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FOOD BANK GARDEN UP AND GROWING
Our garden that helps provide fresh produce for the food bank is in need of volunteers to help tend and harvest food. There is a work party every Tuesday & Saturday at 9:30am. Please plan to help.

WELCOME NEW COUNCIL and CONGREGATION MEMBERS
The congregation elected three new officers to council positions.  Michael Goth, Vice President; Mary McFarlin, Secretary; and Patricia Wagner, Property Manager; and Laura Goth, Member at Large.  Thank you to outgoing members: Susan Lincoln, Jill DuBois, and Michael Wagner for their work.  Also we welcome our newest congregation members, Rev. John and Marita Ericksen.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
Continuing our annual tradition, the Vashon United Methodist Church, the Vashon Lutheran Church, the Vashon Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, will jointly sponsor a Community Vacation Bible School, led by the Youth Group of the Maple Valley Presbyterian Church. It will be held the first week in August, Aug. 2-6. The topic will be: Hero Headquarters – Where Kids Join Forces with God.

Pastors Darryn Hewson (Methodist), Bjoern Meinhardt (Lutheran) and Dan Houston (Presbyterian), together with Island and Maple ValleyYouth Group will lead the classes. VLC will host the potluck dinner on Friday, August 6th.  Volunteers are needed to make snacks. Contact Tina Parrish (463-5066) or Pastor Darryn Hewson (715-1394) to ask questions or offer help.  More information is available on line at: www.vacationbibleschool.com/Vashon, where you can register, volunteer, and get a sneak peek at the program.

SOCIAL SERVICES FORUM will be held Friday, August 6th, 4-6pm at the Vashon Community Care Assisted Living Dining Room.  Mary McBride, regional director of HUD, will be the featured speaker.  This is a community forum on Vashon’s unserved housing needs and services.

GOD IN THE MOVIES (The Reel Deal)
Do you like to watch movies? Have you seen a “good” movie lately? I would like to start a new class on “God in the Movies” to discuss the impact of movies on our spiritual lives, this coming fall, starting on Wednesday, September 15 at 6:30 PM. I do not expect you to be an expert film critic. We all watch movies. We watch them with our own eyes and with our own perceptions. We all form our own opinions about movies. Why not discuss them and explore their connections to matters of faith? It will not be possible to watch an entire movie during our meeting session (this should be the “homework”). Rather, a short scene should serve as the discussion starter. As I plan for this event, I welcome your suggestions of movie titles for consideration.  For our first meeting, please watch “Sweet Land”, available in DVD.

WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY GROUP
Our next meeting will be Thurs. Sept 16th at 2pm at Cheryl Prescott’s home.  Read the Gospel of John before the meeting.  You may also wish to order the book John, the Maverick Gospel by Robert Kysar, a New Testament professor at Candler School of Theology (emeritus), Emory University, and an ordained ELCA minister. It is available from Amazon starting at 9.98 (used).  This is an opportunity to study a gospel like no other & enjoy the company of other women.  All are welcome.

RUMMAGE SALE
Our rummage sale this year will be in September25th.  SAVE YOUR STUFF!  Again we will not take clothing.  If you have small things and do not have a place to store them until September, you may bring them to the church and put them in the choir room.  Please do not bring furniture, or large items as we do not have room to store them.  We also need volunteers to help set up on Friday Sept. 24th, and clean up Sept. 25th.  The proceeds will go to support missions.

CHURCH LIBRARY
Laura Goth has volunteered to help spearhead the re-organization of the library, something that will make the books more accessible and user friendly.  She needs HELP!!  Please consider volunteering a few hours a week to make it happen.  Contact Laura at 463-1382.

PARKINSON SUPPORT GROUP
A support group for people with Parkinson’s, their families, and care-givers will meet the first Friday of each month from 1-2:30pm at Vashon Lutheran Church.  This is an opportunity to share concerns, resources, support, and have discussions.  Different topics will be featured each month.  The meeting dates are August 6th and September 3rd.  For more information contact Lynn Chapman, 206-277-5516.

