There are children in my family who give me love in their eyes, in their laughter, in their hugs, and in their trust. Thank you Lord.

There is a person in my life who is wife, friend, lover, gift, sister in Christ, and simply herself. Thank you Lord.

There is a dog at home who is pet, pest, loving, chewing, maker of really strange noises when she is excited, and faithful companion. Thank you Lord.

There is a church in my life where people are brothers and sisters, compassionate, searching how to be Christ together, and open to me. Thank you Lord.

There is a family scattered around much of the country which thinks about me, cares for me, scolds me sometimes, and supports me always. Thank you Lord.

There is no end to what God gives so freely and richly from His grace. There is just the beginning of a list here. Just a beginning. You have your own lists.

In our Thanksgiving, we give thanks that the Lord has given so much. In our Thanksgiving, we give thanks that the Lord has given so many opportunities for us to give to those in need. Not just once. All year.

Thank you Lord. Move us into the lives of those in need so that they, too, may say “Thank you Lord.”

Thanksgiving Blessings,
Pastor Don

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Property Update
A big thank you to Bill Manahan, Karl Brunner, Chris Sherman, Joanne Welty, Andrew Potsko, Esther Reese, Connie Colgan, Elaine Lootens, and Claire Engelbrecht who helped at the work party on October 7th. There was a lot of yard work done as well as kitchen cleaning and other fix-it projects. Good job!

We are still collecting money for the window repairs. There is the $1000 insurance deductible plus the additional cost for the clear glass for the front doors. There is $690 in the fund now.

From the Church Office
Stacy has changed the names of some pages of the church website. If you have parts of the website bookmarked, those bookmarks may no longer work. Check your email for details.

Did you know that the Service Schedule in your church mailbox has 2 months of information on it? One side is the current month. The other side, marked “Preliminary,” is the next month. The information for the second month doesn't change unless the person scheduled informs the church office of the change.

If you would like to be sent an email reminding you of service schedule commitments, please email Stacy (stacyschulze@trinluthseattle.org) to give her your email address.

An Outing at Valley Camp
On Sunday, September 17, 2006, after the regular morning church service, the following Trinity Lutheran Church members: Pat and Karl Brunner; Sharon and Robert Heckel; Claire, Tim and Mark Klick; Berit Lehner; Lena and Gordon Meeske; and Chris Sherman made the trip out to Valley Camp. All enjoyed a pleasant, relaxing afternoon taking in the scenic wonder and quiet atmosphere while sitting around a camp fire. For exercise, some played baseball catch. The potluck meal tasted delicious. As the saying goes — if you don’t use it — you may loose it — we certainly don’t want to loose the wonderful Lutheran facilities provided at Valley Camp. Even three forest deer wanted to join the group. A really fun time for all at Valley Camp!

Editor’s Note
Don’t forget that we will be publishing one newsletter for the months of January and February sometime around the end of January. If you have news that is relevant to the earlier part of January, please consider submitting it for the December newsletter.

Our deadline for next month’s contributions will be November 17 — which is a little earlier than usual. If you have submissions that won’t be available till later, please let me know. I am happy to take late submissions, especially if I know what to expect.

Finally, if you have ideas for the newsletter or would like to see something included that you would like me to scout out, I am always open to new suggestions. Please email me at j_begus@msn.com.

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Benefit Dinner and Concert
Saturday, November 18thDinner at 5:30pm followed by concert at 7:00pm.

The Lutheran Church of Ghana has invited Andrew Potsko, the Director of Student Ministries at Trinity Lutheran Church in Seattle, to be the guest speaker at the National Lutheran Leadership Conference. Andrew was extended this invitation by Elvis Doe, the National Lutheran Youth Director of Ghana, whom he met while serving with Lutheran Youth Encounter in 2001. Andrew considers Elvis a dear brother in the faith and looks forward to serving Christ and the Church with him again. The conference will be held at the end of November.

