth group will be holding many FUNdrasier to help fund this trip. Please be on the look out for these upcoming events that include Shrove Pancake Dinner, Valentine s Babysitting night, bowing night, Panda Express restaurant night, Easter breakfast, and much much more! We would like to thank the congregation for their continued support of the youth group. Birthdays Anniversaries 7 Ladies Dinner Men s Night Scrip 11 Calendar 12 Youth group is open to all 6-12th grade students! A caring community touched by Christ, touching others for Christ
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER Pastor Brian s Message PAGE 2 Happy New Year! I hope it s been a safe, satisfying, and blessed holiday season for you. May God grant us all a good year in 2015. And when challenging times come along, may we be there to support one another with compassion, practical help, and good will. This is a happy new year for me in a different way. It s still my first year serving as a pastor at Shepherd. I haven t gone through a full yearly cycle with you yet, so I m still learning your traditions, your practices, your hopes, and your needs. I enjoyed Christmas at SOV, and now I look forward to Epiphany, Lent, and Easter with you. Yes, it looks like I ll be around for a while yet, serving as your pastor temporarily while SOV goes through whatever change and growth God sends us this year. I m glad to have the chance to serve with you to support God s mission to the world through SOV. Here s something that would be helpful for me: please keep on helping me to learn how best to serve you. Please keep helping me to understand how SOV organizes itself. Help me to learn the various ways we care for each other. Help me get to know you better on a personal level. Please invite me to have coffee or a meal with you, or to get together for conversation some other way. The better I know you, the better I can serve you. And please don t hesitate to give me feedback on my preaching. Both critical and positive feedback are helpful. When I get feedback, I can learn, adapt, grow. So please help me know you and serve you better. Finally, I want to say thank you! for the gift of money given to me by SOV as part of the staff Christmas gifts. I won t mention the exact figure, but it was an extraordinarily generous gift more than all the Christmas gifts from all the congregations I ve ever served put together! Your generosity amazes me and moves me to thank God for your good and kind spirit. May we all have an equally open-hearted spirit toward one another as this new year brings new challenges and blessings from God. FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER ARTICLES ARE DUE JANUARY 27th
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER PAGE 3 COUNCIL PRESIDENT S REPORT...Submitted by Cal S Each New Year brings Shepherd of the Valley a fresh start and new beginnings for resolutions. While many of us may make heartfelt promises of losing weight, getting in shape, changing jobs or becoming fiscally sound, we at Shepherd will strive to Care more for our God, Community & Family! Let s focus on our core values, reverse bad feelings, create more relational group opportunities and support our ministries. We have many happening events to kick off the New Year. ELCA Youth Convention in Detroit We will be promoting our Youths to attend this year s Youth Convention and looking towards the Congregation s assistance. Supporting our Youth is one of our key core values. They will be leading a variety of events and activities to help fund this endeavor and we need to show our support. New Member Dinner Reception at the Sugiyama s January 25th Anyone considering them self a new member is invited to a dinner gathering at 4:00 PM. We feel truly blessed of our new members, they have embraced and help create a wonderful worship experience here at Shepherd. Please join us for an evening of fellowship by RSVP to Tammy. Karen & Calvin wish this to be a fun gathering and connect with all of our Council Chairpersons in attendance. Super Bowl Celebration February 1st Jim Tabor will hold a Super Bowl Party at SOV and another All Church Event!! Details will be made available shortly. The Ad Hoc SOV Constitution Revision Group has completed the draft document and presented to the Executive Council for review. Next step will be the Church Council and then presenting to the Congregation for approval. This is a monumental endeavor and achievement. Our current SOV Constitution registered at the ELCA Synod was submitted in 2003. Thanks to the many hands that worked on this project and especially the two Champions Linnea and Lynn We are in the midst of finalizing our Budget Proposal. Sadly, it has will not be completed in time for our Annual Meeting that was scheduled for January 11th. Stay tuned for when our Annual meeting will be scheduled. The Church Calendar is filling up and we will be updated every Council Meeting. Let s stay true to our Mission and be embracing this New Year with Hope & Peace.
