Wesley United Methodist Church

Wesley is rich in tradition and always looking towards the future. We welcome you to worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10am. Everyone is welcome. http://www.wumcsf.org

Dear members and friends of Wesley UMC,

As you recently heard, Pastor Eric has received a new appointment as the Director of Camp Loucon in Kentucky and his last Sunday at Wesley will be February 11. Although we are sad to lose him from the Dakotas, we celebrate with him and his family as they answer this exciting call.

Since it was planned for Eric to serve as the interim pastor through June 30, the Cabinet and I have been working on a plan for pastoral care and leadership for the remainder of that time. Beginning February 12, Pastor Howard Grinager and Pastor Bill Gran will step in as interim pastors to complete the appointment year. Pastor Howard will be the point person and will work with lay leadership as well as working with LeRae in caring for administrative matters. He will be present to lead worship on most Sundays and will preach every 2-3 wks. Pastor Bill will preach once a month and he and Howard will share pastoral care coverage. Pastor Jordan Minnich Kjesbo and Tyler Kopp will round out the preaching schedule. I know you are familiar with Jordan as he has preached for Eric this year. Tyler is a seminary student and in process to be ordained a deacon. He works for Young Life in SF and he and his wife are members at SF First UMC.

Together in Ministry and Service,

Rebecca Trefz

I would like to share with you how much I appreciate being asked to come along side of you as one of your interim pastors in these next months. I know a few of you, but for those who do not know me let me share a little bit of my history.

I’m a preacher’s kid. My father, Lloyd Grinager was a pastor at Wesley from 1982-1986 when he took medical retirement. My mother, Dorothy, was your parish visitor for a number of years. Out of college, I taught junior high science in Mitchell for 10 years before heading to seminary in Boston. My wife Karen and our two children, Aaron and Rebecca, returned to South Dakota and I served churches in Mt. Vernon and Plankinton, Yankton and Gayville, Southeast District Superintendent, and Pierre and Hayes. We retired in 2012. In retirement I substitute taught in Parker for 3 years before beginning interim ministries. I have served Alexandria (three times) and Ethan (two times), Brookings (two times), and Southern Hill as their interim pastor.

I know that these last months have been challenging for the church family at Wesley and I hope my presence can be a part of your healing and planning for the ministry that God would have you be about. Feel free to contact me at my email grinagerh@gmail.com or phone 605-280-2624.

A couple of helpful things-when we visit, please tell me your name. You may have to do this often, but I do want to get to know who you are. Secondly, on January 25, I experienced a sudden hearing loss in my left ear for which I am receiving treatment. That means if you are on my left side I may not hear or understand you when you speak. I just want you to know that I am not ignoring you. My prayer is that I might recover some of that hearing over the next weeks and months. Your prayers will be appreciated. It has given me a whole new appreciation for the gift of hearing. I am looking forward to being in ministry with you. HG

I want to introduce myself as I am part of the interim pastoral team called to serve Wesley. Some of you may remember me as I was pastor at Wesley from 1994 -2001. After that, from July 2001 to December 2003 I was chaplain at Bryan Health in Lincoln Ne. My primary focus was end of life care. From Lincoln I moved back to Sioux Falls where I was with the Good Samaritan Society until December 2021. I was the Spiritual Ministry consultant pastor, primarily working with spiritual retreats and workshops. I trained the administrators in spiritual leadership and oversaw the hiring and training of the chaplains as well as the STAR, lay ministry training. I also trained in spiritual direction and provided spiritual ministry. Since retiring from GSS I have been working with the Higher Ground Advisory council for the Dakota conference.

I look forward to working with all of you in helping Wesley heal to carry out God's plan. You can reach me through my email - bnbgran@gmail.com

Wednesday, February 14, is Ash Wednesday. It is the beginning of a 40-day journey (not counting Sundays,) with Jesus and his disciples to Jerusalem and the cross that awaits him. It is meant to be a time of remembering that he takes this journey on our behalf. He goes there that we might be set in a right relationship with the God who in love gave us life.

Many Christians and churches mark the beginning of this journey with a service on Ash Wednesday during which we remember our own mortality and our need to be reconciled to God. We will be having a service this Ash Wednesday (Feb. 14) at 6:30 pm. We would like to invite you to join us for this service as we begin our journey with Jesus to the cross and the Easter that has blessed our lives. Howard

Registration is now open for the 2024 camping season! Check out the upcoming camps and events at Dakotas United Methodist Camps and pick your favorite camp location: Wesley Acres, Storm Mountain, or Lake Poinsett. All camp listings and registration information are on the Dakotas UM Camps website.

Our list of friends who are interested in participating in the cooperative works of the CRC, BAB, Habitat for Humanity and Wesley UMC is growing. Since we started meeting at Wesley around four months ago, Collision, Young Life and Terry Redlin's CLC are now attending. We meet at Wesley every Wednesday at 4:30p. It is so encouraging to hear the many ideas that these groups have for improving the quality of life in the Whittier neighborhood. One of the first steps the group is taking is to host forums where everyone can get together and express their ideas and opinions on various topics that they are challenged by. So far, we have hosted four forums and there are three more to come. The next one is Saturday, February 10th at 10a. Everyone is encouraged to come and experience the great conversations and the sharing of ideas. Lunch is served at 11:30a. All the forums take place in our Fellowship Hall.

