DINKEY MEMORIAL

EVANGELICAL

LUTHERAN CHURCH

Phone: 610.377.4242

Fax: 610.377.3758

E-mail: cdinklc@ptd.net

PO Box 250

1742 Dinkey Road

Ashfield, PA 18212-0250

Thanksgiving has

just passed and the leftovers

are probably now beginning

to disappear. But the impor-

tance of giving thanks, being

grateful, shouldn’t disappear

along with the leftover tur-

key. Gratitude should be an

everyday practice and not

just something we do once a

year.

There are times

when I am not grateful.

There are times when I feel

entitled, that I deserve some-

thing certain things in my

life. “I worked hard today, I

deserve to have some time

alone.” “I am a good person

and I don’t deserve this dif-

ficult situation I am going

through right now.” “I am

depressed and I deserve this

tub of ice cream.” You get

the idea. And I am sure there

are times you have thought

or said the same thing, or at

least something similar.

I do not have joy in

my life when I am in that

mental state. Nothing can

quench my desires and I can

never have enough. Even

other people are mere obsta-

cles to me attaining what it

is I feel I deserve in that mo-

ment. Unfortunately, for oth-

ers, if they encounter me

FROM THE DESK OF PASTOR TONY

Mission Statement:

God’s purpose for our congregation is to faithfully

witness God’s Word in our community and throughout

the world.

Dinkey Memoria l

THE DINKEY EXPRESS DECEMBER 2018 -JANUARY

2019

VOLUME 9 ISSUE 6

UPCOMING EVENTS

2019

Giant Gift card sales: Year round call the office or Margie at 610-377-4740 to place your order.

Church Office Hours Tuesday 2:00pm-4:00pm

Wednesday 9:00am-4:00pm

Thursday 9:00am-3:00pm

control everything which

leads me into thinking I

deserve more than my

current situation.

Starting with

thankfulness toward God

circumvents that ugly cy-

cle and helps bring life

and joy to my day. My

brothers and sisters, may

you practice thankfulness

and gratitude, not just one

special day of the year,

but may it be an everyday

experience that draws you

closer to the one who pro-

vided it all for you in the

first place.

Your servant in Christ,

Pr. Tony

Office: 610-377-4242 Home: 610-377-7505 Email: Pr. Tony prdinklc@ptd.net

Inside this issue

From the desk of Pr. Tony pg. 1 Ann. & Birthdays pg. 2 Council Highlights pg. 10

Those In Need of Prayers pg. 2

Congregational News pg.2

Ways I Can Help My Church pg. 3-4

Committee News pg. 5

Announcements pg. 11 Calendars pg. 8-9 Memorials pg. 11 Flyers Contacts

Synod News

during these times it is an

unpleasant experience for

them as well.

What I need to do is

start each day by listing the

things for which I am grate-

ful. When I open my eyes

each morning I try to take a

moment and thank God for

what it is that I have in my

life: a wonderful wife as my

partner, two beautiful chil-

dren I adore, a roof over our

heads, a career for which I

can provide for my family, a

full refrigerator, clothing to

keep me warm… The list

could go on and on. But these

are things for which I am

truly grateful to God, and

starting from that place of

gratitude is the best way for

me to begin each day because

it puts me in a much better

place spiritually, emotionally,

and mentally.

When I am in a place

of gratitude, it helps me to

enjoy my life in a much fuller

way and to see God in the

people and experiences

throughout my day. Begin-

ning with gratitude also helps

to relieve the pressures of the

day because everything is

from God and it is all in

God’s hands anyway. Then I

no longer feel the need to

Page 1

THE DINKEY EXPRESS

THOSE IN NEED OF PRAYERS

HOMEBOUND Barbara Eckhart,Mabel Kistler, Debbie Meckel, Eva Jane Rehrig, Debbie Strohl,

