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SHEPHERDOF THE VALLEY

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NEWSLETTERShepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church

Seek the Lord ☩ Study God’s Word ☩ Serve the World

“Entering the Conversation”

February 2020

As many of you know, last year we started a series of events called “Community Conversations.” This was an idea that had been brewing in the back of my mind for quite some time, and last summer I felt the Holy Spirit saying, “All right, you wanted to do this—now’s the time.”

Our first Community Conversation was with artist and Holocaust survivor Frances Elson. She shared her family’s story and the way she processed that story through her fused glass artwork. Then we had a speaker from NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness) who told her story of living with mental illness. The next Community Conversation featured two of our own members—Bob and Jennifer Herman, who both work for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They spoke about their work and about the intersection of faith and science. In January, a speaker from Interface came to talk about domestic violence.

I hope you’ve had a chance to attend one or more of these Conversations. Each one has been informative and thought-provoking. My goal is for Shepherd of the Valley to host speakers and presentations on topics that are of interest to our whole community, not just the congregation. I hope these are opportunities to invite friends and neighbors, to spark dialogue, to build community.

The Community Conversations will continue, each one addressing a new topic. The next Community Conversation will take place on February 19th from 6:30- 8:30pm, on the topic of social media and youth—there’s more information on the February conversation elsewhere in the newsletter. We’ll take a break for

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March and resume the events in April.

If you haven’t already, then plan to enter the conversation! Invite someone who you think would be interested in the topic. Or just come and learn about something new. I believe our community is stronger when many voices join in conversation together.

Yours in Christ, Pastor Jennie

UPCOMING EVENTSMARK YOUR CALENDARS

Annual Meeting

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Save the Date!One Service & Annual

Meeting Sunday, February 9th @ 9:00am in

the Sanctuary

“Social Animals”- Documentary and Discussion Wednesday, February 19, 6:30-8:30pm

Come join the SVLC community as we tackle the role of social media on young people today! Whether for your child, grandchild, or young person in your life, you won’t want to miss this documentary and discussion that will challenge and equip you for addressing this topic for those you care for most.

"With an observational eye Social Animals peeks into the digital and real worlds of today’s image-focused teenager, where followers, likes and comments mark success and self worth.”

Western States Youth Gathering (WSYG) June 25-29, 2020

California Lutheran University

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The SVLC Endowment Fund Committee (EFC) accepts grant requests for ministries other than student scholarships?? This quarter would be a good time to submit requests for funding either new ministry opportunities within the congregation, community outreach, or ELCA agencies providing national or even international outreach! For more information, and to submit your grant request by March 31st, please select the 'Endowment' tab on the SVLC website (svlcsimi.com).

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ELCA GOOD GIFT

"Thank you! A big thanks to all who contributed to our Christmas ELCA Good Gifts fundraising effort. Our congregation raised $870.00 to help people across the globe. That includes stocking health clinics, sending women to farmers' schools, purchasing water filters, and providing goats, piglets, chicks, and roosters. Your generosity is helping to address hunger and poverty around the world."

Star Word“By the leading of a star…”

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Reflect on your star word.In what ways does your star word challenge you or draw

your attention to uncomfortable growing areas?

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God loves all His creatures, great and small. This month we are excited to show off the talents of two local children’s writers - one from our own congregation - who have published children’s books on animals.

HONEY THE DOG WHO SAVED ABE LINCOLN is “a true story of one extra- special childhood rescue—a dog named Honey, who

found his way into Abe’s heart, became his best friend, and saved his life.“, and was written by our own Shari Swanson. Shari has

been a lawyer, middle school language arts teacher and a member of SVLC with her family for many years. You might know her as one

of our Confirmation teachers. Her research on this book took her to Kentucky where she walked where Abe walked. This is her

debut picture book.PERCY THE CAT AND HIS MANY WONDERFUL SWEATERS, and PERCY

THE CAT AND THE GIANT GUMBALL DISASTER, are two books on a hairless cat named Percy. They are written by Crystal Marshall a native Southern Californian, who was raised in Simi Valley. As a teenager she wrote (with the help of her father, Sterling Marshall) a sweet story, creating the world for this hairless cat, Percy.

