SEPTEMBER Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

2702 Hwy 29 North

Alexandria, MN 56308 1-320-762-5152

www.goodshepherd-lcms.org

1.

Seasons to go and see if anything could be done. The doctors saw what we were dealing with and made their recom-mendations. We each decided to follow their guidance. I think we ought to do the same at Good Shepherd. I think we ought to listen to GOD and what HE says to us in HIS WORD. HE is the LORD of HIS church. We ought to listen to HIM. How ought GOD lead us? How ought we follow? The answer is the same. God says HE will lead us daily. God says we are to follow him daily. There is no program we can buy, follow, and use that will make things happen or fix what we see or think is wrong. There is no product or service that can guarantee to fix our troubles and concerns. That said, I have not completed the Vision Path program yet. I am still work-ing on gaining and establishing a vision from God. I am still getting help and assistance in doing this and am en-couraged that this can still happen at Good Shepherd. If God was able to bring/give a vision to His people long ago, I believe God can do the same today. God showed he was “able” to rescue his people living as slaves in Egypt. God showed he was “faithful” to bring his wandering people out of the wilderness into the Promised Land. God showed he was “loving” and “forgiving” to His people living in exile. He saved them and brought them back! GOD did all this for all these other people. GOD can do the same here at Good Shepherd. I believe Jesus will show us how and enable us to be: “A Caring Communi-ty of Believers.” God has shown himself able in the past. God can do so in the present and future too. A blessed fall to you and yours! Pastor Tim

The other day I noticed leaves falling to the ground. As I sat there, I watched leaves fall from one tree and land on the ground below another tree. The other tree had leaves changing color too but it didn’t look like its leaves were falling. The other day I read Psalm 75. It says: “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near; men tell of your wonderful deeds. You say, “I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge upright-ly.” (Psalm 75:1-2) In reading this passage, I am reminded: GOD keeps HIS TIME. I am reminded: God’s timing is not MAN’s timing. I am reminded: It is God who judges uprightly. As tree’s leaves turn color and they fall to the ground, it all happens in God’s timing. As we watch tree’s leaves change color and fall to the ground, we may misinterpret the tree is dying. Yet, this is also a sign fall is arriving. So, which is happening at Good Shepherd? Are we changing or are we dying? I also noticed another humming bird in our back yard. Laura saw two more later that morning. Then it hit us, they must be starting their migration. Again, another sign fall is arriving. So, how do we apply any of this to us? Can we, ought we? I think we can. Question: “Do farmers keep or change tractors? What are the reasons? Do we continue to drive the same car or change it? Why? We could ask the same about our clothes, our tools, our homes, even our bodies. Laura needs a new knee. She is walking with her left knee bone on bone. There is no cartilage. That’s what the image showed and that’s what the doctor confirmed. She will be having surgery on the 17th. She was also told she needed to do physical therapy before surgery. It will help her recover better after surgery. She is doing exercises which have increased her mobility by 7%! WOW! I also had surgery on my right knee - twice. The first time he cleared away the damaged parts and cleaned out arthritis. A year later he did it again. This time it worked. We each saw and felt signs of injury. We each were moved

2.