Terry Redlin Food Pantry - Wesley volunteers have been serving others over at the Terry Redlin on Tuesdays from 2:30p to 4:00p. The Thrive organization started the Pantry about two months ago and it helps around twenty family units every week. If you would like to help, call Mary P or sign up on the sheet in the Narthex.

Looking forward to June 17th-22nd. Wesley will host the next "Rock the Block" event in June. Habitat for Humanity will give Whittier residents the opportunity to sign up for help around their homes during that week. The projects include house painting, clearing debris from yards, planting new trees and more!!! The week culminates on Saturday, June 22, with a big celebration at Wesley. Habitat has reserved Meldrum Park for various fun activities like a bouncy house and a fire truck. There will be free haircuts, wonderful food, and opportunities to visit with communities' partners about services available to help make our lives better. It's a great time to get to know more people and relax in an atmosphere of joy. All activities are free. Watch for more information to be released as plans come together.

The dates for the February's forum are Saturday February 10th and February 24th at 10a. Come have a cup of coffee and a treat and meet your Church's neighbors. "Let's work together to make our Whittier neighborhood an even better place to live one forum at a time." For more information visit civicbiodesign.org/join-the-crc. If you have any questions or would like to provide treats for this meeting, please call Mary Poppenga.

Income 12 months 2023------ --------------------$ 110,649.53

Expense 12 months 2023 ----------------------- ($136,497.17)

Expense exceed Income @ 12/31/2023----------($25,847.64)

Don Armstrong, Treasurer

Balance 11/30/23-------------------------------$20,000.43

Interest earned December 2023--------------------$6.36

Balance 12/31/2023 ---------------------------$20,006.79

Don Armstrong, Treasurer

Ernie Griner - several surgeries and hospitalization in Minneapolis

Zelma Dean - Rehab after hospitalization

Carole Anderson -Home!

Trish Garcia - back home!

Erlene's cousin Jeff there have been small improvements after a stroke

Aggie Borman - recovering from a heart transplant and doing great

Sandy - Bernie McCabe's daughter, ongoing illness

Carmen Britt - Sister Kim and Brother-in-law, Dave - prayers needed

Kolby Bohmbach – Continued prayers for good test results

Karen Renken- continued prayers for healing

Bob Whiting’s daughter Robyn –doing well after a kidney transplant

Nila & Karen’s sister-in-law Karen - continued prayers

Tuff Home in Hills, MN: Jackie Dreyer

Good Sam / Hill: Linda Varud,

Southridge: Guy Varud; Cleova Frahm

VA in Luverne: Bob Morrison

With the spike in diet drugs readily available, more people are opting for a quick fix, 'diet shot' or pill rather than exercising or addressing the underlying cause of their weight gain. While I don’t disagree that diet has a massive impact on weight, I would caution under-rating exercise and its effect on body composition.

What diet does and doesn’t do!

Changing your diet can reduce the energy you put into your body and depending on your choices, can change your insulin levels, protein turnover (muscle), and blood lipid profile. All this is extremely positive news. With those changes in the mix, you can lose body fat.

Diet also allows you to make dramatic changes and get dramatic results quickly when compared to exercise. However, while reducing your energy intake by 1,000 calories a day is impactful, it isn’t practical long term.

Dieting is extremely difficult to maintain in today’s food environment without working to modify and manage your personal environment (exposures, habits and coping strategies) long term. Without behavior management techniques, diet is at best temporarily effective. Dieting, by itself, doesn’t work in the long-term.

What exercise does and doesn’t do!

Exercise does burn some energy and depending on the type, tends to increase fat free mass (FFM). This means that even at rest, exercise tends to increase your energy use.

Exercise improves mental health, physical function, bolsters the immune system and reduces inflammation. In fact, the list of exercise benefits is so long – I won’t even attempt to write it here. Exercise impacts every cell in the body, improving your mitochondrial function (the batteries in almost all cells).

Unlike diet, the metabolic adaptations to exercise progression are inherently positive – you are designed to move and your body appreciates any movement you can give it.

Exercise also spills over it has life permeability. Fit people tend to move more often when not willfully exercising. They tend to engage in more activity at any opportunity because they can cope with it and don’t see it as a chore.

Finding the right balance

Because exercise places a demand on the body, it cannot be given in big doses quickly. If you overreach (too much effort at once) or over-train (too frequent /not recovering properly), your body lets you know by being sore and you tend to slow down. So, with exercise, you generally can’t change your body composition rapidly (in weeks) but you can in months and years. Long-term, it’s a winner.

Combining regular exercise and its litany list of benefits WITH diet modification is always the best option for long term permanent success. Remember: everything in moderation.

Blessings,

Dawn Armstrong

Please continue to pray for Ernie and the entire Griner family. Ernie is in rehab now and making slow but sure progress. You can follow Ernie's journey on his Caring Bridge. You can send notes and cards to:

Ernie Griner

%Angie Griner

Ronald McDonald House

818 Fulton St SE

Minneapolis, Mn 55414

Wesley will be serving the Nightwatch Canteen on Sunday February 11th. Please consider helping or donating to this worthy cause. Wesley also hands out warm clothes and other necessities. Nightwatch feeds people with food but also the love of Christ.