Arlene Wilk, Doris Zipp

Patty Ahner, Sherwood Andrews, Bonnie Bauchspies, Christine Bowman, Colton Coleman, Erin Coombe, Vince Crostley, Deanna Cunfer, Diane Cunningham, Mackenzie DeLuca, Taylor Dorward,, Bernie Dunlap, Edna Dunlap, Bob Fehr, Regina Fisher, Denny Freeby, Lorie Gaugler, Emily Gorman, Joan Gorman, Sean Gorman, Pinky Green, Lewane Hahn, Bonnie Hoffman, Dale Kern, Armell Mann, Sheldon Mann, Helen Masonheimer, Gail Mills, Jennifer Newland, Jean O’Brien,, Barry Ruth, Jessica Sabatiini, Denise Schleicher, Bonnie Snyder, Jude Solderich, Patti Walck, Carol Weintraut, Ronald Weintraut, Dot Wohlge-muth

CONGREGATIONAL NEWS

Page 2

January Anniversaries 1/29 Travis & Carol Steigerwalt (25)

December BIRTHDAYS

(70 & OLDER) 12/17 Thomas Steigerwalt 12/20 Elsie Kuehn 12/20 Donald Steigerwalt Sr. 12/20 Alice Scitney’ 12/22 Willard Doll 12/23 Doris Zipp December Anniversaries 12/3 Charles & Elsie Kuehn (63) 12/3 Stephen & Lori Ann Bowman (21) 12/7 Bruce & Mary Hawk (49) 12/10 Steve & Eileen Miller (35) 12/19 Craig & Alanna Sterner (4) 12/20 Kerry & Melani Bowman (49) 12/22 Ronald & Debra Miller (38)

January BIRTHDAYS

(70 & OLDER)

1/3 Wayne Gaston

1/18 Gloria Reichard

1/26 Marie Reinhart

1/30 Catherine Schleicher

Ways I Can Help My Church And Church Family

COMMUNITY CARE

FOOD PROGRAM

(Formerly Elder Care)

More and more individuals and families, each day, have to make the decision of taking their much needed medications, heating their homes or putting food on their tables. Our mission is to ensure the people of Dinkey Memorial Evangelical Lu-theran Church or residents of East Penn Township. Low-income house-hold, have access to resources for food security and basic nutritional needs. Our food program, each month, provides approximately 2-3 days of groceries for these families to make nutritious meals. The food pantry is funded by your generous donations, as well as, we receive a percentage from various fundraisers to purchase items needed for our monthly distribution. Dona-tions of food, Giant gift cards and monetary donations are greatly needed throughout the year, not just at the holidays. Some suggestions are: canned fruit and vegetables, tuna or any canned meat, spaghetti sauce, noodles or pasta, macaroni & cheese, instant potatoes, rice, applesauce, beans, peanut butter, non-sugared cereals, Jell-o, pudding, or any non-perishable items. Please contact Linda or Charles Bierman if you have any questions or know of someone who needs help, call 610-377-5471 or 610-377-4242 or email Pastor Tony at www.prdinkle@ptd.net. All distribu-tions will remain confidential.

SPONSOR OUR NEEDS (* donates monthly)

Cemetery Pole* $21.00

Flowers: $25.00

Bulletins: $13.00

Strength For The Day* $20.00

Devotions Booklets:* $20.00

Please contact Sherry in the

office at 610.377.4242

December Flower and

Bulletin Sponsors December 2

Flowers: M/M Joe Kluk

Memorial Bowl: Wenner

Bulletins: Irene Wenner

December 9

Flowers: Open Bulletins: Open

December 16

Flowers: Oprn

Bulletins: Open

December 23

Flowers: Gabby Kercsmar Bulletins: M/M Steve Vayda

December 24

Flowers: M/M Vince Crostley Bulletins: Wenner

December 30

Flowers:

January Flower and

Bulletin Sponsors

January 6 Flowers: Open Buletins: Open January 13 Flowers: Open Bulletins: Open January 20 Flowers: Open Bulletins: Open January 27 Flowers: Open Bulletins: Open

There are openings for all the Sundays for the Memorial Bowl. Please call Sherry in the church office at 610-377-4242 to place your order for flowers and bulletins. Please remember to let her know the reason for sponsoring. Also a reminder that when you sponsor flowers they are for you to take home. Please return the empty cans to the altar guild. Deaths: * Indicates non member Burdell Steigertwalt* Paul Tartar*

God’s work. Our hands. December– Cemetery Flag Pole: Open

January– Cemetery Flag Pole: Open

Dates open: Devotions– December—Open January —Open

Page 3

Page 4

Food for the Poor

The first Sunday of every month there

will be a silent offering to benefit Food

for the Poor. You may place your offer-

ing in the blue envelope under “other”. If

you already use that category, just mark it

on the back of that envelope.

