From Pastor Thomas’ Desk

Groton/Conde ParishesOctober 2015

United MethodistMessenger

Greeting Friends,This past week as I was preparing for

youth group the scripture for discussion wasGenesis 1:1-30. As I was reading, Genesis1:29-30 really stuck out.

And God said, “Behold, I have given youevery plant yielding seed that is on the face of allthe earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.You shall have them for food. And to every beastof the earth and to every bird of the heavensand to everything that creeps on the earth, eve-rything that has the breath of life, I have givenevery green plant for food.” And it was so.

I could not help but think about all thechanges happening around us. As I look outmy office window, I’m reminded that fall isright around the corner. This is my favoriteseason because as I look around at thechanging of the trees I am reminded of God’sgreat creation! It also means, it is time tobust out the hot chocolate and apple cider.Then, I began to think of all the farmers fromGroton and Conde that are in the field thistime of year and are working long hours. Myheart-felt prayer is for God to bless ourfarmers with a great year and be with their

families as they work hard harvesting.Then, thinking about fall and the church,

I was reminded that charge conference isright around the corner on November 7th at1pm in Groton. This is the time of year formeetings as we will be making nominationsfor the next year’s committees. I’m lookingforward to chatting with some of you aboutserving on these committees. This is a greatway for you to help serve in various areas ofour church family.

We have some fun and exciting thingsplanned for the children in and aroundGroton. We will begin with Kid’s Zonewhich will start October 14th and continueevery other week from 6-7pm. We will havea brief bible lesson follow by some games.This is open to Preschool through 5th grade.This is also a great way for the children tobegin to know their pastor and encouragethem to be involved with our Middle Schooland eventually High School youth groups.

Our youth group is well under way. Theyouth gathered and began painting and deco-rating their rooms. We have moved youthgroup to Sunday evening from 6-8 pm which

has draw some new faces. The Jr.UMYF and the Sr. UMYF have decidedto come up with a new name for theiryouth groups. The Jr. UMYF will becalled the “Super’ciples” and the Sr.UMYF will be called “God Squad”.May God richly bless you today!

Pastor Thomas

Church Information

Pastor Thomas CarlsonOffice Phone

605-397-8270Cell Phone

605-277-8448Pastor Email

pastorthomas@nvc.net

Secretary Emailgrotonumc@nvc.net

websitegrotonumc.org

906 N 1st StGroton, SD 57445

October 11

Is Pastor

Appreciation

Sunday

Page 2 United Methodist Messenger

Blessings Shower duringcoffee hour on October 4for Nolan James Rose.Nolan was born April 3to Karen & Ian Rose andRylie and Graham.

Groton Blessings Shower

Audrey Padfield & Gene Prunty in the pa-rade for Golden Living Center Royalty

Pastor Thomas’ScheduleMonday

in office 10 am - 2 pmTuesday

working on sermonWednesday

in office 2 pm - 3:30 pmThursday

available by appt 10 am - 5 pmFriday and Saturday - Days OffEmergency Calls 24/7

President Jolene Townsend opened themeeting by inviting everyone recite theUMW Purpose.

Jolene then turned the program over toChris Nyberg who gave a program entitled“The Journey”. She had each women fill outdifferent index cards for each phase of theirchurch life/journey from childhood, youngadults, and now as adults. The women re-called memories of their church buildings,pastors, youth groups, adult interactions,etc.

Pastor Thomas then shared new andexciting activities for our church and com-munity youth that have been happening andare planned in the near future.

The formal business meeting followedwith Treasurer Jeanne Wanous reviewingthe current financial report. Our currentbalance is $1175.94. She reported that therecent No-Bake Bake Sale was a successwith proceeds of $250. Other businessincluded a decision not to purchase newReading Program books for 2016 as therehaven’t been enough women participating.

Women were encouraged to renew theirreading activities for 2016.

Yvonne Lange noted that it was time torenew our subscription for the Responsemagazine. A sign-up sheet for being hostess& giving programs for 2016 was passedaround. A decision on holding July & Au-gust meetings was tabled for the executivecommittee to discuss. The group decidedto support the youth Halloween Trunk orTreat event by hosting a car. Other upcom-ing events the UMW will support are mak-ing taco meat & wrapping bars for the youthfood sale at the Vendor Blender, and con-tinuing to help prepare & serve a meal forSunday night youth group meetings. Octo-ber 4 will be UMW Sunday and will alsoinclude special recognition for three churchmembers.

The meeting concluded with cake andhomemade ice cream in honor of PastorThomas’ birthday prepared and served byGloria Pharis and Carol Strom.Secretary,Jeanne Wanous

Meredith Gubin,Angela Dobbins, andLaurie Mitchell have re-cently joined the Grotonunit of UMW. They toohave a vision of turningfaith, hope and love intoaction on behalf ofwomen, children andyouth here in Groton,the surrounding area aswell as around theworld.