PETITIONS CONCERNING TORTURE There are two ways you can express your conviction concerning the use of torture: a petition for Accountability for Torture and a card addressed to a Member of Congress to enact a law requiring International Committee of the Red Cross to have access to detainees.  Both are on the table in the Fellowship Hall

LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF (LWR) - UPDATE
It has been six months since the devastating 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Thanks to the generous donations and support of Lutherans, LWR has raised six million dollars for immediate and long-term recovery work in Haiti. They are focusing efforts on rural populations. They work with local partners to support rural communities through cash for work programs to build soil and water conservation structures, to distribute additional seeds, to prepare for the rainy season and to train on agricultural production. This will ensure that people have some income and farmers can grow sufficient food to feed everyone.  LWR is also supporting the construction of latrines and low-cost water filter systems to accommodate the additional populations that have fled to the rural areas.  In the U.S. LWR advocated the U.S. government to cancel Haiti’s debt and to provide additional emergency funding.  The Obama administration has canceled Haiti’s debt and signed the Debt Relief for Earthquake Recovery Act into law.

In addition LWR has partnered with Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries to have summer camp participants work to assemble 32,000 health kits, enough to fill a container, to be sent to Haiti.

Lutheran World Relief is an international nonprofit organization and joint ministry of the ELCA and LCMS. Through its partners in 35 countries it promotes sustainable development by helping communities increase the quality of life, engage in fair trade, and provide aid in emergencies, especially by responding to disasters, such as the 2004 SW Asian Tsunami and in Haiti You can continue to help LWR continue to provide its valuable services by mailing a check or money order to:
Lutheran World Relief
P.O. Box 1706
Baltimore, MD 21298-9832

A SERVICE of PRAYER and HEALING
We will have the opportunity to quietly gather for prayer and healing in the Lutheran church sanctuary from 6 – 6:30 p.m. the first Sunday of each month. Our next service will be February 7th at 6pm.
Regardless of who you are and what you carry, you are welcome in this place. Come to pray aloud or silently.
Come forward to be prayed for through naming your concerns or retaining your silence.
Or...simply come to sit for a while and unwind with your own thoughts.
No pressure, no intrusion...A simple service without music...without liturgy...in a candle-lit sanctuary where we gather to hear a few readings, pray and be prayed for, and sit and just be.

The Rev. Jeff Larson, Ph.D. is a Lutheran minister and clinical psychologist called by Vashon Lutheran Church to provide counseling services to the community. As a member of the body of believers he feels that spiritual health in its many shapes and forms is key to attaining psychological and physical health.

CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS
Please refrain from wearing fragrances to worship services or church events. Many persons suffer from allergies.

COMPASS CENTER DONATION NEEDS

The Compass Center is asking for:

• new or gently used bath towels.
• all necessary hygiene items
• Men’s underwear (larger sized preferably)
• Art/school supplies (for their Art Class at the Day Center and are in need of supplies: markers, colored pencils, construction paper, paints & paint brushes, embellishments, etc. pens/pencils and lined notebooks).

VASHON THRIFTWAY 1% COMMUNITY DONATION PROGRAM
Remember to save your Vashon Thriftway receipts to be used for our missions program.  Thriftway will donate 1% of the total to VLC.  Remember the rules:

• Cash register receipts must be from Vashon Thriftway.
• Cash register receipts must be for purchases made by members of Vashon Lutheran
• Receipts cannot be more than one year old.
• Purchasers must sign each receipt, and indicate their phone number.
• Receipts may be placed in the indicated receptacle in the Fellowship Hall.

Thanks for helping
Stewardship Chair

Worship Assistants
August - September

REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS: Ray and Gerri White (cancer);Fred Losornio; Terri Hitch; Stephanie Lee & family. Also remember those in care facilities: Lelan Lau, Carl Nelson, & Oda Sorensen. Contact Gail Larson  (567-4779) to initiate a prayer request.

INTERCESSORY PRAYER GROUP during meets at 9am on Tuesdays at the Larson’s home.  Please call Gail Larson (567-4779) for prayer requests.

REFRESHMENTS AND FLOWERS
We need people to sign-up for refreshments and flowers for Sundays in August and September.  Please see the list in the Fellowship Hall. 

STAFF AND COUNCIL MEMBERS
STAFF
Rev. Bjoern E. Meinhardt
Rev. Jeffrey Larson, PhD (Counseling)
Secretary Cheryl Prescott
Church Office: 463-2655

CHURCH COUNCIL
President: Jack Lincoln
Vice-President: Michael Goth
Secretary: Mary McFarlin
Treasurer: Elaine Lester
Property Manager: Patte Wagner
Stewardship: June Langland
Member at Large: Laura Goth

BAPTISM SCHEDULE FOR 2010
During 2010, baptism will be a special part of our worship on:

• November 7th, Sunday, All Saints Sunday
• December 25th, Saturday, Christmas Day

Articles for The Mouse, due September 20th