news.zionbuffalo.org

On August 5^th, Jake Swanson’s military service to his country officially ends.  He is moving back to Minnesota and will attend Ridgewater Community College in Hutchinson this fall.  I would like to thank my Zion family for their prayers and support, especially during his deployment to Afghanistan.  When asked by a former teacher what she could send him, he replied “You don’t have to send me anything but your prayers.  I know the only reason I am getting through this (the deployment) is because God has lifted me up and is carrying me.”  Your prayers do make a difference in the lives of these soldiers.  Please continue to pray for all of our military.

Kathy Swanson

Christopher Brophy will be leaving for Ft Benning, GA on July 8.

As their mission project this year, the VBS SonRock Kids’ Camp participants have started to collect supplies for military personnel overseas.

A complete list of suggested items can be found on the VBS page, and items should be brought to Zion by Sunday, June 21. They will then be be distributed amongst military personnel who have some congregational connection to Zion and the surrounding community.

And lastly in the words of Pastor Steve:

Homemade cookies/bars that are vacuum sealed or at least heavy duty zip locked are HUGE here. Thank you for doing this, you are going to make a lot of good people that you will never meet very happy.

Greetings from Northern Iraq.  Currently I am located in Kirkuk – a city of about 1,000,000 people.  So far I have been here just over one month, and have settled into the routine of life on a forward operating base.  Attached is a picture taken the other night of a co-worker/friend from my Minneapolis reserve wing, who is here doing security work.   He is a former Marine, now working for the Air Force and if there is a way to operate safely in a war zone, it is with him.  We went out the other night on mid-watch to visit troops on the perimeter.  The stuff in the picture that looks like snow is actually dust – it is very heavy here.  Also very dry and very hot.

We have a vibrant chapel culture here on base; I have responsibility for one of eight different service offerings here, working with the contemporary worship service at 1000 and 1900 every Sunday.  Between both services the contemporary serves 100-150 each week, and we have the best combat praise team in the CENTAF AOR.  We work very closely with our Army Chaplain counterparts and have a great relationship with them.

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DeAnna returned to Texas last week, and is again stationed at Fort Hood.

After the 20th of May, Fred Pierce will be going to Pensacola, Fl.

Chris Paulsen-Schmidt is still at Great Lakes IL and has completed the first 1/2 of his schooling for Advanced Electronics. He is now in the final 4 months of school and is getting ready to be stationed somewhere on the coast.

Things continue to go well in my job as the Chief of Staff for NSWC PHD. My day is filled with ensuring that the staff runs smoothly. I mainly work with the non-technical side of the business. This Friday afternoon was very busy. One employee was warned that he had to evacuate his home in 15 minutes because of the Santa Barbara fires. He eventually did not have to evacuate but it was close. Then a small earthquake struck about 20 miles away. No damage or injuries, but many people felt it. Finally, the ambulance and fire truck showed up because one of our employees was having chest pains. He was taken to the hospital and released the next day.

I am working on deconflicting two groups that were promised the same building for expansion, answering an OSHA complaint, getting performance evaluations in on time and improving the Commanding Officers suggestion box process. I have also emceed an awards ceremony, scheduled training for the staff and am working on developing a strategic alignment with an engineering program at one of the University of California campuses.

I really like my job, the commanding officer is great to work for and all of the people have been wonderful. I do miss everyone at home. I hope they are getting ready for a great summer and I look forward to seeing as many people as possible over the 4th of July weekend.

Dirk

Cody Bauman

Cody Bauman is still stationed with the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg.  His Mom sent us this new photo:

Destiny Johnson is now stationed in Basrah, Iraq.

Jay Iversen (Pam Freer’s brother) is deployed to Camp Liberty, Iraq.

Pastor Steve Svoboda  will be leaving for Kirkuk, Iraq on May 4 to serve as a military chaplain.  He will be on military leave from Grace Lutheran Church until September 6.

Fred Pierce is now stationed at Camp Pendelton, CA.

SSG. Destiny Johnson left Minnesota on March 5th with the 34th MP Company of Stillwater.  They will be training in Ft. Lewis in Washington State and preparing for their 12 deployment to Iraq.

Jon Strommen has returned to the US as of February 12. He will be stationed again at Fort Hood in Texas until his retirement in June.

DeAnna his wife is still in Kuwait, but is scheduled to return home in May.

Fred Pierce is stationed at Marine Corps Recruit Depot  in San Diego.

Aaron Hatling

Aaron’s tour in Baghdad has ended and he is presently home ending a six week leave. On January 15th he will resume his MP position in Heidelberg where he’ll have 19 months left to serve. Our entire family attributes Aaron’s safety to all of the prayers that have been lifted in his name over this past 18 months.

Dawn Fischer (Mother of Aaron Hatling)

Chris Paulsen-Schmidt is stationed in Great Lakes and has begun his schooling in Advanced Electronics.