Wayne and Bev Indrelie plus Bob and Genie Hanson are the co-chairs of F.R.O.G. (Fully Rely on God), an outreach mission of Central Freeborn Lutheran Church, rural Albert Lea, to promote fun, food, and fellowship.
When their F.R.O.G. bus trip scheduled for “Christmas by the Lake” Saturday, Dec. 1, was cancelled because of an eight-inch snowstorm blizzard, they didn’t panic. They knew they had a lemon on their hands. The question was how to make lemonade out of the blizzard-created lemon.
Each person on the bus was to receive a Beanie Baby. To solve this lemon, a Beanie Baby was included along with the traditional sack of peanuts, candy, and an apple after the Christmas program at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church—thus, lemonade.
Each person on the bus was to receive food coupons from various restaurants in Albert Lea. To solve this lemon, the coupons were made available at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church to anyone who would visit someone that doesn’t get around much anymore. The reward, other than a good feeling, was the person doing the visiting could use the food coupon as they so desired—thus, lemonade.
The F.R.O.G. co-chairs went a step further, as they were concerned about the weather at their Valentine’s party with Norwegian Bingo scheduled at 6 p.m. on Feb. 2 in the Fellowship Hall at Central Freeborn Lutheran Church, rural Albert Lea. They checked with “The Farmer’s Almanac” and the answer was, “The eight-inch blizzard that cancelled your Dec. 1 bus trip was a foretaste of the feast to come.” The co-chairs’ answer: “Bring it on!”
Genie and I attended the “Loony Lutheran” Christmas performance held at the Marion Ross Performing Arts Center in Albert Lea. Three ladies did an excellent job using members of the audience as part of their show titled, “Hold the Lutefisk.”
Regarding lutefisk, a sad thing happened at Faith Lutheran Church in Forest Lake, MN. The 70-year-old traditional lutefisk dinner died. The obituary listed the survivors as other nearby Lutheran churches where a lutefisk dinner is the gala event of the year for lutefisk lovers. (According to the pastor, they ran out of qualified lutefisk preparers.)
The highlight of the Christmas season was the card we received from a 12-year-old living in the state of Virginia. She wrote about her adventures with her brother Caleb, age nine, since we met them at the Sleep Inn, Hanes Mall, Winston-Salem, NC in March of 2018.
Ava is a very good gymnast, while brother Caleb is more interested in baseball—he is on the AA rookie baseball team; Ava is on level five as a gymnast. Genie and I are their old pen pals from Minnesota.
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Bob is a retired AAL (Aid Association for Lutherans) agent, currently working on his master’s degree in Volunteering. His wife, Genie, is a retired RN, currently working on her doctor’s degree in Volunteering. They have two children, Deb in North Carolina, and Dan in Vermont. Bob says if you enjoy his column, let him know. If you don’t enjoy it, keep on reading, it can get worse. Words of wisdom: There is always room for God.