The

Church Picnic We enjoyed a great lunch of hamburgers and brats on Sun-

day, July 17th. Thanks to the Evers for running the grill

and to everyone else who brought side-dishes and desserts

to share. The kids had a great time launching water bal-

loons across the yard. Pastor Schewe even volunteered to

be the target! We hope you can join us at our next oppor-

tunity for fellowship in August!

2550 Gettysburg Ave. August 2016

Clovis, CA 93611 559-291-1601

St. Peter Lutheran Church—Clovis, CA stpeterclovis.org

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Member Profile: Norman & Donna VanderPoel

Norman and Donna VanderPoel were some of the founding

members of St. Peter in the 1980s. A small group of people gath-

ered at their home for worship services led by lay leaders. The

group would play a tape-recorded sermon from pastors at other

churches. They later invited other families to join them.

Both Donna and Norman were “farm kids” raised in southwest

Minnesota. Donna is the 5th of 8 daughters in her fami-

ly. Norman is the 2nd eldest of 9 children—4 boys and 5

girls. Norman and Donna met each other when she worked in a

restaurant that Norman’s brother owned. They eloped to

Nashua, Iowa and were married at “The Little Brown Church in

the Vale” on June 16, 1957. Next June they will celebrate their

60th wedding anniversary! (continued on back page)

New Bible Study Series Join us on Wednesday evenings at

7:00 pm for our new Bible study series

on Jesus’ “I AM” statements.

We have a nice group that gets together

each week to discuss the Word—

come and be a part of it.

Dear brothers and sisters at St. Peter,

Have you ever lived through a garbage strike?

A few have occurred in our country down through the

years. None has been pleasant! One of the more mem-

orable garbage strikes happened in New York City in

1968. On February 2 of that year, garbage collectors

walked out on the job and let the piles of refuse accu-

mulate until they would better wages.

On February 5, The New York Times reported that the

city resembled “a vast slum as mounds of refuse

grow higher and strong winds whirl the filth through

the streets.” There were about 30,000 tons of trash on

the streets, a number that would grow to 100,000

tons. Vincent Cannato wrote of the Lower East Side,

“Garbage was piled chest-high. Egg shells, coffee

grounds, milk cartons, orange rinds, and empty beer

cans littered the sidewalk.”

On February 10, Governor Nelson Rockefeller was

forced to offer a generous deal to the garbage collectors

to prod them back to their trucks and clear the side-

walks of the disgusting mess.

Can you imagine living like that? I don’t ask the ques-

tion with physical garbage in mind, but with spiritual

trash, with your sin and guilt littering your life and con-

science and having no way to get rid of it.

Many go through life in that condition. Every person

has a natural knowledge of God and his law written in

their heart. They know deep down that “all their right-

eous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Everyone’s

conscience talks to them night and day about their sins,

guilt, and shame. They live in their trash.

By nature, there is no way to rid of the trash. Some may

try to feel better about their trash by attempting to

“balance out” the bad with the good. In other words, if

a husband is upset and treats his wife poorly during the

week, perhaps he’ll try to remedy it by taking her out

for dinner on Friday. Others simply attempt the “try

harder” method, gritting their teeth and resolving that

they’re simply going to try to do better. Others use the

“comparison” method, comparing their sins to others and

at least feeling some comfort that other people have more

disgusting trash than they do.

The only problem is, none of those man-made solutions

work. They don’t get rid of our sin or guilt. And count-

less people go through life knowing there is something

horribly wrong (and smelling) in their life, but not know-

ing how to get ride of it.

Thank God we see the solution in Romans 3: “But no, a

righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made

known… All have sinned and fall short of the glory of

God, and are justified freely by his grace through the re-

demption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him

as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

Only in Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life for us and

died for our sin on the cross can we be forgiven of the

“trash” we have done. Only because he rose from the dead

can we be assured we shall rise on the Last Day. Only

because God promises to work in the gracious waters of

baptism can we be assured our sins are washed away in

that sacrament. Jesus has cleaned up our lives and given

us talents and opportunities to serve him now!

What good news! It’s relieving enough when physical,

stinking trash is removed from the house. How much

more when the filth of our sin is removed and gone be-

cause of our Savior!

As we live out our lives, may we tell others about the One

who can remove their load of sin also. They will be so

happy to hear about it!

In Christ,

Pastor Schewe

New York

City

sidewalks

in

February

1968.

Usher

Norm VanderPoel &

Karl Saethre

Flowers

7– Inge Stutz

14—Chue Lao

21—Bornemann

28—Jo Hobensack

Altar Guild

Inge Stutz & Helen Hansen

Coffee & Dessert Hosts

7—Patti Sweetman

14—Jan Carter

21—Mary Sanchez

28—Jo Hobensack

Lawn Mowing Teams

6—Bruno Stutz & Mike Farley

13—Jeff Carter & Ken Hoffmeyer

20—Travis Hambleton & Andrew

Schulz

27—Leo Schulz & Jonathan Farley

Church Cleaning

Jue Yang & Kua Xiong

Luther Hall Cleaning

6—Leo Schulz

13—Ken Hoffmeyer

20—Leo Schulz

27—OPEN

WELS Tree of Life Bible Camp—July 10-16, 2016

August Birthdays and Anniversaries

Those Who Serve—August

August 6:

David & Kelly Curry

August 9:

Matthew & Shayleen Evers

August 28:

Al & Mary Sanchez

August 28:

Scott Crossfield

August 15:

Barry Burghardt

August 10:

LaVerne Farley

Vicki, Joel, Abigail, and Hannah Schewe

recently attended Tree of Life Bible Camp.

