When I arrived there were a pair of Daves working the front, Dave Johnson temping for Mike Smith on the shakedown and Dave Peters doing the shaking and greeting. Mike was back at the desk after helping the speaker do his setup.
Past president Katie was pressed into service to handle the crowd. After the anthems and the invocation by Brad Hoganson she had the visiting ministers introduced by their hosts. John MacFarland introduced Ed Morgan and Doug Dent from Federated, Keith presented his sister Nancy and her husband Chris Eldridge from Zion, Dave Johnson introduced Jake Anderson from Bethlehem and Buzz had Wes Gabel as his guest from Grace United Methodist. I was at a table without a minister so we didn’t have a prayer.
Keith was song leader so we started with a spell of R.O.T.A.R.Y then moved on to Now Thank We all our God and the Prayer of Thanksgiving. We wrapped up with Smile with the obligatory handshaking.
Katie announced that the 4 Way test is ongoing and will be looking for volunteers to do the judging, a signup sheet will be circulated next week. There was a thank you from Ben Durbin to last week’s readers to the second graders. That is another of Rotary’s impacts on the community with the kids learning about the principles of the 4 Way test.
The bell ringing signup was circulated and Katie reminded everyone to mark their calendars for December 12th for the next Wine Down Wednesday at Mill Street Residence.
Bob Russell had Lulie help him with the Rotary Minute. She thanked everyone who had helped her get the cross country skiing equipment she needed and also reported on a visit to an exchange student at Lake Park. She also gave us a review on the play she saw, “Newsies” and recommended it to everyone.
Rather than brags and fines we were encouraged to express gratitude. Visiting Rotarian Guy Olson was grateful for the clergy, and I don’t know anyone in our community who has a stronger tie to them than Guy. Dean Monke for his daughter Anna and her husband Lucas now in Fergus where she is an online seminary student. Keith’s a grandfather for the fourth time, this one is Knox Erwin Anderson, he also bought a motorhome. Anything to get out of changing diapers? Wally was thankful for the fellowship in Rotary. Dave Peters kicked in five bucks for surviving a root canal yesterday.
Brad Hoganson introduced Dr. David Veum of the Lutheran Brethren Seminary. Dr. Veum started his talk by telling how Rotary helped him as a 13 year old in Eau Claire Wisconsin. He was the recipient of a Holstein heifer to start a dairy herd. Unfortunately the following year was a dry one and he lost his heifer.
He then moved on to explain that blessings are temporal, they won’t necessarily last but God’s promise is forever. He then did a report of the LB Seminary’s students now around the world making it a better place. It is interesting to see how large an area the seminarians arrive from and the range of their callings.
Katie thanked the ministers for their presence in the community and the Rotarians for their fellowship.
