PARISH LEADERSHIP
REV. FR. JON MAGOULIAS
PARISH PRIEST

NICK FAKLIS
PARISH COUNCIL PRESIDENT



UPCOMING SERVICES
Saturday, November 21st
Great Vespers will not be celebrated.

Sunday, November 22nd
9TH SUNDAY OF LUKE
Epistle Phil. 1:1-25
Gospel Luke 12:16-21
Sunday Divine Services 9:00 a.m.

Wednesday, November 25th
ST. KATHERINE THE GREAT MARTYR
EVENING LITURGY FOR THANKSGIVING
Epistle Gal. 3:23-4:5
Gospel Mark 5:24-35
Divine Services 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 28th
Great Vespers 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 29th
9TH SUNDAY OF LUKE
Epistle Phil. 1:1-25
Gospel Luke 12:16-21
Sunday Divine Services 9:00 a.m.

Divine Services at our Church of the Annunciation may now be viewed live on the Internet! The purpose for this ministry is to provide shut-ins that have internet capability, college students that may not be able to get to an Orthodox Church, or people interested in our precious Christian Orthodox Faith, the opportunity to view our church services. This is not a substitute for attending Church!



PARISH COUNCIL
Sunday, November 22nd - Team 3: Nick Faklis, Chris Christie, Gary Kling, Steve Pallios, & George Simvoulakis.

Sunday, November 29th - Team 4: Nick Pallios, Jeff Brown, Michael Jaureguy, & James Sarros.



ALTAR BOYS
ALL ALTAR BOYS ARE EXPECTED TO:

* Dress properly, wearing light
colored shirt, tie, and dress shoes.
* The Sunday Church School Program now enables an Altar Boy to serve on Sundays when he may not be scheduled. If you wish to put in extra service on days when it is not your group day, you may do so, but following Holy Communion, you must attend Sunday Church School.
* If unable to participate at your scheduled time, please contact your team captain. Please be on time for all services.

ACOLYTE COORDINATORS:
Andoni Kocolas ~ Yianni Magoulias ~ Seri Mitri ~Manoli Rodarakis

SENIOR ALTAR BOYS:
Christos Konstantelos ~ Alex Stavrianoudakis

Sunday, November 22nd - Team D: Captain, Jimmy Pallios, John Hillas, Christopher Letson, Jonathan Word, & P.J. Zanotto.

Sunday, November 29th - Team A: Captain, Michael Hillas, William Davis, John Galas, Nicholas Parisis, Anthony Stavrianoudakis, & Andreas Alexander.



STEWARDSHIP 2009
We have entered the New Year and we ask that you please make your 2009 Stewardship offering to our Parish. If you have not fulfilled your 2008 commitment please do so this week. If there is a problem in fulfilling your commitment, please contact Fr. Jon. We pray that your increase will enable us to fully fund the operating costs of our Parish through YOUR stewardship commitment!

Christian Stewardship is the very essence of living our precious Faith that teaches each of us to return to the Lord a portion of our earnings so that the Church may continue to grow. Every person baptized and/or chrismated into the Orthodox Christian Faith may be a parishioner but a steward is something more! A steward is a baptized and/or chrismated person who understands his responsibility to God and His Church. This understanding directs him to live his life according to the teachings of our Faith and at the same time, offers Time, Talents and Treasure to the sacred work of the Church.

Our Holy Church emphasizes the truth found in Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition that we must give cheerfully and without reluctance to the sacred work of God’s Holy Church. We encourage you to prayerfully evaluate your budget to make a new commitment this year. We give thanks to God as we have had a number of our stewards increasing their commitment to the Church each year. Last year, we had a number of stewards that increased their contribution above the 10% we hoped for with some increasing their previous year offering by as much as 25%! Please consider increasing your Stewardship obligation in accordance with the blessings you receive from God.

It is important to understand that our Stewardship obligations determine a family (husband, wife, & children) or an individual as stewards of our Parish. Young adults (18 years and older) that have completed their schooling and/or find themselves in the workplace are expected to become stewards of the Parish. These individuals are not included in one’s “Family Stewardship” obligation. Please remember: "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." If you have any questions regarding your offering please contact Fr. Jon.



PHILOPTOCHOS NEWS
The Philoptochos is collecting donations for flowers to decorate our church during the season of our Lord’s Nativity. If you would like to contribute please contact Anna Petrulakis or the Church Office.



COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS CARD
Once again this year we will be printing our Community Christmas Card. The Community Card enables you to join us in wishing our Parish Family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Your participation will save you the time of addressing envelopes and paying for the stamps when sending greetings during the Christmas season.

Plan on including your family in our beautiful Byzantine Community Christmas Card this year! Please refer to the form that was included in the November mailing and mail in or bring in your form to the Church Office this week!



OFFICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Please note the Church Office has a new e-mail address. The new address is

annunciationoffice@gmail.com.

We would also like to inform you that the PO Box and Zip Code for mailing to our Church Office has been changed due to cutbacks in the Postal Service. The new address is:

Greek Orthodox Church
of the Annunciation
PO BOX 578128
Modesto, CA 95357.

Thank you!



PARISH EDUCATION MINISTRY
Our regular Sunday Church School program has begun. Our young people are to be in church at 10:00 a.m. to participate in the Divine Liturgy. The young people are to sit in the front pews so that they may be able to receive the Holy Eucharist first; following the Holy Eucharist, the young people go into the Classroom Building for their lesson. Parents are encouraged to bringing their children to church on time EVERY SUNDAY MORNING so that our young people may “Grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

A.R.E. YOU READY?

A.R.E. YOU ready to participate and join in the study of our precious Christian Orthodox Faith? Our topic is: “Enter in: Exploring the Feasts of the Church”. This forum will study Holy Scripture and the writings of the Church Fathers. Please bring your Orthodox Study Bible and join us! Our next meeting will be on Thursday, December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. in the Classroom Building!



PARISH COUNCIL ELECTIONS
Parish Council Elections will be held on Sunday, November 29th, following the Divine Liturgy and until 1:00 p.m. in the Very Rev. Emmanuel Papageorge Cultural Center. Stewards that have been nominated to serve on the Parish Council are: Chris Christie Jr., Nick Faklis, Manoli Rodarakis and Stamatis Tsatsaronis.



GREEK LANGUAGE SCHOOL
We strongly urge our parents to enroll their children in our Afternoon Greek Language School. Along with our Sunday Church School, our Afternoon Greek School teaches our children the Orthodox Christian Faith and our Hellenistic culture. Greek School enables our young people to develop spiritually and culturally. The total and complete person is one that not only possesses knowledge, but character. Knowledge we receive in schools, however character, is developed through Christian education. This is why our Parish supports our educational ministries through your faithful Stewardship offerings to the Church.

Adult Greek Language classes have begun and are held on Tuesday’s at 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. For further information please contact the Church Office at 522-7494.



GREEK FOOD FESTIVAL 2009
It is with much appreciation that we thank ALL the parishioners, the young and the experienced that worked diligently for the success of our GFF2009. You have been so generous in donating your Time, Talents and Treasure and we thank God for your love and dedication to our Parish and we thank you! We are especially grateful to the 2009 Greek Food Festival Committee and its leadership, Mike Fostinis, Chairman and Mary Gavrilis, Co-Chairperson.

We also wish to thank everyone that sold tickets for this year’s Festival. Please remember to turn in all unsold tickets and monies collected for the pre-sale of tickets to Bessie Grillos, or the Church Office.

We thank all the stewards and friends of our parish that have financially contributed to offset the cost of this year’s Festival. We have collected $13,068.50 to date, and we are grateful for your generosity. If you have not made an offering to help us offset the costs of the Festival please do so this week!



ARCHDIOCESE NEWS
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has updated its national mailing list. In complying with the request of the Archdiocese we have sent our Parish mailing list. We have been promised that the names and addresses will be kept in “strict confidence”. Should the Archdiocese make any financial appeals by use of the Parish mailing list, it is up to your discretion as to whether or not you wish to support their request. Please keep in mind that our Parish Ministry Budget allows for a generous contribution to the Archdiocese. We have consistently supported the Archdiocese as a response of your Stewardship offerings and various contributions to our Parish.



SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
We are very blessed to have a wonderful church complex. This has only been accomplished by the generosity of the stewards of our Parish that understand the importance of gathering for Christian Orthodox Fellowship. We are grateful to everyone that has contributed over the years and we commit ourselves to be responsible to maintain our facilities to the best of our abilities.

For this to happen, we need YOUR support too! This is why we must remind parishioners that church property is not to be removed from our complex. Please do not remove plates, pans or other utensils from our facilities for any reason unless approved by the Parish Priest and Parish Council. If you have any items from the Cultural Center please return them this week. In addition, we would like to remind parishioners that we rely on volunteers to serve the meals at our luncheons. During meals that are served in our Church Hall please do not enter the kitchen unless you are volunteering to help! We thank you for your understanding and support!



