Oahe Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)
Pierre, South Dakota
November 2009

November has arrived! I like how the Irish historically regard November - it is viewed as the beginning of winter. Now, while for many of you winter brings images of cold and snow; this does not mean that our activities diminish. And that is certainly true for our church - what an exciting month this will be in our life of faith to our Master Jesus Christ and the activities of the church!

On November 1^st we celebrate the Lord’s Supper together on All Saints Day and we also rejoice in the presentation of Bibles that will be given to two youngsters in our church family, 4^th grade Josie Slaathaug, and 3^rd grade JinQiu Rhoad.

Then on Saturday, November 7^th be sure to join in with the Church Life Committee’s planned bowling party for fun and fellowship. Everyone is invited for bowling at the Lariat Lanes in Pierre at 4:30pm and we will conclude the activity for the day with pizza at church at 6pm. Feel free to bring a neighbour or friend along.

On Sunday, November 8^th in the afternoon we have the privilege of leading the Worship Services at Mary House and Golden Living in Pierre. This same Sunday (November 8^th) we will commence our 5 week study on the life and ministry of John Calvin. This will be a multi-media study after the fellowship time following our worship service at church. The study will be held on the following Sundays: November 8, 15, 22 and December 6 & 13.

On Thursday, November 19 at 5:30pm we have the annual mission of serving the Banquet at the SE Methodist Church in Pierre. This fall they have been averaging 375 meals, in part, because of the economic downturn.

Then on Sunday, 22 November we will have the “Harvest Home” display at church on our Stewardship Sunday. Thanksgiving Service will be held on Thursday, November 26 at 10am and then that afternoon Rev. Rhoad will conduct worship at the Hughes County Jail for the inmates.

On Sunday, November 29 we begin our celebration of Advent - a candle will be lit and our journey will commence on to Christmas.

These are just a few of the highlights to be engaged with this month. Hopefully you will be able to partake in some of these connections, if not all, that we do; to simply glorify the Lord.

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November Birthdays		THANKSGIVING IS A’COMIN’ Would you have some items for the ‘Harvest Home’ display? Our annual ‘Harvest Home’ display will again be set up in the sanctuary for Sunday, November 22 and Thanksgiving Day.   ‘Harvest Home’ represents the fruits of our labors and our thanks for all that God provides.  Items that have been donated in the past include: pumpkins, squash, and gourds.  Items that are challenging to secure, but enhance the display include: hay bales and corn stalks.  Please drop off any items you are able to donate at the church before Wednesday, November 18th.  (If you need/want items returned to you, please label them accordingly!) Any questions can be directed to Ruth Smith (224-8293).
1	Gracelynn Taylor
2	Duane Jenner
6	Ron Woodburn
11	Chris Nelson
12	Peggy Bechtold
19	Charlotte Hyde
20	Joe Nadenicek
20	Tai Rhoad
23	Missy Slaathaug
29	Lana Laurenz
November Anniversaries
11	Dennis Pfrimmer / Cheryl Stone
27	Ken and Cindy Droppers

“Where’s the organ?”

This question can be heard as people walk in the sanctuary. The organ hasn’t worked properly for a few years. Parts could not be obtained; it could not be tuned as well. It was decided to give the organ away for only the price of hauling. An artistic woman in Pierre decided that she would “let the wood tell her what to do”; the other parts of the organ will be used in as-yet undetermined ways. It will be exciting to see what other “music” is in store for the organ!

A committee is in place to seek information about a new/used organ. We have talked with a representative of Rodgers organs. If you have any ideas, please contact KayCee Hodson, Ron Woodburn, Shirleen Fugitt, Ruth Smith, Pastor John, or Margaret Ellefson. Thank you.

--Margaret Ellefson 

*Please click on photos to view enlargements*

Buildings and Grounds Report

People from the congregation got together the third week in September to fix the problem of water coming over the sill and into the basement every time it rains. Those who gathered to help first had to push back the rock and fabric along the north side of the building. The crew then had to dig down a couple of feet removing the dirt to make a trench in which to lay drainpipe. Once this was done the pipe was then surrounded by sand. After the pipe was packed in sand the fabric was then pulled back and the rock was raked back into place. This was a big job and took several nights to complete.

On the same nights KayCee and several different women from the congregation gathered to clean out the flowerbeds. Thanks to their efforts the dying plants have been removed, those that were too thick have been thinned out and some have been dug up and planted elsewhere.

It was really nice that quite a few people showed up to help with these projects. It made a big job go much faster than it could have. The church belongs to all of us and it is always nice to see everybody working together and sharing in the responsibility of taking care of what God has given us. A very big thank you goes to all of you that helped. Your efforts were noticed and very much appreciated.

