First Clothes Closet has had another productive month of providing needed clothing and toiletries for our teenage guests. Volunteers at the closet have begun to bring our guest’s prayer requests to our pastors so the whole church can pray for their needs together. Volunteers are also inviting our guests to participate in First Lutheran teen activities and will provide information about our upcoming events....

During last year’s volunteer picnic, the hamburger patties and chicken were cooking on the grill, root beer floats were being served up by our own Pastor Karyn, and everyone was enjoying fellowship with one another. It was a perfect day to grill out and come together to show our thanks for all the hard work our congregation does throughout the year. This annual event is the staff’s way to say thank you for all the help we receive. We rely on so many people to help the ongoing ministries happen, and everyone’s help in needed in small and big ways to keep Faith Alive here at First....

Many thanks for your support of First Teen Clothes Closet. Getting the word out about us through agency visits, posters and leaflets has brought in more teens in the past month! Watch for some local news articles and a television interview later this summer....

We have a new name, but our mission is the same: serve our teen community in need. We have free, gently used teen clothing, including jeans, dresses, hoodies, shoes, shorts, dress shirts, dress pants, ties, purses, hats, athletic wear, toiletries and more.

Construction zones almost always try my patience. I diligently get in the correct lane, as soon as I see the sign and try to wait patiently. Almost always, though, there is someone who drives past all who are waiting, and not slowly, of course. When they get to the front of the line, then they slow down and turn their signal on, waiting for someone to let them in line. Just once I would love for them not to be able to get in line, but someone always lets them in, like me, because my conscious wouldn’t let me not do it. Sometimes it feels like a construction zone here for our visitors waiting patiently until someone welcomes them. If they are not welcomed, many will just leave thinking we are an unfriendly church. I have been told that several times in the past year, and it breaks my heart. I cannot talk to everyone by myself, before or after worship, so people get missed.…

Years ago as a family, when my girls were small, we would go ice fishing. Perry would open up several holes to fish in and start fishing, while I would try to fish and watch the girls playing in the snow. The girls would run around, make houses in the snow and play with the fish being caught. We would remind them often to watch out for fishing holes and not go too far from mom or dad. As they would play one of them or both of them would step into a fishing hole and get one or both feet wet before it was time to go home. I was usually prepared for this and brought with us dry socks and bread bags. We would change out of the wet socks, put dry ones on, with bread bags over them, and the feet would go back into the boots, after dumping all the water out. Getting your feet wet was the cost of being together as an ice-fishing family, and being prepared for wet feet was part of that.…