"Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted." Psalm 25:16

Loneliness. Have you ever been surrounded by plenty of people, yet still feel lonely? If so, you aren't alone. It's been established that at least 40% of us will feel the ache of loneliness at some point in our lives. Often, it's not about how many relationships we have; it's about how connected we feel within those relationships.

We see in the words of Psalm 25 that David, the psalmist, is reaching out to God. He has lived through defeats and failures and, although he has repeatedly prayed to God for direction, he feels disconnected. Yet he doesn't stop reaching out. In verse 5 he says, "For you I wait all the day long."

How connected are you? If you've let opportunities for connecting with others fall by the wayside, there's time! More importantly, take time for heart-to-heart with God. Sin is the ultimate dis-connector, but God re-connected us to Himself through Jesus. On this Ash Wednesday , when we contemplate all God has done for us in His great love, pour out your needs, your fears and your thanks to Him. Connect!

Jesus, hold onto me, listen to me, and never let me go. Amen.

Above and right:

Principal Paul Brege from Ascension, Torrance, CA, imposes ashes on students at chapel this morning.

Below: Ascension students at Ash Wednesday chapel.

Please join us in praying and thanking God for the following schools this week:

Precious Stones Lutheran Preschool, Sedona, AZ

Gethsemane Christian Academy, Tempe, AZ

Ascension Lutheran School and Preschool, Torrance, CA

Below are photos from Precious Stones Lutheran Preschool, Sedona, AZ:

4 of the 9 fabulous Precious Stones staff members at the CYCC Teacher's Conference in Chandler, AZ

Precious Stones children celebrated Dr. Seuss and Read Across America Week by wearing red and white

Precious Stones won the local award for Best Day Care!

Below are photos from Ascension Lutheran Preschool's "Read Across America " week and their celebration of all things Dr. Seuss.

Directors Jill Vidal from SONshine House Preschool and Director Susan Rodriguez from Emmaus Lutheran Preschool connected by bringing two schools together for the day.

SONshine House Preschool in Temple City, CA, had an amazing opportunity to host their neighboring Lutheran preschool, Emmaus in Alhambra. Emmaus director Susan Rodriguez contacted SONshine House Director Jill Vidal and asked if she could bring her staff for a site visit. The objective was to connect with one another as Lutheran preschool educators and to observe and learn from each other to bring back to their own classrooms. Staff exchanged numbers, shared ideas and collaborated together. One idea they had is to meet somewhere for a dual school field trip with their Pre-K students connecting the staff, students and families!

From Director Jill Vidal: "I appreciate Susan's initiative. At the end of our time we reflected and both said, 'God is SO good ALL the time!'"

Teachers from SONshine House Preschool and Emmaus Lutheran Preschool taking advantage of an in-service day to learn, encourage and connect with one another.

Group photo of a blessed day of meeting and sharing in the joys of God’s goodness as we serve His ministries!

Thank you to our schools, administrators, teachers and students who have already contributed to Hearts for Jesus this year. We are well on our way to reaching our goal of $30,000 by the end of the school year. The Hearts for Jesus recipient this year is Hope and Care for Children, Inc. (HCC) . HCC is serving the most vulnerable people in Liberia--orphans, children, widows and women--by providing an orphanage, schooling and life skills for those in need, as well as sharing the Gospel message. Funds received will be sent to help build a much-needed medical clinic in Liberia. Check out the pictures, coin bank covers, and teacher activities by clicking on the Hearts for Jesus tab under Ministries on the School Ministries website: http://pswcic.org.

 

Thank you for your mission hearts!

It is important that each accredited school has at least one person trained to participate on accreditation visits. WASC has had this as a requirement, and has recently informed us that they are going to be holding schools accountable to this requirement. Additionally, our early childhood centers are now using the new accreditation tool, and being a team member to analyze that tool is different. 

We are hosting a training for accreditation team members on Tuesday, April 9 , at Christ Lutheran in Costa Mesa , CA, so that educators from our accredited schools can have the necessary training to participate on these teams. We recommend that at least one person attend from each of our accredited schools. For our early childhood educators in Arizona and Las Vegas, we will be live-streaming this event so you will not need to travel to California. For more information, schedule, and cost (for both attending and live-streaming), please log onto the registration website .