PARISH HERITAGE
We encourage you to visit our Parish Website: www.goannunciation.org. It is frequently updated and contains the Monthly and Weekly Bulletins, along with photographs and other information about our Parish.

There are times when Parish activities take place and parishioners take pictures of the event. We would like to ask our parishioners to consider making a CD of the pictures they take at parish events, label the CD and bring it to the Church Office. In this way, we will be able to document many of the events that take place in our Parish.



YOUTH NEWS
Our Parish Youth Ministry is designed to teach our Faith through fellowship and service. The success of this ministry rests with the parents. We urge the parents of our young people to support this ministry with enthusiasm and love. Our Youth Ministry is comprised of young people in:

H.O.P.E. – Grade 3-5
J.O.Y. – Grades 6-8
G.O.Y.A. - High School
Y.A.L. - College.

The elected officers for 2009-2010 are:

H.O.P.E.
Adonia Alexander, President
Elizabeth Davis, Vice-President
Eleni Davis, Secretary

J.O.Y.
Stefan Word, President
John Hillas, Vice-President
Panos Constantinou, Treasurer
Megan Shaw, Secretary
Emma Letson, Corresponding Secretary

G.O.Y.A.
Sammer Mitri, President
Yianni Magoulias, Vice-President
Mike Hillas, Treasurer
Katie Hatton, Secretary
Emily Davis, Corresponding Secretary

We urge the parents to support our Parish Youth Ministry. This ministry is designed to teach our Faith through fellowship and service. It is comprised of young people in: HOPE - Grade 3-5; JOY - Grades 6-8; GOYA - High School; YAL – College.

It is important for our young people to participate in this ministry so that they may develop the skills necessary to live our Christian Orthodox teachings in today’s world.

G.O.YA. will have their Fireside Chat at the home of Yianni Magoulias, Monday, November 16th at 7:00 p.m. Hope to see you there!



PARISH BOOKSTORE
It has been said: “The more you read…the more you know!” We have a great selection of books, icons, music and other items that every Orthodox Christian can use! Our bookstore is brimming with new arrivals that also make excellent gifts for every occasion.

We wish to thank Linda Fostinis for volunteering to coordinate the functioning of our Parish Bookstore. Her efforts, and the efforts of those who support this sacred ministry, provide us with the opportunity to purchase Orthodox Christian materials for our spiritual edification.



TRAVEL PLANS
We wish to thank the parishioners that have used our Annunciation Parish travel service. Their efforts are resulting in donations to our Parish!

Please visit our travel website at: www.GoAnnunciationTravel.org. The travel website is powered by the same websites you normally use to book travel - Travelocity.com, Hotels.com and Cheaptickets.com - giving you the same great features and low prices. Our site can take care of all your travel needs, including: Plane Tickets • Hotels • Cruises • Rental Cars • Vacation Packages • Weekend Escapes • Travel Insurance • Sporting Events • Concert Tickets • Theme Park Tickets • Golf Tee Times • Passport Services • Honeymoon Registry • Currency Exchange • And More!



CHURCH MUSIC MINISTRY
The ministry of our choir members is to represent YOU and to serve as volunteers by using the gift of music to sing praises to our Lord is a true act of Christian Orthodox Stewardship. Parishioners, who may be interested in of our Church, and especially our young people, are invited to join the choir. St. Augustine wrote: “What better thing can the people do than sing. I know of no better thing than this!” Please contact Irene Jaureguy, 667-1299, to find out more about our Church Choir.

Dynami Youth Choir will begin their rehearsals in preparation for the FDF 2010 presentation. Practices will be held on Saturday’s at 4:00 p.m. in the Church library. All Junior High & High School students are invited to join! For more information contact Denna Tsatsaronis at 394-3464.



ANNUNCIATION GREEK DANCE GROUP NEWS
REGISTRATION Has Begun! Young people, ages 5 (before 12/1/09) through young adults, are invited to participate in our Greek Folk Dance ministry

ONLY REGISTERED DANCERS MAY DANCE IN PERFORMANCES. Our young people must attend the Divine Liturgy and Sunday Church School in order to attend dance practice. We encourage our young people to participate in this most worthwhile and fun ministry.

Our young people must attend Divine Liturgy and Sunday Church School in order to attend dance practice and perform at FDF2010. In addition, dancers that did not dance for our GFF2009 are ineligible to dance for FDF2010! For further clarification please contact Fr. Jon.

