Westaker Free Lutheran

 FLY - Free Lutheran Youth

FLY meets each Wednesday night from 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm during the school year. 

Arrive a littler earlier at 5:45 p.m. and enjoy a supper!

Come and join us! Free Lutheran Youth is open to all teens in 7th grade - 12th grade.

December 2023

The youth continue studying the book of 1 John on Wednesday nights along with at least a
half hour of games and hanging out. They participated in shopping, packing and sending 6
Operation Christmas Child boxes in November.

On November 29, the youth will be putting up the Christmas Tree in the sanctuary.

The last Wednesday night for 2023 is December 13. We will start again on January 3, 2024.

November 2023

Wednesday nights, the group is studying 1 John and playing a few fun games.
The youth will be involved in shopping and packing a few boxes for children across the
world through Operation Christmas child this November.

In October, there were a couple of events the youth participated in -
*Up Close – Hannah attended a campus event for junior and seniors at the Free
Lutheran Bible College.
*Underground Church – There were 7 youth who participated in the event in
Greenbush. Missionary David Olson shared about the ministry he is involved with in
Mongolia. He is working under the Norwegian Lutheran Church Mission. Then the
youth did the “persecuted run” It was a reminder of how many people do not know
Christ and to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

September 2023

August 19th District Youth Event

By Hannah B

On Friday, August 18th, our youth group got together and made four double batches of cookies,
amounting somewhere north of 175 cookies. Most of them even survived until Saturday, when we
hosted a youth event. Our group of seven was joined by three young ladies from the area, a cousin of
Levi and Denny’s, two young men- one from Newfolden, and one from Greenbush- and some younger
siblings so that the amount of people 18 and under was 15. Kurt Osweiler, the youth adviser from
Rose in Roseau came, but without any teenagers accompanying him. The mothers of us in youth
group were very helpful. They provided most of the food, even serving it to us and doing dishes so
that us teenagers could spend time together. I am told that some of our youth group went into church
early and helped with food prep, but I was given the task of chauffeuress to pick up some who may
not have gotten a ride otherwise, so I will have to take their word that they helped. I speak partially in
jest- I am sure they helped.
Rev. Dr. Jason Holt came as the speaker. Brooke and I led some worship songs, with the help of Mom
at the piano, before Pastor Jason spoke. He spoke on Luke 19:1-10. This passage speaks about
Zaccheaus’ encounter with Jesus. Pastor Holt pointed out how Jesus, the Son of Man, came to seek
and to save that which was lost. We are utterly lost. Jesus is fully aware of it. Even so, he doesn’t wish
us to remain that way, so he took the initiative and came to intentionally seek us with the purpose of
saving us. His unconditional love for us was his motive.

August 2023

Restored by Hannah B.

Brooke and I went out to the Free Lutheran Youth (FLY) Convention in Estes Park, Colorado. The theme was Restored, taken from Revelation 21:5-7. The traveling was even more fun this time around, because our district took a charter bus, filling it with 35 students and 14 adults. One of my favorite things about the week was the evening services. The speakers were Pastor Ryan Patenaude from Kendred, ND; Pastor Alex Amiot from TRF, MN; Pastor Micah Hjermstad, AFLC President; Pastor Adam Osier, Dean of the Free Lutheran Bible College in Plymouth, MN; and Pastor Phil Hooper from Duluth, MN. The morning workshops with Dr. Christopher Yuan and Dr. Walt Mueller were also really enlightening.

One thing that I was reminded of, as Pastor Adam Osier put it in a way that I had never thought of was this: ‘Without already being restored by God through Christ, it is not humanly possible to do any good works. We are not capable. We cannot do good works to restore ourselves. When God restores us, he enables us to do good works and has set them in place for us to walk in (Eph. 2:10).

If you would like to watch, all the evening services are in a link titled “FLY 2023 Sessions” at https://www.flyconvention.org/

Memories
Pre-Teen Camp

Family camp was really fun. I learned a lot from the bible studies and had fun with my friends. I also learned how to play gaga ball. During VBS we sang songs and played games. At night we had campfires; that was my favorite part of the week. – – Maggie

This summer, I went to Galilee Preteen Bible Camp. This year was crazier than last year, but the chaos makes it memorable. For example, I witnessed how the counselors and campers alike, threw an unfortunate child named Eastman into the lake, after the water fight. He survived. The staff this year was a little different than last year. Brett Erickson was dean, Scott Olson was dean of men, Ellen Dalager was dean of women and Pastor Erin Tormanen was the speaker. Pastor Erin spoke on the life of Joseph and how he saved his family from famine and how God helped him. I think he did a very good job. I anticipate going next year. Thank You! – – Liam

Teen Camp 2023
at Galilee Bible Camp by Brooke B.