WOW! What A Week! Submitted by: Janel Zappe

Wow! Vacation Bible School 2018 was SUPER! It brings me so much joy to watch the kids enjoy the week, laugh, sing, play, create and learn while having fellowship! Good Shepherd, thank you for using your Super Powers: In Disguise to help equip many of the youth in our community this year and in previous years! Thank you for always stepping up to the plate in order to make this week a huge success! It happens because of YOU! Yes, each and every one of you play a role! We had over 90 volunteers throughout the week! And if you weren’t able to volunteer, many of you brought donations for food, crafts and more! And I know there were countless prayers lifting up this ministry prior to and during VBS! Thank you, thank you! This year was a big year! We had 149 kids registered! Our highest attendance number was 134 (two nights!) and the lowest was 91 on Friday, which is typical due to summer weekends. Even with the dip of youth, our average nightly attendance was 123 kids each night! God is good! A huge shout out to our Captain Courageous Cafe Crew! Thank you to Janell Becker, Cammie Rassat and Kristi Stevens for head-ing it up! The meals were amazing and things went so smooth! Can you believe their crew served 1,184 meals that week?! Awe-some work, team! There were many who made the cooking and clean up go smoothly! Pastor Tim, Denise Norheim and Amanda Reese did a super job at bringing the Bible stories come to life and having the kids be a part of the skits! Thank you for your creativity and energy in teaching the kids the Super Powers of Faith, Bravery, Strength, and Courage! The Theater of Power had kids laughing and learn-ing! And we can’t forget about Mike Doehling! He made the kids laugh with fun sound effects, images and making sure all our tech things ran smoothly! Joyce Hausmann and Laura Schiller did a phenomenal job with crafts in Alleluia Art! Laura’s littles were busy with cute and crea-tive projects all week! Joyce took the lead on the older kids and made some amazing wood pallet signs with various super powers we all have in disguise along with a string art cross. Thank you for your organization and gathering your team together to make everything run so smooth! The kids were busy and had some great projects! Erin Johnson did a great job entertaining the kids during Faithful Flash Feet recreation! The kids had fun flying kites, hula hoop-ing, drawing with chalk, playing baseball, throwing balls and fris-bees, blowing bubbles and so much more! Thank you to all the youth who helped Erin play with the kids and letting them run off some energy! Sandi Domine, your Super Power of music amazes me! The way you write songs for our theme and come up with the jingles-wow! Thank you for sharing your talents and creating songs that kids continue to sing throughout the upcoming year! Super you, Super you! And Maria Haug and Abigail Nelson had the kids

moving and grooving and learning all the actions! Your dance moves were better than Batman and Barbie! Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah! Way to keep up the energy all week and having a nightly aerobics class that lasted for 2.5 hours! And I think we can all agree that the set and signs were amazing, once again! Shirley Johnson, thank you for your creativity once again and stepping up to the plate! The city skyline was perfect and set the tone for the week! And to those who helped build the set-Henry Huhnerkoch, Neal Zappe, and with set-up David Nelson-thank you for the countless hours you put in to make the set come to life! And the sea of bright yellow kids and blue adults with the awesome design thanks to Corey Schmidt. Thank you for using your Super Powers of design to come up with the perfect t-shirts! Ok, the list goes on and on! There were so many class-room leaders and helpers, kitchen helpers, craft helpers and recreation helpers that are going unnamed! But you are so appreciated! And to those who could only help for a day or two, we needed you! Thank you to everyone who played a role! Our offering this year brought in just under $1,000 and just over 415 pairs of socks! It will go to Emersyn Harris, a high school student who attends AAHS, and her organi-zation called Cards for Kids. She believes kids who have cancer and other diseases and illnesses are super heroes and wants to put a smile on their face. At Christmas time she sends out thousand of silly socks to kids in Children’s Hospitals so when they look at their feet, they can smile. This is just one of the many things she does. To us, Emer-syn has many Super Powers: In Disguise. We are so happy to help her out as she reaches out and impacts the lives of many. Thank you for allowing me to be your VBS Coordinator for the past two years! It has been fun and I love the rela-tionships I have built with both adults and kids because of VBS. As I stated in last month’s Flock Talk, I will no long-er serve as the VBS coordinator at Good Shepherd. I trust and pray that God has the next person lined up and I can’t wait to connect with them and share my insight with them! If that person is you, please let me know! I would love to help you learn the ropes to make it a smooth tran-sition. If it’s on your heart, leap! Do it! It’s amazing and fun! I will end this years VBS final Flock Talk article with our verse of the week as they are words that speak to many of us. “Be strong and courageous...God will be with you wherever you go.” -Joshua 1:9

3.

Happy Birthday to a CENTURION! of the channel. After the invasion of Normandy, his out-fit stayed on the beaches to open all the ports. They stayed until after Christmas and then were sent home.

Winfred married Dallas on February 4, 1945 and then was sent back to train rookies until his time in the army was over. Winfred and Dallas had three daughters, nine grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. He farmed, was a mail carrier, worked at an ammunition plant and retired a heliarc welder. He enjoyed working with wood and made five beautiful grandfather clocks. He enjoyed traveling in the US and Europe. His wife Dallas died in 1986.

When we asked Winfred what the best time of his life was he said , “when I was young. No one had money but it didn't matter. We enjoyed playing cards and visiting. No one had to lock their house and you made a business deal with a hand shake.”

Happy 100th Birthday Winfred! Only one in 6,000

live to be 100 years old, but we think you are “One In A Million!” God bless you.

