A Century of Service 1891-1991 Pastor Jerry Wittmus October 2015

A Publication of Bethany Lutheran Church

Laurens, IA 50554

October Worship Times

9:00 AM—SS & Confirmation 9:15 AM—Coffee Fellowship 10:30 AM—Worship Communion 1st & 3rd Sundays

EMERGENCIES OR

HOSPITALIZATION

Please notify Pastor

Jerry Wittmus at (712) 841-2532 or

at the church office at (712) 841-

2181, if you would like or are in need

of a visit or call from the minister.

October is Clergy

Appreciation Month

Let Your Pastor Know

He is appreciated!

NEW MEMBERS

If you are interested in joining Bethany Lutheran Church by transfer or

other means, please contact Pastor Jerry at 712-841-2181 or 712-841-

2532 so arrangements may be set-up and discussed.

Sam Van Berkum, Javier Allavero, Gary

Hopkins & family, Pastor Jerry & Nancy, Paula Turner & Dr. Arden Keune. Our youth, parents & teachers, our school, our military &

missionaries.

Spaghetti Dinner: 90 people were served with $737.96 of profit

made! A huge thank you for the many, many generous donations

of food and cash. A special thank you to Shirley Kruse for the

roaster of spaghetti sauce and the bread; Sheldon Bieri for furnishing the pasta

and Dorothy Sandvig for 14 pounds of hamburger. Thank you to all of the willing

workers who worked before and after the dinner We could not have done this

meal without the help of each person who donated, worked and/or attended,

THANK YOU! The Growth & Sharing Committee

Thank you:

**Thank you to the following people who have been very willing to help out with the

services for the past month or so: Margaret Nomann, Pat Alexander, Shirley Kruse,

Linda Galbraith, Bill Alexander, Sheldon Bieri, Rich Ehlers, and Tom Anderson. Thank

you to Pat Alexander for all her work at lining up these members each and every Sun-

day to help out. Bethany is very blessed!

**Thank you to Shirley McKiernan, Rich & Marilyn Ehlers, Tom Anderson, Jim Hodgell,

John & Linda Galbraith, Bill Alexander, and Sheldon Bieri for attending and representing

Bethany at the NALC Iowa Mission District Convocation at Zion Lutheran Church in

Readlyn, IA on Saturday, September 19th. We appreciate Rich & Marilyn Ehlers being

willing to be our voting delegates for this convocation.

**Thank you to our Missionary, Patricia Bentsen, for coming and sharing her experi-

ences in Madagascar with Bethany. Thank you to John & Linda Galbraith for opening

their home for a place for her to stay .

Laurens Area Youth Group Mission Trip Presentation!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015 ~ 7:00 p.m.

At the Laurens Public Library

Please come & hear/support our community area youth’s

Oklahoma Mission Trip!

Laurens Area Youth Group Trunk or Treat Event!!!

Saturday, October 31st from 5:00-6:15 PM

At the Laurens United Methodist Church Parking Lot

.

UNIQUE GIFT IDEA # 2!!

A 125th Bethany 2016 Calendar which will be

available in early fall.

Plan now to purchase one or several calendars for yourself, family, and friends.

The committee STRIVED for this calen-

dar to be pleasing to God and to be your

special remembrance church calendar!

We continue to need your support of this

project. Any donations given toward the

printing expenses of this calendar will be

appreciated. Donations may be given to a

committee member. The profits from

this project will be used toward the June

12, 2016 catered meal expenses. Please

see Elaine Anderson, Shirley Kruse, Gail

Olson, or Shirley Pedersen to purchase or

donate.

IMPORTANT ~ BETHANY’S DEBT

The amount of what is owed to the

Farm Account is $13,512.81 If you have

not responded yet, please consider do-

ing it soon. Let us try to get this debt

eliminated. Your support is appreciat-

ed both financially and with your con-

tinued prayers. Bethany Lutheran

Church Council

COFFEE WITH PASOR

Stop in the fellowship hall at Bethany Lu-theran Tuesday mornings from 10-11 am for coffee, other refreshments, and conver-sation

IOWA MISSION DISTRICT

NEWLETTER

There is always one copy available

in the fellowship hall for anyone to

read.

Laurens Community Area Youth

Group

At Bethany for October ~ 6:00-8:00 PM

October 4th – Junior High

October 11th – High School

October 18th – Junior High

October 25th – High School

ALL youth grades 6th-12th are welcome to join

the Youth Group!

You do NOT need to be a member of any church

to join.

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*******

Members of Bethany…since Bethany is hosting

this month for the youth group…please volun-

teer to help one Sunday evening. Contact

Linda Bieri if you can help out with snacks

or volunteering.

********************************************

*******

If you are interested in joining the Laurens

Area Community Youth Group BOARD, please

contact Autumm Brazel at 712-841-4476

Caring Lunches Program: Community members in the

towns of Laurens & Marathon have made donations in

order to provide a free sack lunch to any child (age 0-18

yrs.) every Saturday. This program has been extend-

ed through October 31st! These sack lunches will be

available at the public library in both towns from

11:00 AM -1:00 PM. Child must pick up his or her

own sack lunch. NO adults please.

