GLVN Bulletin
News for GLVN Volunteers (Thông Tin cho Thầy Cô GLVN)
January 6, 2017
Happy New Year!!
Dear Catechists,
Thank you so much for all that you did in 2016 for the youth and for our parish through the GLVN program. We know how much dedication it takes to be a catechist, and we appreciate the knowledge and experiences that you share with us and our youth, and especially we thank you for sharing your love for God!
A lot of changes took place in 2016. Many ups and downs, and lots of learnings for me as I took on this new role. I'm grateful to have had all of you to support, encourage, pray and help me! And now as I look back on all that we've accomplished in 2016, I know that God has blessed us abundantly, even in all the challenges.
Happy New Year to you all! I am looking forward to all that God has waiting for us in 2017!! See you on Sunday!
In Christ,
Chi
Below is a very belated Christmas wish to all of you from my family!
January Teacher Meeting
Please join us promptly at 11:15 a.m. in the teacher's meeting room. Lunch will be provided!!
Visit the Nativity and Give a Gift to Jesus!
A basket of hay is at the nativity, and we invite all students and teachers to write on a piece of hay what your gift to Jesus is this Christmas season and place it in the basket. Please take a few minutes to do this with your class on 1/8 when we return from break. Before Mass that Sunday, we will bring these prayer intentions to Baby Jesus in the church.
Each class was provided an envelope with strips of "hay" for you to write your gift on. Encourage your students to think of the various ways they can give a gift to Jesus. Here are some examples, but have your students be detailed when writing their own gifts to Jesus:
- Listening to their parent more
- Helping their parents around the house
- Playing with their siblings
- Sharing with their siblings
- Smiling at someone who may be lonely
- Helping a friend in need
- Sacrificing something they love doing so that Jesus or others can be happy
- Going to Mass more, praying more during their day
Thank you for helping your students continue to live a spirit of giving this season as part of this Gift to Jesus.
Letters to Baby Jesus
A "Mailbox" has been placed in the hallway outside the GLVN office across from the Nativity for anyone who wants to write a letter to Jesus.
Please encourage students to write a letter telling Jesus all about their life today, who they are, who they dream to be, where their faith is now, about their family, what they like, what they hope for, what their fears are ... anything that they want to tell baby Jesus.
Envelopes will be provided. If students write their full name and grade on the envelope, we will hold on to these letters and return it to the student when they reach their last year of the GLVN program. This will be a yearly project that will be something fun to give the students years down the road to help them see how they've grown and changed in their love for Jesus and in their spiritual lives.
Teachers & TAs are more than welcomed to write a letter to Jesus too! We will keep it filed away to give back to you in a few years :-)
The mailbox will remain there throughout January.
Christmas Project Update: The Gift of Hope!
Thank you students and parents for your support for our Christmas Giving Project! Students sold 87 boxes of Christmas cards and collected some donations to raise $530 for Hope Kids.
We still have 113 boxes of cards remaining that we need to sell. If anyone is looking to stock up on cards for next Christmas, please come by the GLVN office to buy some. We will be selling them at a reduced price of $15 per box of 25 cards (that’s only 60 cents per card!). If we can sell the remaining cards at this price we could have nearly $1,000 to give as a gift to Hope Kids.
On January 15, we will tally up the amount of cards sold by class. The class that sold the most will get an opportunity to help us bring our gift to the children at Hope Kids.
Hope Kids is a non-profit organization in the Twin Cities that reaches out compassionately to youth who are facing terminal illnesses. Our donation will be used to put together an event for these youth and their families to get away from the stress of the disease and enjoy life and time together as a family.
Going out and having fun with family and friends is an activity that most of our youth take for granted, and we hope that a project like this helped our students not only see the blessings in their own lives, but help them learn to sacrifice and share God's love, joy and hope with others their age who face larger struggles in their short lives.
Thank you for all your support with this project to help us teach our GLVN students how to give with love.
GLVN School Weather-Related Cancellation Policy
In addition, please read more about the REMIND text messaging system that GLVN will be using to more easily and quickly communicate with parents about school closures and other important information. Spread the word about this service to parents.
Stray cat in the building!
Please help! If you see the stray cat around, please try to close the door to trap it inside and let us know so that we can try to remove it from the building. And be sure to watch your step around the school!!
FYI: December Newsletter for Parents
Please take a look so you know what's being communicated to parents!
English: https://www.smore.com/dqyvp
Vietnamese: https://www.smore.com/092fh
Morning Prayer Together
Don't forget to join us exactly at 9:45 a.m. each Sunday morning in the Teacher's Lounge for morning prayer together. It will be brief (2-3 minutes) so that you can get to your classrooms before 10. Whether there are 30 of us or just 2 of us -- this brief prayer time will take place every Sunday, so please join in to offer up our day to Jesus!
All-School Prayer for 2016-2017
KINH NHẬT TỤNG THÁNH TÔ-MA AQUI-NÔ
Lạy Thiên Chúa của con, xin cho con một trí tuệ để nhận biết Chúa, một trái tim để tìm kiếm Chúa, sự khôn ngoan để gặp gỡ Chúa, mọi hành động được đẹp lòng Chúa một lòng kiên trì chờ đợi Chúa, và sau cùng là niềm hy vọng sẽ được ôm chặt lấy Chúa. Amen.
St. Thomas Aquinas Daily Prayer
Grant me, O Lord my God, a mind to know you, a heart to seek you, wisdom to find you, conduct pleasing to you, faithful perseverance in waiting for you, and a hope of finally embracing you. Amen.
Important GLVN Documents & Forms
Chuong Trinh Giao Ly Viet Ngu
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Email: chipham.sasjhparish@gmail.com
Website: www.gxannagiusehien.net
Phone: 763-639-4566