Rev. Dr. Okitakoyi

Michel Lundula Pastor

901 3rd AVE SE Le Mars, IA 51031

Phone: 712-546-4037

Fax: 712-546-5771 office@lemarsumchurch.org

Office Hours

8:30 am—4:30 pm Monday - Friday

Prayer Chain

Connect with our prayer chain by e-mailing or

calling the church office or calling Mary Laughton

at 562-6584

laughmg@frontier.com

Change of Address?

Please let us know by e-mail or phone at the

church office office@lemarsumchurch.org

546-4037 Website:

www.lemarsumchurch.org

September 2018

United Methodist Church of Le Mars

“Transforming Hearts, Minds, and Lives

by the Gracious Love of Christ”

The story of Moses and the people of Israel is one of the most familiar stories in the Bible. This story has many lessons that can inspire our postmodern Christian Church. As we look forward to starting all our church activities this month, there is one aspect that I found interesting and also inspiring; the passion of Moses to take with him ALL God’s people to the Promised Land. After many trips to Pharaoh’s place to ask for permission to lead God’s people to the Promised Land, the time came that Pharaoh asked, “Moses who are to go with you?” Moses’ answer reflected his passion and love for all God’s people regardless of their age or gender, and even social classes. He said: “We will go with our young and our old; we will go with our sons and daughters and with our flocks and herds, because we have the Lord’s festival to celebrate.” (Exodus 10: 8-9 NRSV). Friends, as we start the month of September, I would like us to be inspired by Moses’ attitude and passion for ALL. As a community of faith, our passion is to care for one another in the Body of Christ and make sure we have all our men and women, children and youth on board. Our strength as the church is based on our connection and participation in the life of the church. I would like to invite you to be part of this journey by participating or getting involved in different activities and ministries of the church such as Bible Study, Prayer Ministry, Children & Youth ministry, UMCL choir, Bell Choir, Children’s Choir, Praise Team, Outreach Ministry, Tech Team, UMW, 2 by 2 Visitations, etc. May the Lord we serve together continue to bless us as we follow Moses’ example to care and journey with ALL toward the Promised Land to celebrate the Festival of the Lord. To God be the glory. In Christ, Pastor Lundula

“Taking All with Us”

September 2018 Page 2

PRAYER WALL

September Prayer

Our new prayer wall will help us to engage in prayer for ourselves and help others beyond our Congregation. Please visit the Prayer Wall in the south entrance of the church and find prayers for hope, healing, addictions and so many more words of encouragement and support.

2018-2019 Youth & Children Ministry

Our Heavenly Father, hear us as we pray

for our Lay Leadership Team as they help

the Church Family to identify their call from

God offering up their leadership gifts and

service. God of wisdom, we give to you our

new school year; all the students, teachers,

and staff. We pray our school would be a

place of great discovery, adventure and

creativity. May it be a place where we love

to learn and where we learn to love. A

place where everyone is respected and all

are deeply valued. Lord, we give you all the

praise and glory. We pray this in Jesus’

name. Amen

All the activities for Youth & Children will start on September 12. Our Leaders: KIDS FOR CHRIST (Preschool—5th Grade) Sharon Pratt Joan Smith Volunteers: Parents BLAST April Leusink Curt Allen Lori Kasel Volunteers: Parents CONFIRMATION Pastor Lundula Angie Haack Volunteers: Parents, Mentors JOURNEY Jay Jensen Joshua Parkin Tracy Sullivan Volunteers: Parents CAMP ACTIVITIES Diane Hodson Barb Johnson

New Bible Study Begins on Sept. 9

Bible Study will begin Sept. 9 at 8:30a

in Meeting Room by Church Offices.

Come join us as we bring the Bible to

life with Les Feldick’s “Through the

Bible.”

September 2018 Page 3

We are committed to

support you on your journey of faith through

UMCL. If you would like

to join other friends who have requested to confirm their membership, please

contact Pastor Lundula at 712-546-4037 or 712-539-

1457 or email revlundula@gmail.com. We will have

our membership class in October.

Men’s Fun Night

We would like to invite all our UMCL Men to join us on Sat. Sept. 15, to watch Nick Peters race at Jefferson, SD. Let’s go support the Peters Racing Team! Please sign up in the Fellowship Hall. Adults : $18, Seniors: 70 up $10, Children: 6-16 $5, under 6 : Free Meet at the church at 5:30p to travel to Park Jefferson. Then caravan to the event.

