.....The year in pictures, 2023.....

           

  

All Youth Gathering at Cragen's - Great time for all - November 17 & 18, 2023

Congradulatios to Pastor Josh Blair!  He is the winner of the beautiful quilt made and donated by Ann Mans.  Thank you to all who supported the Youth Program - November 16, 2023

     

Faith in Action youth, packed 65 shoe boxes tonight for "Operation

Christmas Child" - November 8,2023

 

  

Reformation Sunday - Confirmation Sunday - Blessings on your walk of faith (Owen J., Nolan S., Kieran T., Riley S., Blake B.) with Youth Director Mindy J. and Interim Pastor Steve - October 26, 2023

 

            

   

AGAPE (Dave) and Joe the Poet were at our church First Lutheran last night, for our Wednesday evening service. All enjoyed the rapping, stories told and preaching...Lots of singing and dancing by ALL! Great time.

 

 

 

   

 

 

Faith in Action tonight ... Pumpkins & Bible night.  Thank you Richard & Pat and Betsy

for the pumpkins! - October 11, 2023

 

It is ALL beginning AGAIN!  Our Faith in Action Kids and Confirmation Youth enjoying their meal before class begins, for the 2023-2024 school year - September 27, 2023

 

   

 

Feed my Starving Chirldren service project; packed 55 boxes, 31, 680 meals - Then on to Valley Fair, for fun fellowship! - September 23, 2023

 

 

 

 

Faith in Action, beginning with a fun time for the 2023-2024 year - September 20, 2023

 

  

 

         

     

     

Fun, Fall Fellowship painting!  There were bottles, jars and cans to paint.  Some creative artprojects!   We had pizza, salad, veggies & dip, popcorn, etc.  Keep an eye out for next months project - always a fun time! - September 18, 2023

  

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Beautiful weather for God's Work, Our Hands Day and Camp Day at St. Croix Park.  Over 100 kits were made for Lutheran World Relief, some park clean-up, also a thank you to Sue, for the meal for "A Place For You!"  Thank you to ALL who joined in today.  - Sunday, September 10, 2023

These young boys had a lemonade stand going during the garage sale, with money going to WELCA..thank you boys - August 18, 2023

Puerto Rico, Mission Trip: - July 15-22, 2023

OVERVIEW of our Mission Trip.....

I can’t believe the week is over already! It went by so fast. We all got this amazing experience to fly on a plane, and travel across the ocean to serve in Puerto Rico. And it exceeded our expectations! We started off the week by having time to chill at our resort. We swam by the pool, got in the ocean (Mindy forced us to), and had a wonderful time basking in the sun. And we didn’t even get burnt, that bad… Then we headed off to the church we would be staying at for the next several days, and met our amazing youth works staff. And they truly were amazing! They were a great combination of funny, relatable, strong minded, and great leaders and disciples in their faith! We went to bed, and surprise surprise, we got bad sleep, once again, but at least we got a mattress. We woke up the next morning, and went to work at our service site. The whole entire week we would be serving at a church, and helping them clean/paint as well as get that Church prepared for future missions trips in different places around the world as well as Puerto Rico itself. At the church, we met Pastor Frank and another community member, Coco. They were wonderful! Each day they told us stories and spent hours talking to us! And yes we had work too. The work we had there throughout the week was that we had to box some things, go through shoes and medicine that were being donated to Cuba, as well as painting and scraping the walls. However, what I learned from my time at that church was that you can do as much work as you can, and sweat like there is no tomorrow, but if you don’t have a personal relationship with the people you are serving for, than what’s the point? Puerto Rico is a very community based place. Besides the driving, which was very very crazy, everyone there was ready to help anyone, whenever they needed. Pastor Frank and Coco didn’t care if we only boxed one box or if we boxed one hundred. They truly just wanted to get to know us, and invite us to be a part of their community and family. Pastor Frank was even working with us, with a smile on his face, the day his dad died! He was so strong in his faith that he knew he was going to heaven, and he celebrated because he was being sent to a greater place and lived a wonderful life of faith. Relational ministry is what our staff called it. Like I said, it wasn’t about what we did. It was about how we reacted and shared stories with each other that truly mattered. Yes we still did a lot of work, but the personal connections that you need to make was the main thing that I learned from this experience. Throughout the week we also go to salsa, see Old San Juan, got to the ocean, and have community ice cream with the church we stayed at. We learned from little kids from the community that dominoes aren’t just for stacking, and making them fall. There is actually a game you can play, using numbers! Crazy, right? On our final night, we had the foot washing, and it was very emotional! That was another bonding experience, that none of us will ever forget. Sadly the next morning, we had to say good bye to the people we had met, as well as the youth works staff. It was really hard. This staff makes me want to do what they do, and give the youth an opportunity to experience these amazing trips! Just because of them, I am considering becoming a youth works staff member when I am of age, just like them. I loved Puerto Rico! Yes it was hot, and yes we had to sleep on uncomfortable mattress’s on the floor, but I loved it, nonetheless. It’s crazy but after each mission trip, I keep learning new things. I’m glad we went to this amazing community, and got to experience different forms of service work/ministry! It’s about both the hard work, and the personal connections made! I can’t wait to find out what I’ll learn next year! Thank you for always supporting the youth in the church! -Matt Masterson

