I had an opportunity to visit Freemason’s Hall while in Singapore on business a few weeks ago.  There were no meetings while I was there, but being English lodges, there is a bar in the building, so I had an opportunity to meet and visit with some Singapore brothers. I also learned a piece of trivia you may be able to use someday.  That is that Japan attacked Singapore the same time they attacked Pearl Harbor at the beginning of WW II.  Singapore fell to Japan a few weeks later.

Saturday May 20^th there was a Masonic tree planting day at the new veteran’s memorial in Rochester.  Twenty-one brothers planted fifty 12 foot Red Maples and we made the front page of the Rochester Post Bulletin.  On June 24^th at 11:00 a.m. there will be a Masonic cornerstone ceremony for the memorial.

Sunday May 21^st was the Grand Master’s reception in Pleasant Grove.  It was a great event at a historic country lodge.

I would encourage all Brothers to get out and do some visiting.  Check the calendar on the Grand Lodge web site http://www.mn-mason.org and pick some events to attend.  After you attend a few, you’ll start to see some familiar faces and make some new friends.

See you soon.

John Loutzenhiser

Upcoming Events in June - August

1.      Memorial Service for the late Brother Don Libby, will be at 11:00 a.m. on June 3.  The memorial service will be held at the lodge hall in Shakopee.  All brothers that are available should try to attend.

2.      The second item that we would like to promote is the pre-planning meeting with the Knights of Columbus and Mason chicken dinner that is held in New Prague.  This was an event that King Hiram Lodge #31 started over 30 years ago with the Knights of Columbus in New Prague.  We will be meeting on June 5 at 7:30 pm at Richters Woods in Montgomery.  Take Hwy 13 to Montgomery and turn right at the Car Wash (County Rd 26) and follow the road about 2-3 miles and then take a left to Richter’s Woods.  It is a County Park and there are signs that will indicate its location.

3.      The Steering Committee will also be meeting on May 30, and we will discuss the upcoming summer lodge meeting schedule.  We will be working on changing our By-Laws to meet once per month from June – September.  For the month of June we will only meet on June 6 at 7:30 p.m.  At this meeting we will make a proposal to amend our by-laws, in writing to the lodge.  Then we will send it to Grand Lodge Office for the Jurisprudence Committee’s approval.  Once we hear back from them, we will read it again in lodge and then publish it in the newsletter and inform everyone that we will be voting on it at a stated communication meeting night.    When we are completed, we  will inform the Grand Lodge Office the results of the vote.

4.      We are also working on an Awards Night Banquet for Brother Don Case who will be receiving a Hiram Award that evening.  Please watch for the special flier about that event.

5.      On July 13, we are planning the picnic with the OES to be held at the Lions Park in Shakopee.  The park is located just off of Mary’s Town Road and 169.  The picnic will start around 5:00 p.m. and the lodge will be grilling steaks and the OES will provide other picnic items to eat.  All you need to bring is plates, forks, spoons, and an appetite.

6.      On July 14^th we will be participating with an event called Relay for Life.  This event is a fundraiser to raise money to help fight against cancer.  We will be putting together a carnival game, for kids to win prizes.  The carnival will start at 7:00 p.m. and end at 9:00 p.m.  We can display information about the Masonic Lodge and will be a great way to promote Masonry.

7.      July 21-23, is the weekend for Kolacky Days in Montgomery.  We will be running a food stand, that will sell pork burgers, sweet corn, and pop.  This is a big event and a good fundraiser.  We can raise several thousand dollars during this weekend and a lot of help is needed for this event.  Please mark this date on your calendars and call Marc Peterson at (507)364-5539, Lynden Jelinek at (507)364-8021, or Marvin Jakes Sr. at (507)364-5290 to put your name down for a time to work.

8.      On August 4-5 we will be participating in Derby Days in Shakopee.  Again, we will be running a food stand.  Brother Richard Friend is looking into this event and getting us registered for it.  Watch for more information in the next newsletter.

9.      August 17^th will be the Annual Chicken Fry Dinner with the KC’s of New Prague.  We will publish more information in the next newsletter and after we hold the pre-planning meeting on June 5.

As you can see we have a lot of events that we are trying to promote with our lodge.  I will continue to promote these events throughout the summer and update the items on the calendar that we send out with the newsletter.  Feel free to bring friends that you think may be interested in Masonry to these events. 

Greetings:

I would like to thank a few people as I write my first newsletter article from the East.  First I would like to thank Past Master Brother Gordon Bane.  Gordy lead us through our growing periods over the past year and kept us going.  The first year of our merged lodges was a very critical time and Gordy did a great job as Master of the lodge at keeping us together.  Thank you Gordy.

            I would also like to thank all of those people that helped at my installation on June 21.  Those that helped were: 

1.      Tom Hone – Installing Master.

2.      Charles Marston – Installing Marshal.

3.      Mike Kottwitz – Installing Chaplain.

4.      Robin Kottwitz, Marge Slavicek, and Joan Breitzman for the Bible, Square and Compass presentation. 

5.      To the members of the OES that helped in the kitchen. 

6.      Marge Slavicek for making the delicious cake. 

7.      Lastly, I would like to thank the members of the Bethel #85 for the wonderful flag presentation and the retiring of the flag ceremony.

We have a fun and exciting year planned for the lodge and our families.  Please continue to watch the newsletters for special events and activities that are being planned.

See you the next lodge meeting on June 6^th at 7:30 p.m. 

Steven Scheffert – W.M.