Thank you so much for the love you showed me for birthday. You sent me words of appreciation, cards, flowers, balloons, gift set saying that I'm "Not a day over fabulous" and a puzzle! Honestly, I don't think of receiving gifts, so it's always a surprise. Your support and seeing you connect to the church in fellowship and service is what warms my heart even more so. Thank you again for being family.

MARCH

3/2 Encore practices begin after church (1 hour only)

3/3 Officers Councils (3/3 - 3/6) - no Bible Study this week

3/5 Lent Season Begins (Weeks leading up to Easter)

3/6 Territorial Holiness Retreat (3/6 - 3/9)

3/9 Daylight Savings

• 6 week Junior Soldiership Classes Begin @ 9:30 am
• Mandatory Protecting the Mission Training for volunteers, 12:30 PM (Lunch provided before training starts)

3/14 Praise and Worship Summit (3/14 - 3/16)

3/15 Monthly Women's Fellowship Tea at San Jose Temple, 11 am - 1 pm

3/16 Lt. Colonel Ivan Wild visiting w/Majors Strickland

3/23 March Potluck

3/28 Divisional Youth Retreat (DYR 3/28 - 3/30)

* Short Encore practices will begin after church next week, March 2.

* Soldiership classes for youth starts March 9. More info in this newsletter.*

Cindy Moreno's family welcome you to celebrate her beautiful life on Tuesday, March 18 @ 11 am at our church. There will be refreshments afterward in the fellowship hall.

On Monday, March 17, from 4 - 8 pm there will be a viewing at Oak Hill Funeral Home, 300 Curtner Ave, San Jose, CA 95125.

Please continue to pray for her family.

Created / Creados is the theme for the 2025 Women’s Ministry Retreats. The Scripture is Ephesians 4:24 (put on the new self…created after the likeness of God). Our feel for the weekend will be art focused (paint, creativity, images, etc).

English Retreat: April 25-27 – Lt Colonel Shari Fowler (DDWM & DSP, Southwest Division) will be our guest speaker, and we are finalizing the worship team.

Spanish Retreat: May 2-4 – Captain Betzy Hanson (DSP and Intercultural Ministries Coordinator, SoCal) will be our guest speaker, and the team from Santa Ana (along with Major Patricia Giron) will lead us in worship.

The registration fee has not risen and is the same as last year - $200 for cabins, $250 for Lodge rooms, and $100 for those choosing to stay off-site (commuting from home/staying in a hotel) or choosing to be a Saturday-only attendee. The registration details will be coming soon, along with media files you can use to promote these retreats locally. *The church is again willing to help pay up to $100 for those who are staying on site.

Join us for a six week series to go over the Bible based - spiritual beliefs of The Salvation Army. Also learn what it means to be a Salvation Army soldier/church member or a Salvationist. At the end of the series, there is a an option to be enrolled as a Salvation Army junior or senior soldier. The Doctrines are the Senior Soldier classes, the Lessons are for the Junior Soldier classes.

UPDATE: Dates may be changed. Please share your interest with Majors Ruwethin so information can be communicated.

DYR 2025 is just six weeks away, and we can’t wait to spend this amazing weekend with you and your youth! 🎉 Below, you’ll find all the key details. Please review the information carefully, and let us know if you have any questions.

General information

📅 Dates: March 28–30, 2025

📍 Location: Camp Redwood Glen

🏕 Address: 3100 Bean Creek Rd, Scotts Valley, CA 95066

💰 Cost: $190 per delegate (Santa Clara Citadel pay $100, youth to pay $90)

👥 Age Group: 13–18

Theme: A.I. – Authentic Identity

• Renowned author and theologian Henri Nouwen defined three biggest lies about identity: “I am what I have. I am what I do. And I am what others think of me.” Through this retreat, we would like our teenagers to consider that your Creator determines your value, your worth, and what God thinks about you is the most important thing about you.
• Theme Verse: “ Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” ( Romans 12:2 NLT)

Guest Speaker: Heather Flies ( “Click Here” to learn more about her)

THQ Representatives: Lt. Colonels Ivan & Jennifer Wild

Registration Due Date: Friday, March 9th, 2025

As we all know, Commissioning is coming!! Commissioning Events will be held at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, June 13-15.

We are continuing with an evangelism-based theme for the weekend, following on from “Testify”. The Theme for the weekend will be “This Is My Story”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RvUEemy-MA

There are some important changes to the schedule:

· The Friday evening program will incorporate Commencement, a celebration of Long Service (officers)….recognition of Long Service (Local Officers) and more!

· During the day on Saturday the annual Encore Competition and Bible Bowl Final will take place

· The Saturday Evening program will feature the musical “This is My Story”, which is a series of stories behind some of the world’s best loved hymns.

· Sunday Morning Holiness meeting will include the Ordination and Commissioning.

· Sunday Afternoon meeting will include the appointments of the new officers.

Register at: events.usawest.org

The theme for last year’s congress, Testify, was designed to encourage each one of us to tell more people about Jesus, more often. The most effective way of sharing about Jesus is to tell your own story. Over the next 20 weeks we will be sharing with you a short “testimony” video from the leadership team of the Territory, and our cadets who will be commissioned as officers this year.

Feel free to share these with others as encouragement, and share your own story. (If you are not sure what your story is, or are searching for the answers to your spiritual questions please talk to any officer)

The third testimony of the series is: Cadet Zechariah Guess

Please keep informed by signing up for the Remind App. The goal is to touch base with a newsletter once a week and send communication in a secure way. Text to: 81010, Send the message: @chkhc6. Please share the info. Thank you in advance.

Sunday:

• 9:30 AM Small Groups for All Youth and Adults
• 10:30 AM Worship service
• 11:00 AM Junior Church for kids 1 - 5 grades and Nursery
• 11:45 AM Potluck & Fellowship (3rd Sunday unless scheduled otherwise)

Wednesday:

• 6:30 PM Dinner for All
• 7:15 PM Bible Study

Thursday:

• 7:15 PM Young Adult Volleyball Fellowship

Friday:

• 6:00 PM Teen Youth Group (Monthly)

Saturday:

• 8:00 AM Men's Brunch (Monthly)
• 10:00 AM Women's Fellowship (Monthly)

Email: shoshannah.ruwethin@usw.salvationarmy.org
Website: siliconvalley.salvationarmy.org
Location: 3090 Homestead Road, Santa Clara, CA, USA
Phone: 408.247.4588
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TSASantaClaraChurch