Announcements

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BE OUR GUEST @ 5-6pm

March 18: Meat Loaf, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Angel Food Cake 

March 25: Spaghetti Bake, Bread Sticks, Lettuce Salad, Texas Delight

LENTEN SERVICES

Join us for Lenten Services on Wednesday’s at 7PM. We will use readers for the dialog and will enjoy the Holden Evening Prayer led by Alyssa and Kristin Hoey. 

FIRESIDE GUEST – 3/8 during Fellowship time

To continue Pastor Trachte’s counsel to let our “light shine on and through us”, guest Ruth Schaefer, native of Dubuque and friend of Shirley’s, will share her experiences mentoring African women. She uses their story as an encouragement to us-to kindle an awareness about how we can further develop our skills to lead and to serve in our daily lives. Please join us and bring a friend!

SPECIAL MUSIC Guest – 3/15

Please join us for worship and enjoy special music provided by Beth Thompson.

JAM (Jesus and Many) – 3/15 @ 3-5 pm

Sunday School-aged children are invited to attend JAM at First UMC on 3/15 and 4/19 for fun activities and music to learn about Jesus.

ANNUAL CHURCH CLEANING- 3/22 

Annual cleaning day March 22 following church. Will have designated tasks as we did last year and plan to be finished within an hour.

WARTBURG PINNACLE – 3/29 @ 9 am

The 16-member student vocal ensemble from Wartburg will perform. Noisy offering for March will support this group. Please join us and bring a friend!

Food Pantry Needs: The Independence Area Food Pantry is currently in need of Kleenex, and baking items, such as cake mixes, flour, sugar, pancake mix and oil. Please place any donations for the food pantry in the entryway of the church. Thank you for your generosity!

VBS: VBS will be held July 19th-23rd at the American Lutheran Church. We are planning a VBS planning meeting for Sunday, March 22nd at 3pm at the American Lutheran Church. At this Meeting we will look over the curriculum (Great Big Beautiful World), reflect on last year, talk registration, and more. We invited anyone and everyone interested in helping to join us!

LWR Quilting Needs:The quilters are in need of sheets of all sizes for their quilts. If you have any to donate please leave them on the pew in the back of the church. Thank you!

Fellowship Hosts:Fellowship sign up can be found in the binder outside of the secretary's office. Hosts are needed for March and April.

Handshakes on Hiatus:With the many viruses that are going around this time of year, we are going to temporarily stop shaking hands during the passing of the peace in worship. You are encouraged to place your hand on your heart or simply wave when you say “peace be with you.” We also encourage you to do what you can to avoid spreading illnesses— wash your hands frequently, make good use of hand sanitizer, and stay home if you are sick, especially if you have a fever and/or cough. Thank you for doing what you can to prevent the spread of germs! Bring on spring!