Crystal lives in Ventura, graduated from the University of Redlands in 2017.

She is now pursuing a teaching credential in elementary school education.

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Crystal is the granddaughter of Warren and Dianne Marshall.The book cart will also feature books on God’s Creatures, and on His

loveand our love for others. Please check out a book and enjoy.

Still Waters Café – Nancy Mason,

Christmas Shoppe – Tim Bradley, timbradleyCPA@ aol.com& Kelli Stephens,

Relay for Life/Action Serve Days – Julie Honda

To join our team

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Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church Social Ministry Projects

Join one or more of these wonderful outreach programs and give back to your community. Together we can make a difference.

For more information you can also email one of our committee members:

Samaritan Center – Yvonne Baird,

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FAITH IN ACTION

E-mail with any updates you may have on persons listed forprayers. Thank you

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Dear friends and family, if there are friends and loved ones whom you would like to have prayers for, or military persons on active duty please contact the church office at 526-7577 and we will list them in our newsletter.

P LEASE KEEP IN YOUR PRAYERS : - Kelli Stephen’s daughter Taylor. The Cruz Family.

M ILITARY R ECOGNITION AND P RAYERS : We would like to honor our military by recognizing family members from our church

currently serving. Please keep Andrew Thompson in your prayers as he is serving in the military and Marilyn Shapiro’s nephew, Tyler

Munguia, stationed in Anchorage AK, working logistics and continuing paratrooper training. If you have a family member now serving in the military, please call Sally Valderrama @ 805-527-4061 or email Sally.Valderrama@gmail.com for further details.

The congregation of Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church thanks you for your service.

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church serves a meal to the less fortunate at the Samaritan Center (located at 280 Royal Ave)

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the 1st Wednesday of every month from 4:45 – 6:00pm

We need volunteers to buy and deliver food, serve the meal and/or donate money.

If you would like to help, please contact Yvonne Baird at 805-573-3563.Thank you for your prayers.

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PLEASE…HELP SUPPORT GOOD SHEPHERD LUTHERAN SCHOOL at…

189 E. High Street, Moorpark.

Monday – Saturday 10AM – 4PM (805) 523-7188

Visit our website here.

Luther’s Attic is a Thrift Store in Moorpark where all proceeds from sold donated items go to support three Lutheran schools in Ventura County – including Good Shepherd Lutheran School, Simi Valley. They need help in three areas:

CUSTOMERSLuther’s Attic is full of interesting, useful, and sometimes new items. If you have not visited the

Attic or have not visited in a few years, please drop by to see the new look and shop.

DONATIONSLuther’s Attic happily accepts small furniture, small appliances, housewares, hardware, tools,

books, sporting goods, bicycles, toys, clean clothing, linens, & shoes, well … you get the idea. Please ensure items are in usable condition. Luther’s Attic can give you a tax deductible receipt for your donation.

Donations can be dropped off at Luther’s Attic (189 E. High St., Moorpark, 805-523-7188) Monday – Saturday between 10am and 4pm– OR – leave your donated smaller items in the SVLC Office during regular office hours. – OR – bring your items to SVLC during the quarterly Luther’s Attic donation drive.

VOLUNTEERSSVLC members volunteer their time at Luther’s Attic on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and some Saturdays. Some people help for an

hour or two while others like to help all day. Please contact Carolyn Nell at 805-558-0568 for more information.

The women of Shepherd of the Valley support this organization so it can support women in Ventura County that have suffered from family violence. Interface’s Family Violence Intervention Services department provides comprehensive family violence programming that

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aims to prevent, interrupt and end the cycle of violence within family systems.

