Trinity United Methodist Church 8009 Q Street Ralston, NE 68127

Phone: 402-331-4054 http://www.trinityralston.org facebook.com/TrinityRalstonUMC

Sunday Worship: Services @ 8:30am & 11am

Pastor: Rev Tessa Zehring Associate Pastor: Rev Curt Copple Pastoral Care: Rev Dr. Bob Folkers

Children /Youth Director: Daycare Director: Megan Greise

Choir Director: Dr. David Galant Media Director/Worship Leader: Matthew Hindley Accompanist: Alex Lunardi

Comptroller: Terry McGinnis Administrative Assistant: Vicky Segers Facility Attendant: Cory Henson

Thank you! Thank you for the wonderful welcome to myself and my family here at Trinity Ralston UMC.

From gifts of food, to a new beautiful cross, to help from many of you at the house, the welcome has been

overwhelming. I want to especially thank the Staff-Pastor Parish Relations Committee for “Treats with

Tessa”. That was so much fun, and a great time getting to visit with many of you. Thank you all so much.

As we enter January and the year 2020, there is such a hope for the new year. I often think of the new year

as a time to reset and try again. The reality is that life isn’t really this way. On January 1st, all my habits will

still be with me, the good ones and the not so good ones. Is there hope? I think so. To me, hope comes in

the reminder that God is always with us. On December 24th & 25th, we will celebrate the birth of Jesus

Christ and the gift of our Lord with us. Yet, this gift does not end on the 26th. It continues as something we

celebrate every day.

I invite you to join me in continuing to celebrate this promise in the new year as we explore how God has

fearfully and wonderfully made each of us (Psalm 139). We celebrate how the message of Jesus Christ is

revealed to all people on January 5th with Epiphany. Then we celebrate who we are as God’s people. People

with different gifts and talents, different strengths and weaknesses. People who need grace in different ways.

People who show love and communicate in different ways. People created by the same God; all created to

be different, but all given the same gift, Jesus Christ’s salvation and grace.

I am looking forward to learning about each of you in the coming months and years. As we celebrate how

we are created by God, I am working with the Staff-Pastor Parish Relations Committee to get to visit each of

you. Some of you I will come and see individually. Some will gather as groups so we can all share together.

The hope is to learn a little about each other and who we are as a community. I believe God created us as

community too. Each of us brought here for this specific time and place. As we explore the beauty of being

fearfully and wonderfully made, I hope we all can get excited about who God created us to be. Even if the

hopes of acting a new way don’t happen in 2020, maybe we can celebrate that it didn’t because that was how

God created us. What a wonderful and amazing gift!

I look forward to sharing this promise with all of you as we continue to build a community of unity with

Christ here at Trinity Ralston UMC!

Blessings,

Pastor Tessa

January 2020 Newsletter of Trinity United Methodist Church

Mission Notes

2019 was a busy year for our mission team. Some of our highlights included the congregational “thank you”

with our fondue recipes, the “Santa in September” for Youth Emergency Services, and our writing of Christ-

mas cards to the residents of Papillion Manor. With 94 residents and approximately three to five cards for

each resident, we sent about 400 cards. It is our hope that the residents felt loved and supported from our

congregation during this holy season. Thanks, Trinity members, for all you do to make our projects a success.

Judy Dappen

Chairperson

Card Shower

The family of Annette Wilson is asking for your help in making her 90th Birthday on Friday, January 7th a

special one. Please send cards to her c/o Benton House Assisted Living, 22000 Prairie Star Pkwy Apt. #107,

Lenexa, KS 66220. Thank you!

Thank You

The family of Nancy Johnson would like to thank Trinity members for the cards, calls, and gifts we have

received. So many of you have provided comforting cards to her over many years. This was greatly

appreciated! It was so wonderful to see our Trinity friends at Nancy's service.

Dolores Weber

Mel and Diane Adams

Tiffany and Brian Johnson

Valentine’s Dinner

Please mark Friday, February 14th in your calendar, and plan to join us for an evening of fine dining. A social

hour will begin the event at 6pm with mocktails and photo opportunities. Then at 7pm, we will begin serving

dinner. This event will cost $25 per person, and reservations are required. Please contact Casey Craven at

402-238-7020 for more information or to place your reservation.

