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Care
Reminder: Be on Alert for Scam Emails, Texts, Calls
As part of continuing to care for our church family and community, it is important to remind everyone to be alert for emails, phone calls, and/or texts that could be scams. There are too many people lately trying to take advantage of others through the use of technology in a negative way. During the past months, both our former pastor and our current pastor have had their email accounts hacked in one way or another, which al-lowed unauthorized access to their contact lists. The hackers then used this list to send out email requests for money and gift cards, making most of the information look very real, almost legitimate.
If you receive an email or text asking for money or gift cards, there are several things you can do to check its authenticity. First, look very closely at the sender’s email address. If it doesn’t end in org., com, or net, or it’s off by a couple of letters, then it is probably questionable. Check the email for spelling and grammar mistakes—this could indicate it’s from a foreign source. Do not give out any personal information in an email. If you have a chance, contact the person or group the email supposedly came from to check out how authentic it is. However, do not reply to the email to check on this. Give the person a call with a phone number you trust (not one, for example, given in the email) or check with them personally to find out if they really sent it. Following one or more of these small steps could prevent the scam from working, at least on you.
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If you want to learn more about staying safe on-line here are a few links to some good information....
A few more tips on keeping your computer safe.
Always update your operating system (Windows 10 or Apple OSX) and keep it updated by installing the Security Updates that Microsoft or Apple sends you. Both Microsoft and Apple have gotten very good at protecting your PC or Mac if you keep them updated. That means when you get a software update notifications from them you should install them, especially those that are titled Security Updates.
If your PC seems to be running slower than it used to you may have been infected with Malware or Adware. There's some excellent free software that can be used to scan your hard drive a find it and quarantine/remove it.
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Random Thoughts
October 2020
By Mike Zahn
God Calls
In the book of 1 Samuel, God calls directly to Samuel—not once, but three times. Samuel finally comes to understand that it is God himself, not the priest Eli, who is calling. God calls to each of us, sometimes in not very obvious ways. And sometimes it takes three calls for us to get the message that God is trying to give us!
In my observations, full-time ministry real-ly requires a special calling from God. People have high expectations for their pastors, but prob-ably no higher than they have of themselves. For most of us, this would be a terribly stressful occu-pation; but I think that for the right individuals, pastoral ministry must be a joy to do, because that is their calling, and they are empowered by God to do it.
Look at what Pastor Rebecca has done since arriving in Wausau three months ago—she has had to officiate three funerals; she has made home visits to families; she has done music thera-py for Claire; she has had to take the reigns and navigate her new church through all the obstacles that this pandemic has brought; she has to prepare a sermon each week; she has to organize and lead meetings; she has to participate in anything that the Wisconsin UMC Conference requires of her; and still have some personal life! And she does all this, and whatever is to come, with enthusiasm and a smile on her face and love in her heart.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I’m not sure if we are doing something official to honor our new pastor, but I encourage you to show your appreciation in some way—a note, an email, a phone call, a gift, a positive comment on social media about our services or her message, or a stop by church. Let’s show Pastor Rebecca that we are grateful that God has called her to our church!
Deaths: We grieve this month the loss of Claire Hornby, a dedicated child of our church family, who died September 8th.
UMW Wisconsin Conference Plans Virtual Annual Gathering
The theme of this year’s conference is “Walking in the Light”. There is no cost and it will be Saturday morning, October 17. More information is available at www.wisconsinumw.org.or contact Kay Waugh at 920-434-7101.
If you participated in the reading program, send your titles to Suzanne Goldsmith, at suzi-egoldsmith@hotmail.com. Since we are not meeting, our fund raising has stopped and we are de-pending on members to pay their pledge if possible during this difficult time, continue to pray for all of the women, children and youth that our missions support. Pledges can be sent to our treasurer, Sharon Gisselman.
Please note: There will not be a Cookie Walk this year. Instead UMW will take pre-orders for boxes of cookies. Details will follow in Nov.
Barb Ritchie, UMW President
SPRC Update
The Covid pandemic has kept our church committees and groups from meeting in person, but many of them, like SPRC, have continued to be very active through virtual meetings on ZOOM and other venues. For awhile, SPRC was helping guide the church through the initial weeks regarding the shutdown, with Pastor Jayneann. It was then suggested that a Covid committee be established to take that over once Pastor Rebecca started in July. Since then, SPRC has worked with our new pastor to help her navigate her new church in these unusual times, made especially challenging because she could not meet many of us in person. The committee also worked with the rest of the church staff, especially the office staff, during the transition. Luckily, this all went very smoothly and everyone has settled into working together well in the last couple months.
There are several things coming up that will continue to keep SPRC busy, including working with Andy as he recovers from foot surgery and then helping him transition back to work. Charge Conference is coming up in November, which involves us helping to complete the annual report for the conference, with updates for 2021. We are very grateful for the smooth transition between our former and new pastors this past July, and are especially appreciative of the efforts by the church staff to help make this happen.
How We've Been Gathering for the Last Months...
First Church’s Wednesday Evening Youth & Youth Leaders
Memory Cafe... Special Delivery!
Our masked parking lot gang includes clockwise: Maggie, Nancy T (heading to the chiropractor tomorrow), Little Billy, Patti, Mary Ann & Carmen... I mean Carole :)
New Committee on handing COVID-19 Plans Created
A new committee was formed in June to help lead the church through the COVID Pandemic until the health crisis comes to a close. The committee is composed of members from several of our main committees in the church including Ministries Council, SPRC, Worship Design, Trustees, Aesthetics, the Pastor, and re- tired Medical Professionals. The committee was created on the advice from the Wisconsin Church Conference and Pastor Rebecca. This team will meet virtually to help devise a plan to lead the church through these unprecedented times when it is not safe for us to worship in person as a church family. We will be thinking outside of the box on how we can ensure our faith community is receiving the spiritual nourishment it needs. Please feel free to reach out to any of our committee members with ideas, questions, and concerns as they come up in the coming weeks and months. We would also like to give a huge thank you to our SPRC team for their amazing leadership in the early months of the Pandemic.
COVID Committee members: Jen Marzu (Chair)

