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REDEEMERREPORTERThe newsletter of Redeemer Lutheran Church, Boise, Idaho

All in the Family pg 10

Community and Service pg 4

COVID Gathering Update pg 2

Financial Report pg 11

God's Miracle pg 8

Letter from President pg 1

Playful Profiles pg 6

Roof Update pg 3

Welcome New Members pg 3

Worship pg 2

W H A T ' S I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

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Last Sunday, September 26, we held aspecial Congregational Meeting via Zoom todiscuss and vote on the Mission Site Profilethat the Call Committee had developed. TheMSP is a description of Redeemer'scongregation, our strengths and ourchallenges, our programs and mission, andour congregation's expectations and waysthat we can support each other. Its who weare and what we want our future mission tolook like.

LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT

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Thank you to all who attended the meeting, and for the thoughtful comments andsuggestions. The congregation overwhelmingly approved the MSP, with some minor editsand additions. After making the changes agreed upon, we will be submitting this to PastorPhil Meisner who is the Assistant to the Bishop with the Northwest Intermountain Synod.As Pastor David says, we are cruising right along!

Peace,Jean PollockPresident, Redeemer Church Council

WORSHIPUpcoming Worship Schedule for October

Sunday Worship will continue to be ONLINE ONLY10:00 AM on Facebook-Live

See Implementation Team's Report (below)

COVID GATHERING UPDATE From the Implementation Team

Overall picture: State cases are coming down after peaking a week ago, Ada County caseshave been coming down dramatically the past week and is now at our Step 1 metric.However, positivity rate is currently climbing for the state and Ada County, and are wellabove metrics. - Arielle 208-860-9522

Updated: 9/23/2021

COVID-19 Update on Numbers:Cases/100,000 population: 39.9 State/9.9 Ada

% positive cases: 16.4 State/14.1 Ada

Current Stage of Reopening:STEP 0: Online Only

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Bonita is a retired public school educator and Keith is a retiredELCA pastor. We have five adult children and 14 grandchildrenspread across all US time zones.

ROOF UPDATEThe new roof work is completed! You may have seen that the shingles have been replacedon the sanctuary roof. Wow! It really makes the church building look great. They have alsofinished work on replacing the flat roof this week. We are grateful everything is donebefore fall and winter rain and snow!

WE WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

We are excited to buildrelationships/becomereacquainted withmembers of Redeemerwhen we can gather andworship safely again. Weare also looking to servingin the ministries andactivities of Redeemer.

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Esther - Naomi Circle Bible StudyThe Esther~Naomi Circle will meet on October 12th at 1:00 p.m. via zoom due to thereestablished Covid protocols for Redeemer.

WWW Distribution Volunteers

Needed: Distribution volunteers are needed for October 16th, November 20, andDecember 18. If you are able to do this please contact Carol Green atseagreen5044@gmail.com. Thanks to Martina Ngabonziza, Connie Seymour, and PastorDavid Ernat for serving on August 21st. Task description: Begin at 12:30 in the FellowshipHall. Set up cones and signs. Hand out prepackaged items and diapers. Finished when theproduct is gone or by 2:30 p.m.

WWW needs used, plastic grocery bags to bag the toilet paper, detergent, and other itemfor the WWW distribution. Please turn them in at the church office on Tuesdays, or leavethem in a bag in the entrance to the office.

Volunteers for the Thursday preparation day are always welcome.

Wash, Wipe, and Wear Report for September (WWW)The WWW distribution on Saturday was efficiently completed by Martina Ngabonziza andCarolyn Rapp. The distribution continues to be done from the Fellowship Hall and willcontinue from here until further notice. Thanks to all the volunteers behind the scenes. Gale Faber, Jean Pollock, Connie Seymour,Martina Ngabonziza, Linda Alexander, and Carol Green were the product purchasers,deliverers, sorters, and baggers providing the foundation for the day’s success.

There were 67 families were served with 268 rolls of toilet paper, 67 bottles of detergent,and 67 bottles of body wash. Approximately 1,635 diapers were distributed.

All who help and those who support this ministry financially are greatly appreciated. It is agreat and much needed service to our community.

QuiltersIn spite of a long Covid shutdown, 30 quilts will be packaged up this month to bedelivered locally and to Lutheran World Relief which will distribute globally. Your giftsand support reach the world.

COMMUNITY AND SERVICE

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Ministry of the Month - October/NovemberThe October/November MOM will be to collect monetary offerings for a needy refugeefamily at Christmas. The family to receive this offering has not been selected. If anyoneknows of a family in need in our congregation or elsewhere, please let Carol Green knowat seagreen5044@gmail.com

The Word inSeason

Devotional books forOctober, November, andDecember are nowavailable in large printand regular. You maypick one up in the officeentryway.

