Divine Mercy Lutheran Church – 
Hudson Oaks, Texas, is served by Pastor Kyle Madson. Pastor Madson reports “Lots of initiative being shown from our Loving Life ladies. Also, the guys are really stepping forward with executing some of the tasks necessary to get to the “operational” stages of this long-in-the-works mercy ministry.”
Hope Lutheran Church – Cedar Park/Leander, Texas, is served by Brad Kerkow and Pastor Dan Ruiz.
Pastor Kerkow reports, “The main highlights for July were the Ordination and installation of Pastor Daniel Ruiz and the Theatre Bible School performance.”
1. A total of eleven pastors participated in 
the ordination service held on July 17th. The service was held at 7:00 p.m. to avoid the worst of the afternoon Texas heat – it was about 95° when the service started. Pastor David Thomson preached on 2 Timothy 4:1-8. Circuit Visitor Micah Ernst performed the rite of installation. A time of fellowship was enjoyed after the service along with Root Beer floats and appetizers.
2. Theatre Bible School was held from July 11 to 15 from 9:00a.m. to 11:30 a.m. each day. Two plays were rehearsed throughout the week and performed at a big performance for parents and friends on Friday night. 42 children were enrolled in TBS. This was a big improvement over the 17 that attended in 2015 and was likely due to the postcard mailing. We had well over 120 people attend for the Friday night performance. Pastor Ruiz has been doing detailed follow up work with several prospect families.
3. On July 18 and 19 Pastors Kerkow and Ruiz sat down with Missions Counselor Larry Wentzlaff to do a new missionary orientation study and to do strategic planning. It was decided that Pastor Ruiz would focus primarily on Gospel Outreach and H2O youth group, and Pastor Kerkow would focus on preaching (3 Sundays/month), Bible Classes, confirmation, finances, worship, etc. this work division can be reassessed after 6 months if desired.
4. At the end of July, three of our youth along with Pastor Ruiz attended the LYA convention in Dallas.
Special Guests from Chile Attend the ELS Convention
Chelsea Dietsche has conducted the English as Foreign Language program at Linares, Chile for five years. She generally teaches English to 65 students each week, incorporating lessons from Luther’s Catechism in the classes. This draws prospective members toward the congregation. One need: funds for scholarships for students. 
Tim and Ellen Erickson have served in ELS South American missions since 1982, first in Peru and now in Chile. Tim’s primary duties at present include training three Chilean men for ministry. Ordinations are planned for 2017. Tim also advises the “United in the Faith” Lutheran Church in Linares as it works to construct a new worship facility. The congregation supports the project and will contribute labor to the effort, but contributions from ELS members are much appreciated! Cross-stitch, the network of ELS Women’s Mission Societies, donated $5,000 toward building the church.
Supporting Orphans in India
Grace Lutheran Church (Madison, Wisconsin) conducted a garage sale and bake sale in July. The children from Grace ran a lemonade and cookie stand. They raised $42.00 and decided to send the money to Cross-Stitch for the orphanages in India. Thanks to these children for thinking of children so far away!
