The Library Book Club will meet on Monday, April 13th, at 10:00 a.m. in room F145, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center, to discuss Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is set in 1986. Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II.

As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept.

Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

One of the Easter morning traditions at Duluth First UMC is when family and friends have their pictures taken in front of the resurrection crosses outside of the Sanctuary and in Hinton Hall to remember the joy of the day. We would like you to share your best picture with us, and they will be posted at a later date as a photo album on the church’s Facebook and Instagram social media pages.

Please select your best/favorite family and friends picture from the morning  and please email it (just one picture please) to Ken Willi, Director of Communications, by e-mail at kwilli@duluthumc.org. Please put EASTER PICTURE in the subject line of your e-mail and include your family’s name of the names or the friends in your group. Please submit your Easter picture no later than Friday, April 17th.

If you work during the day and would like to find an opportunity to serve in your community, the Missions Ministry has the day for you. If you would like a chance to serve in your community with your children, we’ve got just the day for you too! Join us on Saturday, April 18th, as we will be serving at the Hands of Christ Duluth Co-Op from 9 a.m. to noon. The Duluth Co-Op is located at 3649 Rogers Bridge Road in Duluth.

If you would like to be a part of this day, please click on HANDS OF CHRIST and sign up. We can’t wait to see you there!

All are invited to attend an interactive seminar on brain health and the power of gratitude, being held at Duluth First UMC on Saturday, April 18th, from 9:00 a.m. to noon in the Dorothy L. Rainey Fellowship Hall. Join us and our friends at Senior Provisions as we explore how to keep our minds sharp. 

The main topics of discussion will include:

• Brain Health: Warning Signs of Cognitive Decline and Prevention. We will discuss the top 10 warning signs of memory loss or cognitive decline, and learn to recognize when it might be time to get a baseline. There are real things you can do daily to help reduce brain aging and maximize your thinking capacity.
• Power of Gratitude: The Impact of Gratitude on Aging. God created us with an internal system that works in beautiful balance. When we endure increases in stress due to change and circumstances, our bodies get out of balance. We will look at depression in aging and the physical impact on body and mind. We will explore how God defines gratitude and how putting it into practice not only is a biblical precedent, but serves to improve our overall health and well-being. You will learn practical ways to implement thankfulness in your community.
  

Snacks will be provided, and we invite you to make a donation to offset supply costs. To register and request childcare if needed, please contact Rev. Dr. AnnaKate Rawles by e-mail at arawles@duluthumc.org, or call 770-476-3776, ext. 128, by Friday, April 10th.

Volunteer Appreciation Sunday will be on April 19th. We will celebrate our volunteers, and all our wonderful congregation members, with sweet treats in the Dorothy L. Rainey Fellowship Hall from 10:30 to 11:00 a.m. We hope to see you there!

If you have a student (or if you are the student) who is a member of Duluth First UMC and is graduating from high school, trade school, college, or graduate school, please send a picture of your student by e-mail to Ken Willi, Director of Communications, at kwilli@duluthumc.org AND Rev. Min Lee, Director of Youth Ministries, at mlee@duluthumc.org. Please put Graduate Recognition 2026 in the subject field of your e-mail.

Please be sure to include:

• the graduate’s name;
• the name of the school they are graduating from;
• their next step plans (i.e. college, military, trade school, graduate school, job).
  

All pictures and information need to be received by the end of the day, Sunday, April 26th.
 
PLEASE NOTE: Youth-led Worship and Graduate Recognition Sunday in all three services is scheduled for Sunday, May 17th.

We are actively recruiting new members to the Flowers Ministry, a fun ministry which creates beautiful floral arrangements used to adorn the worship spaces in the Sanctuary and Hinton Hall for Sunday morning worship services. A training workshop will be held in April where you will have the opportunity learn how to make beautiful arrangements that will be placed in the Sanctuary and Hinton Hall to add beauty to our worship spaces.

If you are interested in being part of our Flowers Ministry, please contact Verena Lucía Anders, Minister of Music & Worship Arts, by e-mail at vanders@duluthumc.org or speak with James Dykes.

Join The Road Runners on Tuesday, May 12th (please note change of date), for a flower-filled day with a guided tour at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens with lunch to follow. The group will leave the church’s back parking lot at 9:00 a.m.

The cost is $40 per person and includes entry into the gardens, tour, and transportation via a 15-person van (please see notes below). The cost of lunch will be on your own.

PLEASE NOTE:

• In order to attend you must be able to get in and out of a 15-passenger van and be healthy enough to travel several hours by car.
• We must have a minimum of 12 people to sign up in order to rent a van, otherwise travel will be via caravan.
  

To register please click on ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDENS TRIP, or contact Rev. Dr. AnnaKate Rawles by e-mail at arawles@duluthumc.org. All registrations must be received by Tuesday, April 21st.

Parents of Christian Beginnings Preschool & Kindergarten kids are invited to a Parents Coffee Get-Together, with coffee provided by Break Coffee Roasters, on Tuesday, May 12th. Come hang out together beginning at 9:45 a.m. and enjoy a hot cup of coffee in the cul-da-sac area outside of the church offices located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center.

We thank Break Coffee Roasters, with locations at 3122 Hill Street NW in Duluth and 235 N. Perry Street in Lawrenceville, for providing the coffee.

Mark your calendars and save the date for “Rainforest Falls: Exploring the Nature of God” Vacation Bible School. Registration is underway for the 2026 Vacation Bible School, being held Monday, June 22nd through Friday, June 26th, at Duluth First United Methodist Church. Vacation Bible School, held from 9 a.m. to noon each day, is for kids going into pre-Kindergarten (age 4 as of September 1st) through rising 6th graders. The cost is $30 per child with a maximum of $70 per family. Each day participants will participate in Bible story time, sing songs, play games, make crafts, and eat snacks.

In addition to registering participants, we are also registering adult and youth volunteers. We especially need shepherds, who are adult volunteers in charge of a group of 6-10 kids. Shepherds do not need to prepare anything in advance. They lead their group to the various activities where other volunteers are in charge. If you would like to help but are only available one or two days that week, you can put your available dates on your registration. We often need substitute shepherds. Also, the Childcare Corner is available for the children of volunteers if you have a child who is not old enough to be a participant.

Everyone who registers by May 24th is guaranteed a VBS t-shirt and copy of the music. All Vacation Bible School participant registration forms, as well as volunteer forms, are available by clicking on VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL 2026.

For more information, please contact Leslie Yokeley, Director of Children’s Ministries, by e-mail at lyokeley@duluthumc.org, or call 770-476-3776, ext. 138.

It is time for summer camp registration at Glisson Camp and Retreat Center! Registration for Summer 2026 is open for members of North Georgia United Methodist churches and returning families of Summer 2025 campers.

Glisson Camp and Retreat Center offers Summer Camp in the forests surrounding Cane Creek Falls near Dahlonega, GA. Since 1925, this place has become holy ground as thousands have had their faith strengthened through God’s presence there in creation and Christian community. Glisson Camp and Retreat Center is part of the North Georgia Camp & Retreat Ministries of the United Methodist Church’s North Georgia Conference. To see the schedule and/or register, as well as view promotional materials/videos, please go to https://glisson.org.