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Explain how golf and travel bondyou with your adult children.

I have always loved golf ever since highschool. Over the years, it took a backburner to raising children and work. Onceour children, Brianna and Allen, becameadults, though, they also found a love forthe sport and something we could share.We play golf for fun (but alwayscompetitively!), we’ve played in the Lion’sAnnual Golf Tournament as a team, and formany years we’ve had the annual SeymourFamily Golf Tournament. This entitles thewinner’s name engraved on our specialtrophy we had made. This trophy thentravels to the winner’s home and it givesthat person a years worth of braggingrights! When not playing together, we alsoenjoy traveling to watch the professionalsplay in the US Open and the Ryder Cup.These are wonderful memories we allshare!

She takes me to various adventures inVegas, to skiing in many states also forthe love, the fun, and the laughter! Shehas taken me to Europe where we hikedthe Swiss Alps, hiked Cinque Terra inItaly. While there, we went to the Vaticanand were awed by the Basilica. Weshopped the backstreet markets in Cairoand rode the camels outside Giza, andwent inside the claustrophobic pyramids.So much fun, so many memories, soblessed! On a two week trip that we wenton 14 years ago, my last entry in thatjournal was.....I reflect on how my life’sjourney has been enriched by mydaughter, Brianna. How after 2 weeks ofteaching me how to flush every toilet wecame across in Europe and Africa, shestill has a warm heart and wonderfulsmile for me. She has given me her love,her joy of travel, which is a gift beyondwords. I hope I have given her somethingin return.

My college roommatecoined the term WAC’s.This meant women ofadventure andconviction! Brianna hasendeared herself to thisterm and has includedme in on her travels. Shewouldn’t have to take meon her business travels tothe hinterlands ofnorthern Minnesota orKentucky, but she does itbecause we have fun!

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moved around. The gear shrunkconsiderably and became lighter (perfect asI aged). And it became so much easier totell a story through video editing. All youneeded was a computer and software. Ibegan experimenting with editing my ownstories and discovered that I loved it.

And another wonderful thing happenedthat had to do with grizzly bears and thescientist who was conducting a study onthe species. We had captured a big malebear, drugged it, and then placed a trackingradio collar around the bear’s neck. Thebiologist’s name was Steve Knick and heseemed to enjoy my endless interviewquestions so much that he asked me out ona date.

On September 29th we will have beenmarried 31 years, and we both are stillasking questions, because as EleanorRoosevelt said, “Life must be lived and curiosity kept alive.

One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”

What or who encouragedyou to get into film

editing? Was it a path youtook in your education orsomething you learned on

the job?

Do you have something tosay about grizzly bears?

I grew up in a family that always encouragedcuriosity, so my degree in journalism seemedthe perfect path for permission to bug peoplewith questions and earn a living doing it.

But I had to think a bit about what promptedme to start editing video, because it was muchlater in my television career. When I movedfrom TV news to become the writer andproducer of a wildlife show, my job was to findthe stories, set up the logistics, help myphotographer carry gear, interview thescientists and then write the scripts for theshow.

My colleague’s job was to shoot the video,carry gear, and then edit the show after I wasfinished with the script. The gear was big andheavy and video editing was cumbersome andlinear…in other words, you could not go backand undo something in analog editing…youhad to start over.

But around the mid 1990’s somethingwonderful happened…the digital world. Linearvideo tapes could be turned into data pointsand suddenly images and sound could be

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GOD’S MIRACLE

I am Martina Ngabonziza and my family and I came to the U.S in 2007 to live in Boise,Idaho. I have a husband and 4 children. Our country of origin is Rwanda, but we wererefugees in Tanzania for 7 years. I want to share a story about my two friends, a motherand her daughter, and I ask you to read it carefully please. One Sunday, I went to StMary’s Catholic Church. I met a friend named Charlotte Mallet. It was not easy to explainhow good she was. She was a beautiful woman outside and inside. The first time we metat the church, it was at the 8:30 AM service and she asked me to go have coffee with her. Isaid no, because I didn’t speak or write English. I wasn’t comfortable going with herwithout talking. The following week Charlotte asked me again, and I went with her and wehad coffee. Charlotte talked more to open up conversation, but I couldn’t understand herwords. Language was a barrier. Finally, Charlotte became the best friend for me and mywhole family. Charlotte asked me for our address, and then she came to my house.Communication between us was difficult at first.