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Day 7 in Puerto Rico- 

We woke up very early and packed our bags. Helping sit on each others suitcases to zip them up full of messy clothes from painting and souvenirs from our trip. We had a quick breakfast and blessing. Saying goodbye to the youth works staff was the hardest part knowing the strong connections we had made with one another. The joy and laughter we shared together truly was unforgettable. We squeezed into our tiny little cars with suitcases on our laps. After a quick luggage drop off we prepared for the rainforest. It took an hour drive to reach a beautiful rainforest full of refreshing swimming holes. Everyone spent some time exploring in the rainforest. After a great adventure and meal we journeyed back to the hotel for the night before we fly out tomorrow. We felt very grateful for everything we experienced in Puerto Rico. We learned a lot about all the things we take for granted and I thank God for our full bellies and warm beds as we laughed and made more memories that night. 

Corrina Tvedt

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Day 5 in Puerto Rico ……..

Hello, my name is Kenna. Today the girls in our group and I had breakfast prep where we get breakfast and lunch ready for everyone we are with, we had to wake up early mind you. After we ate and packed lunches we started our devotions which we did differently today because instead of doing them individually we did them in small groups which was really helpful and fun. Closing our devotions with prayers we went to our work site to meet with Pastor Frank who we have been working with all week and we met Pastor Candy who was very sweet. As always we started off the day discussing and praying before we got to work. The work today for three other youth and I included scraping off wall paper, “frosting”( fluffy stuff you put on the wall to fill holes and cracks to prep it for painting ) the walls, and painting. Which thanks to Matt playing Hamilton music, all this work went by very quickly. Before leaving the church Pastor Frank took us to a cute little coffee shop near the church we were working at as a little treat to brighten our day. He is such a sweet guy. Once we finished our delicious drinks we went back to the church we are staying at to change for the beach!!!! The beach was so much fun. The water was warm and the view was amazing giving us a clear view of Gods world. Unfortunately we had to leave the paradise to go back to the church but there was food and showers there so it was okay. For dinner we had pizza and cookies and salad (because apparently we need vegetables, don’t know what that’s about) which was very yummy. Feeling reenergized we started worship which was going great until the power went out but it was still lots of fun and jokes going around with everyone. We finished worship with the help of a back up generator and finished our night with family time where we reflected on our day and said our prayers for the night. I saw God when the power went out and instead of letting it ruin our night God gave us just a little bit of power to make great memories and allowed us to continue learning more about him. Thank you so much for reading about my day and supporting what we are doing here because without you we would not be able to have these experience to help others and grow more as people and in our faith.                All my love, Kenna Johnson.

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Day 4 in Puerto Rico 

Today was one of the best so far. It was a bit cloudy so that we were not burning. The girl group made breakfast a bit before 6:45. Once we were fed it was fine for service work. We worked with the same pastor and members from yesterday. Frank (the pastor) and Coco (a member) were extremely nice. Although we had a language barrier it was amazing to talk to them and learn about their faith. Once we were done at their church we got to take a little trip to a beautiful coffee place. Chickens were running around ( I LOVE chickens) and the scenery was amazing. We even got to stop at McDonald’s to grab a coke for Tim Dog. Taco Tuesday was a hit but we were hit with a power outage while getting ready to eat. This is very very common in Puerto Rico since hurricane Maria. Once we got the lights back on we were ready to dance. We did the salsa, Cupid shuffle, and many other dances that I was pretty bad at. A volunteer from their church came in to teach of the dances and to pray with us. Later that night we had a church service and mingled with the other church group from Florida. It was a great day, I wouldn’t trade it for the world!