Submitted by : Carol Barenz~Winfred’s daughter

Winfred Carl Polzin was born the day after Labor Day, September 3, 1918. He was the second of five sons born to second generation German immigrants. They farmed near Watertown S.D. and Winfred helped feed chickens and hogs along with milking about 15 cows and other farm chores. Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president and the "Great War" better known as World War I, was to end in two months. He liked to play with neighbor boys and cousins and he walked to a country school about a mile away. His brother Orville and him spent their last four years of school at Brookings Agri-culture school where he also received military training.

Winfred remembers how hard times were during the "Dirty Thirties" known also as the Dust Bowl years. He remembers being able to drive a team of horses over a fence line packed full of tumbleweed and dust. During one dust storm church was cancelled when the gas lan-terns couldn't provide the light needed to see through the dust. "This may have been Black Sunday, April 14, 1935." It's interesting he remembers the men sat on the right and the women and small children sat on the left side of the church. They had a pump organ and every other Sunday it was a German service. Winfred’s family and like many others at that time lost their farm after six years of no rain. They moved to Minnesota near Grasston to rent land. Winfred saved up $9.00 to buy his parents their first radio since this was the first time they had electricity and plumbing.

He was a farm hand when Pearl harbor was bombed and received his military orders to join the US army. He first went to Fort Francis, Wy. where he became an acting corporal because of his four years of military school and started training rookies. He was then sent to Texas, Georgia, and Massachusetts before going to Ireland, England, Africa, Sicily, and Italy. He learned how to drive an amphibious truck called a Duck that was used to transport supplies on land and water. He hauled supplies in the mountains of Italy where the roads were so narrow the front wheel was hanging over the cliff. On April 28, 1944, they were training on the English Channel when nine German E-boats attacked. Winfred didn't know that this training exercise that included over 300 ships would be top secret and would never get written about in any history book. The code name was Exercise Tiger and when Germans heard radio chatter they torpedoed three LST ships including Winfred’s LST 507. 749 men lost their lives that night. Some died in the blast but many died in the cold water

Winfred

4.

Sunday School

Submitted by: SS Squad-Deb Hull, Denise Norheim, Kari Kremer, Wanda Swenson

We are SUPER excited and ready to get another Sunday School year started!

Rally Day Kick-Off is September 9th @ 9:30a.m.

We will start our year off with lessons from the Old Testament. Watch for our Singing Schedule. We have some FUN songs.

BACKPACK Blessing Sunday

It’s back to school time! KID’s BRING YOUR BACKPACKS!!! Sunday September 9th during the 8:00 and 10:45 services we will have a special blessing of all school aged children and their parents as part of our regular worship service

Let’s send our kids into the new school year assured of God’s promises and our loving support! Be sure to join us and to include all of our young people in your prayers as they go back to school.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The Children’s Christmas Worship Service will be held on December 16th at the 10:45a.m. Service.

IF YOU HAVEEN’T SIGNED YOUR CHILD (REN) UP FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL-

PLEASE DO SO… There are registration cards in the narthex

Submitted by: Marian Brelje

The time is rapidly approaching when we will be

setting up the Altar Guild schedule for 2019.

When you serve on Altar Guild you change

paraments as needed, set up for communion,

pick out the banners and fill the candles.

By taking care of the altar you are serving God

and God’s people. Men, women and children

(when supervised) can assist with taking care of

the altar. Please prayerfully consider helping

with this special task.

Special thanks to Connie Zappe and Jean Chris-

tianson for served the altar in August. Amory

Anderson and Linda Gregor will be serving in

September.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

WORSHIP SERVICE

TIME CHANGE:

September 9th

8:00a.m. and

10:45a.m.

Altar Guild

5

Submitted by: Elaine Beulke

August LWML function was a potluck picnic at the church.

Our new schedule for LWML programs, serving, etc. will be setup in the next few weeks.

LWML Sunday will be in October. The Rummage Sale will be on October 20.

Fall LWML Rally will be at St. Johns in Villard on Thursday, No-vember 1st. Speaker will be from "Life Connection" (formerly Birthright).

LWML Happening’s September is coming up fast and

that means Confirmation Classes.

Parents! Watch for an Informational

letter that will be sent out soon in

regards to this years Confirmation

Classes.

The Confirmation

Parent/Student

Orientation Meeting

is scheduled for

Wednesday Evening

September 5th at 6:30p.m.