Groton UMW - September Please Welcometo UMW

Groton UMWMeeting

October 21st1:30 pm

Program isWorld ThankOffering by

Jeanne Wanous

HostessesMarlys Rodman

and MarjoryTownsend

Please bring yourWorld Thank

Offering Box tothe meeting.

Page 3October 2015

Marlys Rodman 397-4570Pat Dahlquist 397-2616Doris Zoellner 397-2417Marj Townsend 298-5221Ann Rix 397-8478Darlys Kampa 395-6996DeLoris Knoll 397-2681Gloria Pharis 397-2375Audrey Thurston 397-8493*If you are not on this list orthe email prayer chain, pleasenotify church office.We must have your permissionto start the Prayer Chain. Soplease call and request this tobe done. It is not automaticfor privacy reasons.

Groton UMC

The UMCOR kits were delivered tothe North Highland United MethodistChurch in Aberdeen, and they were goingto take them down to Sioux Falls for Da-kota's Marketplace which was held on Sep-tember 19th. There were 35 School Kitsand 6 Health Kits. We also included $1 perkit for shipping and also $1 per Health Kitto cover the cost of the toothpaste.

The next project will be the ChristmasShoeboxes, and we will again be workingwith North Highland Church. Our pur-chased articles need to be delivered to Ab-erdeen before Wednesday, November25th. There will be a list of suggested giftsitems available at church, or you can e-mailDonna Hearnen at ndhearnen@nvc.net toget this list. Enemy Swim no longer hasa Day Care, so no articles for infants ortoddlers are needed. They do need shoe-boxes, and these must be wrapped inChristmas paper, and the box and lid mustbe wrapped separately. If you don't care to

shop, a monetary donation will be appreci-ated. The Conde Mission Committee willdo some shopping, or North Highland willaccept a cash donation. Enemy SwimChristmas Shoeboxes is done in coopera-tion with Mike and Libby Flowers, coordina-tors for the Spirit Lake Christmas Shoeboxproject.

October 4th will be Laity Sunday as Pas-tor Thomas will be gone. Norman Smithwith help from other members will be incharge of the Church Service.

It was decided to have Sunday MorningCommunion six times a year (every othermonth) and also on special occasions.

There will be an Administrative CouncilMeeting once a month, but the date andtime is still undecided. Every person in-volved in the Conde Church, member orconstituent, is welcome and also urged tocome to these meetings. Input from every-one is needed.

we welcome more participants to the nextsessions.

There was discussion on having specialprograms in December and also in Febru-ary. This is a time when we invite otherladies in the community, and have a skit orsome sort of special entertainment. TheDecember meeting will be held on the 2ndat 10:00. We discussed having it in the eve-ning, but decided that it was easier for mostof the ladies to get out during the daytime.The February meeting will have a Valentinetheme, and will probably also be held in themorning.

October 21st at10:00 will be the timeof the next GeneralMeeting. Patty Knollwill have the lesson,entitled, "Calling toWork for Chil-dren". Noon lunchwill be served byCindy Smith.

The UMW met at 10:00 on Wednes-day, September 16th. Donna Hearnen hadthe lesson entitled, "Foundation for Wel-come". There was discussion on howwe can make guests feel welcome in ourhome or at the Church. Bible verses wereread that describe situations of hospitality inthe Bible, or verses that just tell us how totreat our neighbors. Following the lesson,Jane Worlie served a delicious lunch to fivemembers, Pastor Thomas, and one guest.

A short business meeting was held andtopics of discussion included the followingthings:

Evening Bible Study will be held the 2ndand 4th Tuesday of each month at7:00. The time may vary, depending on theschedule of the participants. The studybook is written by Adam Hamilton, and isentitled, "Making Sense of the Bible: Redis-covering the Power of Scripture To-day." The leader is Pat Siefken and the firstsession was held on Tuesday evening Sep-tember 22nd. Six ladies were present, and

Conde UMC News

Conde UMW News

Conde UMWMeeting

October 21At 10 am

Program Focusis “Calling to

Work forChildren” byPatty Knoll

Hostess isCindy Smith

Page 4October 2015

CondeMISSION

STATEMENT

“The Conde UnitedMethodist Churchis seeking to satisfy

the spiritual andphysical needs of

all.”

Page 5October 2015

Groton Back to Sunday School Bash on Sept 13

The Sunday School andCraft time will be togetherOctober 25th. We wouldlike to be able to carvepumpkins for Halloween!We have a pumpkin prayerand a story lesson aboutGod to help us carve ourpumpkins. If you are able todonate a pumpkin for ourSunday School kids, pleaseput a pumpkin (no biggerthan a soccer ball) in thebox in back of fellowshiphall. We will display themwhile we have potluck thatSunday so everyone can seethem! It is very much ap-preciated!