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Fall Work Camp

Led by Pastor John Armstrong of Davis, SD, fourteen individuals from around the state spent two days at Camp Rimrock preparing it for the winter season. 

	The men found that having gymnastics training might have been helpful during their plumbing tasks.
	<<The work crew plus mascot, Cinnamon Sue >>Of course there was always time for relaxation and fun....our fisherman.

Those participating from OPC included Lyman Chase, Duane & Mary Jenner and Larry & Meleta DeJong.  Bob Porter, Doris Donner, Rolly Kemink, and Kurt Matzen of the Onida Church were also at the work camp. Others attending were Dave Armstrong, Andrew Crandall and David & Linda McGirr of Huron.

Plumbing and electrical concerns were repaired and redone.  The machine shop was totally cleaned and reorganized for the season.  The kitchen was scrubbed top to bottom.  Water leaks were repaired just to name a few of the projects completed during the “camp”.

Presbytery Meeting Highlights

by Duane Jenner, Oahe Commissioner to Presbytery

The Presbytery of South Dakota met for it’s fall meeting on Friday October 23, 2009 at the Faith United Presbyterian Church, located in Brandon, SD. The meeting was convened by our own Moderator of the Presbytery, Meleta DeJong, with an opening prayer and a challenge to all to be in active communication with each other. As local churches express wishes to know what is happening at the Presbytery level, likewise the Presbytery yearns to hear what is going on in each church in the Presbytery.

The greatest highlight for me at this meeting was the ordination examination and ordination of three new Teaching Elders (Ministers of Word and Sacraments) into the Presbytery. Those ordained were Andrew Crandall who has accepted a call to First Presbyterian Church in Huron, Tim Harmon who has accepted a call to First Presbyterian Church in Lake Andes, and Janice Palmer, who has accepted a call to First Presbyterian Church in Wolsey and First Presbyterian Church in Bonilla. It is even greater news when you consider that two of the three new ministers in this Presbytery, came from churches in our Presbytery and will remain here with their first call to a church. Praise God.

The examination process required each candidate to preach a brief sermon through out the Presbytery meeting, reading of their individual Statement of Faith, and the answering of questions from the floor of Presbytery, regarding their statements of faith, theology, and polity. A vote was then taken to approve their ordination. Each will be having their individual services of ordination and installation within the next few weeks.

Another major highlight was the presentation by Dr. Diana Barber, who is the Synod of Lakes and Prairies representative on the Form of Government Task Force who have been charged originally by the 2006 General Assembly and then again by the 2008 General Assembly to revised the draft that was presented at that time. Dr. Barber shared the highlights of the draft that they have completed that will be presented to the 219^th General Assembly in 2010.

The goal of the proposal is to maximize flexibility to meet the changing needs of particular contexts, while maintaining standards that are appropriate to the practice of the whole church. The book of order has been reduced from 14 chapters to 6, all designed to be more flexible, with less regulatory polity, eliminating as much “process-oriented” language as possible. This draft of the book of order is designed to be more adaptable to today’s differing contexts for ministry, while still maintaining the standards with out mandating the structure or procedures to be employed.

This draft can be found at the Presbyterian Church (USA) web site; (www.pcusa.org/formofgoverment)  I would encourage you to pull it up and review it. You may also contact me and I can get you a printed copy. Please understand that at this point in time this is a draft that will be presented at the next General Assembly. Before it could become the form of government of the Presbyterian Church (USA), it would need to be approved at the General Assembly and then ratified by a majority vote of all Presbyterys.

Other action at the Presbytery meeting included receiving the reports of Presbytery Officers and staff, Standing Committees and Commissions. It was exciting to here about many of the mission opportunities happening in the Presbytery including the continued growth of the Korean ministry in the Sioux Falls Area, a renewed interest in revising the Sudanese ministry in the Sioux Falls area, and the continued growth of the Dallas Mniska Mission, in Dallas, SD led by the Rev. Diane Wonnenberg.

The next Presbytery of South Dakota meeting will be on February 26, 2010 here at Oahe Presbyterian Church. I would encourage each of you to consider how you might be able to help out as we host this meeting.

It is a great pleasure for me to represent Oahe at Presbytery meetings and ask for your continued prayers that I in fact am following through with what God would want of me.

If you wish any further details of the meeting, please let me know and I gladly share any information that I have.