In order to defray the cost of the trip and relieve the financial burden from the Lutheran Church of Ghana, Trinity Lutheran Church will be sponsoring a benefit dinner and concert on Saturday, November 18th. The dinner will begin at 5:30pm, and the concert, featuring Andrew Potsko, will follow at 7:00pm. The concert will feature original music from Ghana, a brief presentation of his trip, and an interactive Bible story for people of all ages to enjoy.

Thanksgiving Service
Thanksgiving Eve worship is at Trinity on Wednesday, November 22, at 7:30pm.

Advent Mid-week Services
Advent Mid-Week services will feature Trinity’s worship staff and choir leading Holden Evening Prayer. We will also use Holden Evening Prayer for our Lent Mid-Week services. The Advent mid-week schedule is: December 6 at Good Shepherd December 13 at Beacon December 20 at Trinity

Each evening always begins with a meal supplied by the host church at 6:30pm. Worship follows at 7:30pm. On December 6 and 13, meet at Trinity by 6:00pm to carpool.

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Concordia Lutheran School

Meyer Minutes
It’s official: we have established our Community. It has been launched. Seeing the students from our Cardinal Team interact with little ones from the Bumble Bee preschool class made it concrete for me. With the effort put forth by parents and teachers, the foundation for this community has been set. Events or gatherings that build this community are very important, but they do not work if we do not take the time to join in them. I am overwhelmed by the community’s participation and feel the strength of God’s work here when we gather together. I have officially changed the name of our quarterly gathering from “Celebration Theme Night” to “Community Night” and would like everyone to mark their calendars for Jan. 11, 2007 to join us for another great experience. Please also check the dates of upcoming events, where you can invite others to celebrate this community with us.Upcoming EventsPlease join us for Concordia’s Grandparents’ Day on November 21, 9:00am – 12:00pm. This is a community event for all grandparents connected to our school and churches. All grandparents, not just the ones with students at Concordia, are welcome.

Concordia will be having an event in December for which we want to give Trinity members plenty of notice so you can save the date: Concordia’s Christmas Program will be December 14th at 6:30pm—all Trinity members are invited to see our students in action.

Please also save the date for Concordia’s Fiesta Auction on Saturday, March 10th.

Notices
Campbell’s has changed the way it counts labels: instead of the front labels (displaying the Campbell’s logo), they now want the BACK OF THE LABEL, with the UPC code and bar code on it. However, Campbell’s will accept 1 submission of labels cut out the old way from each school before December 31st.

Please let us know if you have any old-style Campbell’s Soup Labels to turn in for the December 31st deadline. If so, we will arrange to have them picked up. Help us make this deadline!

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Lutheran Community Services Northwest

National Adoption Month!
Last year on National Adoption Day 2005 – Saturday, November 19 – an unprecedented number of courts and communities coast-to-coast came together to finalize thousands of adoptions of children from foster care and to celebrate all families who adopt. The day brought together hundreds of judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, and child advocates who are dedicated to creating forever families for waiting children. This year National Adoption Day celebrations will be held on November 17, 2006, at Snohomish County Superior Court and King County Courthouse at 11:00am. Contact Dean Lum – King County Superior Court – at 206.296.9295 or by email at dean.lum@metrokc.gov for further information.

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Concordia University—Portland

On Sunday afternoon, October 8th, 33 participants gathered from seven Portland-area churches to discuss how to reach the elderly population in their neighborhoods. The event was the 8th annual Fall Mission Festival jointly sponsored by the Concordia University Mission Institute and the Concordia Foundation Center for Spiritual Renewal.

The featured speaker was Mr. Cliff Pederson, President of Church Resources, Inc. (www.elderministry.com) of Huntington Beach, CA. Mr. Pederson presented the demographics of a rapidly aging society, especially with the baby boomers coming through in the next 15 years. The median age of Lutheran churches in the USA is about 55, but we need to see this reality as a resource rather than as a problem.

Congregations can develop programs that minister to the needs of their older members. These same programs can be made available to the general community as an outreach of witness and service to unchurched elderly. Church Resources, Inc. has a Senior Ministry Inventory tool that can be used to identify needs and strengths among the elderly in a congregation, and programs can be relevantly developed from that information.

