We have two parts to the p.s. this month. The first is a letter from our Intern Pastor, Jasmine Tesdahl. The second is a letter from her husband, Gene Tesdahl.

From Jasmine

Dear Bethlehem Family,

I just want to take this moment to say THANK YOU. I have so many things to be thankful for right now, and Bethlehem has been such a big part of so many of them.

Thank you: In January 2007, Gene and I and Baby-on-the-Way were looking for a faith home. This community took the time to get to know us and made us feel so very welcome. I still remember those initial conversations and the people who took the time to get to know us.

Thank you: We were getting ready to welcome our baby into the world, and you helped prepare us by giving us cribs, and clothes, and meals, and lots of support and welcome advice.

Thank you: On July 8, 2007, you welcomed Aspen Pascale into the mission and ministry and faith we share as a newly baptized Child of God.

Thank you: You put out a call for Assisting Ministers and Communion Assistants during worship, and I felt a need to answer this call to ministry.

Thank you: You saw Gene’s and my passion for working with youth, and you asked us to teach Sunday School…and then to be on the Council…and then to be a partner in the Youth and Household Ministry development that Deaconess Kristen was spearheading.

Thank you: You took on an intern—Pastor Liliana Stahlberg—and she led a Bible Study that opened a door to me to consider my call to ministry.

Thank you: There exists in this congregation a depth in our leadership: thoughtful, compassionate, amazing leaders like Pastor Mark and Deaconess Kristen, as well as Bob Ritzen, and many others throughout the congregation who, through caring conversation and open minds, have really helped me to discern the direction in which God is calling me.

Thank you: You were willing to help me learn about what it means to be a leader in the ELCA in ordained ministry, by hiring me first as a Pastoral Assistant and then as an Intern Pastor, as well as a Director of Education. You have listened to dozens of sermons and participated in many Bible Studies, meetings, and other events—all of which have allowed me to develop my understanding and experience in ministry leadership.

Thank you: You have supported me monetarily through scholarships and employment, and by allowing me to live in the parsonage while I have been in seminary.

Thank you: You have supported me and my family emotionally and spiritually through caring conversation, child care, meals, and lots of fun!

Thank you: You have been so encouraging of my call to military chaplaincy and the unique struggles that have come to the Tesdahl home because of it. All of your thoughtful letters that you sent during my ten weeks of training last summer really brightened the challenging days. And all of the ways that you cared for my family in my absence really helped me to be able to focus on the task at hand, knowing that my family was well-cared for.

Thank you: For your upcoming support of our move to Chicago for my Lutheran year of study at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC). Even though we will be gone, Bethlehem is still our home congregation and we will be sending back updates and news occasionally throughout the year.

As my time winds down at Bethlehem, all of our hearts grow a little heavy—mine, Aspen’s, and Gene’s. We are sad to leave the amazing friends that we have made. The friends that Aspen has made at Bethlehem are truly her best friends in all the world—friends that she has known her entire life (or their entire life!). We’re a little nervous about how it will be in Chicago: Will Gene find a job? Will Aspen have a good school? Will we be able to build as good a community as we have found in Colorado? What will LSTC be like? What is big-city living like when you have kids?

Bethlehem, you are our faith family. We are so grateful that we found you, and we are so thankful for the ways that you have cared for us, and allowed us to care for you. I wish you all Godspeed through your upcoming adventures and challenges, and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the ways, named and unnamed, that you have enriched my and my family’s life.

With deepest gratitude,

Jasmine Tesdahl

From a Lutheran "across the wide Mis-sour-i"

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, greetings from Atchison, Kansas and scenic Benedictine College,

I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, tI possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous...In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized. (Haim Ginott, teacher, child psychologist and psychotherapist)

The above quote has offered me true inspiration this year in my classroom and beyond. As you may know, I have been teaching as a Visiting Assistant Professor of history this year. While I have been able to come home to see my family, this has been both a difficult and rewarding year that is surprisingly nearing its end. At times, keeping my classroom climate sunny and balmy is very difficult when I am really missing my family or when my classroom bristles at the mention of topics from abortion and Mormonism to women’s rights or the relevance of Native Americans. Still I feel that I have had a positive impact this year and I have strived to do my best every day.

People of Bethlehem, we are “the decisive element in the classroom” that is BLC. “It is [our] approach that creates the climate.” For the most part BLC is a loving, welcoming, and understanding environment. I was welcomed by many of you when I first visited Bethlehem now six years ago, including a compassionate and energetic pastor with a ponytail who made me feel less self-conscious about mine. Aspen was welcomed into the world at Bethlehem and into her faith walk at her baptism just months later with Colin Wappel and Jaryd Tiff as acolytes that day. Jasmine and I were welcomed into a challenging, yet rich five years of volunteering with Youth and Household Ministry. Jasmine was welcomed to consider a path of ministry beginning with a Bible study hosted by Pastor Lili that has now included service and an internship that have brought us all closer to the community we love. Aspen was welcomed as an acolyte for the first time this past summer at the baptism of Jaryd Tiff’s niece Gemma. A welcome that is even more meaningful now with the stinging irony of Jaryd’s loss and fulfillment of his baptismal promise on March 9, 2013 when he was welcomed to his home above.

This is what church must be, welcoming and loving, not just on Sunday, not just when we feel good, and not just when we feel broken, but all the time. Recent moments of joy and sorrow have reminded me that this is the type of church we are at BLC. We are not perfect, but we aim to love and welcome perfectly. You have enriched my life in so many ways. I am blessed to be church with each of you.

Where our path goes from here is still in God’s hands. Jasmine will graduate with her M. Div. from the Iliff School of Theology in June. It looks like Chicago is on our horizon so that Jasmine may complete her Lutheran year at LSTC. I am blessed to be Jasmine’s partner and Aspen’s proud dad. The future is wide open but we love the Lord, we love each other, and we love you.

Your Brother in Christ,
Gene Tesdahl