In Training
by Pastor Dan Baumgartner
I’m in training. I’m trying to learn to pay attention. That seems to be the recurring theme in my life right now, paying attention to where God is, what He is doing in the world, in the people around me, and inside of me. The training is difficult work...

Divine Appointments in Kenya
by Lynne Faris Blessing
It started with a big disappointment. Last summer I was supposed to travel with Bethany’s team to Kenya, but at the last minute circumstances prevented me from going. Little did I know how God would redeem this disappointment through a series of divine appointments...

If you'd like to go
Maybe you’d like to travel to Kenya and experience a few divine appointments of your own. If so… pray about joining Bethany’s next mission team to Kenya. Tentative dates are Aug 11-26. Contact Lynne Faris Blessing, lynnefaris@msn.com.

Think summer missions
Museum without Walls June 16-25
A trip to the South to learn about the Civil Rights Movement and discuss our Christian response.

Kenya Mission trip August 11-26 (tentative)
Responding to the AIDS crisis.

High school mission to Honduras date TBD

A Journey Begins:The Bethany-Canada-Honduras connection
by Gena Morgan
The congregation is embarking on a 5-year financial and relational commitment called Journey With A Village (pdf) to end poverty in one Honduran village through land ownership. The partnership is with

• Agros International (a Christian development organization dedicated to ending poverty through land ownership)
• the rural Agros Uno village in Honduras (see slideshow)
• and a congregation north of our border

more on the journey

Meet the Staff
Lynne Faris Blessing
Parish Associate for Outreach
by Gail Beran Neils
Moving to Seattle brought a lot of change into Lynne’s life. She left her work as a Pastor for Outreach at National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. (where she had served for nearly 9 years), Within three months, she met her future husband, Jim. Soon thereafter, she was hired part-time as Parish Associate for Outreach at Bethany...

Lenten Small Groups: coming soon!
by Brady and Becky Fuller
It may seem early to talk about Easter, but we would like to invite you to prayerfully consider a lenten small group Bible Study. Lenten groups meet for four weeks, beginning the second week of March, through to Easter. These groups draw our attention to the season leading to the celebration of the Christ’s resurrection.

Sign up for a group after Sunday services in the Lobby Feb 19, Feb 26, and March 5. Contact: Becky Fuller (709-2517) or Catherine Purdy (762-2699).

Read two reflections from last year’s Lenten groups.

Winter Good Book
Sun, March 26, 12:30 pm Parlor
Discussion with Pastor Dan Baumgartner, light lunch provided.
Teaching a Stone to Talk is Pulitzer-prize-winning author Annie Dillard’s collection of essays compiled in 1982. Dillard is a wonderful writer, an unconventional theologian, and an observer who carefully notices the hand of God in nature and its meaning for human beings. Her essays in this collection range from short to medium length, and are well worth sipping slowly over time. —Pastor Dan

Books are available at Queen Anne Books for a 10% discount when you mention you’re from Bethany.

Children will have yet another way to use their gifts in leading worship. First through 5th graders are invited to a dance workshop with Rebecca Carlson. Rehearsals will run from 11:00 am - noon (possibly with an outing for pizza together the last week). The group will dance during Shrove Tuesday worship.

Prospective dancers may contact Rebecca at madhattr@u.washington.edu. Also contact her if you can assist at rehearsals—either just one time or all three times.

News & Notes
Adoptions

• Isabella Steenstra to Paul & Jennifer Steenstra & brother, Willem December 30, 2005
• Mary Azeb Hal to Anita & Matt Hale & brother, Leo December 24, 2005

Birth

• August Thomas William Rossano to Steve & Patrice Rossano December 7, 2006

Baptisms

• Alicia Lai-Ming Noelani Siebers January 8, 2006
• Lindsay Thompson Maas January 8, 2006

Happy Birthday, Bethany
The congregation celebrated its 118th birthday Sun, Jan 29.

read more about the church’s early days

On the Calendar
see interactive calendar for complete listing

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper & Worship
Tues, Feb 28, 5:30-6:15 pm Fellowship Hall, $2 adults and $1 kids
A Worship Service follows in the Sanctuary
The night before Ash Wednesday, children and their families (and all other young at heart folks!) are invited to a Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and brief time of worship. The children will

• sing “The Apostles Creed”
• hear a children’s sermon about this “purple season of the year”
• lead worship with the new elementary age dance troupe.

Families will receive resources to help think about Jesus during Lent. Sign up on the bulletin board, so we know how many pancakes to flip!

Bethany 101

• for both groups:
  Potluck Fri, March 3, 6:30 pm, Parlor
  Lunch Sun, March 12, 12:30 pm, Parlor
• Weekend Class
  Sat, March 4, 9:30 pm Parlor
• Sunday Class
  10:45 am Sundays, March 5-26, Fellowship Hall

Alpha
Mondays, March 13-May 22

St. Gertrude’s Monastery Retreat
May 31-June 4

Session Notes
by Steve Lympus
Dan “pointed us to Christ” based on 1 Kings 3:4-15. Brian Ives (Elder for Administration) reported on the amazing budget surplus God has blessed us with…nearly 68,000!
We rejoiced and offered thanks to God.

Session approved:

• communion at the Women’s Retreat in February,
• some church documentation in the on-going process to call Lynne Faris Blessing as a Designated
  Associate Pastor,
• the date for our annual congregational meeting (noting it would not be on Super Bowl Sunday!).

Session joined the Deacons and Stephens Ministers for an
education time surrounding domestic violence. Julianna Pope from Northwest Family Life led this training, focusing on domestic violence in a church community. We were struck by the complexity and heaviness of this reality, but hopeful for healing and prevention. We finished with prayer, including those experiencing domestic violence and its effects at Bethany.