Officers for our Parents Support Group are:
Anne Davis, President;
Argy Thymakis, Vice-President;
Kelly Lemons, Secretary;
Kathi Satriles, Treasurer.

Our Adult Greek Dance Lesson began last Monday evening. We thank Cindy Malekos for giving adults the opportunity to learn and improve their Greek dancing skills. We will meet again on Monday, November 16th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Cultural Center.

Over the years families that have been involved in our Greek Folk Dance ministry have been gracious to loan their costumes for other young dancers and we thank them. We would like to remind the families that may have borrowed costumes in the past to please return them as quickly as possible. This includes all parts of the costume including jewelry and we ask that it be returned clean! Thank you!

For further information regarding our award winning Greek Folk dancers please visit our website at: www.greekfolkdancers.com.



SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
The demands on each individual and family are great. In an effort to understand this we would like to remind our parishioners that before anyone plans on selling items in our church complex or during Parish activities, they must have the approval of the Parish Priest. We also understand that organizations within our Community, as well as, organizations we may support, have a need to raise funds for their activities. We do not want times of fellowship to become a time when parishioners may be bombarded to purchase items.

We would also like to remind everyone that the placement of flyers on our cars is prohibited! Flyers that you
wish to have distributed may be brought by the Church Office for approval and then included in either our Monthly and/or Weekly bulletins.



ATTENTION PARENTS & STUDENTS
We would like to obtain the e-mail addresses of parents and students for our Parish records. In addition, we ask that you please submit the names, addresses and e-mails for college students attending school away from home.



IN TIMES OF ILLNESS
“Come, O blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;…for I was sick and you visited me…” (Matt. 25:31-46). When a member of our Parish is ill and has been hospitalized or may be recuperating at home, the immediate family of the ill person should contact the Church Office, 522-7694. It is beneficial to both the body and the soul when our priest prays for us when we are healthy or ill. The local hospitals will not notify us when an Orthodox Christian has been admitted to the hospital, so it is imperative that the immediate family accept this responsibility.



CHURCH BEHAVIOR
Divine Services on Sunday morning begin at 9:00 a.m. There is no set time as to when the Divine Liturgy actually begins since the hymns of the Matins vary from week to week. According to actual Church Service procedures, each and every member of the congregation is required to be seated in the pews by the beginning of the Divine Liturgy. It is only through leniency that anyone is allowed to enter the Church once the Service has begun. Thus it behooves us not to take undue advantage of this leniency. Also, unnecessary noise is extremely distracting during worship, especially when it comes from the adults talking; in addition, our nursery is equipped with all the conveniences for young children and a parent to participate in the Liturgy. Please remember to prepare yourself properly to attend the Divine Liturgy; dress accordingly; do not chew gum; turn off your cell phone; and please do not create a disturbance. Please remember that the Parish Council members are required to see to the order during Church Services and everyone should follow their directions at all times.

“The Lord has given us many counsels and commandments to help us toward salvation. He has even given us a pattern of prayer, instructing us on how we are to pray. He has given us life, and with His accustomed generosity, He has also taught us how to pray. He has made it easy for us to be heard, as we pray to the Father in words taught us by the Son…Let us pray as God our Master has taught us. To ask the Father in words His Son has given us, to let Him hear the words of Christ ringing in our ears, is to make our prayer one of friendship, a family prayer.” St. Cyprian, martyred Bishop of Carthage (+258)



OBLATION OFFERING
The Divine Liturgy begins with the offering of the faithful people of God. The gifts we bring forth are an expression of our faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Holy Communion makes us one with the Holy Trinity and is given for "remission of sins and life everlasting". The people are invited to bring forth their offering, i.e. "Prosforon", for the Divine Liturgy to be celebrated. We use 4 prosfora on a regular Sunday and they may be given through our Philoptochos for a donation of $5.00 per loaf. The Eucharist Bread may be offered in memory of a loved one or for someone's health and well-being. Anyone wishing to donate the Eucharist Bread ("Prosphoron") on a particular Sunday may contact Anna Petrulakis, 522-0298.

In addition to contributing the Eucharist Bread it is customary to bring a bottle of olive oil for the vigil lights and a bottle of wine for Holy Communion. The preferred wines for Holy Communion are: 1.) Coumantaria St. John or St. Nicholas; or 2.) Ekklesiastikos Oinos. We are no longer using Mavrodaphne for Holy Communion.