Charlotte was my friend and my teacher at the same time. She helped me to learn moreabout America and Americans. She brought more children’s books and read stories to mychildren. She went with us to the library and helped me to get a library card. She took usto the zoo. She taught me how to cook American food. Charlotte showed us how to colorand hide Easter Eggs. She showed me how to make corned beef and cabbage for StPatrick’s Day. We baked turkey for thanksgiving, etc. Charlotte took me to the LearningLab to help with my English. She paid for my CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) classes in2010. Charlotte has always sent each of my children a birthday card,

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she brought a birthday cake, new clothesand new shoes and came to celebratetheir birthdays and she taught me how todo those things. Charlotte was animportant person in my family. 1 John 3:18“Dear children, let us not love with wordsor speech, but with actions and in truth.”

In April, 2014 Charlotte had a stroke. Shewas paralyzed and couldn't talk, but shewas happy anyway. When she saw myfamily, she was smiling and hugging, andbecause she couldn't talk, she was alsocrying and we were too. During visits, myfamily would sing different gospel songsand she liked them. In 2020 Charlotte gotcancer and she passed away. We cried asbabies. It was hard for us to handle herdeath until now.

Charlotte had a beautiful daughter whohas a good heart just like her mother. Hername is Brenda Simpson and she lives inBend, Oregon. When Charlotte was sick,she was not able to celebrate birthdaysfor my kids. Brenda surprised me bysending birthday cards to all of my kidsand $40. Later in 2021, Brenda wasdiagnosed with cancer. When I heardthat, my heart broke again. But assomeone who prays to God, I decided topray for her. I have a prayer group and Ishared with them my request to pray forBrenda. I asked Brenda to help us pray. I wrote a short prayer and I sent it toBrenda, the prayer is like this: God,forgive me all sins I have done. Save mylife and I will serve you. Brenda wasplaying the prayer I sent to her. Listeningbrings healing.

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My prayer group started to pray forBrenda in June of 2021. At the day Godspoke with us and promised us to healBrenda. I reminded God of all the goodworks Charlotte and Brenda had done.Later I asked Brenda how she wasfeeling. Her answer wasn’t good. Shewas feeling very sick. We prayed moreprayers and fasted for two days. I triedto send some gospel songs and bibleverses to make her comfortable.

On August 17, 2021, Brenda had surgery.The surgery went well, but it was noteasy. She asked me to pray an extraprayer before that and I did. After hersurgery, she has to be tested every 6months for 5 years. In 3 weeks, after hersurgery on August 30, Brenda texted meand told me some good news. She said,“I heard from the doctors that there wasno cancer in my lymph nodes or marginsof what they removed, this means thatthey got all of the cancer. Now I justhave to heal and find where God wantsme to serve. Thanks for all of yoursupport and prayers.” Wow! God is stilldoing miracles. 1 Peter 3:13. “Who isgoing to harm you if you are an eagle todo good?”

The whole group praised God for themiracle. After all, I asked Brenda forpermission to share the story in ourchurch newsletter, and she said yes. I will send her a copy of this story. Let me know if you want to contactBrenda. My number is 208 854 9953. My email is martinangabo78@gmail.com.

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Please contact the office to be added orremoved from the prayer list. (Note: To allow forspace, names will be removed after 2 months,unless otherwise requested. Bolded names are new.

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ALL IN THE FAMILY

Let's CelebrateHappy October Birthdays

Prayers

Seth EricksonDevan IronsMatthew JayJason Kinsey

Military

Myron ThoresonShirley OlsonSandy WoodallNicole OsbornPatriciaDonna Schmidlkofer Jordyn Stoddard

HealingFamily of Jim ReedFamily of Roberta Riegger Family of Kurt GaedekeFamily of Dakota RichardsonFamily of Yvonne Higher

Grieving

Family of Emmett VoigtTim Johnson family in loss of wifeFamily of David DeMayo Family and Friends of Steve TabbFamily of Ellen Ribbink

Logan KostickJonathon NegronJon SavageJim SchmeitsBrian Waybright

Ed Blakeslee 9Jerry Makovsky 9Ed Miltner 17Dannette Blakeslee 18Heather Norris 19Karen Frank 26Wanda Waybright 31

Thank you!Shirley Olson and family thank everyone for their prayers regarding her trip to SouthDakota. She had a marvelous time. Thanks also to Lin for putting together her picturewith dear cats as a Playful Profile in the newsletter. She reads it often and with a smileon her face,.

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Financial Report

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