Hello Bethlehem,

Fall is in full swing! We had a blast yesterday at the Fall Family day on the Phillip’s Family Farm. Check out some more photos of the fun.

This week

“On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor the people whose lands we walk, whose Indigenous voices have always been spoken here and who share their gifts and contributions throughout our society. We pray that, in our relations with Indigenous neighbors and children of God, we will not waver in our commitment to repentance, reconciliation, healing and unity.” -ELCA

We will have no Wednesday night programming this week due to MEA. We invite you to attend the Healing of the Nations Community Prayer Service on Wednesday, October 15 at Christ the King. The service, sponsored by Bethlehem, Christ the King, and Messiah Lutheran churches, will begin at 6PM. All are welcome to join this contemplative service of prayer, gentle music and scripture to bring before God the suffering of the world and our lives.

Teens Encounter Christ returns to Bethlehem! This weekend we will share our campus with TEC. We pray for a safe and fun weekend of fellowship and faith formation and look forward to seeing the TEC youth at our worship service this Sunday!

Family faith Formation

Trunk or Treat is October 29th! Grab your costumes and candy bags and join us for trunk alley, face painting, hot cider and more. Sign up online to host a trunk or to donate candy!

Announcements

Exciting news: Bethlehem’s Endowment Board is ready to double your monthly mission donation! Donations made in October and November will go twice as far. Our October Monthly Mission is Connections Shelter, and November’s will be the LSS Youth Resource Center (formerly The REACH). Donate this fall and your dollars will go twice as far!

On October 4th, Rev.Yehiel Curry was installed as Presiding Bishop of the ELCA at a service in Minneapolis. You can now view the full service online.

A message from BLC’s Financial Secretary, Elizabeth Ruiz: Third quarter contributions are being sent out. Please reach out with any questions. Thank you!

Connections Shelter is open for the season! We invite you to serve in the ways and times that appeal to you. Head to their volunteer website to sign up.

Thank you

Fall semester started on August 25, and we were pleased to host the first Lunch For-a-Buck of the new school year on September 9. We were thrilled to welcome students back to Crossroads while they eagerly awaited the resumption of Tuesday lunches. We feel blessed beyond words to have Bethlehem Lutheran Church and your volunteers as partners in our ministry to feed students through our Lunch For-a-Buck program.

On Tuesday, October 7, faithful servants Gary Petersen, Lan Evenson, Dennis Sandersfeld, Frank Larsen, Al Dykema, Bob Ihrig, Gordy Larson, Roger Haug, and Pastor Jay served a delicious lunch of beef lasagna, cheese lasagna, garlic toast, coleslaw, garden salad, and homemade bars & cookies to 47 hungry lunch-goers. They also collected $82.32 in donations that will be used to purchase the salad supplies, beverages, dinnerware, and other items for lunches during the school year.

Also, if your congregation is interested in monthly food collections for the Campus Cupboard food shelf, we are in need of the following:

dish soap - laundry detergent pods - toilet paper - shampoo - conditioner - bar soap - paper towels - cornmeal - black eyed peas - flour - sugar - pasta - carrots - peanut butter - jelly - green tea - oatmeal - cereal - tuna - red beans - cooking oil - Menstrual products are always desperately needed - Ramen noodles are always a favorite!

God bless you for your generosity and for supporting the students and our ministry at Crossroads. We couldn't do this without you. We look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday, November 4!

Gratefully,

Crossroads Lutheran Campus Ministry

Monthly mission partner

Our October Monthly Mission partner will be Connections Shelter. Beginning their 9th year of operations, Connections is a 48-bed seasonal emergency shelter and year-round drop-in center. They offer assistance in obtaining housing, medical care, employment and other basic needs. They assisted in finding permanent housing for 61 individuals last year. Bethlehem has founding ties with this vital organization in our community. Please continue to support this work. You can give online or drop off a check written out to Bethlehem with the monthly mission in the memo line.

Bethlehem members are also invited to volunteer to prepare and/or serve meals at Connections. Please use this link to sign up.

This Week in our Prayers

Curt Halvorson Marian Mallory Pete Wachtel

Anna Moses Barb Girtz Paul Haugesag

Amy Grams Haugesag Pat Nelson Sandy Birkholz

Kurt Burdick Nikolas Perez Tyler Ratcliff Garrett Paul

East St. Olaf Lutheran in Byron Grace Lutheran in Austin

Faith Lutheran in Winona Mungaa Lutheran in Tanzania

Nzega Lutheran in Tanzania Itigi Lutheran in Tanzania Ishenga Lutheran in Tanzania