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Invitation You are invited to a special house warming/open house party  at  10:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, 2009 for MS. RITA WELCH of  1233 West Canal St. , Crystal Beach, TX  77650 Ms Welch has the distinction of being the very first applicant for Hurricane Ike Recovery services provided through Bolivar Peninsula Community Outreach and Galveston County Restore & Rebuild. Ms Welch’s children and grandchildren kept her and most of her precious possessions safe after the storm while they and three separate groups of volunteer workers came to provide the needed labor to get her home back into decent, safe and sanitary shape. Ms Welch moved back into her home Labor Day weekend (after having spent months in her FEMA trailer). Since then she has been opening boxes and containers, cleaning up items that got inundated by flood waters and organizing her home. Please help us celebrate this huge new chapter in Rita’s life. BOLIVAR PENINSULA COMMUNITY OUTREACH Gene Straatmeyer, President

This is the lady for which the Onida / OPC / Britain crew spent a week helping to restore following Hurricane Ike.  Ms. Rita Welch Our “Ad” (the one on the right) Photos courtesy of: Mrs. Jean Straatmeyer

Rita’s new living room. The new bath. Rita’s kitchen

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LORD PROP US UP.....
 

Every time I am asked to pray, I think of the old deacon who always prayed, 'Lord, prop us up on our leanin' side.' After hearing him pray that prayer many times, someone asked him why he prayed that prayer so fervently.

He answered, 'Well sir, you see, it's like this ... I got an old barn out back. It's been there a long time; it's withstood a lot of weather; it's gone through a lot of storms, and it's stood for many years. It's still standing. But one day I noticed it was leaning to one side a bit. So I went and got some pine poles and propped it up on its leaning side so it wouldn't fall.

Then I got to thinking about that and how much I was like that old barn. I've been around a long time. I've withstood a lot of life's storms. I've withstood a lot of bad weather in life, I've withstood a lot of hard times, and I'm still standing too. But I find myself leaning to one side from time to time, so I like to ask the Lord to prop us up on our leaning side, 'cause I figure a lot of us get to leaning at times.

Sometimes we get to leaning toward anger, leaning toward bitterness, leaning toward hatred, leaning toward cussing, leaning toward a lot of things that we shouldn't. So we need to pray, "Lord, prop us up on our leaning side, so we will stand straight and tall again, to glorify the Lord.''

Look at the picture of the barn, if you stare at this barn for a second you will see who will help us stand straight and tall again.

*Please click on photos to view enlargements*

The ladies of Oahe Presbyterian Church are invited to a shower to welcome into the church family:

Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 10:30am -12:30 pm
Church Fellowship Hall ~ Brunch will be served.

Need more information?  Please see Cindy, Ruth, or Kay Cee.
Need a gift idea?  Grandma Bootsie and Grandma Ellen said the new babies could use diapers, wipes, books, etc.

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John Calvin

This year we have enjoyed some special reflections on the 500^th anniversary of the birth of the Church Reformer, John Calvin. I wanted to share this historical reflection for this month of Thanksgiving.

The following is an excerpt from the writings of John Calvin. Chapter 17 “On The Christian Life” of the 1539 edition of the “Institutes of the Christian Religion”. Translated by Ford Lewis Battles.

“Gratitude for Earthly Life”

“Yet faithful Christians must become accustomed to such a contempt of present life as does not engender hatred of it or ungratefulness toward God. For although this life is full of countless woes, still it is numbered among God’s blessings, which are not to be despised by us. However, if in it we recognize no grace of God, we are guilty of ingratitude.

For the faithful especially it must be a witness to the Lord’s benevolence. We must, accordingly, be so disposed in mind and feeling as to count it as a gift of the divine kindness that is not to be rejected.

For if Scriptural testimonies were lacking (which nevertheless are not lacking), still nature itself exhorts us to give thanks to God, since He has created us, put us in this world, preserves us in it, and ministers to us all things necessary for us to remain in it.

Moreover, a still greater reason it is if we reflect that He is preparing us for the glory of His kingdom. For He has once ordained that those who are to be crowned in heaven first must fight on earth, in order that they may not triumph until the press of war is overcome and victory obtained.

But the other reason also has weight: it is that we here begin to taste the sweetness of His bounty in His benefits, in order to whet our hope and desire to seek after the full revelation.

After we have come to know that the earthly life is a gift of God’s mercy for which we are beholden to Him, also that we should be cognizant of this when the time comes to consider its unhappy condition, we may be extricated from this excessive desire, to which we all are by nature inclined.”

That day will come when all that you have is what you have given to God!

What have you given to God?  Your Heart?  Your Life?

Have you given God your actions, or your thoughts?

Have you given God your words, or your time?

Have you given God the worship and the love that is due?

Have you committed yourself to God - your family - your home?

Have you committed your very soul to God’s safe, and eternal keeping?

As you have read this, do not despair, for the time for change and action for your God, is now!

---Submitted by John Calvin Rhoad, Jr.