Meet our New Members

This spring we held a New Members Class at Immanuel First for those interested in becoming members of our congregation. In the class, taught by Pastor Okubo and elder Leroy Hotz, prospective members learned the foundations of the Christian faith, history and doctrines of the church, Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, and the distinctives of our denomination, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. In June four new members joined our church. Their biographies as listed below were originally published in the July 2011 issue of our newsletter The Immanuel Buzz.

Sue Beckenham
Sue was born in Covina and has lived in the area all her life. Sue is married to John Beckenham. She has four stepchildren and seven grandchildren, all of whom live in Australia. Sue has a son who lives in Bakersfield. She has taught for over thirty years in the fields of computer science and music. She is presently on the staff of Providence Catholic High School in Burbank. She is a concert soloist and the Choir Director at Immanuel First. You will find Sue on the golf course every chance she gets.

Kit Fung
Kit was born in Hong Kong and raised in San Francisco. She moved to the Los Angeles area seven years ago. She teaches at Arcadia High School. Her classes are composed of at-risk students. She teaches math and does counseling. Kit had been looking for a church which had the right "fit" for her since she moved to Los Angeles. She had intended to attend the Chinese worship service at Immanuel First, but "accidentally" came to our regular English worship service. She ended up in our choir and the New Members Class the first Sunday she was here. "Just what I needed," she states. Kit's hobbies include singing, playing basketball, swimming and gardening. She is definitely an animal lover since she has three cats, six turtles and one tortoise. (Editor's note: the difference between turtles and tortoises is that turtles live in and near water, while tortoises are exclusively land animals.)

Garric Bates
Garric Bates was born is Los Angeles. He attended a Baptist church during his childhood, but attending Catholic school from kindergarten through tenth grade. Garric presently works at Taurad LLC, where he specializes in web marketing, video editing, and search engine optimization. His hobbies include playing video games, watching movies and sports. Garric has been married to Ceceila (Robles) Bates for a little over two years. They live in Culver City.

Marie Limon
Marie is married to George Limon. She is the mother of six adult children. Marie was born in Los Angeles.