You may give your donation any time

during the month by putting it in a plain

envelope with your name and amount on

it.

Collections That Help Our Church

Aluminum Tab Collection

Ink Jet and Toner Cartridges For Recycling

Redner’s Receipts MUST HAVE SAVE-

A-TAPE card and we need the whole re-

ceipt.

GIANT GIFT CARD Place your order anytime during the month. Available in $25, $50 or $100 denominations. If you have any questions or wish to place your orders, please contact Margie at 610-377-4740.

Please consider donating $15-$20 to help defray

the cost of mailing the newsletters.

More Ways to Help My Church and Church Family

Dec./Jan ACOLYTE, LECTOR, USHER AND COMMUNION ASST. SCHEDULE

December 2 A: TBA L: G Wetzel U: Wetzel CA: K Wetzel/G Wetzel December 9 A: TBA L: M DeLuca U: Markell December 16 A: TBA L: T Schleicher U: Everett December 23 A: TBA L: L German U: Bierman December 30 A: TBA L: T Hudson U: Frey January 6 A: TBA L: M Balliet U: Schleicher CA: D Arndt/W Crostley January 13 A: TBA L: N Oswald U: Wetzel January 20 A: TBA L: G Wetzel U: Markell January 27 A: TBA L: M DeLuca U: Everett COMMUNITY CARE-is low on canned goods and paper products if anyone would like to make a donation they can be dropped off in the foyer of the Christian Ed building at any time.

Poinsettia Orders-Orders are due in the office by Thursday, December 6. Poinsettias will once again be $8.75.

Please call the church office if you would like to order 610.377.4242.

A thank you was received from Anna Hahn. The John E. Hahn family reunion was held on Saturday, July 21, 2018. The oldest person in attendance said it was the “best ever”! In addition to renting the pavilion the family also made a monetary contribution to the church. Christmas Eve Worship: This year’s Christmas Eve worship schedule will

be as follows: 4:00PM & 9:00PM at Dinkey Memorial, and 11:00PM at

Trinity, Bowmanstown. If you wish to attend the 11:00PM worship at Trin-

ity, you can place your offering envelope in the plates at Trinity and they

will be sent to Dinkey. If you do not have your envelopes and would like

your offering to go to Dinkey, please be sure to place it in a plain envelope

and mark “Dinkey Memorial” on the outside.

Page 5

COMMITTEE NEWS

Simply Giving The Simply Giving® Program endorsed by Thrivent Financial Bank enables every household or individ-ual to give church offerings through electronic funds transfer (EFT). You may already be using EFT to pay your mortgage, car payments, or insurance premium automatically from your checking or sav-ings account, and now your financial gift to your congregation’s ministries can be handled in the same fashion. It not only simplifies your giving, but it enables the congregation’s budget to better re-flect the expected giving throughout the coming year. Participants can give through a checking account or savings account. Just request an authorization form through the church office or download the form from the church website (http://www.dmlcashfield.com/). On the form, you can decide whether you would like to give weekly, twice a month, or once a month. Options are also available as to how to designate your giv-ing to certain funds. Completed forms should be turned in to either Margie Balliet, our financial secretary, or Pastor Tony. We suggest that you use an effective date of three weeks from the time you complete the form to allow time for paperwork to be processed. Just use your regular offering envelope until that time. Although placing an offering envelope in the offer-ing plate each week is not necessary through Sim-ply Giving®, you may still wish to do so to feel as though you are participating in the collection. Just write “Simply Giving” on your envelope to indi-cate your participation in the program. If you have any questions, please contact either Margie or Pastor Tony.