Donations of regular sized items listed below may be placed in the box in the narthex or brought to Circle meetings. A good place to purchase these items is the 99 cent store or the Dollar Tree. When I have enough to complete the bags containing these items, I will take them to Interface.

A big thank you for your kindness and

generosity. Items always needed:Brush, Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Tampons, Pocket size Kleenex, Soap, Shampoo, Conditioner, Lotion and Deodorant.

Thank God for our many blessings,Carol Ramsey (805) 583-5532

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STILL WATERS CAFÉ

We invite you to share a free community meal every Thursday at 5:00 p.m.

The café is located at 4191 Cochran Street.Simi Valley, CA 93063

For more information please email stillwaterscafesv@gmail.com

“Still Waters is a dining service to those who are suffering economic hardship,

homelessness or who are lonely and wish to have a dining companion.”

We depend on our congregation to help supply our pantry with food items. There are people who use the

pantry to get by from one week to the next.If you have been blessed with food for your own family,

and would like to be a blessing to others, consider picking up a few things. We are in need of canned chicken, canned fruit, peanut butter and hearty soups.

STILL WATERS CAFÉ - Want to be a part of a fun group of volunteers who want to extend their faith into action in the community? Contact our coordinators and be part of the ministry: Cooking and Shopping - Nancy Mason. Prepping and Serving - Sue Holloway/Laurie Gordon/Vera Clement. Setting up/Cleaning up - Kelli Mann, Traci Connett.

Matthew 25:34-36

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34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my

family, you did it to me.’

SCRIPHappy

Valentine’s Day

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Scrip had a great year in 2019 and we anticipate another high-volume sales production after the year end totals are revealed. Thank you to everyone! This ongoing weekly effort with the monthly and annual production that it yields would not be possible without your continuing participation in, and support of, the SVLC Scrip Program. We truly appreciate the congregation’s participation in the scrip program and assisting in our efforts to make it a continuing successful venture for our church. The more we sell; the more Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church receives in percentages of returns generated from those sales. It’s a win/win situation for both you and SVLC. And don’t forget, Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. We have a wide variety of gift cards that would make a perfect Valentine’s gift. Perhaps you would like to treat your Valentine to a special lunch or romantic dinner, we have scrip for many of our popular local restaurants. We also have gift cards for many specialty shops, including Bath and Body Works; Bed, Bath and Beyond and See’s Candies, among others. But buy early, some of our scrip is special order. Whether you buy scrip gift cards for gifting or for your everyday purchases of the items you want or need, you are at the same time assisting in our ongoing stewardship efforts and in the financial support of our church. Your loyalty and dedication to our program is what gives us the continuing incentive to work as hard as possible to make SVLC scrip better and better, by offering you the best quality, the widest variety and the most frequently requested scrip gift cards that are available. Our ongoing commitment is to provide

you with the most efficient and most convenient service possible and we will, with God’s help, continue to do just that.

In His Service,Marvin and Jenny Kidd, SVLC Scrip

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VOLUNTEERS…A priceless treasure

Edith Engemann

Volunteers are worth their weight in gold. They share their time and talents with us, blessing our congregation and its ministries.

It’s been tradition for many years to present the Giraffe Award. For any of you who are not familiar with this award, it is given each year to a woman who “sticks her neck out” and does things behind the scenes around the church, not expecting any thanks. Just taking care of business.

This year the board has chosen another one of the wonderful women of SVLC to receive the Giraffe Award. She has been a member since the early 1990s. She loves to cook, and she loves to bake!! I’m pretty sure most of us have eaten some of her delicious breads and desserts. She has helped with providing her delicious items at many of our bake sales.

She has served as Usher, a counter, and helped with putting together the church Sunday bulletins. She helps with organizing YIMAH luncheons and, helping at Still Waters Café and taking care of the dirty laundry.

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Occasionally, you might have seen her watering the plants around the church and cleaning up hospitality on Sunday mornings.