Confirmation Information

A Special Thank you To Henry Huhnerkoch and Neal Zappe for all

of their help with the construction of this year’s VBS set. There were a lot of windows to cut out and buildings to paint! A Thank you goes out to

Dave Nelson for helping with the set-up. Those are some TALL buildings!

SUPER JOB guys. Your time and talents helped all of

the kids and adults to feel the energy that sharing God’s Word and Love

for each other can bring.

Thank you...Shirley

Sept. 1… Sharein Berninghaus

Sept. 2… Jackie Bolstad Blake Petrie

Charlie Thimmesh Aaron Williams

Sept. 3… Winfred Polzin

Sept. 4…Teagan Runge

Bill Teschendorf

Sept. 6… Finley Schmidt

Gavin Schoenrock

Sept. 7...Amanda Richards

Sept. 8...Larry Ziegler

Sept. 9… Vern Corson

Bethany Hasz Megan Hasz

Sept. 10… Chenoa Schoenrock

Sept. 12…Billy Reed

Sept. 14… Jeff Callaghan Paul Gesell

Sept. 15… Emma Ecker

Phyllis Tucker

Sept. 16… Melissa Kranz

Sept. 17… Kenessa Goodwin

Bobby Hull

Sept. 18… Elijah Starzl

Sept. 21…Ardell Nelson

Sept. 22…Bob Bergan

Sept. 23… Jack Theien

Sept. 24...Kiesha Bullock

Rhett Murray David Setterstrom

Sept. 25… Landon Runge

Sept. 26… Tiffany Bertek

Andrew Colton Noel Roe

Benjamin Schoenrock

Sept. 27...Lloyd Schwanke

Sept. 28...Steve Johnson

Ann Madison

SEPTEMBER Birthdays

6.

Birthdays

Come and Go...

But ...

The Lord’s Love

For You is

Everlasting!

Wedding Anniversaries

Anniversary Prayer

Lord, we thank you for this couple and for all of the years that they have had together.

As they celebrate their anniversary, our prayer is that you will continue to bless them.

Let their testimony of love and forgiveness be a help to other couples as they start on their own journeys into married life. Lord, we

pray that You will honor their commitment to each other and to You by granting them many more years of happiness together.

Amen

September 4– Mike & Jenny Lenarz

September 7-Paul & Nancy Gesell

September 10-Aaron & Meghan Williams

September 11-Bill & Jan Teschendorf

September 16-Norm & LaVonne

Schimmelpfennig

September 19– Chuck & Kathy Betterman

Todd & Denise Johnson

September 20-Arnie & Marian Brelje

Dave & Peggy Erickson

September 26-Todd & Sandi Domine

7.

Submitted by: Marian Brelje

Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ

Jesus to do good work, which God

prepared in advance for us to do.”

It’s hard to believe that our

summer is almost over. That

means Love Patches Quilting

will be starting on September

20th at 9 am. We gave two

quilts to Lutheran Island

Camp for their auction and

had three baptisms this sum-

mer. We invite you to join us

to help put the quilts together. We always have a fun time.

The ability to sew is not a requirement as there are other

jobs to do.

Love Patches Weds. Morning You are WELCOME to join us

for Bible Study!

Wednesday Mornings

10:00a.m.

Ed Wing

Led by Pastor Schiller

Submitted by Marian Brelje

We now have Gluten Free Communion Wafers

available. Please indicate to an Usher and or an El-

der if you are in need of a Gluten Free Wafer.

When you come forward to commune, you will be

given an Individually Wrapped Wafer for you to

open.

Gluten Free

Submitted by: Karen Nolz

I can’t believe it is time for school to start again! Where did the summer go? Not a lot to report on this early in the school year. The first day of school is Tuesday, September 4th for K-8th grade. September 10-11th are the first days of school for the different pre-school classes.

There are a couple of fall activities the students are involved in. The first is on Friday, September 28th and that is their “walk for non-public education”. They do this each fall as a way to raise money once a year for school activities/admissions/bus costs. . . . .

The next fall event is their 2nd biggest fundraiser of the year and that is the “Dad’s Belgian Waffle Breakfast and Bake Sale”. This is held on Saturday, October 27th from 8-11 AM and more details will be available as this events gets closer.

Hope everyone had a great summer and welcome Fall!!