Ladies Aid: Ladies Aid meetings: will be held

the 4th Tuesday of April, May, September and October at 7 pm.

Please call Faith Beck at 610.377.4167 if you wish to purchase knives.

Please join us for refreshments after worship.

OUR SERVICE PERSONS

2 LT Javan Behler USAF CS2 Timothy Behler COMSEVENTH FLT Unit200225 Box 1 FPO, AP 96602 PFC Casey Dugan 865th CSH, US Army Reserve PBT Reese Worthington 296 Persimmon Blvd NE, Ludowici, GA 31316 Tanner Eckhart Apt. 33 200 Lantrip Road Sherwood, AR 72120 Noah K. Kunkel 288 Schleicher Lane Lehighton, PA 18235 Capt. Angela Reabold, 215 Pink Dogwood Lane, Pooler, GA, 31322

L Cpl Zachary J. Rex , MALS 29 MAG 29 PSC Box 21021 MCAS New River Jacksonville, NC 28545

LN3 Sean Spence PSC 473 Box 5308 FPO, AP 96349

October Council Highlights

At the October 15, 2018 meeting, the church council:

Approved the planting of arburvities along the south property line by the parking lot.

Set the congregation meeting for Sunday, December 2, 2018 following the 9:00AM worship service to approve the 2019 budget and elect new council members.

Approved the proposed 2019 budget that will now be pre-sented at December congregation meeting.

Agreed to provide a supply pastor for Trinity, Bowmanstown for Sunday, December 2 so that Pr. Tony can attend the congregation meeting.

Received news that Arndt’s Flower Shop will be closing De-cember 31, 2018. Other arrangements will need to be made for altar flowers.

Acknowledged that the Quilters Group is meeting again on Wednesday afternoons.

November Council Highlights

At the November 14, 2018 meeting, the church council:

Accepted donations from the Cemetery Board and Fundrais-ing Committee toward the repair and replacement of the basement floors totaling $4000.00.

Announced Christmas Eve worship times for 4:00PM and 9:00PM at Dinkey, and 11:00PM at Trinity, Bowmans-town.

Acknowledged the replacement of the sidewalks in front and behind the church.

Acknowledged the completion of some electrical work around the church: hall light in Christian education build-ing, pavilion light, light at top of ramp from basement, outlet repairs, and flag pole light in cemetery. More work will be completed in the future.

Approved chimney repair work at the parsonage totaling $3200.00.

Approved flooring replacement at parsonage not to exceed $4500.00.

The next scheduled meetings are Wednesdays, December 19, 2018 and January 16, 2019 at 7:00PM. A reminder to everyone

Contact Information: Pastor Tony 610-377-4242 prdinklc@ptd.net

Sherry Smith, Office Secretary 610-377-4242 cdinklc@ptd.net

Penny Reinheimer: Treasurer 484-294-5955

Marjorie Balliet, Financial Sec. 610-377-4740 fsdinklc@ptd.net Christian Ed Coordinators Trell Schleicher 610-379-9569 trellzimmerman@yahoo.com Kristen Markell 610-377-9385

David Arndt, Sexton 610-377-2306

Council Members:

Pagotto, Rev. Anthony 570-778-3491 prdinklc@ptd.net Rich DeLuca , Pres 484-629-2553 RDeluca@BBandT.com Madison DeLuca 570-386-4938 madi61201@gmail.com

Charlie Bierman 610-377-5471 cbierman@ptd.net

Christopher Biehl 484-929-4078 christopherdbiehl@gmail.com

Scott Bierman 484-464-5721 snm6306@ptd.net Lisa Kercsmar 610-377-4817 lisakercsmar@yah00.com Margie Balliet 610-377-4740 margieballiet@ptd.net Norman Wetzel 610-377-5034 normw@ptd.net Armel McFarland 610-577-0383 armell@ptd.net Eric Solt 610-379-4488 akita1@ptd.net