What are you grateful to God for in 2017? For me,

1. That we were able to sell our home and

move into a remodeled parsonage with a

patio, fire pit, playset, and beautiful

basement…thank you St. Olaf friends!

2. Ten of us ministered to the “poor & poor in

spirit” (orphans and widows) in Swaziland.

3. For new friendships growing with you and

developing deeper friendships in Wisconsin.

4. For good health, a great family, longevity

(dad is 94, grandma is 103), &

a short commute.

How about you? Try leading your family in

prayer over the holidays with you starting by

saying, “Thank you God for the many blessings

You have given us. I thank you God for…”, then

let others around say, “I thank you God for…”.

~ Pr. Tom Pietz

SCANDI BUTIK REPORT

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the Scandi Butik this year. A special thanks to the DeBack family, the Kirkhofer family and Susie Grulke. Also, thanks go to all those who donated items, and others who purchased items.

One note, while we appreciated all the donations, some arrived too late to include this year due to limited display space. Those items will be included next year’s sale. All proceeds from the Scandi Butik are added to the Women of Grace monies earned from the bake sale and dinner.

2018 SPRING ADULT MISSION TRIP

WITH LAKE CLUSTER CONGREGATIONS Have you thought about helping those recovering after a natural disaster? We have a great opportunity with our area cluster churches with everything arranged. Will you join me, Pastor Tom, and give a week of service to bring a smile on people’s faces who have lost their homes? Then read on…

What: Hurricane Harvey recovery in the Houston area (where 330,000 homes were destroyed) When: Early Sat April 14 to late Sat April 20 (overnight stays both ways) Accommodations and Work Planning: Salem Lutheran Church, Tomball, TX Work: Cleanup and rebuilding Volunteer Cost: $400 - $500 (specific to be defined) Transportation: Rental vans - 15 passenger Ford Transit style. Target Count: 40 volunteers St. Luke’s Trip Contact: Don French (262) 896-0225, d-french@sbcglobal.net

Please sign up early. We expect many people will want to help.

St. Olaf Lutheran Church

The CALLER January 2018

JANUARY ANNIVERSARIES 23 Marilyn & Dave Carlson (48)

JANUARY BIRTHDAYS 1 Jake Homulos, Elizabeth Schlehlein 2 Melissa Meier, Debra Uhlman 5 RaeAnn Eggert 7 Zachary Brewer, Logan DeBack 9 Caroline Kraemer 10 Rachel Roth 11 Jennifer Guenther, Vicky St.George 13 Debbie Siegrist, Brandon St.George 20 Denise Cairns, Anne Hautala 21 Annah Guenther 22 Andrew Schlehlein 25 Sarah Kirkhofer 27 Gerald Bohen 28 Earl Christenson 29 Jon Evert 31 Madison DeBack, Payton DeBack,

JANUARY LAY MINISTRY SCHEDULE

January Altar Guild: Paula Lumsden Joan Uhlman January Counters: Ron Egelseer Rob Howell Jim Lumsden

ST. OLAF BOOK CLUB

NEXT MEETING DATE: JANUARY 9TH

St. Olaf Addicted Readers (S.O.A.R.) invite you to join us in reading, and then discussing, some of our favorite books on the second Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. Our

selection for January is “Our Souls at Night” by Kent Haruf. We will meet at the home of Linda Feutz, N2298 S. Resthaven Rd, Rubicon.

FAMILY PROMISE Homeless Guests here in January

St. Olaf will host families January 21-28, 2018. Please sign up on the sheets in the Gathering area to help clean the classrooms, make a meal, serve the meal, provide fellowship for an evening, or be an overnight volunteer. We need more volunteers to help in some way. We are blessed to be a blessing to others in need!

On Sunday, January 21at 10:15, the Teens will make the Sunday meal and then unload the trailer, and set up the cots with help from the Youth who will be visiting us that day from St. Mary of the Hill. Details of this service project will be emailed to the Teens and their parents.

Date Asst. Minister Acolyte

Sat., Jan. 6 5:00 p.m.

Mary Hershoff

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Sun., Jan. 7 9:00 a.m.

Scott Siegrist

Sally Pietz

Sat., Jan. 13 5:00 p.m.

