Funny River Community Lutheran Church
P.O. Box 2084
Soldotna, AK 99669
Dear Members and Friends,
I am most grateful to you for granting me a sabbatical. It will be a time of rest, renewal and
learning for me. Carolyn and I will miss
all of you during this time. We are very
thankful to God that He has led Stan and Julie Simonik to Funny River
to serve during our absence.
We have set up a blog so that you might follow our wanderings
if you so wish. It is http://www.pastorgssabbatical.blogspot.com and we
hope to ‘post’ on a fairly regular basis.
You can bookmark the site so that you don’t have to type it in each
time. This is all new to us, but we feel
confident we can learn how to do it so that we can keep in touch. Also, we will use a new email address during
this time. It is george.rakos@gmail.com.
Our ‘itinerary’ begins with
a short trip to St.
Louis
to the Seminary and to the LCMS headquarters.
Next we will go to Rumsey to visit Carolyn’s mother and, from there,
take a road trip hopefully as far as Texas where we will visit some of the old German-style
churches in the Austin/San Antonio area.
We’ll be back home in time for Fur Rendezvous and then in April we will
travel to Eastern Europe.
You will be in our thoughts
and prayers during this time.
In His service,
Pastor George
To Study the Scripture, read…….
For those of you who have internet service, you might check out the Lutheran Hour Ministries site for an excellent on-line Bible study. (www.lhm.org) This site also offers daily devotions for on-line reading or to download.
Prayer Opportunity
If you would like to join the e-mail prayer chain, send an e-mail to jeffak48@yahoo.com. To start a prayer request, please call Pastor George or one of the elders. This is a way you all can be made aware of special needs in our church family.
SUNDAY SCHOOL
Our Sunday School classes, preschool through teen, and our adult Bible class meet every Sunday at 10 a.m.. We use the Growing In Christ series in our lower and upper grades classes, the confirmation class uses Exploring Luther’s Small Catechism. The youth (teens) class will be using one of the studies from the National Youth Gathering. The adult class is studying the book of Galatians. Pastor Stan is leading this class. Our Sunday School has 'adopted' the Nunapitchuk Mission as a project to support with their offering monies. A VBS Team from Anchorage Lutheran Church is going to Nunapitchuk the first week in June and we hope to collect enough money to purchase a Bible or two, or help with other supplies they may need. We are also supporting them in prayer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Music Festival and Picnic was a great time! And, it was even a sunny day after our 31 days of rain. Lutheran World Relief and Human Care was the recipient of the monies that were given at our offering time. Two quilts were also donated.
"Music is a fair and glorious gift of God. I wish to see all arts, principally music, in the service of Him who gave and created them." Martin Luther.
Remember to write your FAVORITE HYMNS in the little pink note book on the back table so Jeff or Matt or Betty can play them at our worship services.
If you know of any members, family, friends and neighbors in need of spiritual assistance, please contact Pastor. You may also contact any of the Council members and Elders.
The Kenai Peninsula Food Bank is in need of "home-made" Tupperware for "to-go" boxes for it's patrons. Please save your margarine, cottage cheese, cool whip and other such containers and lids, bring them to the church and Lou will deliver them to the Food Bank. Thank you!
"The Lutheran Hour" is a radio ministry of the LCMS. You can find KGTL on your AM dial at 620, each Sunday morning at 9:00. Also, you may go on line and hear the program and even print it out for others to enjoy. www.lutheranhour.org.
Don't forget! The last Sunday of every month is MITE BOX Sunday. Please save your change and drop it in the super-size mite box on the back table. This money really does help and goes a long way toward our LWML projects! Thank you for every penny!
God Bless all who contributed!
Our LWML group meets on the first Wednesday of every month at 1 pm at the church.
The following chart was emailed to me twice and I thought some of you might enjoy having the chart at your fingertips.
HANDY LITTLE CHART
God has a positive answer:
YOU SAY GOD SAYS BIBLE VERSES
You say: "It's impossible" God says: All things are possible (Luke 18:27)
You say: "I'm too tired" God says: I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)
You say: "Nobody really loves me" God says: I love you (John 3:1 6 & John 3:34 )
You say: "I can't go on" God says: My grace is sufficient (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalm 91:15)
You say: "I can't figure things out" God says: I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5- 6)
You say: "I can't do it" God says: You can do all things (Philippians 4:13)
You say: "I'm not able" God says: I am able (II Corinthians 9:8)
You say: "It's not worth it" God says: It will be worth it (Roman 8:28 )
You say: "I can't forgive myself" God says: I Forgive you (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)
You say: "I can't manage" God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)
You say: "I'm afraid" God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)
You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated" God says: Cast all your cares on ME (I Peter 5:7)
You say: "I'm not smart enough" God says: I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30)
You say: "I feel all alone" God says: I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5)
PASS THIS ON. YOU DON'T KNOW WHO MIGHT NEED IT
