Sunburg Community Players perform at Norway Lake (VIDEOS)

The Sunburg Community Players performed a special Sing-Along concert at East Norway Lake Lutheran church this afternoon. It was part of a fundraiser for ENL's grand piano project.

Here's a video featuring some of the first songs performed:


Another cold night ahead in the Bonanza Valley! I hope you can consider taking a trip to Belgrade for dining at the Mexico Querido restaurant this weekend. They are open today (Saturday) until 9 p.m. Their hours on Sunday are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. They are closed on Mondays.

And now it's Sunday morning...
I encourage you to drive to Belgrade today and enjoy a meal at Mexico Querido. I met with the owner, Jose, and his family last night. They are a hard-working and super friendly group of people to get to know. Mexico Querido is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and you can order takeout.

Big Grove Lutheran Church held their Sunday School Christmas program, and the kids and the two directors (Kiara Quade and Shannon Wander) did a marvelous job working with them. They should be commended!

Here's another video from the Christmas Sing-Along at Norway Lake:


A high of 27 degrees today! It will feel nice.

Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association anniversary (VIDEO)

The Norway Lake Lutheran Historical Association hosted their 24th annual anniversary celebration this past Sunday at the organization's old log church site in Arctander Township, rural Sunburg. Below is a video from the end of the program, which focused on the 1873 blizzard that killed at least 84 Minnesotans in January of that year. Newspaper issues of the Bonanza Valley Voice back in January and February included extensive coverage of that blizzard as it related to families in Norway Lake Township in the neighborhood that I grew up in.

VIDEO:


Today is a big day for staff, parents and students in Jaguar Country! This is open house day at both school buildings. Exciting times just as the temperatures outside are screaming towards 100 degrees. Yikes! As of 13:30 this afternoon, the temperature in Brooten is 94 degrees. The estimated high is 97 degrees. This reminds me of the weather I often experienced as a child back in the 1980s, when days like today were not unusual at all.

WEATHER update: it appears that we topped out between 97 and 98 degrees. Yikes! This was the hottest day of the summer. I am fairly certain it was hotter than any of the hottest days we had last summer. It still has not surpassed 100 degrees locally in at least 10 years if not more. I think you'd have to go back to the 2000s or 1990s to find a day where the temperature climbed past 100 degrees in central Minnesota.

Today is Easter Sunday (VIDEOS)

Today is Easter Sunday. I made the trek to the Norway Lake community this morning and took in Easter Festival worship at East Norway Lake Lutheran church.

Here's the ENL church choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus on Easter morning worship one year ago:


That is one magnificent song. You can watch a throwback video to four years ago when the East Norway Lake church choir performed the Hallelujah Chorus to conclude sunrise worship on April 21, 2019...click here: https://bit.ly/43ldAmi.

Here's Maundy Thursday worship just a few nights ago at Big Grove Lutheran church:


I hope you have had a marvelous Easter weekend.

Easter Sunday worship (VIDEO)

If you click on the following short link, you can re-direct to the Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website and watch video from Easter Sunday worship at East Norway Lake Lutheran church: https://bit.ly/3OjTEZz. The church choir performs George Frideric Handel's Messiah Hallelujah Chorus at the end. The video lasts about 80 minutes.

It's Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 40-day journey for the Easter season. Today is a day of fasting and repentance for Christians, where we acknowledge that upon death, our bodies return to the earth. The sign of the cross marked on our foreheads marks the same sign of the cross marked at the time of our baptism into the Christian faith.

Click on the following short link to watch the online worship at Norway Lake Lutheran parish for Ash Wednesday: https://bit.ly/3qwRoSv.

(VIDEOS) Easter Sunday worship

Click!

https://bit.ly/2xmHL2y

Enjoy!!!

Two videos are included! One from 2019 that is absolutely MARVELOUS to watch any day of the year and especially right now, and another for the 2020 Easter worship at Norway Lake Lutheran parish.

When I get to the 4:30 mark in the 2019 video clip shown, it's all goosebumps for me! What a thrilling and exciting song to take in!!! And the performance of the choir at East Norway Lake Lutheran church was outstanding!

Be well. Stay well.

Website has been updated

The Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper website has been updated with a new batch of stories, including video of the Padua Saint Patrick's Day parade from March 17. Also included is video of Palm Sunday worship at East Norway Lake Lutheran church.

http://www.bonanzavalleyvoice.com.

I hope you and your family and the neighborhood you live in are all doing as well as can be managed.

Church-related news...and state video

This message is from the Norway Lake Lutheran parish, dated Saturday morning (today):

After consultation with the leadership of East Norway Lake Lutheran Church and First Lutheran Church of Norway Lake, the decision has been made to suspend worship services, educational and all other activities on Sunday March 15 and Wednesday, March 18. This decision follows the recommendations of the Minnesota Department of Health and Human Services.

The leadership recommends that we revisit this decision on a weekly basis. As of now, we will keep the Norway Lake Parish office open during the week. Pastor Wayne will be available for pastoral care and pastoral visits and can be contacted at 320-841-1951.

We encourage you to practice appropriate protocols of frequent hand washing with soap and water, sneezing and coughing into the elbow and not hand, and if you are ill, stay home until you are fully recovered.

Please view our parish website, educational Facebook page and KWLM Covid-19 web site for further information.

Please remember in prayer all who are ill, all medical personnel and others who are making difficult decisions at this trying time.

*Here's a video clip featuring part of the starter introductions at the state tournament on Thursday in Minneapolis:


I hope you've been able to go outside and enjoy the sunshine!

(VIDEO) Church Choir at East Norway Lake Lutheran

Video from Sunday's worship at East Norway Lake Lutheran church of rural New London...had to shoot low-def from my cell phone. My regular videocamera died during Pastor Wayne's children's sermon...!


And it's a good thing I discovered that I failed to charge the video camera the prior night after the musical. It had enough battery (fully charged) to get through the entire two-hour musical show. But then on Sunday morning it had enough battery to get just a couple minutes of Pastor Wayne Kopitzke's children's sermon. I was able to make sure I had charger, etc. for the third musical performance that afternoon...and I didn't arrive with a dead battery! Batteries are my nemesis, when dealing with multiple cameras, laptops and a cell phone in my Bonanza Valley Voice newspaper operation.