Living Faith Weekly News (Week of November 10, 2024)

Kay Michaelson
Nov 11, 2024
6 min read

Updated: Nov 12, 2024

ree — Living Faith helps out with Rejoice! Community Church's Thanksgiving meal preparation - part 1!

Last Week

Thank you to Pastor Halaas for leading us in worship after a consequential week. Thank you to Gail Kass for accompanying us on the piano, Karen Schroeder for reading Scripture, Peg McAllister for preparing and assisting with Communion, Tim Kass for ushering and running the sound board, Sharon Utesch for helping with cleaning up after services and Angela Catton for streaming our service.

First Communion Celebrated at Living Faith!

Claire and Emily Odens celebrated their First Communion on Sunday! Claire is a 5th grader and Emily is a 3rd grader at Franklin School. They are the daughters of Dr. Don and Jolene Odens. Congratulations, Claire and Emily, on this milestone in your Christian walk!

Next Week

Deacon Eric Haitz and Vicar Bruce Pollock will lead worship for Living Faith at 11:00 AM in the Chapel of the PUCC (858 7th Ave. SE). Please note the change of location for this day only. You may park in the front or back of the parking lot to make your way to the Chapel. The back Noah's Ark Preschool door will be unlocked for your convenience. There will be no Communion for this day. Kjersten Rathke will read Scripture and Owen Rathke will greet you at the door and direct you to the Chapel!

For this Sunday, Faith + Fellowship will meet back in Room 103 at 10:00! Tim Kass will be brewing the coffee and Gail Kass will provide bars!

We will share highs and lows, draw for new prayer partners and hear the Gospel lesson for the day and discuss it. Hope you can join us for this hour of connecting with each other!

Please check the sign up table in the narthex and if you would like to provide treats for the Fellowship Hour with the PUCC in 2025, please sign up on the sheet located there! You will be assigned a Sunday later but, rest assured, if you cannot serve on the day you're assigned, we will get your time switched!

Living Faith Teams up with Rejoice! Community Church to Prepare for Community Thanksgiving Meal!

Living Faith-ers Tim and Gail Kass, Yvonne Law, Sharon Utesch, Nathan Summerside and Brian and Kay Michaelson helped out on Saturday afternoon by pulling turkey meat from 32 turkeys! This Saturday will be Round 2 of turkey pulling and Mark and Angela Catton, Sue Stream and Kari Kopperud will be meeting at Rejoice! at 4:00 to finish up the remaining turkeys all in preparation for Rejoice!'s annual Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner for the community where around 800 people will be served!

Service Opportunities at Living Faith!

Packing Snacks for the Le Mars Community Backpack Program

Packing will take place on Wednesday, November 20 at 4:30 at the Nohava Construction building, 210 2nd St. SW. Enter through the east facing door with the Backpack Program logo. There is a sign up sheet on the Living Faith table in the Narthex to volunteer for this event! This event will kick off our cereal drive during the season of Advent!

Advent Cereal Drive for the Backpack Program

From November 24 - December 8, Living Faith and the PUCC will be gathering boxed cereal donations for the Le Mars Community Backpack program. Please bring cereal box (not bags) donations to the Narthex anytime and place them under the Living Faith sign up table until the Christmas tree is put up and then donations can go under the tree! A special donation by Ruth Peters will add even more donations to this worthwhile project! At Christmas and Easter, the Backpack program sends home a full box of cereal to each needy child for their nutrition needs during the longer time away from school.

Decorate the Living Faith Christmas Trees

We will be decorating the Living Faith trees and putting up the wreaths on Sunday, November 24 after services. There is a sign up sheet on the table in the narthex for this. If you'd like to enjoy a Jimmy John's lunch after we're done, add your order on the sheet as well!

Decorate the Living Faith Pioneer Village Christmas Tree

You are invited to come to Century Hall at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, November 26 at 6:00 to help decorate our tree for the Annual Pioneer Village Christmas' Festival of Trees!

Christmas Caroling with the PUCC - Sunday, December 15 at 3:00 - Soup Supper to Follow!

Mark your calendars for December 15 when we will gather to go out and Christmas carol in the community! Following our caroling, we will return to the PUCC for soup! There is a sign up sheet on the table for you to volunteer for this event and to indicate if you'd like to bring soup and what kind!

Living Faith Scholarship Fund!

The Leadership Team announces the formation of the Living Faith Scholarship Fund! This fund will provide financial assistance to students in the amount of $1,000 to a member of Living Faith who plans to attend a college, university, vocational/trade school, or seminary. Details about this scholarship and how to apply can be found on our Living Faith website: https://www.livingfaithlemars.com/living-faithfully/living-faith-lutheran-scholarship

Seed money for this scholarship in the amount of $1,250 has been provided by Kyle and Kari Van Oort as a memorial to their parents, Jake and Verna Van Oort. Members are encouraged to prayerfully consider donating to this fund. The sign up table contains information about the scholarship along with a QR code that can take you to the scholarship information page on our website. There are envelopes in which to place your donation and these can be put in the offering plate on Sundays or given to Kari Kopperud directly. Thank you to Kay Allen and Karen Schroeder for developing the guidelines for this scholarship!

In another act of generosity, an anonymous business is offering to match any donation made before December 1st up to $5,000!

Help with Communion

We have four Communion volunteers to date. Please let Kay know if you would like to help after worship to take care of the Communion elements, clean the Communion ware and put things away. If we have enough volunteers, we will schedule on a monthly basis.

Vicar Grace Baumgartel invites Living Faith Middle School and High School youth to the first organizational meeting of a youth group on Sunday, November 17th at 6:00 PM at Christ Lutheran Church, 27071 C 16. Pizza will be provided and time will be taken to get ideas from the youth of what they would like the youth group to look like!

If you are interested in attending the Sioux City Steeple Tour on Saturday, December 7 from 10 - 2 and would like to carpool from the PUCC, please sign up on the sheet on the table in the Narthex.

Mark Catton of M. Catton & Co. is retiring in December and he and his family invite you to celebrate with him on Friday, December 13 at a Community Open House from 3 - 6 PM at the Le Mars Municipal Golf Course, 935 Park Lane. Come out and wish Mark well in this new venture for him!

The Adult Northwest Iowa Singers group, Salus Vocal Ensemble, presented a concert on Sunday, Doubt, Faith and Joy at First Presbyterian Church in Sioux City. Living Faith members involved with this group are Kjersten and Mike Rathke and Travis Balt! You can enjoy this concert online by searching for the group's Facebook page and finding the entry for this concert!

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Tony and Rachel Haskett!

Congratulations and best wishes to Tony and Rachel who were married in Omaha on Saturday, November 9. Rachel is the daughter of Rosezanna Landsness and the late Rev. Gary Landsness.