Church family, we ARE going to have worship tomorrow. Please make safe choices. If you can get out, welcome, yay, hooray! If you’re uncomfortable walking or driving in this mess, please stay home. Pastor Erin will post the bulletin and some additional worship features online. Love and warmth to all!

Today was our fun day but despite not doing any service work we still experienced God throughout our day. We spent most of the day at Elitch Gardens, an amusement park similar to Six Flags. Riding the roller coasters and watching a show, even despite the lightening we had a great time enjoying the theme park and each other’s company. 

After returning from Elitches and eating dinner, we had a discussion about our experiences this week and how we could continue to be the face of God beyond this week. 

Ending the day we all did a craft Janelle had created for us, creating our own faith keys. The craft helped us reflect on the influence faith had in our own lives and what the word means to us. Today, and throughout the week, I saw the face of God in everyone in our lovely mission group that we are all so blessed to be apart of. 

By Emily Bischoff 

This morning, we woke up bright and early to head out towards Zuma’s Rescue Ranch, a local organization that rescued mistreated horses and cares for them. With only four paid staff members, the organization relies heavily on volunteer support, so they were very thankful to have us help them muck paddocks and pastures, in addition to grooming horses.

After this, we headed back to Central Presbyterian to play bonding games before going to Casa Bonita for dinner, where divers entertained us while we ate. 
Today, I saw the face of God in those at Zuma’s who have dedicated their lives to the mission that calls them. Their patience, love, and kindness inspired us all to follow our passion and serve God faithfully.
By Carolyn Ream 

  
On Wednesday we visited the Red Rocks Amphitheater a little outside of Denver.We sat on the stairs and recollected the week’s work as we ate lunch. We talked about how we saw God through the service we were doing. Then we went on to have conversations about our world views and recognized the injustices and inequalities in the world. 
We focused on things we could do to help these situations through the work of God. A few people hiked a trail and admired the view around us.

 Afterwards, we went to Arvada Presbyterian Church and painted the preschool room as well as cleaning out an office. I saw God in the beautiful landscape of the Red Rocks and the fascination in people’s eyes as they looked at God’s creation. 
By Gina Civettini 

Today we worked with Extreme Community Makeover, a place where people can work in various communities around Denver to help clean up people’s allies and yards.

We were cleaning three different alley ways and collecting trash. Along the way we met many different people living in the neighborhood; all of them were extremely welcoming and thankful.

I personally saw the face of God in one lady in particular named Kolbi. She was a disabled women who lived in the neighborhood. Kolbi told me about how she never really came outside of her house because she was scared of the area and of her judgmental neighbors. At the end of the day we welcomed her in the picture and she remarked “I finally have friends” which made me very happy that I could make someone else that happy.

– Elizabeth Bischoff 

Congregational Meeting after worship on Sunday, January 26, 2014

Church is cancelled for today, January 5, 2014. See you next Sunday!