Pastor Rebecca Voss
Martie Pahris
Tim Harvey

Gwen Carey

Mike Zahn

Bonnie Goertz
Margaret Getzin
Karen Petersen
Bruce Brandenburg
MaryAnn Dykes
Stan Schacht
Dick Rayburn
Window art work created by Joan in room 101 facing Third Street.
Due to the restrictions set forth by the CDC regarding the COVID-19 virus, I have made the decision to cancel our Savvy Seniors group for now. I hope that you all remain healthy during this trying time and will join us when we are able to regroup.
Thank you , Vicki Nowaczyk
If you would like to order SCRIP and know what you want, please contact Martie at the office, finance@fumcwausau.org.
Personal Financial Stewardship
God calls us to practice stewardship in all things. This includes how we use our time, our energy and our financial resources, not just at church but in all of our earning, spending and saving. With that in mind, we offer these suggestions for personal financial steward- ship. Here is your final installment:
Only eat out once a week. For some people, eating out once a week is a major splurge. But for others, eating out that little is a major sacrifice. No matter where you fall, try to limit your restaurant eating to once a week and see what a huge change it makes in your budget!
from daveramsey.com/blog/save-100-to-1000-minimal-effort?
Please Consider Helping
Since this coronavirus emergency began, First Church has been sending weekly connections messages via email and USPS mail to say that “We’re here for you” and to remind us that church is we are and what we do rather than a building.
Being good stewards of our resources, we had not budgeted postage costs for communications during a pandemic. If you are able to contribute toward these costs, please consider doing so.
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The Sunshine Gals loved taking their warmth to the residents at The Gardens and Mount View Care Center the past years. We have spread our sunshine with music, sharing readings and our thoughts, adding laughter and smiles, conversing with memories, and showing our care through our handshakes. We have become good friends with the common cause of spreading love.
If you would like to join us and take part in this ministry of our church, we would truly welcome you!!! Please call me if you have questions at 715.359.7756.
Arlene Trull
Downtown Memory Cafe 2020 Events
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