School Bell’s Are Ringin’

Contact Information Pastor Tim Schiller

pastor@goodshepherd-lcms.org

Shirley

shirley@goodshepherd-lcms.org

WebSite

www.goodshepherd-lcms.org

The Flock Talk and Monthly Calendar are available on the site!

If you have information about your ministry and you would

like it put on our website, let me know! Shirley

Service Cancellation Information To check for service cancellations listen to KXRA radio

station or go to www.voiceofalexandria.com

Kooltv

go to: www.kooltv-mn.com

Paul Luedeke

320-760-6937

Worship Elder

Keith Ramsay

886-5574

Pastor Tim Schiller

712-898-1658

Our Elders are here for

YOU!

Contact us for any

spiritual needs, prayer

or visitation needs.

Gary Christianson

320-491-0258

Mike Doehling

320-808-4250

Jeff Fassett

846-1128

Brandon Luedeke

320-304-4237

I Am Not Sure

Who My Elder Is?

What Do I Do?

The Elder Flock Lists are

posted on the bulletin

board in the Hallway to the

Fellowship Hall, or Call

the Church Office.

We Are Here For YOU!

Executive Council Members

2018

Chairman– Blaine Elbert

Vice Chairman—Dave Nelson

Secretary-Erin Johnson

Treasurer-Evelyn Beulke

Executive Board-

Mike Berninghaus

Nancy Hasz

Rich Duncan

Tracy Boysen

Bruce Swenson

Council Minutes are posted on the bulletin

board in the hallway to the Fellowship Hall!

We are here for YOU and

YOUR FAMILY

8.

9.

KIDS FOR CHRIST Let’s kick start the school year!

September 30th 5-7pm In the Good Shepherd Youth Room

(Downstairs)

Join us for Pizza, Craft, Games and

Devotion!

What is KFC?

KFC is a great beginning youth group for kids grades 3-5th!

Kids will be encouraged to play, learn, and grow with peers!

We play fun games, learn about stories and individuals in the Bible

and grow together as a group of young Christians and Friends.

KFC Leader: Katie Bullock

Home-320-762-0504

Cell: 320-760-1261

We can’t wait to see YOU!

LAYERED PEANUTBUTTER

BROWNIES

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, butter and vanilla un-til smooth. Combine the dry ingredients; gradu-ally add to egg mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside 1 cup for topping. Spread remaining batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan.

In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, peanut but-ter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and milk on low just until combined. Carefully spread over batter. Drop reserved batter by table-spoonfuls over filling. Cut through batter with a knife to swirl.

Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (do not over-bake). Cool on a wire rack. Chill until serving.

10.

Back to School Recipes

HAM AND SWISS BAKED PENNE

Ingredients

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°. Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente; drain.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, melt 3 table-spoons butter over medium heat. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually whisk in milk and cream. Bring to a boil, stirring constant-ly; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until thick-ened. Gradually stir in Swiss and Colby cheeses until melted. Add ham and pasta; toss to coat.

Transfer to a greased 11x7-in. baking dish. In a small bowl, mix topping ingredients; sprin-kle over pasta. Bake, uncovered, 15-20

2-1/3 cups uncooked penne pasta 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups 2% milk 1 cup half-and-half cream 1-1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese 1/2 cup shredded Colby cheese 2 cups cubed fully cooked ham TOPPING: 1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 tablespoons butter, melted

3 large eggs 1 cup butter, melted 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 cups sugar 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup baking cocoa 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup milk chocolate chips FILLING: 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 1/4 cup sugar 1 large egg 2 tablespoons 2% milk

11.

Jesus And Moms

Are you a mom of young kids?

Would you like access to limitless advice on raising your little(s)?

Are you looking for a support system and lasting friendships with other moms?

Do you long for a more intimate relationship with Christ?

If you said yes to any of these questions, then JAM at Good Shepherd is for you!

What is JAM? JAM is a group of moms who meet bi-weekly for devotion and fellowship! We are a close-knit

group of women who are dedicated to helping, supporting, and encouraging one another while building faith

through prayer and Bible study.

When is JAM? JAM is every other Tuesday evening from 6pm-7:30pm. Our first Bible Study of the year will

be September 11th. Child care is available in the Good Shepherd Nursery if needed.

