I’ve had so many questions floating around my head before our journey to the Holy Land.  What is life like in the prayer-drenched birthplace of Christianity?  How do residents find peace, shalom, salaam?  As Americans, what role do we play in the affecting their lives?

Our group discussed and heard all about these questions as we walked where Jesus walked in the Holy Land, Spring of 2010.  We prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, broke bread on the shore of Sea of Galilee, reaffirmed our baptism in the Jordan River, and processed in the Palm Sunday celebrations.  Our Palestinian Lutheran guide also arranged for us to be in Nazareth for the celebration of the Annunciation, angel Gabriel’s announcement of the birth of Jesus.  It was truly a special time to be in the Holy Land, both spiritually and politically.  We spoke with Lutheran leaders and heads of schools, hospitals, refugee camps, and other nongovernmental organizations.  All inspired hope and instilled a sense of urgency for the re-commitment to prayers of peace for those living in Palestine and Israel.  So may God’s peace fill your life.

- Cameron Beck

See Katie’s Blog with lots more commentary and photos!

LCM students hosted twenty-one children from the church and the community for our first Parent’s Night Out Event.  Everyone made Valentines, ate pizza, watched the ever popular “Charlie Brown’s Valentine’s Day”, enjoyed a magic trick, and decorated cookies (inhaling WAY too much sugar).  LCM students adapted traditional party games to a Valentine’s Day theme.  We played everything from pin the heart on the heart (like pin the tail on the donkey except with a bull’s eye of hearts) to a heart hunt (like an Easter egg hunt with hearts). Duck, duck, goose was a flop while Simon Says was a huge success–who knew.

We played a game similar to musical chairs, except rather than music we turned off the lights (and wore glow-in-the-dark necklaces). The necklaces were a big hit, but a couple of inquisitive kids bent them in every which way, so much so that a few cracked open and some of the “glowing” chemicals spilled out.  Luckily we weren’t doing this right before Sunday morning worship so we weren’t left to explain the surreal blue glowing patches on the floor to the congregation members.

With twenty one children (we were thrilled with the turnout for our first time) from age three to twelve, there was quite a difference in their capabilities and interests.  LCM students had to improvise because what was totally fascinating to a three year old was perceived as lame to a twelve year old.  In fact, the glow-in-the-dark necklaces used by the younger children for a roaring game of musical chairs were adapted as “lasers” to be dodged by the twelve year old boys.  LCM students definitely learned to be flexible.

We felt the evening out for parents of young children was a great outreach for Mt. Carmel and surrounding community members.  It was a fun evening for the LCM students and children alike, and the parents seemed thrilled!  LCMs next outreach event will be a total 180 degrees from this event as we enter the Relay for Life to raise awareness and money for cancer research on May 15-16; our team is LutheRUN for Life!

-Katie DeLaurentis

“Well, believe it or not (with those 80 degree days we’ve been having??) Fall is in full swing, and with those falling leaves and pumpkin pies came our LCM Halloween Party! College students…or so I assume they were, though you wouldn’t have known it from their costumes … heaped into the LCM house (which, thanks to Pam Wood and Marc and Patti Frey, was festooned with cob-webs, spiders, ghosts and pumpkins galore!) to carve pumpkins and get into the Halloween spirit with some ghoulish fellowship and games. The floor of the dining room and living room was quickly converted into a jack-o-lantern factory, where pumpkin guts and seeds spread across the newspaper laden tiles and floor boards, giving birth to funny (and scary!) faced pumpkins. Costume-clad LCM-ers, from fairies and cowboys to salt and pepper shakers tested their non-verbal skills with some charades; and, of course, being the diligent college students we are, we didn’t forget to hone in on our vocabulary skills with a few rounds of ‘Taboo’. Top it off with waaaay too much Halloween candy and some warm apple cider, and it was one fun night! Thanks to everyone who came out and made the night enjoyable! Keep your eyes peeled for more fun events to come!”

-julie

So this is the first message after our hosting changes. . . .  all that means for you is that our previous blog posts have been lost in cyberspace for good. . . .

Welcome to the LCM SLO blog.  Check back for blurbs of recent events with photos and random musings of the peer ministers and others.  If you’d like to see something special, comment and let us know!

Pismo Sunset