Christmas Cantata

Thank you to everyone who came

and listened to this past Christmas

cantata “Have You Heard?”. If you

did not have a chance to see it, or

would like to see it again, we will be

sending out a link shortly through

email and our Facebook page.

The Education Corner!

“Train up a child in the way they should go, and when they are old they will not depart from it.” -Proverbs 22:6

Teaching all people about Jesus Christ is a passion of mine. Until a new Christian Education Director can be

found, I will be helping make this happen. Megan will still be involved but needs to begin transitioning to our

TLC daycare. ~Pastor Tessa

Sunday, January 5th - Meeting between services for teachers and all interested in helping with Christian

Education at Trinity Ralston UMC. Grab a donut and coffee, and we will meet in the downstairs Music Room

(104).

Sunday, January 12th - Children’s Sunday School Resumes.

Want to learn more about loving God and loving your neighbor? Let’s Dig Deep together in 2020!

Kids For Christ (KFC) starts again on Wednesday, January 22nd. Do you love VBS? KFC will have a VBS feel

in 2020. Come and have fun learning about how much Christ loves you!

Trinity Learning Center

We are continuing to complete construction. We have the HVAC and fire sprinkler

inspection done, and the lights and electrical inspection will be completed soon. One

classroom has flooring and the other two have their cabinets installed. Doorways

were widened and doors are here. We will be done very soon.

Once construction is complete and we have our certificate of occupancy we will be able to submit the

paperwork for licensing. They estimate 30-45 days for their inspector, the fire marshal and the sanitation

inspection to be completed prior to issuing our license. During this time I will be hosting open houses for

those parents on our list as well as other interested parents to enroll their children. If you know anyone who

is looking for childcare or employment, please have them email me at megan.g@trinityralston.org.

January

Birthdays

Saturday Book Club

For January, the Saturday Sisters Book Club has selected Virgil Wander by Leif Enger.

You are welcome to join us for fellowship and our discussion of this book on Satur-

day, January 18th, at 9am in room 205.

UMW Notes

Thurs, Jan 2nd Naomi Ruth Circle 10am

Thurs, Jan 9th Esther Circle 6:30pm

Sun, Jan 12th Installation of UMW Officers 8:30am Tues, Jan 14th Mary Circle 7pm

Tues, Jan 28th UMW Executive Board Meeting 6:30pm

Calendar insert

You will find inserted in this month’s Beacon a copy of the current calendar for January. Please check the

website (trinityralston.org) for the most up-to-date calendar available. Call the church office at 402-331-4054

for more information, or to schedule your event today.

Don & Millie’s Sunday

Eat at Don & Millie’s on Sunday, January 26th from 11am – 5pm and the church

receives 20% of your purchase.

Baptism

On Sunday, December 1st, we celebrated the baptism of Declan Laith Weber at the

11am service. He is the grandson of Roy and Leni McAllister.

Office Closed

The church office will be closed Wednesday, January 1st.

Trinity Methodist Men

The Trinity Men’s Group will meet on Saturday, January 25th at 8am for coffee and

fellowship. If you are interested in learning more about this group, then contact

Steve Gage.

1/2 Connie Harwick

1/3 Lee Hodgen

1/5 Sidney Fraser

LaWray Kinsella

1/6 Walt Dudzinski

1/7 Diane Hansler

1/8 Don Johnson

1/9 Lynn Hendrix

1/10 Pam Cambell

Pat Hein

1/11 Kelly Colgrove 1/12 Terry Grage

Ethel Higgason

Marius Slavik

1/15 JoAnn Gustafson

Scott Pace

Maxine Wilkins

1/18 Matthew Bolinger

Larry Swett

Anya Wilson-Stepan

1/19 Jett Hansen

1/20 Jayden Porchia

1/21 Chuck Babbel

Darlene Higgins

1/22 Sara Craven

1/25 Terry Shannon

1/26 Patty Babbel

Kym Hansler

Donald Johnson

1/29 Lisa Bolinger

Clay Bowker

Karen Bowker

Virgil Winkelman

1/30 Mel Adams

Walter Lenczowski

1/31 Michaela Dodenhof