The week of teen camp began on Tuesday, June 20, and ended Sunday, June 25. Thank you to the congregation for supporting the four of us that attended teen camp.
The morning and evening speaker for the week was Pastor Dan Antal. He is the pastor at Trinity Free Lutheran in Grand Forks, North Dakota. In the morning session, Pastor Antal spoke about apologetics for our faith. Apologetics means to have a defense for what we believe. The Bible verse he used for the basis of this was I Peter 3:14-17 “. . . always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you . . .” He discussed evolution, proving the Bible is true, proving the New Testament and Jesus’ resurrection. In the evening, he guided us as we dug deeper into some parables of Jesus. We studied the parable of the sower, the parable of the Unforgiving Servant, the parable of The Laborers in the Vineyard, the parable of The Wicked Tenants, and the parable of The Wedding Feast. These were all in the book of Matthew.
Something I learned at camp this year is how to be firmly rooted in Christ. Besides the sessions, there was great food and hanging out with friends and making new ones. The camp had a time of singing and praising God during the evening service, and I was part of the worship team that led the music. We sang some familiar songs and learned a few new ones. Some of my favorite songs that we sang were “Death was Arrested”, “Gratitude”, and “Firm Foundation”.

March 2023 

On February 11th, at 6 pm, we, the youth group (Brooke, Charlotte, Katelyn, Jocelyn, Levi, Denny, Ayden, Sawyer, and I), along with the necessary help of Amy & Nathan Dalager, Dad (Todd), and the other parents, put on the Valentine’s Banquet. Amy D. ran the kitchen, with her trusty assistant Nathan. Dad was the emcee of the evening. Denny, Charlotte, and Ayden did daycare. They did such a great job that no one heard the kids all night. The rest of us were waiters and waitresses. We served every last bit of chicken alfredo (spaghetti was was also served) and thankfully everyone got what they ordered. The desserts were a hit and we enjoyed making the cupcakes and cheesecakes the night before. The lava cake all disappeared quickly, but we made enough cheesecakes that we each got to have one after the adults ate. We put on a little program, complete with songs and puppets. There was a Dad Joke competition at the end of the program and the lucky winners got prizes. At the end of the night, we held a labor auction, where Dad “auctioned” pairs of us off to willing buyers to do work for them for about four hours between now and July. The revenue from the night, along with donations from others who were unable to attend, totaled close to $2,000. We now have plenty to go to the FLY Convention in July. So, from all of us to all of you, Thank You!
--Hannah Bjorgaard

December 2022 

Fundraiser for the FLY Convention in 2023 for our youth!  The silent auction began November 27 and will continue through December 11!  Bidding will end after potluck. 

November 2022

The youth will be doing Operation Christmas Child boxes again this fall. They will be going shopping on Oct 30 after church to Thief River Falls. If anyone else would like to bring a box, please have it to the church by Nov 16. The youth will be holding a silent auction the end of Nov to the beginning of Dec to raise funds for the FLY convention and other youth activities. If you have any items you would like to donate, please talk to Todd. There will be more details to come. --Carla Bjorgaard

FLBC Up Close

The Free Lutheran Bible College (FLBC) held a campus event for High School Juniors and Seniors, alongwith recent grads that are thinking about going to FLBC, on Oct. 20-21. I went down with three other teens, two were seniors, and another junior. We are all planning on going to the Bible College after High School, and the two seniors are already accepted. On Thursday night we saw ‘snapshots’ of life, including this year’s small music groups, the drama program, and things of that nature. We got to go through the dorms and see what they were like. On Friday, we attended classes with the current FLBC students. I sat in on “Pastoral Epistles” with Dr. Jerry Moan. I also sat in on “Intro to Biblical Studies” with Rev. Adam Osier. It ended up going really well with Pastor Hooper’s service sessions. The classes were so interesting. I learned so much during those few hours. Then we joined the students for chapel, a worship service, and listened to Pastor Wade Mobley. That was also extremely interesting. I spent a majority of my time on campus with a girl I met at FLY Beyond who is a HS senior. I also met a lot of new people. It was two full days, but it seemed to fly by really fast. I really enjoyed every minute of those two days.
- Hannah Bjorgaard

Singing God's praises at Newfolden's Home for the Holiday's celebration in December

It's a little cold sometimes with lots of snow in the winter of 2018-2019. Snowmobiling, sledding, snow angels, snow balls....enjoying the weather in snow just like in rain or shine!