Thank You

Thank you so much to all who volunteered to help on Sunday Aug. 26 at Life Light

Festival . May God bless you.

A Weekend to Remember! (By Family Life Ministry)

Because we value families and relationships, I would like to invite you all to join together on Sunday Sep. 16 during the Fellowship Time for a special presentation on A Weekend to

Remember by Terry and Shelley Dolieslager, the representative of Family Life Ministry in Sioux Land area.

If you need more details about this family program, contact Pastor Lundula or feel free to take a brochure in

the Fellowship Hall.

There is a 50% discount for UMCL Family if you register between Sept. 4 -24

Call the Church Office or Pastor Lundula for more details

or to Register.

Thank You

Special thanks to the Board of Trustees and all who volunteered to help trim trees at the

Parsonage on Saturday Aug. 25.

We really appreciate your love and care.

Pastor Lundula & Family

September 2018 Page 4

2018 2017

January 123 112

February 115 134

March 127 128

April 147 186

May 110 101

June 90 92

July 70 81

August 119 116

Average Weekly Attendance at Worship

UMW Missions Dinner Thurs. Oct. 11 @ 6:00 pm

2018-2019 Confirmation Program

First Fun Night for Confirmation Students will be on Wed. Sept. 5 at 5:30p at Pizza Ranch. All the 8

th grade

students who haven’t been confirmed are welcome.

UMCL July Financials

Income General Fund $ 20,983

Expenses General Fund $ 16,767

FIF Contributions $ 4,566

FIF Expenses $ 25,290

UMW “Skip Day”

All ladies of the Church are invited

Fri. Sep. 28 for a trip to Sioux

Falls! We meet at UMCL at

8:30am and tour two charity

organizations, lunch and home!

Sign-up sheet in FH.

UMW Circles & Executive Board

Wed. Sept. 12—9:30am Peace Circle Hostess & Program—Pat Wingert

Thurs. Sept. 13—1:30pm Esther Circle

Hostess—Donna Hoey Program—Donna Carter

Thurs. Sept. 13—7:15pm Priscilla Circle

Hostess & Program—Carol Willer

UMW Executive Board Mon. Sept. 24—9:30am

UMW Rummage

& Bake Sale

Thank you everyone who donated items and their time to help with the sale!

Remaining items were distributed to:

Plymouth County Museum

Zesto’s Shepherd’s Closet

Jim’s Helping Hands

Goodwill

Everyone is invited to this Fall’s Mission Dinner in Fellowship Hall!

UMW will be hosting this event and our guest speaker is a Red Cross Repre-

sentative who will speak to us about the logistics of responding to disasters of al

types.

Please join us for dinner and learn more about the Red Cross.

Dear UMCL:

Thank you for paying for my camp and giving me a wonderful experience. I

made some amazing friends and memories. I will never forget . I am so

excited for next year!

Love, MacKenzie Hamilton

September 2018 Page 7

Dear Pastor Lundula & Congregation:

On behalf of the Fair Board and myself, I want to thank all of you for assisting with the church services Sunday at the County Fair. It was a

beautiful day for all people to worship together.

The offering for the Ministerial Association was $554.50. Again, thank you for your message of

compassion and all who helped with the service.

Friends in Christ,

Deb Baldwin

Dear UMCL:

. . . My son Jakob received a camp

scholarship for teen week at the Okoboji site. I want to sincerely thank you and also let you know Jakob was a Junior Staff for 2 camp weeks as well. He loves it and has friends

there. Thank you for giving him hope in himself and providing him opportunities to

give back.

Susan Fairweather Mom of Jakob Bixenman

Thank You!

I had a great time at Church Camp!

My favorite part was playing

Gah-Gah Ball.

Thank you,

Brisa Garcilazo

Thank You from Gideons

Pastor Lundula, I was able to stop by the church and restocked your Gideon Card Rack (in Fellowship Hall). We thank each of you for

making use of the program to provide Scripture for others to know or grow their faith in

Jesus Christ.

And thank you for the UMCL’s donation and Service Day offering of $190.00. These funds

will be divided to 35% local and 65% to global outreach.

Duane Vander Plaas

Text Alerts

UMCL is now set up online with Le Mars Daily Sentinel to notify us of cancellations due to

weather conditions.

Would you like to sign-up to receive a text?

Please go to:

www.lemarssentinel.com Click “Menu” upper left corner

Click “Text Alerts” from list Follow steps to choose alerts