St Johns Lutheran Church Elca

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Couples/Singles Group: Movie Matinee, followed by coffee & conversation on Nov. 28 early afternoon at the Fleur Cinema. Movie & time to be announced. Watch St. John’s website or contact Terri Speirs terrispeirs@yahoo.com. EAGLES will meet on Monday, Nov. 29th, to do a “Tour of Faiths.” Meet at 9:00 am in St. John’s parking lot to carpool to the various locations. Call Janie Clemenson, 274-0924, if you will be able to join them. Photography group will display their photos in Weertz Fellowship Hall the month of December. They will meet Friday, Dec. 3, 10:00 am to hang photos. (If you cannot be there, bring your photos to church and leave them in the reception area with your name.) This group meets monthly to share photos, learn techniques and encourage each other. The show demonstrates the variety of interests and techniques members use. If you are interested in this group, please contact Rod Snavely at rsnavely@aol.com. Couples/Singles Christmas Dinner. Join us on Sunday, Dec. 5, for a FUN filled evening at the Windsor Heights new Community Center (69th & School), including appetizers, soups, desserts and beverages. Cost: $25/couple or $12.50/single (proceeds to benefit the Good Samaritan Fund). Please RSVP with a “little known personal fact” and a holiday picture (new or old) to Kris and Kathy Gregersen (255-3896 or kkgregersen@gmail.com). Questions, please contact Kathy or Kris. Hosts: Ed & Mary Slattery; Kris & Kathy Gregersen; Martha Driessnack and George Noble (plus some helpful elves). Night Out got off to a good start. Watch the website, bulletin announcements and Eagle Call for details on the next event.

An Advent evening of rest, renewal, and preparation for women and men of all ages on Thursday, Dec. 2, 7:00 – 8:30 pm at St. John’s Chapel and Fireside Lounge. Welcome the Advent season with…simple and beautiful Taize melodies accompanied by instrumental ensemble; an opportunity to walk a lighted labyrinth; time and space for prayer, meditation and quiet reflection. Nursery Care will be provided. For more information contact Linda Christensen, kinderlinder@msn.com

Cookies! Treasures! Coming soon!! Mark your Calendars NOW and start baking...looking for a treasure {or two}! Yes, it’s that time again, the traditional St. Johns Cookie Walk and Treasure Table. Let’s make it better than ever! Saturday and Sunday, December 11, 12. Questions? Contact Janie Clemenson, 274-0924 or Lou Johnston, 287-2424. The Mitten Tree is in the Lounge starting, Nov. 28 through Jan. 9. Bring any size gloves, mittens, caps and scarves. They will be distributed to homeless shelters, schools and low income residents. Gloves in adult sizes are especially needed.
Sarah Group will meet on Thursday, December 2 at 9:30 at the home of Karen Schoenenberger, 5131 Merced in Des Moines.

First - Sixth Grade Sunday School will meet in room 205 at 9:55 for Advent Program Rehearsal.
Three year old, Preschool, and Kindergarten Sunday School - Parents may drop children off at 9:55 in their classroom (age 3 - Room 5; preschool - Room 6; kindergarten - Room 7). At 10:45, children (age three-kindergarten) go into room 7 for Advent Program rehearsal. Parents will pick up their child in room 7 at 10:55.

There’s no better way to begin the holiday season than to attend this time honored tradition on Dec. 4 & 5. The Drake Chamber Choir will serenade you with music of the season and the dinners will include the traditional boar’s head, wassail bowl, and flaming figgy pudding processionals, plus a meal fit for our royal guests. Tickets are $50 per person. Seating is limited and the event is always a sell-out, so plan early. Tickets will be available November 8-23 at the Drake Fine Arts Box Office, 271-3841. For further information, call 271-2841 or send an email to: aimee.beckmann-collier@drake.edu.

The Principal Lot to the west of St. John’s will be under construction and unavailable Thanksgiving weekend. Please plan on parking in the Keck lot to the north of St. John’s.

St. John’s is assisting at IHN on Dec. 14 and 16. From 5:30 - 7:00 we serve supper and clean up; we serve as evening hosts from 6:00 - 8:00 pm; and from 6:00 pm - 6:00 am, we need overnight hosts (at least one male needed). Food should be delivered by 5:30 pm or we can pick up at St. John’’s. Items needed are: servings for 25 people of a main dish, salad, vegetable/starch; two loaves of bread; two gallons of milk; and dessert. When we assisted this past September we had difficulty obtaining the necessary food items. Please give generously to help serve those in need.

DO YOU HAVE OR DO YOU KNOW A COLLEGE AGE ST. JOHN’S STUDENT? If so, get Megan his/her address by Dec. 1st so that the youth can send them some love by way of junk/brain food! E-mail addresses to meganc@stjohnsdsm.org. CARE PACKAGE DONATIONS NEEDED! The youth are making care packages to send to college students again this year! Please place donations of individually wrapped snack type items in the baskets in the Narthex or Weertz. Some ideas are: microwave popcorn, hot chocolate packets, Christmas Candy, chips, cookies, juice boxes, trail mix, granola bars, fruit snacks, gum, etc. Contact Megan Clausen with any questions! (243.7691 or meganc@stjohnsdsm.org)

New small groups are beginning. If your favorite small group idea isn’t among these five—we can start it later if we have enough interest. These groups are open to all women. If you missed the organizational meeting for the cooking classes and book discussion, you may e-mail the facilitators. For the other three small groups, please e-mail the facilitator to let her know of your interest and receive more information.