PAGE 4 SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Christmas Tree and Poinsettia Donations Christmas Tree donated by Eric and Diane Lewis in memory of Allison Hope Sweetheart Tracewell Poinsettia Donations; Tabitha McVey in memory of Robert McDonald Larry and Corrine Gilbertson in memory of Kevin Gilbertson Shepherd of the Valley is proudly sponsoring an American Red Cross blood drive Friday, January19th 1:30 7:00 pm We encourage all eligible persons to help our local community by giving the gift of life. The blood donation process takes about an hour of your time and could save up to 3 lives. First time donors are welcome! For more information and/or to schedule your appointment to donate- blood please call 800-787-9691 or 503-284-4040. Walk - in s Welcome PARISH ED...Submitted by Stacie S A huge thank you to all who participated in our Christmas program this year! It was a great success. Thanks to all our volunteers and teachers for making the night possible. Have a safe and wonderful Christmas break. Dates to remember: No Sunday school Dec 28 th and Jan 4 th Sunday school resumes Jan 11 th When we return, we will plan our food/gem drive and our family night.
PAGE 5 NEWS LETTER TITLE VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Kids of the Kingdom Christian Preschool and Kindergarten Open House for Fall 2015 January is the time to begin registering for Fall 2015 classes. We will have an open house Saturday, January 24, 2015, from 10:00 am to 12 pm. Teachers will share their curriculums and activities. Registration forms are available and payment of fee secures your registration spot. Enrollment confirmation will be sent in April with one month s tuition payment due June 1. Information is available at sovlutheran.com/kok. Christmas Program The Sanctuary was filled with joyful children s voices as our classes celebrated Jesus birth with song. It is such a joy to listen and watch the children share their love for the birth of our Savior. Pastor Brian led a children s message and presented us with a birthday cake for Jesus! Kindergarten News Mrs. Rasmussen December was a month of celebrations! We celebrated the 50th day of school with our friend Zero the Hero. We also celebrated the birth of our Savior, Jesus. We practiced new songs and a poem and shared them with our families at our Christmas Program. It was so much fun to sing for our loved ones and share the good news of Jesus birth. We also made special candle holders for our families to remember that Jesus is the light of the world. Another gift we made was a handprint calendar, so our parents will remember what our handprints looked like when we were small. In January, we will make snowflakes using 2-D shapes. We will learn that snowflakes have six sides just like hexagons. We will make a snowman glyph and respond in writing to the story, Snowmen At Night. We will have snow cones for a snack. We will have a pajama day, listen to winter stories, drink hot cocoa, and have French toast sticks. We will begin practicing telling time to the hour and the half hour. We will work on our letter formation and recognizing those tricky bs, ds, ps, and qs. We will practice stretching out the sounds in words and identifying the middle and ending sounds. We will learn about Jesus as a child. We will celebrate our friend Braydon s 6th birthday. It will be a very busy month. Preschool 4 s News Ms. Benedict In the new year, the Preschool 4 s class is looking forward to learning about winter. We will discover how God has equipped animals to survive in the winter, investigate ice and snow, and talk about how to dress for winter weather. You will find us making patterns with mittens and counting penguins. Our class will end the month with a pajama party!