Vicki helped with crafts, Joel was a Senior,

Abigail was an Intermediate, and Hannah

was in the Little Lambs group.

WELS Hmong Conference Uplifts Members

More than 165 attendees and their children gathered around the

Word at the WELS Hmong National Conference, held July 8-10 at

Immanuel Hmong, St. Paul, Minn. Hmong pastors and laymembers from congregations in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas,

Alaska, California, and even the WELS mission in Thailand strengthened their faith through worship and Bible study and

learned more about each other’s ministries.

“The encouraging moment is when I see members who live in places where we do not have a church or the church is very

small come and see that we have many people worshiping and praising the Lord,” says Rev. Pheng Moua, pastor at Imman-

uel Hmong and conference planner. “The gathering is uplifting to the members and will encourage their walk with Jesus

Christ.”

Moua started this conference about ten years ago at his church. It usually is held every other year, sponsored by the larger

WELS Hmong congregations.

Worldwide in WELS, 25 Hmong pastors serve eight ministries in the United States and 15 congregations and preaching

stations in Thailand and the surrounding area.

“It is a blessing to gather with fellow Christians to receive their support, since the Hmong culture and many Hmong are

anti-Christian,” says Rev. Keith Free, Home Mission administrator and conference attendee. “I believe it helps to re-

energize their desire and commitment to sharing the Word.”

The next Hmong National Conference will be held in Oct. 2018. Home Missions and Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary also

are sponsoring an Asian Conference for pastors and spiritual leaders in at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, Mequon, Wis.

Youth Rally Impacts Teens

More than 2,500 WELS teens and their adult leaders gath-

ered from across the country and the world to worship,

study, have fun, and celebrate the one who has washed away

every sin and who guides us forward in his holy name, Jesus

Christ. The 2016 WELS International Youth Rally, a biennial

event, was held June 28–July 1 at Colorado State University–

Fort Collins. The focus of the WELS International Youth Ral-

ly is to share God’s precious Word that speaks as much to

them now at the age of 14-18 as it will as they grow older.” The next WELS International Youth Rally will be held in 2018.

SIS Event:

How to Make Eggrolls SIS is hosting an event for all ladies of our congrega-

tion to learn to make eggrolls on Saturday, August 13

at 11:30 in Luther Hall. The ladies from the Hmong

congregation will be leading the class. If you have ac-

cess to a deep fryer, please let Donna Vander Poel

know—2 deep fryers will be needed. Please fill out the

sign up sheet in Luther Hall if you plan to attend.

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Salsa Cooking Night This year’s tomato crop at Leo & Mary Schulz’s house was abundant! The ladies of the church took ad-

vantage of the ripe tomatoes to make some salsa. On July 22nd, a group gathered in Luther Hall to peel,

cut, mix, and jar three different types of salsa under the instruction of Vicki Schewe, canning expert.

The results were excellent!

(continued from front page) They have three sons, Leland, Todd, and Jay. All three sons

live nearby. They have 10 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.

In 1964, they rented a U-Haul and drove to California. They had a map prepared for

them but accidentally packed it in the dresser that was packed in the U-Haul. They de-

cided to wing-it and only once made a wrong turn in the mountains of Colorado. They

were the only travelers on a narrow road, 5,000 feet up, covered with snow. They man-

aged to turn around safely and ultimately made it to California.

Another favorite memory happened when Donna received a special gift from one of

their sons—a ticket to a Johnny Cash show in Los Angeles with backstage access. Donna loved the show and even had to

nerve to rush up to him and kiss him after the show. A great memory!

Norman has worked for a toy and fireworks warehouse, an aircraft plant, a lunch-room owner, a bakery route salesman for 33

years, and 23 years as a courier doing court filings for attorneys. He is now retired. Donna has been a waitress, a lunch-room

owner, an Avon Manager, a Barbizon modeling manager, a dress shop owner, and an elementary school kitchen manager. She

is also retired.

They enjoy the special times when their children and grandchildren get together at our house, especially on holidays and

birthdays. They also enjoy spending time with their church family as well. In their free time, Donna likes to read while Nor-

man likes to garden. If you would like to include information in a future

newsletter, please contact Catherine Hambleton at

secretary@stpeterclovis.org

Shaver Lake Outing

The congregation is invited to attend an afternoon at Shaver Lake! Head up to

the mountains for lunch right after Family Bible Hour and plan to stay for the

afternoon.

When: Sunday, August 14, 2016

Where: 39734 Crystal Creek Lane, Shaver Lake

(Approximately 55 minutes from church)

What to Bring: A side dish and your favorite lawn chair

Hamburgers, hot dogs, and drinks will be provided. Please fill out the sign-up

sheet in Luther Hall if you plan to attend. Hosted by Leo & Mary Schulz