Bench

Apr. 26 (Easter 4 – paraments are white) – Reserved
May 3 (Easter 5- paraments are white) – Available
May 10 (Easter 6 – paraments are white) – Available
May 17 (Easter 3 – paraments are white) – Available

~West Coast Pastor Conference April 21-24~

WEST COAST PASTORS CONFERENCE:
The pastors will be gone from Tuesday afternoon (April 21) until Friday evening (April 24) for their conference at Saved by Grace in Gresham, Oregon. If you are in need of urgent spiritual care, please reach out to them, and allow time for them to respond to you. If immediate local care is needed, one of the elders of the congregation may be requested to assist you.

3RD GRADE TEACHER CALL: MRS. AMANDA SCHULZ:
On Sunday, the voters called Mrs. Amanda Schulz to fill our vacancy for the 3rd grade position opening up next year at PLS. Please pray for Mrs. Schulz as she deliberates her calls. She is currently serving at Holy Cross Lutheran School in Madison, WI (ELS) as a 2nd grade teacher.

SUMMER CAMPS AT ELHS:
Evergreen Lutheran High School offers a wide variety of summer camps, including Flag Football, Cheer, Basketball, Drama, and Science. Each camp is designed to help students build skills, explore new interests, learn through hands-on experiences, and form friendships along the way. Registration is now open! Click here to register or learn more about the camps!

•  Jr. Eagle Volleyball Camp (entering grades 3-9): June 29-July 2 ($50)
• Jr. Eagle Cheer Camp (entering grades 1-9): July 20-22 ($100)
•  Jr. Eagle Flag Football Camp (entering grades 5-9): July 20-22 ($55)
• Jr. Eagle Basketball Camp (entering grades 3-9): July 27-30 ($75)
• Jr. Eagle Players Drama Camp (entering grades 6-9): Aug 3-7 ($80)
• Jr. Eagle Science Camp (entering grades 6-9): Aug 3-6 ($50)

UPDATE FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC:
Greetings to the precious souls at Parkland Lutheran Church from the Sparleys, now on temporary duty in Plzen, Czech Republic!

First of all we want to extend a big thank you to Rusty and Kathi Minton who got us to the airport last Wednesday, Katerina Bleasdale who will be trying to keep our outside trees and plants from drying up, Peter and Jim Sundby who will be looking after our lawn, Betty Davis who is on a secret mission, Emma Schneck who is keeping our phantom cat happy (although maybe she will see her), gathering mail, and tending to the glamour job of weekly garbage, and daughter Julaine Trapp, who is serving as backup and advisor to all as needed and who will attempt to keep the inside plants alive.

After passing through many time zones that included a brief layover at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam we landed in Prague on Thursday at 1:30 pm Central European Time. Long, long day. Martin Vršecky, director of the Martin Luther School in Plzen and temporary pastor of the congregation here, picked us up and brought us to the school. There we went up to the apartment where we opened but didn’t empty suitcases. Jarka Boučová, a member of the congregation here, kindly acquired some basic grocery items: water, milk, juice, yogurt, cheese, cold meat, fruit, eggs, and bread. Grateful to have no immediate need to go out foraging for food, we ate and talked about all our tomorrows while trying to stay awake until 10:00 pm. We made it, but only after each of us fell asleep at the table. Again, long day.

On Friday we unpacked the necessary items, met with Martin again, acquainted ourselves with the apartment, and got ready to go out grocery shopping, putting together a list of things needed immediately. Off to the store we went, reacquainted ourselves with the city we haven’t lived in for 29 years, and with what our life would be like for the next few weeks.

Next week you will hear about the class visitations (3rd through 8th grade) and impressions of all the other things, including church visits, that we have experienced this first week.

Pastor Sparley and Jan

MARCH GIVING FOR BUDGET AND MORTGAGE:
Please see the Midweek Update for details.

Reminder Notes!

BIBLE STUDY IN GRAHAM:
We will be starting our next Bible Study in Graham after Easter. It will take place on Saturdays at 9:30 am and will run for five weeks from April 11th until May 9th. This Bible study will be on the book of the Job and will have the theme: “The Suffering Christian: Finding God’s Good Purposes in our Hardships.” The Bible Study will again be held at Marie Cronk’s house (30405 144^th Avenue East, Graham) We hope to see you there.

NOTE FROM PASTOR SPARLEY:
Pastor and Mrs. Sparley, who lived in Plzen, Czech Republic from 1991 to 1997, where he served as missionary and pastor, will be in Plzen for the rest of April and most of May. He is specifically there to monitor the religion classes of the school, specifically 3^rd through 8^th grade – 10 sections of classes – in order to strengthen the teaching of Christian (Lutheran) doctrine. Jan will also be a part of this effort as well as observing in the younger grades, K through 2^nd. This is in response to the 2025 synod convention resolution. Pastor Sparley will also look into the possibility of our cooperation, both in regard to the congregation and the school, with the two pastors of the Czech Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) who have since then come to work in the area, with whom we have been in conversation for the last three years. Pastor Martin Vršecky, director of the school, which has 320 students, who continues to serve both the congregation and school, will also be participating. The prayers of the congregation are requested for the success of this effort.

At the end of their time in Plzen, Pastor and Mrs. Sparley will travel to Egypt – much closer to Plzen than to Tacoma! – for nine days to make use of the generous gift given to them by the members of the Parkland congregation at the celebration of his 40^th anniversary in the ministry. If you would like to contact the Sparleys in April and May, please email us – at the addresses in the PLC directory – and we will answer.

WOMEN’S CLUB CANDY JARS:
Women’s Club will have a table in the narthex on Sunday with additional jars of candy for our Mission Mites project.  Please stop by and pick up a jar of candy to enjoy and replace the candy with mites (coins or donations) to be sent to the Synod Women’s Mission projects, For more information contact Women’s Club.

MUCH GRATITUDE:
We wish to thank all those who adorned our services with music and singing (bell choir, Sunday School choir, choir, and accompaniment), those who helped set up for the Sunrise Service, and also those who prepared the sanctuary in various ways for our Lenten, Holy Week and Easter services and for everyone that was involved in making and serving breakfast. Thank you all!

THANK YOU FROM THE LYS:
The Lenten Soup Suppers were a great success again this year! Thank you to those who donated the soups, bread, milk, etc. and for organizing everything, for making sure the soup was hot and ready to go. Many thanks also to the congregation for your support of Parkland’s LYS. The youth enjoy the opportunity to serve and are grateful for your kindness.

The Youth would also like to thank both the congregation and the Men’s Club for their generous contributions to their trip to the Youth Convention this year in Cincinnati, OH year during the Easter Breakfast. What a blessing it was for us to serve you on that special day.

LUTHERAN SENTINEL:
The January/February edition of the Lutheran Sentinel is on the Narthex table for you to take and read.