It is with great honor that I announce the winner of the 2019 Giraffe Award, Edith Engemann.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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1

8:00am - Al Anon (101) 10:00am – AA (Library) 10:00am-Luther’s Attic 7:00pm – GA

2

8:00am-Church of Pentacost

8:15am-Traditional 9:20am-Bible Study 10:15am-Rejoice 7:00pm-Al Anon (206)

3Office Open 9-3

6:00pm-Stretch/Tone

7:30pm-Al Anon 7:30pm-Al Ateen

4Office Open 9-3

8:00am-SVLC’s Men’s Breakfast-Carriage Café on Tapo St.10:00am- SVLC/Attic 6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 630pm-AA (Library) 6:30pm-AA (Room 206)

5Office Open

9-3 7:00pm-

Confirmation

7:00pm-Church ofPentecost

6Office Open 9-3

10:00am-SVLC/Attic 5:00pm – Still Waters 5:00pm-Girl Scouts 5:30pm-SVCC6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 7:00pm-Al Anon (101) 7:00pm-Happy

7Office Open 9-3

7:00pm-Mission

Santa 7:30pm to

6am – PADS

8

8:00am - Al Anon (101) 10:00am – AA (Library) 10:00am - Luther’s Attic 7:00pm – GA

9

8:00am-Church of Pentacost

9:00am – One Service Annual Meeting in the Sanctuary

10Office Open 9-

3

6:00pm-Stretch/Tone

7:30pm-H.S. Youth Group (Youth Room) 7:30pm-Al Anon 7:30pm-Al Ateen

11Office Open 9-3

8:00am-SVLC’s Men’s Breakfast-Carriage Café on Tapo St.

10:00am- SVLC/Attic 6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 630pm-AA (Library) 6:30pm-AA (Room 206)

12Office Open

9-3 7:00pm-

Confirmation

7:00pm-Church ofPentecost

13Office Open 9-3

10:00am-SVLC/Attic. 5:00pm – Still Waters 5:00pm-Girl Scouts 5:30pm-SVCC6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 7:00pm-Al Anon (101) 7:00pm-Happy Squares

14Office Open 9-3

7:00pm-Mission

Santa 7:30pm to

6am – PADS

15

8:00am - Al Anon (101) 10:00am – AA (Library) 10:00am-Luther’s Attic 7:00pm - GA

168:00am-Church of

Pentacost 8:15am-Traditional 9:20am-Bible Study 10;15am-Sunday School 10:15am-Rejoice

7:00pm-Al Anon (206)

17OFFICE CLOSED

6:00pm-Stretch/Tone

7:30pm-Al Anon

18Office Open 9-3

8:00am-SVLC’s Men’s Breakfast-Carriage Café on Tapo St.10:00am- SVLC/Attic 6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 630pm-AA (Library) 6:30pm-AA (Room 206)7:00pm-SVLC

19Office Open 9-3

6:30pm – Community Conversations (Sanctuary)

7:00pm-Confirmation

7:00pm-Church ofPentecost

20Office Open 9-3

10:00am-SVLC/Attic 11:30am-Y.I.M.A.H5:00pm-Girl Scouts 5:30pm-SVCC6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 7:00pm-Al Anon (101) 7:00pm-Happy

21Office Open 9-

3 7:00pm-Mission

Santa 7:30pm to

6am – PADS

22

8:00am - Al Anon (101) 10:00am – AA (Library) 10:00am-Luther’s Attic 7:00pm - GA

23

8:00am-Church ofPentacost

8:15am-Traditional 9:20am-Bible Study 10:15am-Sunday School 10:15am-Rejoice

7:00pm-Al Anon (206)

24Office Open 9-

3

6:00pm-Stretch/Tone

7:30pm-H.S. Youth Group (Youth Room) 7:30pm-Al Anon 7:30pm-Al Ateen

25Office Open 9-3

8:00am-SVLC’s Men’s Breakfast-Carriage Café on Tapo St.