Assistant Needed

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Sun., Jan. 14 9:00 a.m.

Assistant Needed

Annah Guenther

Sat., Jan. 20 5:00 p.m.

Dave Johnston

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Sun., Jan. 21 9:00 a.m.

Scott Siegrist

Garrett Monis

Sat., Jan. 27 5:00 p.m.

Mary Hershoff

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Sun., Jan. 28 9:00 a.m.

Jane Christenson

Ella Smithyman

Book selections January 9th 2018 – Our Souls at Night Author – Kent Haruf February 13th 2018 – Three Cups of Tea Author – Greg Mortenson March 13th 2018 – A Man Called Ove Author – Fredrik Backman April 10th 2018 - A Thousand Acres Author – Jane Smiley May 8th 2018 – Boys in the Boat Author – Daniel James Brown (this is a new selection)

TOGETHER IN MISSION Together in Mission is our synod gathering for February 10, 2018 that combines elements of last year’s cluster assembly with our former Lead & Learn event.

The day is geared toward congregational leaders, staff, and rostered leaders. It will include time around the Word, two workshop opportunities, and time for clusters to meet together over lunch. We will celebrate our mission in Jesus, engage our questions, and learn from one another.

Registration is open. Please go to milwaukeesynod.org and you’ll find registration through the event page. The cost for the event is $10 and includes a boxed lunch.

Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Wauwatosa is our gracious host site.

Workshop sign-ups will begin in January. Topics will include:

- Neighborhood Outreach - Listening and Engaging in our Communities - Pastoral Transition & Call Process - From Caution to Courage - Stories of Loving our LGBTQ Neighbor - Our Work of Reconciliation and Love in Anti- Racism - The Forgotten Luther: Reclaiming the Social- Economic Dimension of the Reformation - Imagining New Ministry Edges: Beer, Bees, Bread, & Beyond - Portico Benefits Presentations for Pastors and for Congregational Leaders - Mt Meru Coffee Project - Stewardship Other topics are coming as well.

Please sign-up today and share word of this event in your congregations, clusters and ministry sites.

Thank you! Rev. Jennifer Arnold Assistant to the Bishop for Missional Leadership Greater Milwaukee Synod-ELCA jennifer.arnold@gmselca.org 414-671-1212, x224

ADULT EDUCATION On Sunday mornings, during the time that the children are in Sunday school, an opportunity is available for adults, college age young adults, or high school students to participate in a time of learning about the Bible and how our lives may be guided by it. The second Sunday of the month is the GIFT (growing in faith together) day, so please consider joining in with all generations on those Sundays as well.

For the past several months, Pastor Pietz has been providing messages to us based on something called the Narrative Lectionary. What that means, basically, is that our lessons each week may follow a somewhat different path than you have experienced in the past. This fall, we have been focusing primarily on some specific and important characters found in the Old Testament of the Bible, such as Abraham, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jacob and Esau, Moses, Ezekiel, and many others as well. It has been an important time to expand our knowledge about the people of the Bible, and to think about how what those people experienced might guide us in our daily lives now.

Each Sunday, the opportunity is available to review the reading from the worship service, and then go deeper to see how that might apply to our lives. It gives us an opportunity to try to understand different portions of the Bible in a more personal way.

I invite adults and other young adults not already participating in Sunday school or a group on Sunday mornings, to consider joining our study group. Currently we meet in the Conference Room located just two doors down from the mailboxes, in the education wing of the church. Pick up your coffee and treat, and bring them with you. The more who participate, the more interesting and educational the study becomes.

