2020
Newsletter – August-October 2020
Featured Image: Four-year-old twins, Isaiah and Evelyne on the outside, two-year-old Solomon (“Solo”) in the middle, welcoming home twin-boys Aaron and Noah (now 3 months!) from the hospital!
Dear treasured friends, precious family and valued ministry partners:
Once again, Tammy and I hope this finds you and yours staying safe and keeping healthy. Needless to say, like so many, this season is particularly challenging — we SO miss our families, especially when they live SO far away. We can’t wait to hug our new twin boy grand-babies, and the other five as well! For now, we must settle with regular FaceTime calls and almost daily video exchanges. It’s not quite like being there, but so very much appreciated for the time being!
For the second time in 23 years, I am not including a schedule with this quarterly newsletter! Needless to say, all planned ministry trips have been canceled or postponed for the foreseeable future. We are surely hoping that changes soon. I WAS able to give a concert at a local nursing home/assisted living on America’s Independence Day, July 4th. I was outside in the courtyard and most of the residents were inside, socially distancing, and able to hear through open doors. The welcoming response was enthusiastic as so many residents enjoyed the first live entertainment in almost 4 months. I am looking forward to many other opportunities like this.
Also, since our last newsletter, I have given 12 Saturday evening “Driveway Concerts” for our friends and neighbors. The last one had about 75 in attendance, spread out in small groups up and down our street. It has been a great way to reach out to our neighbors and develop closer relationships. I usually field many requests during the 90-minute programs and even include some hymns and inspirational songs. We are taking a little break right now due to the very warm summer temperatures, but plan to resume in a few weeks as soon as it is a little cooler. (Most of the audience are seated in the shade but the logistics put Tammy and me in full sun!)
If I have your e-mail address, some of you will have received the daily “musical offerings” of videos of my original compositions, so far 27 of them, accompanied by short messages of the biblical passages on which the songs are based. There has been a lot of wonderful feedback to this project as well. If you have not received these via e-mail, please drop me a note and I will gladly add you to the list, and send you some or all of these “offerings!”
One other exciting project recently completed is a recording of piano arrangements of 100 Best-Loved Hymns and another recording of piano arrangements of A Variety of 100 Popular Songs (including Broadway songs, jazz, folk, classical and more!) Just like the “musical offering” project, I am making these available through a Dropbox link and can e-mail that to you as well. Needless to say, these two recording projects cost quite a bit to produce — I am offering them each at a reduced price of $45. (Each of the 2 sets is the equivalent of 7-8 CDs of music.) You can order via e-mail or, if you prefer, call me on my cell phone with your credit card information.
Last, but by no means least, please keep Tammy and me, Lisa and Heidi and their wonderful families in your prayers. Please pray for their ongoing safety and God’s promise of protection and blessing. The twin baby boys are doing great! Thank you so very much for your heartfelt prayers and your kind and generous support. Tammy and I are praying for you and yours. God’s word tells “all things work TOGETHER for good.” (Not ALL things – especially this pandemic – ARE good!) Our loving God is always FOR us, WITH us and IN us (“Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!”)
With love and prayers and blessings,
Ross and Tammy
2020
Newsletter – May-July 2020
May-July 2020 Newsletter
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Psa. 127:3-4
Photo: The Blomberg Family in the Middle East Jonathan holding Isaiah; Lisa with Solomon and Evelyne and baby twins Aaron and Noah
Dr. Ross Jutsum State of the Heart Ministries P.O. Box 56, Sierra Madre, CA 91025
Dear treasured friends, precious family and valued ministry partners:
We hope this finds you and yours staying safe and keeping healthy. For the first time in almost 23 years, I am not including a schedule with this quarterly newsletter! Needless to say, all planned ministry trips have been canceled or postponed for the foreseeable future.
Over the past eighteen months, I have also been giving programs regularly at about ten different nursing homes/assisted living retirement communities, but those opportunities have come to a grinding holt, at least for now. The last program I did was on March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day, at Royal Oaks/Bradbury Oaks not too far from our home – I was alone in their chapel with a grand piano, a microphone and a camera which streamed my one-hour program to all 250 of the residents’ rooms. In addition to the Irish folk song repertoire, I also included several hymns and some words of comfort and encouragement. I have gotten to know many of our dear senior citizens there and many of them are quite lonely with no family close by to visit them. Apparently, this, my last program for now was very much appreciated – the Activity Director texted the next morning to say that her voice-mail box was filled with messages of appreciation with some saying it was the “best St. Patrick’s Day ever!”
One of my ministry projects during this “hunkering down” time is developing ways that I might serve from a distance via video streaming and recordings. Also, for the past 3 Saturday evenings I have given a “Driveway Concert,” setting up my portable keyboard, amp and microphone, joined by most all of our neighbors on the block singing along on their favorite songs and also a few hymns. I plan to continue these on a regular basis – obviously with everyone, including Tammy and me, “socially distancing!”
If I have your e-mail address, some of you will have received the daily “musical offerings” of videos of my original compositions, so far 21 of them, accompanied by short messages of the biblical passages on which the songs are based. There has been a lot of wonderful feedback to this project as well. A dear 90-year-old friend who lives alone in Milwaukee wrote that she hasn’t been able to leave her assisted-living apartment in over 6 weeks and cannot see family, and that my daily musical offerings were the highlight of her day! If you have not been receiving these via e-mail, please drop me a note and I will add you to the list, and even catch you up!
One other exciting project recently completed is a recording of piano arrangements of 100 Best-Loved Hymns and another recording of piano arrangements of A Variety of 100 Popular Songs (including Broadway songs, jazz, folk, classical and more!) Just like the “musical offering” project, I am making these available through a Dropbox link and can e-mail that to you as well. I would love to be able to give these away also, like I did with the 21 musical offerings, but, needless to say, these two recording projects cost quite a bit to produce and I am offering them each at a reduced price of $45. (Each of the 2 sets is the equivalent of 7-8 CDs of music, so I think it’s a pretty good deal!) You can order via e-mail or, if you prefer, call me on my cell phone with your credit card information.
Last, but by no means least, please keep Lisa and her beautiful family (pictured above at her baby shower, right before the lock-down) in your prayers. Lisa is 37 weeks pregnant with another set of twins (boys!) She is in great spirits and has a wonderful doctor. A dear Christian couple, refugees from Iran, are staying with them and helping out with the children at their home there in the Middle East. However, their country is on lock-down 4 days a week right now. Please pray for God’s protection and blessing on the arrival of 2 more precious grand-children, and for the family’s safety.
Finally, thank you so very much for your heartfelt prayers and your kind and generous support. Tammy and I are praying for you and yours… it is so true that we are “all in this together” – please know that our loving God is FOR us, WITH us and IN us (“Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!”)
With love and prayers and blessings, warmest regards and virtual hugs,
Ross and Tammy