3rd, 4th, and 5th grad-ers are receiving “BibleBucks” this year for doingthings, such as coming toSunday school, bring a fam-ily member to church, andremembering to bring theirBibles. The “shopping shelf”could use more greatthings… if you find some-thing you think they wouldlike or something aroundyour house you are notusing anymore, they wouldlove to ear it! Examples ofitems are necklaces orbracelets that you don’twear anymore, kids toys ingood condition, books, orany items you think childrenthis age would enjoy. Thankyou!

Groton SundaySchoolOpportunities

Page 6October 2015

We have some awesome things planned for October! Octo-ber 25th we will have craft time and Sunday School from 9:30amto 10:30am. Then music time will be from 10:30am to 11:00am sothe kids can practice singing for church. The kids will sing inchurch and following church we will have potluck.

I am so excited for this craft and Sunday School lesson! Weare going to be carving pumpkins! We have a short story aboutGod and a Pumpkin Prayer to go along with carving! If you are

able to help please just show up! Also we only have a few carving tools. If you have someto share please put your name on them and pick them up after church! Kids who are notable to carve will be able to paint their faces on their pumpkins!

IT'S "TRUNK or TREAT" TIME!What is "Trunk or Treat?" It's a safe way to celebrate Halloween in a controlled and safefamily environment. The sponsors park their vehicles together and open their trunks toreveal themed decorations, treats, and/or a little carnival type game (like beanbag toss) togo along with it (paid for by the sponsors of the vehicle). Themes/costumes of the spon-sors cannot be "scary," and what is included is up to the sponsor of the vehicle. Individualsor groups may sponsor a vehicle. Children "trunk-or-treating" can walk from trunk totrunk to receive their treats.

Where: Groton Methodist Church Parking Lot(in case of bad weather, we would use rooms inside of church)

When: Sat., Oct. 31, from 4 pm to 6 pmOpen to kids through 5th grade!

(sponsors must be parked & set up by 2:30 pm)

Sponsors: Please leave a message or text to Kim Weber at 605-380-7148 or PastorThomas 605-277-8448 by Sat., Oct. 24, if you would like to sponsor a vehicle. No chargefor parking a vehicle, but you must register, so we can give you the rules, as well as plan aparking spot for everyone. SPREAD THE WORD! JOIN the FALL FUN!!!

Page 7October 2015

GrotonOct 1 Turner ThompsonOct 2 Winifred Fawcett (95)Oct 4 Fred Wolken

Josh AthertonRick Hofer

Oct 5 Jeanne WanousOct 7 Allen WalterOct 8 Gloria Pharis

Lars & Kelli HansonOct 9 London BahrOct 10 Charity & Scott Hinman

Dan & Marjae SchinkelMegan Erickson

Oct 12 Charles & Sabrina PadfieldMarc & Jane Johnson

Oct 13 Carna Atherton-PrayOct 14 Grady O’Neill

Oct 15 Brad MorehouseJaymie OverackerRussell Davidson

Oct 17 Jackson BahrOct 21 Gary HeitmannOct 22 Kara PharisOct 23 Randy StanleyOct 24 Karla DavidsonOct 25 Lars HansonOct 26 Harry & Gloria PharisOct 29 Connie NilssonOct 30 Holden Sippel

Sarah HoferOct 31 Dawsyn DingerCondeOct 22 Janice HansonOct 29 Marcene BrucknerOct 31 Andee Geist

Our Church Celebrations

Page 8October 2015

What does thechurch office dowith my info?

You are added tothe email list to receivethe bulletin each weekwith the weekly an-nouncements.

You are added tothe Newsletter/Churchemails to receive noticethat the newsletter isonline and you can optout at any time.

You will be addedto the one call list forvoice mail notifications.

Eventually added tothe Directory Onlinewith a photo and theBirthday Calendar likethe one listed here aswe become your churchfamily/home.

T h e B i r t h d a y /Anniversary Calendar isalways a work in pro-gress and if I miss birth-day’s and anniversariesor milestones that needto be celebrated I praythat people let me knowto correct my records.

There is a form tofill out on our website.

Thank you.Kay Daly, Secretary

October 16 and 17, 2015 – St Paul, MN atthe Xcel Energy Center. The AberdeenArea ELCA group is inviting you to join usat the 20th Anniversary of Women of Faith.We will be taking a bus from BethlehemLutheran Church in Aberdeen to St. Paul.This is a wonderful girl’s weekend of shop-ping, singing, and praising God. Registrationdeadline is Oct 7th. Contact Lori at 225-9740.

