Sunday, April 3--Adult Faith Opportunities:

9:45am Adult Forum -- in Parish Commons Classroom 1-- join us for coffee and conversation. 

There will be no regular 11:00am Adult Classes during the season of Lent. 

Also--

Gig Harbor Bible Study Group will meet 10:00am, Thursday, April 7 at Helen Huseth's home.  All are welcome.

Youth  and Family News   --

SR ALYVE (9-12^th grade)

• Sunday School (April 3) -- in Fireside Rm.  -- Prayer practices continued.
• Youth Group --  April 13, 6:00-7:15pm in the Youth Rm.

 JR ALYVE (6-8^th grade)

• 6^th grade Sunday School (April 3)- 9:45am--10 Commandments (continued)
• Confirmation (April 3)-9:45am-- The Miracles of Jesus 
• Youth Group -- Weds., April 6, 6:00-7:15pm in theYouth Wing

You are invited to a Pancake Breakfast--Sunday, April 10, 8:30-11:30am in the Parish Commons.  The breakfast is sponsored by the Youth going to the Rocky Boy Reservation, July 22-29. Suggested donation:  $5.00 per person.  We need to raise $5,500.00 to help fund this trip. Thanks for your support.

Equipping Youth Ministry Leaders Training led by Ingelaurie Lisher-- The Landscape of Youth Ministry will take place at St. Mark's on Saturday, April 16 from 9:00am to 12:00noon.  Anyone working with you in our congregation is encouraged to attend.  Please RSVP to Ingelaurie Lisher by April 8th.  Sponsored by the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering.

Children's Faith Formation

   

Practicing Hospitality at St. Mark's 

"I don't want to be embarrassed by speaking to a long-term member of St. Mark's I don't recognize," said my friend.  "I only speak to people I already know." 

Rather than seeking to avoid embarrassment, how about reaching out in welcoming hospitality to everybody you can?  If the person happens to be a long-time member, so much the better; here's your chance to offer words of encouragement and honor, like, "Wow, that's wonderful of you to have been serving God at St. Mark's for such a long time."  

This week's challenge:  Be brave and speak to everyone you possibly can with words of joyful pleasure in seeing them.

(submitted by Russ Hillman, Outreach Team)

Women of St. Mark's

Spring High Tea

This Saturday, April 2 - 3:00pm

Tickets:  $5.00 each. Call the church office TODAY if you plan to attend.

Also -- you are invited to theSWWA Synod Women's Fashion Show and Tea!  The Golden Oldies, a group of ladies who put on vintage fashion shows to help support Good Will Industries, will be entertaining us with 100 years of fashion (24 different outfits) at a fund raising tea for the SWWA Synodical Women's Organization of the Women of the ELCA on Saturday, April 16 from 1:00-3:00pm at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 2109 College St. SE, Lacey WA 98503.  Please come with your church group, friends and neighbors.  Cost is $10.00.  Door prizes!  Fashion Show! and Food!  Call Adriana Chandler (253-833-4550) or Dorothy Reed (360-438-1352) for reservations/questions.

Cook's Club - Episode 3

Sunday, April 10 at 3:30pm -- "A Russian Easter"

We will begin with Blini, a pre-lenten treat.  We follow with Borschch, a hardy beef and beet soup accompanied by Pirozhki and Pierogie, meat and cabbage filled pastries.  Our main course will be a fillet sauteed for Beef Stroganov with straw potatoes.  Carol Paulson has offered to make Russian Black Bread!  We will be dying eggs and will have traditional Russian bread and cheese, all to be blessed on Easter Eve.  Cost to be determined after we shop.   Please let John Wascher (jwascher@mac.com or call 503-6765) know if you plan to attend.  

Stewardship of the Body

Faithful stewards recognize that all the good things we enjoy in life are gifts from God.  Stewardship reminds us that we are called to receive, nurture and share our material possessions, abilities and talents, friends, family, faith and even our physical bodies.  This Lent, as we enter into a time of spiritual renewal, you are invited to explore a Christian spirituality of the body and renew your commitment to nurture your physical health on Thursday evenings, 5:30-6:30pm until April 14.   Questions?  Call Carol Guenther, 752-4966, ext. 110.

Lenten Prayer Wall

The prayer quilt is hanging in the Parish Commons again this Lenten season.  If you wish to add a prayer to the quilt, please see instructions on the table nearby.  This quilt serves as a reminder during the season of Lent, to pray constantly and for one another and for the needs of the world around us. 

Join with JAPAN... ELCA and LWR

May 1 -- 4:30-6:30pm - Potluck

Join us in prayer for the people in Japan and all those affected by the Pacific Earthquake and Tsunami at a Japanese themed potluck on May 1 from 4:30-6:30pm.  Donations will be accepted and sent to the ELCA's Pacific Earthquake and Tsunami fund, 100% of which will be used for disaster response in Japan. 

We will be assembling Health Care Kits for LWR...as the need is urgent to continue to supply these essential kits to those affected by disasters worldwide.  Starting on March 20 there will be a sign-up sheet for the potluck and our LWR box to collect Health Care Kit supplies.  All are welcome!  Thank you for your continued support of these events to help those in need, share in prayer and make a difference in our world. 

Each Kit contains:  Hand Towel and Washcloth (dark colors), bar soap (4-5 oz), in original wrapping; toothbrush in its original packaging; one sturdy wide-toothed comb; one metal nail clippers, band-aids.

WE have enough supplies for most items to fill 81 Health Kits.  We only need 61 hand towels and 69 toothbrushes. That will bring us a total of 200 kits to ship on May 6th.  Please place items in the big red box.  May 1st is also Quilt Sunday.  Financial donations are also appreciated to help ship the quilts and kits.

Lutheran World Relief

Layettes -- we need baby caps and flannel (for diapers)

Health Kits-- we need toothbrushes and soap  (See article above about helping assemble Health Kits for Japan -- May 1 potluck).

Quilts--we need people who can sew tops at home

Our next shipping date is May 6 -- contact Vangie Billingsley (or the church office) for other ways you can help our LWR efforts.

Poetry in the Month of May 

May is Poetry Month at St. Mark's--The artists-in-residence fo the month of May are planning a celebration of poetry as part of our congregation's faith journey.  To help them, Paula Friedman, Sally Ann McLean, Tim Sherry, Emilie Rommel-Shimkus, and Robert Hasselblad invite everyone to fill out a poetry interest form after services this week at the table in the Narthex--so that in April they are better able to plan activities in May that will appeal to all ages and interest groups in the congregation. More information is available from Tim Sherry at timsherry@comcast.net or 253-531-3480.

Save the Date!

"Filled With Gratitude"

Can you see the holiness in those things you take for granted

...a paved road or a washing machine?

If you concentrate on finding what is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude,

a feeling that nurtures the soul.

Rabbi Harold Kushner

Join "Citizens for a Healthy Bay" 

Help plant native marsh species, repair fencing and remove non-native invasive plants from the surrounding uplands.  Saturday, April 9, 1:00-5:00pm, Tahoma Salt Marsh, 1741 Schuster Parkway, Tacoma.  Water and snacks will be provided and a light dinner will be served after the event.  Bring your rubber boots and get down and dirty in the mud!  Please pre-register at jriss@healthybay.org or 253-383-2429.