We are pleased to be able to share two different 2019 Lent devotionals with you:

People of the Passion from Lutheran Hour Ministries

Anchored (daily devotions from faculty, staff, alumni, parents, and others in the community) from Concordia University Irvine

It is time to begin working on your annual reports for accreditation . You should have received a letter regarding the reports earlier this month. All annual reports and evidence need to be uploaded no later than April 15 . Your annual fee should also be postmarked no later than April 15 to avoid a late fee penalty. If you need any assistance, please contact Kristie Flohra at [email protected] or Kim Violette at [email protected] . 

CA Conference: Saturday, March 23

Thank you to all who attended the AZ EC Equipping Conference this past Saturday! We are looking forward to the CA Conference as well. Thank you to the 156 CA Conference registrants.

You can access the CA Conference registration link below. PLEASE be sure to read the welcome letter (click Welcome under the Bible verse on the body of the page), as it includes information about our new recognition process for our EC educators!  We look forward to a great time of fellowship and learning in March!

CA conference registration is open until March 19. Any questions, contact Lynne Rose at [email protected] .

CA Equipping Conference

The NLSA team is excited to announce another NLSA Powerful Practice Webinar which will be held next week, on  Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at 4:00 p.m. CT. This webinar will be led by staff members from Immanuel Lutheran Church and School, McComb, Michigan . The staff will explain some best practices for community service events and activities. 

"Outreach to Community" 

"When our ministries work together and remain united in mission and purpose, the community experiences the church at its Biblical core." -Immanuel staff 

Immanuel commits to sharing Christ's Love by experiencing faith and life together. The church and school lead various community services activities and events, such as a 5K run with neighboring churches, Back2School Fest (giving away over 2000 back-packs), extensive VBS outreach, and Holiday Events. 

    

Come join the webinar and hear about these unique and intentional community outreach programs.  Mark your calendars for the next NLSA webinar: Tuesday, March 12, at 4:00 Central Time.

Advance registration to these webinars is not required and there is no cost to attend. To participate, simply log-in to the link and enter the conference room:  https://us.bbcollab.com/guest/5A2B06A8EA343B4DF057C2E5B897C7EA

Attendance is limited to the first 100 guests who log-in to the event. All live NLSA Powerful Practice webinars are held at 4:00pm CT and are later archived for on-demand viewing via  LuthEd.org  and the LCMS School Ministry YouTube NLSA Powerful Practice Webinars playlist.  #LuthEd   #NLSA

To view or search the list archives, join or leave the list, or change your subscription options, see the web page at  http://LISTSERV.CUCHICAGO.EDU/cgi-bin/wa?A0=LEADNET

The 2019 Administrators Leadership Conference will be  Wednesday-Friday, July 24-26, 2019 , at the  Temecula Creek Inn  in  Temecula, CA . We have a great line up of presenters and interactive discussions with:

Dr. Steve Buuck  will be our Bible Study leader and  Pastor Jonathan Burkee  will be our worship leader. Save the date for this not-to-be-missed event!

Elementary principals and teachers: I am pleased to share with you a platform and learning “adventure” from our friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), a learning and professional development organization, which we have been working with for many years! On Monday, we had a demo, and I was very pleased to know that this is available for our students for their personalized reading growth. It is an amazing platform! Check it out below. If interested, please contact Dr. Will Gray at [email protected] . I encourage you to log in and try it. Blessings on your day! -Rachel

Below is the iRead weblink with the (case-sensitive) username and password to log into the eSampler.  

https://www.hmhco.com/products/iread/esampler/index.htm

 

Username: HMHiread

Password: Curious1

 

The iRead eSampler has the option to view the Teacher Experience and/or the Student Experience.

Each week, prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for teachers, administrators, support staff, pastors, students, and families of the Lutheran schools, early childhood centers, and churches of the Pacific Southwest District are listed. To include names on the list, please send information to [email protected] by noon on Wednesday of each week. This week we pray for:

March 10 

Lamb of God Lutheran School & Little Lambs of God Preschool, Las Vegas, NV

First Good Shepherd Lutheran School and Preschool, Las Vegas, NV

First Lutheran Preschool, Temple City, CA