Women of Faith Conference

Page 9October 2015

Oct 4

Sunday School Offeringthis fall through Christmas, our SundaySchool offering will go to a little boynamed Jackson Hagen. Children canbring a weekly offering to SundaySchool class, and we will also have acan in church once a month until Christ-mas. Four year old Jackson, who livesin Aberdeen, was diagnosed with leuke-mia. He has several ties to our church.Jackson's grandma, Janet, attended ourchurch when she was a student inGroton schools, his great grandmotheris Marjorie Townsend, and his greatuncle is Allen Townsend. He loves allsuper hero characters, Paw Patrol, andthe Teenage Mutant Ninja Tur-tles. Jackson also enjoys hanging outwith his younger sister, Rylie, and hiscat, Joey. He is a happy little boy witha huge heart! We appreciate your do-nations, and his family is truly gratefulof our Sunday School mission. It will bea good opportunity to teach our childrenabout love and compassion for eachother.

Pastor Thomas reviewed his activities inthe last month which included several shut-in, hospital, and home visits; 2 increasinglysuccessful 5th quarter events for the youth;the beginning of confirmation for ten stu-dents; Sunday night youth group activities;and plans for a Kids Zone for the youngeryouth every other Wednesday evening.

Linda Thurston reviewed the currentdollars in designated and undesignated me-morial funds. Total funds equal $3,611.79.The need to start forming committeegroups now for 2016 was stressed.

Marjorie Overacker stated that all par-sonage updates and repairs are complete.Plans are to spray the lawn for dandelionsthis fall and to spray the church to for fly

prevention.Karla Pasteur reported that the mis-

sions group will be using funds to help ele-mentary teachers with special classroomsupplies.

Carna Atherton-Pray reported on thefirst Sunday of Sunday school held on Sep-tember 13 with approximately 25 kids inattendance and a potential for 45 kids. Be-ginning September 20 a craft time will beoffered prior to Sunday school thanks forAngela Dobbins and Jaymie Overacker whohave volunteered to oversee this activity.

necessary Coffee Hour workers (make coffee,

provide cookies, launder towels, andremove trash)

2 Ushers for each Sunday Pickup ritual of friendship sheets Straighten the Sanctuary Pews Maintain the Altar Flower Arrange-

ments Serve at Golden Living Center - 2nd

Sunday Bring decorations in from the shed and

fluff them so they are ready to put up.Check the lights on them as well.

Put up church indoor and outdoordecorations with December committeeand all church members (check datewith Pastor)

No Potluck if Men have their dinner. Remind Gary & Caralee Heitmann to

change the banners and altar clothsand perform the candle maintenance.

Pat DahlquistKim & Craig WeberJoyce & Allen WalterRandy & Rebecca PadfieldRick & Sarah HoferJoAnn & Richard KruegerCrystal StromGloria & Harry PharisChris & Sherwin NybergJay & Linda JohnsonMichelle & Chuck PadfieldJoey & Sabrina PadfieldKent Webb, Hannah, TurnerHonorary Members Ruby Luce Richard Voss Jean Walter Twila Ruden Marjory Townsend Marie Mcclintic & Larry SchnaidtNovember Responsibilities Check Kitchen Supplies for the month Check & Clean Oven and Fridge as

Groton Ad Council - September

Groton November Family Committee

Page 10October 2015

GrotonStewardship

Report Sept 2015

AverageWkly Giving

$1,916

Needed Wkly forChurch Mission

$2,206

Average WeeklyAttendance Sunday

101

Total Building FundDonationsfor Repairs

$340

Groton Mission

Statement

“Enriching

Spiritual lives

through Christ.”

Oct 4 World Communion SundayOct 4 Groton Blessings Shower for Nolan RoseOct 7 Groton Nominations Meeting 7 pmOct 8 PPRC Meeting in Groton 7 pmOct 9 5th Quarter after the Football GameOct 11 Pastor Appreciation Day for Pastor Appreciation MonthOct 11 Sermon Series Living Well Finding Joy starts for 5 weeksOct 11 Groton Youth Group Game Night 6 pmOct 13 Conde Bible Study 7 pmOct 14 Kid Zone 6 pmOct 19 Groton Finance Committee Meeting 7 pmOct 21 Conde UMW 10 amOct 21 Groton UMW 1:30 pmOct 21 Groton Ad Council 8 pmOct 23 Charge Conference Reports DueOct 25 Groton Soup/Chili Cook-OffOct 25 Groton Sunday School Special Craft Time/Lesson starts 9:30 amOct 25 Groton Sunday School Sings during churchOct 25 Groton Potluck at noon - bring dish to passOct 27 Conde Ad Council 6:30 pm - Everyone Welcome to AttendOct 27 Conde Bible Study at 7:30 pmOct 28 Kid Zone 6 pmOct 31 Trunk or Treat for the Community to attend and/or participate from 4-6 pmNov 7 Charge Conference in Groton 1 pm

Our Church Happenings Highlights