Prayers

As we are in the call process once again please pray for Lorien Peterson as we extended her a call to be our DCE(Youth Development Leader). Pray that God guides her in this decision and that all involved are praying as well. Lorien will be visiting us next week so look for opportunities to meet her!

March 18th

As March Madness begins next week we will also have a packed Friday night! The Jr. Youth will be hanging out at the church with Colleen for a Jr. High Fun Night, complete with games, devotion, friends and plenty of fun. The night runs from 6-8 pm if you have any questions please ask Colleen.

While the Jr. Youth are at church the Sr. Youth will be having a movie night at the Bakers! As we receive details I will share them here but if you have questions before that talk to Melissa B. or Emily F.

Busy

It's once again been a long almost 2 months since posting. As we look ahead to the next 6 weeks we will be very busy at Zion.

Wednesday we celebrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Our 6 week long observance of Jesus suffering and death leading up to his arrival in Jerusalem and his triumphant resurrection on Easter Sunday.

During this time of Lent we will look for ways to celebrate our union as the body of Christ along with ways to help one another out and be servants. Some of these are as follows:

Friday March 18 from 6-8 pm there will be a Jr. High Youth Fun Night at church
Saturday March 19 from 10 am - Noon Zions Mom's Group will be meeting and youth will provide babysitting.

Saturday April 16 starting at 9 am we will be visiting our shut-ins shine or snow and help with yard clean up. If it happens to snow the night before we will be shoveling! This is a great way for the whole church to show our fellow members that we care.

Saturday April 23rd we will be prepping for Easter Breakfast the next day along with having our annual Easter Egg hunt. Watch for more details and ways you can help!

Sunday April 24th we will have our annual Easter Breakfast from 7-10:30 and 3 services 6 am, 8am and 10:45 am.

Talk to Pastor Schwann or Lacey if you want to help in any of these areas.

Prayers

I am sending out a prayer request for a family friend and pastor Mark M. I have known Mark my entire life as he is the same age as my older brother and they went to school together K-12. Mark also babysat me a few times as a kid and worked at the same camp I did, Lutheran Island Camp, we both attended Concordia St. Paul (in different decades) thus our lives have been intertwined in several ways.
Due to health struggles that he has been facing for the past 6-9 months his family has had to move for his care. The doctors have been encouraging but the pain is great but the prayers are more powerful. God is the God of both the good and bad in our lives and nothing touches us without going through him. Please pray that Mark's pain would subside so that he can enjoy his family and his 4 little girls while he awaits surgery. Pray for sustained faith as Mark is away from shepherding his congregation and pray for the congregation as they await the healing of their earthly shepherd.

Quilts

I frequently read blogs by two friends: one who's husband is going through an extreme health struggle that has required their family, they have 4 little girls, to move from Wisconsin to Houston for treatment. The other is a missionary friend from college who know lives with his wife and two children in the Phillipines.
Their posts from the past 24 hours both talked about quilts and how they have recently touched their lives. For my stateside friends it was a new quilt for their bed from a caring individual who wanted to touch their lives as they walk down through this trial with the Lord guiding them. For my missionary friend this quilt was sent from an LWML group in California and is now one of his families few belongings and it allows them to stay warm.
When we look at the things we take for granted I was reminded that a quilt not only keeps us warm physically but the hours of labor put into the quilt can remind us of God's love for us. Through all things, all hours, he is surrounding us with his love and we can then share that love with others. What a blessing!

Prayers for Korey

Sunday was a big day for Zion. We extended a call to Korey Danley to be our Youth Development Leader. As we await to see what the Lord has for us in the rest of this process please be in prayer for Korey as he and his wife contemplate where they will be serving the Lord in the next few months be it in AZ where they are now or if they will move to Rapid City.

No matter what happens we trust that God is guiding this process and will bring us a Youth Development Leader in his perfect timing.

Servant Event

We have new information in regarding our Summer 2011 Servant Event. We will be heading to Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca near Cedar Rapids, IA to assist in continued flood clean-up from their devastating 2008 floods that displaced 25,000 people.
The dates are July 9-15 and the cost is $190. Anyone ages 14+ are able to attend.
We will spend the night of July 9th in Sioux Falls and drive the remaining 4 hours to IA on the 10th. Further details will be coming including deadlines for registering.
Talk to Lacey if you're interested and to ask questions!