-Bella Ziegler 

Today was a great day at our worksite! Today we scraped wallpaper off of walls to prep for painting the wall, and clearing off walls of to prep for other mission trip groups to stay. While we were working we had little Spanish lessons and worked on some simple words like Qúe Pasà Mé Amigós Means what's happening my friends, when you are talking to a male you and you say Mi Amigo, Mi amigo is what you say towards me. And mi Amiga is meant towards women. We visited a coffee shop on Tuesday and the views from it were so cool and just refreshing. It’s a plantation where they grow and harvest coffee from beginning to end. There are wild chickens all around here and it is so cool to just see them running around.Monday we walked around old San Juan and went to a couple shops, saw some statues, a military fort and saw parrots which was really cool and I had wanted to see them since we got out of the car at the church and seen them fly over us! The driving in Peurto Rico is very hectic and crowded, No one stops anywhere, you have to be very cautious while driving! Tuesday, Today I saw God working with us when we were all working together and then we would laugh and just had a great day! I cant wait to see what else we do and see! - Owen

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Hello! Day 3 in Puerto Rico- 

We woke up and nobody really had very good night sleep, we were all very cold - thankful we have air conditioning but it works too well. We went to the church we are serving at and planned on painting but it rained so instead we packed shoes and kits for people in Cuba, Haiti , and Columbia. The Pastor working with us has a connection to Minneapolis and is planning on retiring there because he loves our cold winter! Once we finished service we went back to our home church and we got ready to go to old San Juan. Old San Juan was very cool as it’s a style of architecture we are not accustomed to. Our leader went through the history of the base and it was very interesting. When we got back after the tour we ate an authentic Puerto rican meal consisting of rice, pork, onions, potatoes, and sauce. I had a very nice nap and woke up not being able to tell if it was morning or the same day. It ended up being the same day and we all went up for gathering where we sang songs and reflected at the lesson. It was a great day and I learned a lot - Kieran Tvedt 

Today in our devotions we talked about love and how you should love your neighbors as ourself then we went out to our service site which took us a long time to find it on small one way streets but when we did they were so nice and they talked to us about what goes on around and in the church and the Pastor there was so nice we asked so many questions and he could answer them and he was not afraid to tell us about his family and his dad that is in the hospital that really got me in the feels and how much he loves his family and how successful his daughters are. We were working hard and Matt and I went to help him in the office with termites that were eating the wood, so we got to break down and get our rage out and hammer and tear down a shelf and a desk - I have not seen Matt so happy He said it was his favorite service project. There was a few church volunteers working with us and the lady that was there did not speak English well but she still wanted to talk to us and make us coffee and we could not say no to because it’s offensive to their culture and they offered my Dad coffee he does not like coffee but he even drank some. They were so nice to us even though we just met them, their culture is very warm and welcoming. We were supposed to paint but the weather is very unpredictable here so we organized shoes and medical supplies for people in Cuba and we got to help bag up suitcases with stuff they need and some other people folded clothes to go in the suitcases so I am so happy that we got a good service site and happy they appreciated our hard work we did there today. It was a great day of service, worship and learning in San Juan 

Thank you for supporting our trip and all we do, our church family means so much!

Lainey J

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Day 2 from Puerto Rico 

Amy's reflection for Sunday-

Today was our fellowship and travel day… I would look over and all the kids were in a circle talking and laughing. I love the amazing relationships they have all formed through their love for Jesus. There is a bond there that is so special and unique of our other relationships. We rented a kayak, swam, laughed, and swam some more. We drove quite a ways to our home for the week, a church in San Juan. We were welcomed by a fun excited group of Youth Works Leaders and I know it's going to be a great week! We worshiped, shared, laughed and learned a little Spanish along with Puerto Rican culture. There is no hot water in our building nor in most homes here. Water limited and we have to be very conservative with the resources. We are just starting off, and I am so excited to be a part of our kids growth in faith, loving and serving God and our neighbors here on earth. I know I'm already learning and growing myself.

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Off to Puerto Rico .. excited to serve ------------- 

 

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Vacation Bible School,  2023 .. Rocky Railway .. Jesus's power pulls us through! - June 19-22, 2023

 

Gavin & Delaney Olson, were not able to make it to the graduation worship service on May 21st - so, they were presented with their quilts today ... and they LOVED them.  Once again, thank you to the quilters for sending the graduates off, wrapped in blessings and love - June 17, 2023

   

Luther Point

   

Camp Vermillion

We had Day Camp, at Luther Point Bible Camp (12-16th) and LYO leadership, at Camp

Vermillion (11-14th), this week -- Thank you to ALL who support

camp ministry - June 11-16, 2023

  

  

  

The "Dream Team," has been getting ready for Vacational Bible School.  Come aboard and "ride"

with us, on the Rocky Railway!  June 19th-22nd.  Hope to see you ALL there!  Lessons, food, fun

and games! - June 14, 2023

 

