January 2023 - Zion Lutheran Church

Ukrainian Family Support

01/25/2023

Imagine huddling in a bomb shelter beneath the streets of Mariupol for three weeks trying to comfort a one-and-a-half-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl, listening to bombs destroy your home and city above you. When you finally emerge from the shelter, you drive around burned-out cars with dead bodies strewn on the roadside to escape. The dangerous journey takes you through Russia, Moldova, Italy, and Mexico before six of you arrive in Montrose, Minnesota where your mother and her husband

ReLENTless Pursuit

01/18/2023

“The Hound of Heaven” is a long poem written by Francis Thompson, which describes God as the One who continually seeks the writer even though the writer keeps running from Him. It echoes the words from Psalm 139: Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. To know there is nowhere you can go to flee

Tamara Wuollet

01/18/2023

Tamara was elected to the Zion Council in 2022 to serve 2023-2025. Konrad and I have been married fourteen years. We have two daughters, Taylor (13) and Lexi (11). Our dog is Coco, and he brings so much joy to our lives. Konrad works construction as a hardwood floor specialist. In his line of work he refinishes, installs, and designs hardwood floors. Taylor is in 8th grade and Lexi is in 6th grade at Buffalo Community Middle School. Taylor is

Council Update 2023.01

01/17/2023

Entering a new year always brings some changes, new calendars for the wall, new priorities, and a new group of Council members. I was humbled, while also very pleased to be elected to serve as this year’s President of the Council along with Ashley Mattson, as the Vice President. Deb Rude and Joan Halderson agreed to continue the great work in their officer position as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively. We have five new members, in Cheryl Bohnen, Andy Kohls, Josie

Donating Assets: Maximize Your Impact

01/17/2023

“It’s what you sow that multiplies, not what you keep in the barn.” Adrian Rogers Donating monetarily to Zion and/or any charitable organization is great. But did you know, there may be ways to significantly increase your impact by donating appreciated assets such as stocks, mutual funds, and bonds? There are a few benefits of donating the asset directly instead of first selling and converting to dollars. First, you can potentially avoid the capital gains tax you would incur if

Financial Report 2022.12

01/17/2023

Zion finished 2022 with some excellent financial news. Our average weekly General Fund income for the year was about $15,500 which is about $400 per week greater than we had in 2021. This represents an overall increase of 2.66%. Our December giving to the General Fund was up over 14% compared to the same month in 2021. Expenses for the month were about $4,500 less than a year ago. However, for the entire year, our expenses ended up 8.8% higher

Offering Envelope Supply Issue

01/09/2023

On Friday, January 6, we communicated with our offering envelope provider about not yet receiving our 2023 January/February envelope packets. Our provider quickly responded by email informing us that due to supply chain issues and their inability to add employees needed, they will not be fulfilling our January/February envelope orders. They determined that if they tried to play “catchup” it would jeopardize their ability to fulfill future orders in a timely manner. Therefore they stopped the production of January/February orders.

Ukrainian Sponsorship Opportunity

01/08/2023

Sponsor Ukrainian Viktoriia Kurylenko God has presented our congregation with the opportunity to become the official sponsor for another Ukrainian who is attempting to escape her war-torn country. Viktoriia Kurylenko is a 28-year-old single woman who is a cousin of Yevhen Hrytsai, a member of the family that arrived in Montrose eight months ago. Although we were not their official sponsors, we continue to assist him and his family as they have relocated to the Twin City area. Yevhen found

Andy Kohls

01/01/2023

Andy was elected to the Zion Council in 2022 to serve 2023-2025. All Church Council Members Dale Schmidt Tamara Wuollet Andy Kohls Cheryl Bohnen Josie LaFave Deb Rude Kris Harlan Chuck Zumbusch Joan Halderson Ashley Mattson Mary Mahlberg Amy Intrieri Email the Council

Cheryl Bohnen

01/01/2023

Cheryl was elected to the Zion Council in 2022 to serve 2023-2025. All Church Council Members Email the Council