Respectfully submitted, Cindy J. Schlieve, Chair Adult Education Coordination Team

WOMEN OF GRACE PAGE Lutefisk Dinner, Bake Sale & Scandi Butik This year’s dinner, bake sale, and Scandi Butik was great! We had wonderful weather and our ticket sales were fabulous. We sold 672 tickets. The profit after expenses for the dinner is $8,180. The bake sale profit is $2,932.50, and the Scandi Butik profit is $1,124.50. Thank you everyone who helped in any way to make this a successful year! The Bake Sale and Scandi Butik money will be donated to various missions, so we have lots to spend this year! Donations to the Child Smile and also to Lutherdale Bible Camp have already been made ($200 to each). We will make decisions on which missions our donations will be made to at the Women of Grace meeting in January. Please think about any suggestions you may have for those donations, and if you are unable to attend the meeting on January 11th, please feel free to contact me and pass on your ideas. Searchers and Bible Study Groups As many of you are aware, there are two Bible study groups currently on-going through the Women of Grace. One of them is held on Tuesday mornings at 9 o’clock and is held at the home of Jane Christenson most of the time. Various Bible studies have been used for that day and we have surely learned much about the Bible. The other current Bible study group is the one using the “Gather” magazine study which is held once a month. We have just started holding that study on Tuesday mornings as well. A final decision on which Tuesday morning it is to be held is still pending, but any woman who is interested is welcome to come and check it out. If you do not currently subscribe to the “Gather” magazine, there will be copies of the Bible study available for you. Bible study groups are an opportunity for us to learn about the Bible and how it might be applied to our daily lives, but it is also an opportunity to get to know each other a little bit more. Please consider joining us for any of the Bible studies. Monthly Meetings The monthly meetings of the Women of Grace are held on the second Thursday evening at 6:00 o’clock. There are usually refreshments available and discussions may center around upcoming events. We have in the past invited special speakers or had special programs included with these meetings. If you have any ideas for such a program, please contact me and we can incorporate your ideas into our meetings. All women of St. Olaf are welcome at our meetings, as well as any events that are held. Please feel free to contact me with any questions regarding the Women of Grace. Your input is always welcome. Respectfully submitted, Cindy J. Schlieve, President

NEWS regarding YOUTH & Families for January, 2018

Kindly donate to our Sponsored child “Elia” Youth of all ages are asked to bring a small weekly offering to help support our Sponsored Child, “Elia” who is from Bolivia. We send $38 a month to Food for the Hungry which helps sponsored children meet their daily needs in addition to being able to go to school. We sent Elia a Christmas card message and she sent us a card and a letter in return. They are written by Elia in Spanish and interpreted for us to read in English. You can read her letters to us on the poster in the Gathering area. Thank you for your thoughtful donations!

YOUTH QUAKE @ The Wilderness in Wisconsin Dells Jan 12-14, 2018 for Conf. Class & High School Youth

Our group is registered and will be ready for an inspiring weekend of relationship building, fun, music, listening and learning, in addition to sharing meals, conversation, and use of the waterpark during free time. We will meet on Jan 7th following Education Hour to prepare for the Youth weekend retreat & get the details!

On Friday, Jan 12, we will meet here at 3:30 to go and return about 2:00 on Sunday, Jan 14. Let’s pray, learn, and grow in faith together!

G.I.F.T. Generations in Faith Together – Sunday, Jan. 14th 10:15 a.m. A time to connect & learn together as a family and as a church family

All ages, including children, Teens, Parents, Teachers, & Adults: please meet in the Fellowship Hall during Faith Formation Hour. Parents & other adults are needed there as we share conversation, Bible learning and discussion together.

TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) Weekend at St. Olaf - Feb. 8-11 Training weekend for those on Team is Jan 19-20 Friday 6 p.m. – Sat. 5 p.m.

Those youth entering sophomore year and above can attend the weekend and need to fill out an online application ASAP. Go to www.badgertec.org to read about the weekend and to submit the application online Those working on Team arrives at St. Olaf on Thursday, Feb 8 at 7:00 p.m. First time weekenders arrive at St. Olaf for the TEC weekend on Friday morning, Feb 9 at 9:00 a.m. Any questions about TEC, call or text Justine.

IMPORTANT: High school visitors from St. Mary of the Hill coming here Sunday, Jan 21 Our High School Youth will welcome the Youth from St. Mary of the Hill here the morning of Sunday, Jan 21 at 8:45 a.m. They will come to worship and would like to do a service project together with our Youth after worship. They will help us unload the cots for Family Promise, help with set up of the rooms, and we will all make a meal together to serve the homeless families that arrive that night. We will probably be done by 12:30 or 1:00. Details emailed!

Teens & Adults: We will study of the Book of John in the Bible beginning now and into the New Year!