Immanuel Lutheran Church

News and Views

Congratulations to the new church council members!

Elected to Council for 3 years:  Paul Collins, Jim Kallioinen, Peter LaFreniere and Albert Sundine

Elected to Fortune Lake Bible Camp Delegates:  Connie and Dan Lindblom

Elected as auditor for 2001:  Reuven Romback

Elected as Suomi Free Conference Delegate:  Tanya Stanaway

Thank you to all who ran and to the council members for your dedication to our church and the Lord's work.  God's Blessings!

Amazing Recovery

Many of you may have read the story of Ken Paulson's successful and experimental surgery in the Mining Journal. There was a good article in the Arizona Republic (with video) at the beginning of February but it has now been archived.  If you'd like to take a look at it, they charge $2.00.

"My Cup Runneth Over"

We ran out of coffee...This pot doesn't work...The coffee is cold.  There is no more decaf?  The fuse blew and the coffee is not ready.  How much coffee do we make?  You mean they drink that much coffee on a Sunday morning?  why don't they go home and drink coffee?  My cup runneth over with complaints.  Connie enters the picture (after attending a workshop up at Bethany in Ishpeming.)  "Hey mom, you should see the nice coffee pot they have at Bethany."  They said, "You mean Immanuel doesn't have one of these with all the coffee they serve?"  Connie's cup (idea) runneth over.  So I went to Bethany to see for myself and the truth was made known; they had a wonderful pot!

This meant a trip to Pat's Supply to inquire about cost.  "Who are you buying this pot for?"  he said.  "Immanuel Lutheran Church down the highway," I replied.  "This is restaurant quality," he said.  "I know but do you know how much coffee we serve on a Sunday morning?  150 cups," I said.

I brought the information to the church women.  They agreed to pay half; after all, it isn't only the women who benefit from the pot but they do know the value of a good one.  My cup runneth over.

The next step was to approach the church council for half the cost.  They listened with amazement at the cost.  "Do we need such an expensive one?"  Answer; "Do you want good coffee?"  end of discussion (5 minutes). All in favor: aye.  Opposed: none.  My cup runneth over.

We now have a man to deliver this pot.  Jim and Ryan Powers offered to do this.  They deliver it in a snowstorm.  Jim know the value of a cup of coffee.  My cup runneth over.

The next step was to get water and electricity to this wonderful pot.  Jerry Poutanen and Jay Bengry have offered to add to the cup.  A call to Lillian Rivers to come for a trial run was the next step.  We had a wonderful time trying out coffee combinations.  Lillian knows good coffee.  On December 10th, the pot was used for Sunday morning coffee.

The coffee hour was instituted at the time we were looking for a fund raiser for the Moua's, our refugee family.  My husband, Ken, said, "Lets put a basket out for donations for coffee.  Everyone leaves church and goes to Smitty's (a restaurant where the credit union now stands.)  They can leave their buck here just as well and for a good cause."

The coffee hour has served for many good causes since then.  fortune Lake scholarships, cards for prisoner, incidental repairs for the church.  Immanuel's cup runneth over with thanks to the people who support this coffee fund with money, time and goodies and for the memorial of Leo and Laura Romback who knew the value of a good cup of coffee.

                                                                                                    My cup runneth over

                                                                                                    Virginia Paulson