February 24th from 9am-1pm is the Community Outreach’s first Grafton Food Drive of 2024. 
Help us fill the shelves at the Grafton Food Pantry. Whether you choose to donate items or give monetarily, all donations are greatly appreciated.
Contact: Tara Mackey rtmackey10@hahoocom
Fresh fruits and vegetables are a great quick food choice since they are loaded with important nutrients. 
Test your knowledge of the nutritional benefits of fruits and vegetables
True or False: Eating cabbage can help reduce the risk of some cancers.
True or False: A chili pepper has more vitamin C than an orange.
True or False: Calcium cannot be found in vegetables.
True or False: Fresh fruits and vegetables contain almost no sodium.
True or False: The amount of water used in cooking vegetables won’t affect their nutritional content.
True or False: The deeper the color of the vegetable, the more beta-carotene it contains.
True or False: Fresh fruits and vegetables are composed mostly of water.
Shop for produce and other perishables once or twice a week so you have enough to get you through the week. Keep fruits and vegetables on hand for low-fat, low-calorie snack options.
Fruit and Veggie Recipes:
Apple and Peanut Butter Dip
Sometimes you want something sweet. This is the perfect dish for that moment. It’s not only sweet but it also has protein and fiber.
Ingredients:
Mix the yogurt and peanut butter powder together. Serve with the sliced apple
Zucchini Pizza Bites
Ingredients:
Preheat the oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the zucchini in to ¼ inch slices. Place onto the prepared baking sheet. Evenly distribute the marinara sauce and mozzarella on top of each zucchini slice, and then sprinkle on the Italian seasoning. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the cheese becomes bubbly.
Contact: Jamie Patel at jamie.patel@nm.org
VBS will be
July 8-12, 2024
Contact: Jill Gillming at Jill@sotpmail.com
If you attend Saturday Night 5:00 pm church service, you might recognize a face or two.
This picture is a group of the Saturday ushers, excluding Pastor Ryan, who faithfully serve on Saturday’s. Many also serve as Communion Stewards. Some were missing because of work or on vacation. If you are interested in serving on Saturday’s, contact Lead Usher Barb Hoppensteadt.
Contact: Barb Hoppensteadt at hoppen@sbcglobal.net
Now that the weather is nicer, why not take a walk the West end of the Church building and visit our Memory Garden and Memory Walkway. There you will see our 72 niche Columbarium and Memory Brick walkway. There are 3 granite benches for you to relax on. Then you can take a walk on the Memory Brick walkway. There are still spots available in the Columbarium, and we will try to get enough orders for additional bricks later this year. For more information, contact Pastor Mark or Pastor Ryan.
Contact: Ralph Wehnes ralphwehnes@sbcglobal.net
May 11th 11a-12p Fellowship Hall 
Join us for an afternoon of gentle exercise with instructor Danae Molitor, a multi certified instructor specializing in senior/active adult classes as she guides us through a class that is beneficial to anyone at any age – no matter your age, fitness level, or limitations.
More information and sign up via sotp.org or the Church Center App will be available toward the middle of April.
Contact: Tara Mackey rtmackey10@yahoo.com
Christmas blessings to you and your family! We are looking forward to worshiping with you this weekend.
A reminder there are no morning worship services on Christmas Eve Day.
Please consider joining us for worship on Saturday night, December 23rd at:
On Christmas Eve we hope you are able to join us for worship at:
For more information on the Christmas Eve services please CLICK HERE
We look forward to welcoming you and your family in worship and so thankful to you all for your partnership in ministry through this past year.
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Mark
A Big THANK YOU to everyone who helped decorate the church on Monday, November 27. 
It takes a lot of helpers/elves to decorate and put up five trees.
The Worship Committee thanks you for a job well done!!!!
Contact: Carolyn Cuttle ednca@comcast.net
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John and Carol Sturz have been training their 5-year-old golden retriever, Rosie, to be a Therapy Dog. 
The first step in her training was to pass the American Kennel Club Canine Good Citizenship test, a 10-skill test that teaches good manners to dogs and responsible dog ownership to their owners. The next part of her certification will be to make visits to schools, hospitals, nursing homes as well as to Shepherd of the Prairie Church and anywhere she is welcome. So far Rosie has been with us at many local restaurants and at SOTP Saturday night services.
Therapy dogs are not service dogs. Service dogs are dogs that are specially trained to perform specific tasks to help a person who has a disability. An example of a service dog is one that guides an owner who is blind, or a dog who assists someone with a physical disability. Therefore Rosie is not given the same duties and privileges that a service dog has.
Since many people are familiar with the Lutheran Church Charities Comfort dogs, we want to clarify that Rosie is not part of that organization. LCC K9’s places dogs with assigned handlers and the dogs live in homes with assigned caregivers. Rosie will continue to live with us and we will be her handlers. Our plan is to take her for visits to nursing homes, hospitals and other places like libraries, since we have both worked as school and college Librarians. John is also a retired Lutheran pastor.
John and Carol Sturz