 

 

 

Vacation Bible School decorating team, has been hard at work!  Mark your calendars for VBS on June 19-22nd, from 5-7:30 PM.  If you can volunteer to help, please let us know. - June 7, 2023

                 

Love, serve, share.  Mission Trip to Twin Cities ... for 7th through

12th graders - June 4-6th, 2023

   

Congratulations .. Alyssa, Bryan, Mykenna, Evelyn, Payton, Dana, Adam, Delany, Gavin, Libby, Mac, Corinna and Isabella!  Our FLC, 2023 Graduates.  Grauduation Sunday, with the wrapping of the quilts, to symbolize God's love and the youth's church family.  Thank you to the women, that made these beautiful quilts - Sunday, May 21, 2023. 

 

 

The Youth Group kids did a GREAT job cleaning things up, at both Rosehill and Lutheran

Memorial Cemeteries - May 17, 2023.

 

 

 

 

WELCA's Friendship Tea Day - Great message, great food, great music, great readings, great fellowship ... Simply GREAT!! - May 7, 2023

 

   

Faith in Action ended the year with a closing program that included songs, skits, certificates and thank you gifts for our amazing, dedicated leaders.  We had a GREAT year and are so excited for VBS and CAMP this summer! - May 3, 2023

On behalf of ALL of you, I just accepted the LSS Servant of Christ Award at the NE MN Synod Assembly!  Congratulations!  Pastor Steve

"We make it a mission, to really work to be the hands and feet of Christ." - April 29, 2023

 

 

Chilly, but fun Twins game (Church and Family Outing) - April 23, 2023

  

Church family, had fun at Colton Dixon Concert in Mora.  It was the "Build the Boat" tour ... Inspiring stories, music and some great people. - April 15, 2023

  

 

Devin Mulder received his graduation quilt early, because he leaves for the military this weekend.  The congregation surrounded Devon and his friend Jeremiah, (who also is leaving this weekend for military) in prayers and blessings. 

Congradulations and blessings Devon! - April 12, 2023

 

  

Good Friday - Youth did the Stations of the Cross, for Worship (beautiful job) - April 7, 2023

 

(Children's Chat, with Pastor Steve)

Palm Sunday - Hosanna! Our youth participated in our service by waving their palms - April 2, 2023

 

 

 

Faith in Action youth finished up their last lessons on Moses and prepped for Palm Sunday Sunday and Holy Week - March 29, 2023

 

 

   

CARDIA DEO 2023, "Gathered" is a wrap.  Thank you to all of the dedicated adult and youth leaders, for all of your hard work for our 9th through 12th grade students

throghout the NE MN SYNOD - March 18, 2023

 

 

Quilters working here at FLC, making quilts for Lutheran World Relief.  They meet the 2nd Thursday of the month at 9:30 AM.  If you have NO experience, or you have 40 YEARS experience, ALL are welcome!  Contact Elaine Jensen or Lois Kunze. - March 9, 2023

 

 

Fun time at Wild Mountain, Taylor's Falls ... skiing and tubing, for church family

time - February 18, 2023

 

 

Our Youth Director Mindy, was blessed to be at the ELCA Youth Ministry Network Extravaganza, in CA  (what a powerful learning, wonderful, inspiring time) ... Joe Davis, is the 2023 recipient of the Tommy Award: the Tom Hunstad Award for excellence in children, youth and family in the ELCA.  We give thanks for his faithful ministry, his artisty, the way he speaks the truth to power, and the impact he has made across the church. - February 1 - 7, 2023. 

 

  

 

 

Beautiful night sledding and ice skating, with the FiA youth.  Thank you to ALL of the volunteers!

January 25, 2023

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

 

No school on Monday, so Youth packed health kits for Lutheran World Relief and then packed meals at Feed My Starving Children.  We ended the day of service, with some fun and food;  pizza and trampolines at Sky Zone - January 23, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Catherie Anderson, for joining us and leading our youth tonight.  Your gift and ministry, are priceless.  We are so blessed by your ministry.  Epiphany night at FiA ... great night with some awesome youth and leaders. - January 18, 2023

 

 

 

 

  

Finally able to have our Faith in Action and Youth Group Christmas Party (it was cancelled twice, due to weather).  So thankful for all the families and volunteers, that fill our church with faith, fun and love every Wednesday evening! - January 11, 2023

 

  

 

 

 

 

Wilds Game - Fun Church Family and Friends Event - also dropped off a meal to

A Place For You - January 8, 2023

 

 

 

Happy New Year ...  Receive and share this New Year's Blessing! - Janaury 1, 2023