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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Joins Hands Together
to Serve in Lena
The congregation of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Lena headed out into
the community for “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday. 39 brothers and sisters
in Christ of all ages from Good Shepherd joined hands to serve together
following worship on September 28th. The serving teams were spread out at
sites throughout Lena. One team was working on painting a deck. Another team
helped wash windows at one home before helping another team to remove a
tree, paint window frames, and prepare a shed for painting. The Sunday
School children crafted encouragement cards; planted a bush; weeded around
the church building; and then volunteered at the Lena Living Center
visiting, sharing singing and encouragement, and helping with a craft with
the residents. The fifth team was at the Lena Area Historical Museum; they
scraped and painted the Chapel, removed a tree and branches, and cleaned up
the flower beds. Still others prepared food for volunteers and brought food
to those in need.
People serve throughout their families,
workplaces, community organizations, neighborhoods, and more every day.
“God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday was a fun opportunity to join hands and
serve shoulder to shoulder together. The teams gathered at the Lena Area
Historical Museum after a full day of service for prayer, sharing, and
refreshments. It was a joyful day of service on a beautiful day! All are
welcome to join in worship at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 118 E Mason St.
on Sunday mornings at 9:30am. Time for fellowship, Sunday School, Choir, and
Bible Study follow worship.
Summer 2015 Mission Trip to Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation
The Mission Trip Team traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South
Dakota August 7th-15th. While in Pine Ridge, the team spent time with the
Lakota people, listening, learning, serving, and sharing. The team is so
thankful for the Mission Trip Prayer Team and for the support from the
congregation and community! This is a ministry of the whole congregation.
Thank you! Please see the September 2015 issue of the newsletter for many
more details! Click here.
2014 Mission Trip to Appalachia
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Summer 2017 Mission Trip to Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation
Thank you for your prayers and support!
2014 Mission Trip to Appalachia
The Good Shepherd Mission Trip Team to Chavies, Kentucky
was sent out for a week of service, learning, worship, and mission at the
beginning of July. The Chavies area and rural surrounding counties in the
Appalachian Mountains are some of the poorest areas in the country. The ten
member team from Good Shepherd divided into two work crews and served doing
home repair construction with Christian organization Appalachia Service
Project; which mobilizes volunteer teams in the Appalachia area to eliminate
sub-standard housing and to make houses warmer, safer, and drier through
relational ministry and home repairs. The work crews would pack lunches for
the work sites and bring enough food for themselves and the families they
were serving. They also were able to gift their families with warm quilts
from the Piece Corps Quilters, handmaid mittens, and school supplies for the
children. It was an intergenerational Mission Trip Team with youth and
adults from Pearl City and Lena and a few friends joined the team from IA
and MN.
The first crew from Good Shepherd came alongside a wonderful family with two
active children whose father was battling cancer. They took out flooring
that desperately needed replacing in their mobile home, and installed
beautiful laminate flooring. The young girl in the family worked alongside
the volunteers, taking a break to do gymnastics flips on her new floor and
to carefully and excitedly put away her clothes in her “new room”. When the
family’s beloved dog was injured during the week, one of the dog-loving crew
members volunteered to take the dog to the vet and to cover the expenses;
this served as a real connection point to the family, particularly the son.
The second work crew served two families throughout the week. At the first
home, they worked alongside the man who owned the home who was very
knowledgeable about construction having worked in that industry for many
years, but who was now disabled. The family had recently had to move into
their small workshop, because their mobile home was not safe to live in
anymore following a flood; so the workshop, now home, which was very cold in
the below zero temperatures from last winter needed to be insulated. The
crew worked together and installed underpinning under their home, installed
a vapor barrier under the home, repaired a roof, and dug trenches to keep
the water away from the home. The work crew then helped a young mother with
her mobile home. She had a four year old daughter and two-week old little
baby. They installed an exterior door, framing and painting and stabilizing
the wall. They also repaired part of the siding, where the insulation had
been exposed from the exterior and the interior of the house, causing water
damage and wasps to nest.
In the mornings before work, the team shared
devotions and prayer. After each day of service and ministry, the Mission
Trip Team would gather for supper together, do chores around the ASP center,
and hear from the programming from ASP staff about the culture of the area
and the economic issues they were facing or head out into the community for
an outing like visiting the local gas station for famous ice cream shakes.
Each night the team gathered together for worship, devotions, sharing the
highs and lows of the day, hearing each other’s stories of faith and of how
God was at work, and praying together. As the team travelled down to KY,
they stopped for team-building, picnics, prayer, & hiking in God’s beautiful
Creation.
The Good Shepherd Mission Trip team is so thankful for you! Thank you for
the generous donations of clothing, school supplies, and personal care
products that were sent with the team to donate to children and families in
need. Thank you to the Mission Trip Prayer Team who faithfully sent the team
out with prayer and prayed for them throughout the trip! The Mission Trip
Team is thankful for the clothing donations from My Friend’s Closet, the
safety equipment from DURA, the trailer rental from Totally Floored, the
quilts from Piece Corps Quilters, the amazing baked goods sent with the
team, and the financial donations that covered all of the construction costs
for the week. Thank you! The team is most of all thankful for God who
journeys with us and who loves the families in Pearl City, Lena, and
Kentucky with more love than we can imagine!
The Mission Trip Team is excited to carry on the service right here in our
community! If you or someone you know could use some help– let us know! And
save the date for Sept 28th “God’s Work. Our Hands.” Sunday!
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