MEMORIAL PRAYERS TODAY St. Irene Philoptochos has prepared a group memorial for those community members who`ve gone on before but do not have family within the church community to prepare koliva in their memory. Those being commemorated today are: Photios, Costa, Helen, George, Costa, Kyriakos, George and Mildred. Our teen Sunday School class studied about the church's memorial service and has prepared the koliva today under the instruction and guidance of Presbytera, Craig and Margaret. Thank you very much for this labor of love--may God bless you all and remember the departed in His glorious Kingdom--memory eternal!

ADVENT FAST BEGINS TODAY Consult your Orthodox wall calendar for fasting details--in summary: abstain from meat and dairy products--fish, wine, olive oil OK except on Wednesdays/Fridays through December 11. December 12-24, fast from fish as well in anticipation of the Nativity of our Lord. Seafood is OK throughout the fasting period.

TODAY'S COFFEE HOUR is hosted by St. Irene Philoptochos board. Many thanks!

TODAY: FESTIVAL PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETS A meeting led by Illiya will take place today after coffee hour. If you`re interested in seeing the Greek festival get off the ground again, come and take part in the discussion. Here`s the agenda:

1.) Essential upgrades and maintenance needed to open event

2.) Start up capital

3.) Next meeting date

START USING YOUR ORTHO ADVENT CALENDAR Today is the first day of the Advent! Anticipate the coming Feast of our Lord`s Holy Nativity by using an Orthodox Advent Calendar. We have just two in the bookstore--look down into the display case and you`ll see what it looks like--each door opens up an icon of the Saint of the day. Careful handling will render the calendar re-usable for consecutive years. $16.95

GEORGIA MAROUDAS RECUPERATING Georgia was hospitalized under emergency conditions last week. Thanks be to God, she is at home now, recuperating and gaining strength daily. Please keep her in your prayers. You can phone her at home to let her know you`re thinking about her: 344-1485; she`d love to hear from you!

MONDAY AM: SPIRITUAL READING GROUP Tomorrow our group will follow a different format; we will watch the 60 minute documentary on the martyrdoms of Ss. Perpetua and her companions. This is a special presentation and we hope you can be present here tomorrow morning between 8 and 9AM. Refreshments will be served.

DAVID SHOLL TO ARRIVE BACK FROM KOSOVO David should be arriving at Elmendorf TOMORROW. His family is anticipating his arrival and we look forward to seeing him next Sunday. He`s just completed a 12 month deployment with the Army National Guard and we thank him for his service to our country.

PANDELIS FAMILY RETURNING TO MARSHALL The family is set to return to Marshall on Tuesday. They will be missed as in a short time they have endeared themselves to us. God be with you and we hope it will be God`s Providence to bring you back to us again in the future. Kalo taxithi!

WEEKLY SERVICES Wednesday evenings 5:30PM Bible Study; 6:30PM Paraklesis to the Theotokos; every last Tuesday of the month: 6:30PM Akathist to the Mother of God, Healer of Cancer; Saturday evenings 5:30PM Great Vespers; Sunday mornings 9:15AM Orthros, 10:30AM Divine Liturgy. Any changes to the service schedule apart from what's listed here are noted as a separate entry.

Individuals may always request to participate in a Divine Liturgy to be celebrated on a person`s Name Day. Please contact Fr. ahead of time to arrange.

THIS SATURDAY: PANAGIA`S FEAST The Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple will be celebrated as follows: Friday evening, Great Vespers at 6:30PM; Saturday: orthros at 8AM, Divine Liturgy immediately following (approx 9AM). 1st baklava preparation begins after morning services, lunch will be provided.

THIS SATURDAY: 1ST BAKLAVA PREP DATE Please come out and give a hand this Saturday beginning at 10:30AM. Preparations will follow immediately after the Divine Liturgy of Panagia`s Entry into the Temple. Lunch will be provided.

PLEASE TAKE NOTE...FINANCES, Week 45 Our parish is committed to a stewardship program in lieu of the annual Greek festival to keep ourselves up and running. The target figure for each week is $3,100. These 45 weeks have brought in an income of approx. $107.7k; and we now find ourselves with a $31.7k deficit.

BAKLAVA FUND RAISER St. Irene Philoptochos will be selling baklava for the upcoming holiday season, as a fundraiser to benefit the church’s operating fund as well as the Philoptochos ministry.

Prep dates are November 21, December 5 and December 12 at 10:30AM. Everyone is asked to come out and lend a helping hand for these worthy causes. Order sheets are available in the fellowship hall this AM.