PAGE 6 SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Preschool 3 s News Mrs. Sandow This month we will learn more about the winter season and make our own snowflakes. We will be learning about animals that enjoy a cold climate and making our own polar bears. We will explore Epiphany throughout the month. The end of January we will enjoy a hot cocoa and pajama party! Two s Time Mrs. Roeder January class resumes January 7. We will have fun playing with ice sculptures, polar animals, and blue play dough, and learning about winter clothing and dressing a snowman with hat, scarf and mittens. The stories of Jesus will show us how to fish and how to show his light to the world. We will also sing songs, dance and listen to stories. It is a very busy class! All classes will have a pajama day in January and enjoy some warm hot chocolate with marshmallows. It s always a fun day when we don t have to get dressed and we get to have treats! On behalf of all the staff at SOV Thank you for your generosity of giving toward our Christmas Gifts. PRAYER SHAWL MINISTRY Prayer Shawl Gatherings; January 19th at 7:00 pm January 29th at 1:00 pm Feel free to continue knitting and crocheting at home if you cannot attend our prayer shawl gatherings. Thank you for your continued handiwork!
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER Page 7 JANUARY BIRTHDAYS 01 Samuel G 13 Kelsey W 03 Peggy V 17 Avery M 05 Joe R 17 Patricia N 06 Rita N 20 Connie M 07 Isabel G 20 Ann S 10 Mert W 28 Regina B 13 Jared W God s Blessing For a Joyful New Year In Life! JANUARY ANNIVERSARIES Larry & Corrine Gilbertson January 15th
SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEY LUTHERAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER PAGE 8 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Ladies Dinner Inviting all Ladies to our monthly dinner Tuesday, January 6th 6:00 pm Chevy s Fresh Mex 1951 Northwest 185th Avenue Hillsboro, OR (503) 690-4524 http://chevys.com/chevys-menu/ MEN S NIGHT (back to Thursday) Thursday, January 8th 6:30 PM @ Cruise In Country Diner 9785 SW River Rd, Hillsboro, OR 97123 http://www.cruiseincountry.com/menu/p9674 ALL MEN INVITED FOR FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP Scrip Order Sundays January 4th & 18th Scrip is a partnership with stores, restaurants, and other merchants for the purpose of fundraising thru gift card sales. A percentage of what you buy comes back directly to the church. Thank you for your on going support. Our new chairs have greatly enhanced the look of the sanctuary. FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER ARTICLES ARE DUE JANUARY 27TH
January 2015 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. Ralph Waldo Emerson 1 New Year's Day Offices Closed 2 9:00-11:30 a 3 10:00-11:30 4 8:30 & 11:00 a Worship Healing Service Scrip Sunday Blood Pressure Scrip 5 9:00-1:00 p 7:00 p Ad Hoc 6 9:00-1:00 p 6:00 p Ladies Dinner @ Chevy s Tanasbourne 7 9:00-1:00 p 10:00 a Bible Study 8 9:00-1:00 p 9 9:00-11:30 a 10 10:00-11:30 6:30 p Men s Night @ Cruise In Diner 1:30 p OEC 11 8:30 & 11:00 a Worship Town Hall Baptism of Our Lord 12 9:00-1:00 p 7:00 p Ad Hoc Epiphany of Our Lord 13 9:00-1:00 p 14 9:00-1:00 p 15 9:00-1:00 p 10:00 a Bible 10:00 a LLL Study 7:00 p Council 16 9:00-11:30 a 17 10:00-11:30 1:30 p OEC 18 8:30 & 11:00 a Worship Scrip Sunday 1:30 p OEC 19 1:30-7:00 p Red Cross Blood Donation 7:00 p Ad Hoc 7:00 p Prayer Shawl 20 9:00-1:00 p 21 9:00-1:00 p 22 9:00-1:00 p 10:00 a Bible Study 23 9:00-11:30 a 24 10:00-11:30 Open House 10:00-12:00 p M L King Day 25 8:30 & 11:00 a Worship 1:30 p OEC New Member Dinner 26 9:00-1:00 p 7:00 p Ad Hoc 27 9:00-1:00 p 28 9:00-1:00 p 29 9:00-1:00 p 10:00 a Bible Study 12:00 All Church Luncheon 1:00 p Prayer Shawl 30 9:00-11:30 a 31 10:00-11:30 Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties. Helen Keller