COOKING CLASSES: Carol Lunde (jclunde@dwx.com). Group will meet Saturday, Dec. 11, at 8:30 am to make cookies for the Cookie Walk. Send your favorite cookie recipe to Carol by Dec. 1. She will put together a list of ingredients and let each one know what ingredients to bring.
BOOK DISCUSSION: Mary Ritchie (ritchiem82@gmail.com). The group e-mailed those who indicated an interest but could not attend the organizational meeting. Days that work best are Sunday mornings, Wednesday evenings or Saturday mornings. Anyone interested in joining this group, please contact Mary.
WOMEN’S NIGHT OUT: Lois Murphy and Darla Stiles (frlomurp5@q.com or darlastiles@stjohndsm.org. We will wait until January to plan our first Night Out. Mark your calendars for Monday, January 10. For the first “Night Out,” we will meet and talk about future ideas and then attend a movie at the Fleur Theater;
SERVICE/LEARNING PROJECTS: Karen Andeweg (kandeweg@bankcsb.com). She has ideas to share. Meet this Sunday, Nov. 21, at 10:00 in the Fireside Lounge. Bring one idea of a service project that the group could do.
Wii FITNESS: Delaine Marker (gramsmkr@hotmail.com). This group will meet every Friday morning at 10:00 am at church in the Fireside Lounge. Wii Fitness has different areas: exercise, dance (Latin dance, rock, and others—they show you how), yoga, etc. You go at your own pace. Anyone interested, contact Delaine.

Couples/Singles Group: Put the turkey away and let’s go to the movies! Movie Matinee, followed by coffee and conversation. Nov. 28 early afternoon at the Fleur Cinema. Movie title and time to be announced. Watch St. John’s website for more information or contact Terri Speirs terrispeirs@yahoo.com (770-5155) or Harry_Starr@Yahoo.com or phone(s) 253-9106 or 707-6318. Couples/Singles Christmas Dinner! Join us Sunday, Dec. 5 for a FUN filled evening at the Windsor Heights new Community Center (69th & School), including appetizers, soups, desserts and beverages. $25/couple or $12.50/single (proceeds to benefit the Good Samaritan Fund). Please RSVP with a “little known personal fact” and a holiday picture (new or old) to Kris and Kathy Gregersen (255-3896 or kkgregersen@gmail.com). Any questions, please contact Kathy or Kris. Saturday am Bible Study will NOT meet this Saturday after Thanksgiving. Questions: contact Ellen Fisher, 250-9916 or ellenfisher123@yahoo.com. EAGLES will meet on Monday, Nov. 29, to do a “Tour of Faiths.” Meet at 9:00 am in the St. John’s parking lot to carpool to the various locations. Call Janie Clemenson, 274-0924, if you will be able to join them. Night Out got off to a good start. Watch the website, bulletin announcements and Eagle Call for details on the next event. Photography small group will display their photos in Weertz Fellowship Hall the month of December. They will meet on Friday, Dec. 3, at 10:00 am to hang the photos. (If you cannot be there, bring your photos to church and leave them in the reception area with your name.) This group meets monthly to share photos, learn techniques and encourage each other. If you have an interest in participating, please contact Rod Snavely at rsnavely@aol.com.

We’re heading into that time of year where personal and business schedules are a little irregular. So no one is caught unaware, St. John’s office will be closed Thanksgiving Day and the day following (Nov. 25 & 26); in December the office will close at noon on Thursday, Dec. 23 and open on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at 9:00 am. Over New Year’s, the office will be closed December 31 and January 3.

On Sunday, December 5th, 2010, the Global Mission Team will be holding another letter writing campaign during our Adult Education Hour (10-11am) in the Neumann Center. Our purpose is to continue our support for the Bread for the World organization whose intention and goal is to encourage our nations decision makers to end hunger both domestically and internationally through public policy legislation. For the year of 2010, Bread for the World has taken up the challenge of strengthening Child Nutrition programs here in the U.S. through school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC, and other such endeavors. The letter writing can be simple and to the point and will be mailed out by the Global Mission Team once the letters are completed. Please join us for this important task. See a sample of a typical letter.
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DO YOU HAVE OR DO YOU KNOW A COLLEGE AGE ST. JOHN’S STUDENT? If so, get Megan his/her address by December 1st so that the youth can send them some love by way of junk/brain food! Email addresses to meganc@stjohnsdsm.org.
CARE PACKAGE DONATIONS NEEDED! The youth are making care packages to send to college students again this year! Please place donations of individually wrapped snack type items in the baskets in the Narthex or Weertz. Some ideas are: microwave popcorn, hot chocolate packets, Christmas Candy, chips, cookies, juice boxes, trail mix, granola bars, fruit snacks, gum, etc. Contact Megan Clausen with any questions! (243.7691 or meganc@stjohnsdsm.org)

...and Have a Good Time Too?
We have a suggestion . . we TRULY need help answering the phones in the afternoons. We have several volunteers who have faithfully helped out for a number of months. We are in need of several more. Due to travel and/or scheduling conflicts we need a larger rotation of volunteers. Those who have helped will tell you - they actually have a good time and learn more than they anticipated about their church. We provide training for the phone system (it is actually very simple) and you are never left alone - a staff member is always nearby. We particularly need help in the weeks leading up to the holidays. If you have questions, or wish to volunteer, please contact Katie at 243-7691.

Compositions of the Heavens
November Artist of the Month is Jerry Pottorff, a self-taught Des Moines artist who began painting and drawing as a young child and has continued his passion for creating cutting edge art throughout his life. His work today is very distinctive, combining his artist talents and life-long fascination with astronomy to paint the eternal beauty and awe-inspiring compositions of the heavens. Don’t miss it as it hangs on the walls of Weertz Fellowship Hall during the month of November