What if I don’t have a young child but I want to help? We would love to have you as a part of our JAM

family! Join us as a Nursery helper! We are ALWAYS in need of helpers in the nursery! We love to make JAM

accessible for ALL moms, sometimes that means bringing the kiddos along! If you are 13+ (boy, girl, man or

woman) we could use your help! Sign up once, twice or as many times as you like, the Sign-up sheet is on the

bulletin board across from the Nursery!

What do I do as a Nursery Helper? Play! Read! Sing! Visit! We have found that the kids absolutely love to

spend time with our Nursery Helpers and the Mommies are endlessly grateful! There is no need to change dia-

pers or toilet any children (Mom’s will do the dirty work!)Your job is to simply have fun!

If you have any Questions please call:

Katie Bullock at 320-760-1261 OR Holly Tahtinen at 320-491-2859

12.

Submitted by: Janel Zappe

Senior LYF ended the summer with an amazing Mini-Retreat to the Minnesota North Shore! We wish more could have joined us for our adventures, but know God moved in the hearts and minds of those who joined us! Our group consisted of Austin Becker, Andrea Gerdes, Shayla Hollenbeck, Clayton Luedeke, Luke Luedeke and Riley Schweigert. Craig and I chaperoned and loved our time with these youth/young adults!

Our first day we drove up to Two Harbors, checked into our hotel, had supper and spent the evening at the lighthouse and soaking in the sights and sounds of Lake Superior. We listened to “My Lighthouse” by Rend Collective and “No Matter What” by Ryan Steven-son. We sat on the rocky shores of Lake Superior as we dug apart the word of the Lord. We talked about how God created light on the first day to show us what is good and what is bad. We talked how God sent Jesus to Earth to be the light of the world. How we are to learn from Christ’s example. And then we wrapped it up into being a beacon and sharing the light with those around us.

After our devotion and prayers by the Lake, we returned to our hotel for the longest and hardest game of mini-golf ever.

The next morning, we woke up, had breakfast and headed to Gooseberry Falls. It was beautiful and humid! We hiked all around the falls and took in God’s creation. We found a little beach further upstream and some swam and others just dipped their toes in the water.

After a couple hours there, we closed with a devotion about waterfalls. How God’s Love rushes over us. Also, a waterfall will always have a source of water as God will always be a source of spiritual nourishment for us. We closed with another Rend Collective song “The Joy of the Lord is my Strength!”.

We drove up to Split Rock because we had some extra time and then headed to Betty’s Pies for a great lunch!

Following lunch, we headed back to Duluth and went to tour the Glensheen Mansion. It was beautiful as we explored and walked the grounds. It is amazing how large and intricate everything is with some of the finest things the world has to offer. After our tour, we sat on the lawn and had our devotion and talked about what room was our favorite, some of the beautiful sights we took in and what we think heaven will look like. We read passages in the Bible that gives us glimpses of heaven yet we will never be able to fully comprehend the place God is creating for us. Glensheen has many rooms but Heaven will have many more! We finished up our time there by listen-ing to “Father’s House” by Audio Adrenaline.

After the mansion, we headed to Canal Park. We shopped the shops, walked to the lift bridge and out to the lighthouse. And we were lucky enough to watch a ship head out! After that we had our final supper at Grandma’s. And if that wasn’t enough, we hit up Cold-stone Creamery for ice cream. Austin Becker, my stomach still hurts just thinking about all the ice cream you ate!

We hit the road back to Alex and the youth had one final devotion about Jesus’ Last Supper.

This trip consisted of laughs, tears, first times and last times. (Two had never been to the North Shore and for two others, the last time they were there was in elementary School!) This group (both the ones who attended and those who have been a part of Senior LYF the past 7 years) has grown in so many ways! Listening to them with their hopes and dreams for the future leaves me excited and hopeful, with a bit of mama bear nervousness. Watching the friendships and relationships that have come out of this group is like no other. Watching and listening to the spiritual growth from this group is so amazing. These young adults are thirsty and love the Lord! Listening to their prayers have gone from being shy and unsure of what to speak to being strong and confident and knowing they are just talking to their best friend. Y’all are amazing and I am blessed I had this time with you!

Senior LYF, thank you for letting this retreat be the perfect send off from me as I step down from this position. Thank you for all you have taught me over the years and the blessings you have brought to me and my family. We love you all and can’t wait to see how God continues to use us in our lives!

FUN IN DULUTH