10:00am- SVLC/Attic 6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 630pm-AA (Library) 6:30pm-AA (Room 206)

26Office Open

9-3 7:00pm-

Confirmation

7:00pm-Church ofPentecost

27Office Open 9-3

10:00am-SVLC/Attic 5:00pm-Girl Scouts 5:30pm-SVCC6:00pm-Stretch/Tone 7:00pm-Al Anon (101) 7:00pm-Happy Squares

28Office Open 9-

3 7:00pm-Mission

Santa 7:30pm to

6am – PADS

29

8:00am - Al Anon (101) 10:00am – AA (Library) 10:00am-Luther’s Attic

7:00pm - GA

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Women’s Bib le Study For information on the Women’s groups, please contact Carol Ramsey @ 805-583-5532

The Hannah Circle

February 11th @ 7:00pm at Jenny Kidd’s house2332 N. Corlson Ave., Simi Valley

(Young In Mind And Heart) 55 years old and over

Elementary:

Sunday School @ 10:15

High School:

Every 2nd & 4th Monday – Youth Group 7:30-9:00pm

Men’s BreakfastEvery Tuesday @ 8:00am– Carriage Café on Tapo St.

Middle School :Wednesdays – Confirmation - 7:00-8:15pm (Aug-May) 6th & 7th Grade – Conf. Rm. 206Shari Swanson – (cygnet418@aol.com) Yvonne Baird – (waterskino1@msn.com)

8th Grade –Youth RoomPastor Jennie – (pastorjennie@svlcsimi .com )Pastor Nikki – (pastornikki@svlcsimi.com)

Adult Bible Study :Sunday mornings at 9:20 to 10:10Led by Pastor Jennie – pastorjennie@svlcsimi .com

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Potluck Fellowship Luncheon. We meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month in Eichele Hall at 11:30am. It’s a fun informal way to get the two services together for sharing food and laughter.

If you have questions please feel free to call the church office or Edith at 805-526-9020. Come anytime or all the time - Edith Engemann.

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SHEPHERD OF THE VALLEYMINISTRIES

Church Council Members: Jennie Chrien – PastorNikki Fielder – Pastor of CYF Nancy Mason – PresidentPat Plyler – Vice President Shelley McLain – Treasurer Claudia Gordon – Secretary Scott ArcherTom McLain Ray Valderrama Bryan Honda Noelle Panczel Brian Apuzzo

Youth Board Members: Pastor Nikki Susan CaranchiniTom & Shelley McLain Jennifer Sterling

Endowment Committee: Scott Kalinke Lisa Gearhart Yvonne Baird Jared Shapiro Julie Ostberg Zach Sterling Kelli Stephens

How does Endowment work?

Endowment email: endowment@svlcsimi.com

Social Ministries: Pastor Jennie Julie Honda Yvonne Baird Traci Connett Ann LoweryTim Bradley Jennifer Stafford

Wome n’ s Boa rd: Jennifer Sterling – Secretary Barbara Swanson – Treasurer Linda WattersLynn Bonelli Fellowship

Ministry: Rick Baird Carolyn Nell Lynn Bonelli Lynn Featherston Barbara Corrigan

Sigrid Bremer

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Mutual Ministries: Todd Honda Marilyn Shapiro Darl

ene BondPat PlyerDo

n Rommereim Jymme-Lyn Archer

SCRIP:Marvin & Jenny

Kidd What is

SCRIP?

STAFFSenior Pastor Jennifer Chrienpastorjennie@svlcsimi .com

Pastor Nikki FielderChildren, Youth & Family Ministries pastornikki@svlcsimi.com

For prayer requests: Marilyn Shapiro m1shapiro@aol.com

Parish Administrator Roxanne Yatman svlc@dslextreme.com

Rejoice Band Leader Steve Venz

OrganistSaundra Carganilla