Two congregations sent large delegations to the conference, along with their pastor. They were already making plans for reorienting their ministry, staff, and outreach to meet the needs of the elderly. All agreed that we have a huge, untapped resource of elderly in our congregations who can be effectively mobilized to reach their peers.

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Lutheran Blind Mission

Lutheran Blind Mission—LCMS World Mission's mission arm to the blind and visually impaired—continues to growby leaps and bounds!

Lutheran Blind Mission…
~Serves over 5,500 blind and visually impaired people through 15 different magazines-over 120,000 issues are sent annually at no cost to the readers.
~Is producing over 7,000 2007 Scripture calendars in Braille and large type.
~Continues to open outreach centers around the country. Currently, 40 outreach centers are open or are ready to open by the end of the year—serving over 1,700 blind and visually impaired people.
~Added some 350 books in Braille, large type, or books on tape to our Lutheran Library for the Blind. In total, over 6,000 titles are offered free of charge.
~Currently is training over 88 blind and visually impaired adults in our Christian Blind Institute to be leaders in their congregations and communities.

Simple math equation:
Growth = Increased costs.

We continue to provide all of our materials and services free of charge. However, paper costs are rising; zinc costs for making Braille plates are rising; spines (a petroleum product) and envelope costs are rising. Lutheran Blind Mission has done much to reach blind and visually impaired people with the Good News about Jesus. We have made a big difference in the lives of those we serve by opening more outreach centers, training more Christian leaders, and providing more free resources for men, women, and children—helping them to see Jesus!

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Columbia Lutheran Home

Christmas at CLH
Preparations are already underway for Christmas at Columbia Lutheran Home. I am writing today to ask for your assistance in making Christmas merry and bright for our nursing home’s 116 residents by helping us provide them with special gifts. Every year, our Activity Department elves are so touched by the generosity of our CLH friends. These elves spend many hours matching just the right gift to each resident, and it seams like there is always just the right gift, thanks to our wonderful donors. After the gifts are all matched, volunteer elves wrap them just before the Christmas parties. It takes many days for Santa’s helpers to accomplish all this; so, we are asking that new, unwrapped gifts please be brought to Columbia Lutheran Home by Sunday, December 10th. Gifts can be dropped off seven days a week, 10:00am to 8:00pm at the reception desk.

THE FOLLOWING IS A LIST OF SUGGESTIONS FOR MEN AND WOMEN. CLOTHING AND SLIPPERS SHOULD BE IN SMALL TO XXX-LARGE SIZES AND EASY TO LAUNDER. LARGE AND EXTRA LARGE ARE THE MOST NEEDED SIZES. ALL ITEMS SHOULD BE NEW. BOXES OR BAGGED GIFTS WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL. STARRED ITEMS WOULD BE MOST APPRECIATED.
** Socks
** Sweatpants
** Slippers (boot style with non-slip soles)
** Sweatshirts (with masculine or feminine designs)
* Shirts/Blouses* Hair Accessories (adult headbands, clips, barrettes, bows)
Boxed CandySun-catchers (not fragile)
Decorative Scarves and Hats
Posters/Pictures
Coffee Table Picture Books

Please give me a call at (206) 633-9162 if you have any questions. Thank you for considering our request! The support that is offered by our community of churches really does make a difference in our home!

Warmest Regards,
Ellen Murray
Activity Director

Volunteer Opportunities for 2007

The residents of Columbia Lutheran Home have been blessed over the years with many special volunteers from our Lutheran member churches and other local congregations. As you are planning for 2007, we would like to ask you to renew your commitment or add us as a new volunteer opportunity in your service plans.

Church members can participate in many ways. We encourage you to incorporate your own ideas. We are well known at Columbia Lutheran for celebrating life in many and varied ways. We invite you to join us. Please contact Pastor Wert for activities involving worship services and Ellen Murray for all other group or individual opportunities. Please call us at 206.632.7400. We look forward to hearing from you!

Warm Regards,
Ellen Murray, Activity Director
Pastor Thom Wert
Beth Hartman, Director of Support Services

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