Thank you for your continuing support of our church and our philoptochos ministry.

PARISH COUNCIL ELECTION NEXT SUNDAY Our parish council candidates (4 open positions) are the following individuals: Salwa Abuamsha, Craig Baxter, Don Varlamos and Brian West. Thank you for your willingness to serve! Voting will take place next Sunday, 22 November. Ballots will be available at the candle stand.

STEWARDSHIP A big THANK YOU to those of you who participated in the Divine Liturgy on Sunday, November 1! You were witness to the SECOND (excuse our earlier error) Stewardship Sunday celebrated by our congregation. If you were not able to make it, you missed a truly meaningful event in the life of our local church.

As you are probably aware, 2009 was the first year we attempted to meet the financial needs of the parish through stewardship alone. The stewardship committee would like to congratulate the 2009 stewards in particular as this year was a banner year for stewardship with the highest pledges and amounts ever collected in the history of our parish. Although we came close, we did not receive quite enough via stewardship to fully meet the 2009 budget. Thus, a holiday baklava sale is currently underway to help meet the deficit for this year. With God’s blessing, it is our sincere hope and expectation to exceed last year’s totals and meet the entire 2010 budget through stewardship. However, in order to do this, we must look to the participation of our entire parish community.

Even if you missed Stewardship Sunday on November 1, it is not too late to submit your pledge for 2010. You can mail it, give it to any parish council member or stewardship committee member, or drop it in the basket on any Sunday. Truly, we appreciate your dedication to the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church--may 2010 be the best year ever!

Your stewardship committee is pleased to report that Stewardship Sunday garnered 22 pledge cards in excess of $40,000 committed—this is truly an encouraging start! May God bless us and move our hearts to meet all the church’s financial needs through the ministry of stewardship. Then, any fundraisers we choose to do can go directly to the building fund helping to meet the goal of building a beautiful new church for ourselves and future generations to come—a most worthy goal.

God bless you and guide you if you are yet contemplating your 2010 pledge.

Your stewardship committee,
Lois Sholl, Chair; Salwa Abuamsha, Pam Lloyd and Margaret Varlamos

NEW IN THE BOOKSTORE Wood beaded prayer ropes and prayer bracelets--and some made with precious stones designed for women working in business settings by the sisters of St. Paisius Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Safford, Arizona.

SEASONAL ITEMS IN THE BOOKSTORE You'll find some lovely 100% beeswax pillar candles in the bookstore that are decorated with an autumn leaf--very attractive for a fall table. Also, you'll find some Christmas items being added to the book sections, primarily for children at this point in time. Please remember that our children's section is displayed on the south wall of the fellowship hall.

We have recently received a most worthwhile DVD on the lives of the holy martyr St. Perpetua and her companions who are remembered on February 4 each year. This DVD is produced by Voice of the Martyrs and depicts the lives and martyrdoms of these blessed saints in both cartoon form and also as a documentary based upon the writings of St. Perpetua in her journal prior to her death. Excellent watching for both children and adults. It is available for $14.99.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE RE BULLETIN ENTRIES Please send your bulletin entries directly to Pres. Candace rather than thru Fr. Leo`s email. Use this address doxa@clearwire.net for submissions for a particular Sunday and send no later than noon on Saturdays. I accept submissions throughout the week as well, though Saturday noon is the new deadline. Thank you, Pres.

THANK YOU CORNER Sincere thanks to our St. Irene board for making possible the youth group prosphora baking session yesterday and koliva preparation this morning. Lynne's planning and expertise guided each group of young people into the preparation of their own bread of offering. The result was eight beautiful prosphoras!

Heartfelt thanks to Margaret for coordinating last evening's dinner for the youth & their families and for preparing a delicious entree. Sincere thanks to all the parents who brought side dishes to round out the meal.

Special thanks to the teens who came out this morning to assemble and decorate the koliva for the group memorial this AM.

We have received donations for our baklava fundraiser, for which we are most grateful: to Teddy Kouris for both phyllo dough and sugar; to Greg Giannulis for the butter, to Jeff at FSA for presentation containers and a supply of walnuts. BIG thanks, too, to Pam Lloyd and Anna Maroulis for undertaking the preparation of the pastry syrup which is a great help!

Who should receive a note of thanks? Please send info to Pres. for inclusion in the bulletin: doxa@clearwire.net (include a request for a "read" receipt under the options tab before sending to make sure she has received your message--thx!)