I am excited to tell you that the City of Lake Havasu has now issued our building permit and construction is now underway to remodel our existing sanctuary and add more seating, a new narthex, add a new nursery wing, a coffee café area, an expanded sacristy and a much larger choir room with restrooms. Thus, there will be a lot of activity taking place this summer/fall here at Mount Olive Lutheran Church while many of our members are away for the summer. I look forward to its completion and in celebrating the holidays in our enlarged space.
In addition to all the building activity, by now many of you know that I have tested positive for prostate cancer and my wife Cathy has tested positive for breast cancer. We were both diagnosed as the result of routine annual physicals and are in the early stages of our diseases. We believe that with the right treatment we will both make full recoveries. We will be meeting with doctors in Phoenix after we return from a short vacation in Nebraska to see Cathy’s family (April 12-19).
After these meetings we hope to have enough information to be able to make the right treatment decisions and when to have them. I will keep the congregation updated regarding our decisions as we go forward. Please keep us in your prayers.
See you in Church!
On the Road Again
Now that everything has slowed down with the yearly exodus of winter visitors (and summer chickens, you know who you are) it’s just about time for the Youth Group to ramp up on travel. We’re not running away from the heat, we’re heading for more.
In June, we travel to Grace in the City in Phoenix to renew our relationship with that congregation. We will partner with them on their VBS and work with Save the Family to paint and clean a house for a previously homeless family to move into. Along the way we’ll have some fun and learn a lot.
In July, we travel to New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering. Every three years the ELCA puts on a large scale event of worship, learning and service. This year, we will travel to New Orleans to continue the work begun three years ago in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. There is something about a communion service with 32,000 people.
So why all the travel? Why go to other places for service and learning when there is so much to do right here? We travel for service trips for the same reason we travel for vacations—to break established patterns and break out of comfort zones.
When we got to Phoenix last year, we arrived as tourists—oogling the beautiful old church and pointing out the homeless people. After living together in close quarters and meeting some of “those people” we left with an appreciation for how they made a difference in our lives. We didn’t just help them, they changed us.
One thing I’ve felt in Lake Havasu is that after a while you can feel like the only Lutheran in the entire country. It’s like nothing else exists across the moat of the desert. These trips serve as a drawbridge across that moat. We find out that we are not alone and that we have brothers and sisters in Christ across the United States and the world.
Pray for us as we travel this summer. Pray that these teenage disciples continue to grow and learn what it means to be a Child of God.
Packing a bag,
Pastor Matt
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