Laurens Food Pantry Dona-

tions: The following items are

needed the most: cereal,

macaroni, spaghetti, noodles,

spaghetti sauce, tuna, boxed

macaroni & cheese, peanut

butter, jam or jelly, boxed din-

ners, pancake mix, syrup, ketchup, soups,

laundry soap, shampoo, bars of soap, canned

fruit, flour, sugar. NO canned vegetables are

needed at this time. Cash donations are also

very much appreciated. Please make sure

that the products you donate have not ex-

pired and put the items in the shopping

cart located under the stairs in the Educa-

tional Unit of the Laurens United Methodist

Church. Thank you for your generosity and

continued support!

SECRETARY’S HOURS

Tuesday & Friday: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m

E-MAIL ADDRESSES

Bethany would like to encourage members to send their email addresses, if you have not already done so. The goal is to have a directory of email addresses on the computer at church so that we can start sending the Banner and/or any other communication through email. Bethany’s email: bethanynalc@laurens-ia.com.

Bridal Shower honoring

Shelby Woods & Caleb Jamison

Please join us for a Come & Go Bridal Shower in

honor of Shelby Woods

When: Saturday, October 17, 2015

From: 9 a.m.-11 a.m.

Where: Cornerstone Room, West Iowa Bank

202 West Main St. ~ Laurens, Iowa

Couple is registered at Heart ‘N Home in Lau-

rens, Macys and Target.

125TH Anniversary Celebration!

Catered Meal & share memories of

Bethany in Christian Fellowship

UNIQUE GIFT IDEA # 1!

Can only be purchased here from

Bethany!

White tablet (50 pg.) with a

church history fact on each page.

Cost is $3 each. If you buy 4 or

more, cost is $2.50 each.

This is a fund-raiser for our 125th

Celebration.

See Pat Boughey, Sheldon Bieri, or

Shirley McKiernan to purchase

Congratulations to the seniors who are on the 2015 Homecoming Court

Rhianna Aschenbrenner, Destini Oehlertz, Cait-

lin Rohrbaugh, Kurtis Conlin, Brandon Litwiller,

and Nick Zurek.

NALC NEWSLETTER

Each month the NALC Newsletter has many interesting articles. There is always one copy of the newsletter posted in the fellowship hall for anyone to read or you may go to the newsletter online at www.thenalc.org for the current edition.

OCTOBER WORSHIP TIMES

Sunday, October 4, 2015

9:00 AM SS & Confirmation ~ 9:15 AM Coffee Fellowship ~ 10:30 AM Worship w/Communion ~

2:00 PM Fall Pet Blessing ~ 4:00 PM Laurens Care Center Service ~ 6:00 PM Laurens Area

Youth (JH) at BLC

Sunday, October 11, 2015

9:00 AM SS & Confirmation ~ 9:15 AM Coffee Fellowship ~ 10:30 AM Worship ~ 6:00 PM Laurens

Area Youth (HS) at BLC

Sunday, October 18, 2015 ~ Potluck Sunday

9:00 AM SS & Confirmation ~ 9:15 AM Coffee Fellowship ~ 10:30 AM Worship w/Communion,

Stewardship Temple Talk, SS skit & song ~ 11:30 AM Potluck ~

6:00 PM Laurens Area Youth (JH) at BLC

Sunday, October 25, 2015 ~ Reformation Sunday

ELECTION DAY SOUP SUPPER

Tuesday, November 3rd will be our Election Day Soup Supper. There will be a sign-up poster in

the narthex or calls will be made soon for food donations and volunteer help. We are blessed to

have had wonderful volunteer help all these years, so please say YES again to volunteering for

this event as we need and appreciate EVERYONE’S help!!! Thank you!

Ushers:

4—Robert & Arlene Edge

11—Ken & Pat Boughey

18—Jim 7 Denise Hodgell

25—Ken & Donna Sindergard

Greeters:

4—Dorothy Sandvig

11—Rich & Marilyn Ehlers

18—Colleen Phillips

25—Dean & Eloise Armstrong

October Birthdays

1—Laura Beth Latham

2—Denise Hodgell

5—Dwayne Peterson

7—Tammy Oxenreider

Jason Gustafson

8—Michael Arends

10—Bertha Olson

17—Jessica Baumeister

19—Hannah Runneberg

20—Elaine Anderson

Ryan Hudson

26—Theresa Sandvig

28—Steve Roberts

Acolytes:

Bethany Youth Members

SIMPLY GIVING

Simply Giving is a new automated giving program from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans. It’s designed to help you conveniently, consistently, and joyfully give finan-cial gifts to our congregation’s ministry. By participating in Simply Giving, you can use electronic funds transfer to give your weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly offering to our congregation. To learn how you can participate in Simply Giving, contact: Rich Ehlers - 712-845-2269. Let Simply Giving help you build better stewardship by turning a simple choice into a generous response.

Fellowship:

Don & Shirley Kruse, Chair

Colleen Phillips

Tom & Elaine Anderson

Altar Guild

Nancy Wittmus

Becky Baker

Anniversaries

11—Curtis & Lori Hudson

13—Julian & MacKenzie

Johnsen

18—Tammy & Tom Oxenreider

.