OFFICE UPDATE
JUNE, 2019
WARM GREETINGS TO ALL OF YOU WHERE EVER YOU ARE!
Hello from hot Florida!
Here at the church we have thanked our Almighty Father among other things for air conditioning, which has worked well during all our events and services.    😊

Pastor Dexter and Igglesia Christiana, whose services are very well attended compared to ours in the summer, have suffered from the heat. The A/C units in the church do not function properly/ well enough to keep up with the heat of summer. The Spanish-speaking congregation has plans on replacing the old A/C units with new ones during the next 2-3 months. 

The Igglesia Christiana folks have already been very busy. Both restrooms have new sinks and faucets, and the ladies room and front entryway have been freshly painted. We believe, that during the next year, our old church building will receive a proper and essential facelift. 
The sale of the church is at a stage, where the church council has approved, at the June meeting, a preliminary agreement and our church rental contract terms. The final sale date is planned for mid-October, at which point the ownership will officially change hands. Our congregation will retain use of the office-wing, and the use of the east-wing, containing the old Sunday school rooms will be moved completely to Dexter’s congregation. My workspace will be moved into the former music directors office. The fellowship hall upstairs meeting room and storage space will be emptied. We will not get rid of anything valuable. Every item, book and document will be individually looked at. Some items will go to our own archives, some to the recycler, and some to the shredder. Below are some photos, when this work was begun.

OTHER JUNE EVENTS

June started with prayer week. We gathered in small groups, daily, to sing and pray for our whole congregation. At the end of each days prayers, we ate a wonderful meal together. The feeling was one of devotion and joy as we got to experience the presence
of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer week was capped-off on Friday night with an English-speaking event, at which the invited speaker was, evangelist, teacher and Pastor, Beverly Abel. Pastor Abel told us of her experiences about how God works all over the world. She has seen hundreds of people being born again, receiving the Holy Spirit and receiving different sorts of spiritual gifts. We also got to experience the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit and the strengthening and acceptance of the Holy Spirit. We hope that Pastor Beverly can join us again before the end of this year.
On Pentecost we all ate cake in honor of our church’s birthday. During our English service mass, we got to hear our newly formed band. We are fortunate to have such a variety of music at our congregation. In the future, we will be hearing some traditional choir music, old familiar hymns and organ music, but it is also great that we have some talented singers and musicians who want to serve the congregation with some newer spiritual music.

This same band, with the addition of four accordions and violin, presented us with a glorious midsummer BILINGUAL
FOLK MUSIC MASS. 
 
After the mass, we enjoyed a brunch together and everyone was in good spirits. On midsummer Sunday, there was around fifty in attendance, as the average attendance of both services has been around forty combined. In July, the congregation will get even smaller, but it is good and important to come to church on Sunday to pray, and to hear the Word and sing to our Lord. 
Our new volunteers are Inna and Otto Manninen (above in the picture down left). They both serve us on Sundays, not only with their musical gifts, but also with some kitchen help. Inna is also helping out Michael and me in the office during the week. We have received two knowledgeable and talented young people to serve our congregation for 6 months. Otto is doing an internship at the Finnish Consulate while taking a break from his industrial engineering studies at Aalto University. 

WARMLY WELCOME INNA & OTTO!
Church Scholarships
Our church gives scholarships every year, from two different treasury funds, for the purpose of continuing higher education, to young people who have a strong connection to our congregation. This year there were two applicants, Amanda Seeberg and Marianne Mäenpää. They both received $1250 scholarships for education.Amanda has just graduated from Atlantic High School with exceptional grades, and she will be studying marketing in the fall at university. Marianne Mäenpää is reaping the rewards of praiseworthy grades from her studies at Jyväskylä University, where she is studying childcare. We are happy and thankful, that with the help of these scholarships, we can help with their studies.

Blessing and congratulations to Amanda and Marianne!
OUR WARMEST THANKS TO MARJA-LIISA PALONEN FOR THE DONATION OF A NEW FRIDGE FOR THE OFFICE ❤❤❤
ATTENTION! The Church will be closed for the first two weeks of August. The first service will be held on Sunday, August 18th at 10 a.m. in both languages.
In July all services will be held normally!
Sunday Services
9:30 a.m. Jumalanpalvelus
11:30 a.m. English Service

Vietämme ehtoollisjumalanpalvelusta kuun 1. ja 3. sunnuntaina.