Good morning brothers! We have a busy couple of days before we go dark for the summer:

• June 22 - MM Raising - 7:30 - James W. Bowers Lodge
• Antietam Lodge is having a Brother raised to MM by the Tall Cedar Degree Team. Bro. Douglas and I will be leaving from the Ruritan in Maugansville (right across from the creamery) at 5:45 if you would like to join us.
• June 24 - Tech Help - Friendship Lodge, 3-5 PM
• Tech Help for any brother who wishes to come out and have Bro. Nicol or myself help you with getting any tech problems solved (i.e. working with Zoom or getting in the GLMD portal! Maybe we can start you working on the Maryland Masonic Academy program or maybe you just want help with learning about emails and text. Please feel free to attend no matter your skill level. In fact, the worse you are at tech, the easier it will be for us to help you! Please don’t let an ego be in the way of you learning something new!)
• June 27 - St. John’s Day Service - St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Williamsport, MD - 10:30ish until Service is Over
• It is a tradition that Friendship Lodge worships together on St. John’s Day. This year, I selected St. Andrews Presbyterian Church (website: address). Pastor Mark Sandell has been very gracious for us to come and worship together. He has asked that we work as Greeters and Ushers, and to take up the attendance for the morning. Officers should be in their Jewels and Aprons, and all Masons should have an apron with them. I will be bringing the apron case from Lodge in case you do not have one.
• June 27 - St. John’s Day Picnic - 1:30 PM, City Park, Hagerstown
• Normally, I have always tried to schedule a picnic around the Birthday (May 22nd) of Friendship Lodge. However, this year, we were laying the new cornerstone so we decided to move the gathering June 27. We will be gathering together to break bread and enjoy fellowship at the City Park. I will be bringing Corn Hole, gloves to throw a softball or baseball around (we will have a baseball diamond there that we can use) and some cards and such. All that we ask of you (I feel like breaking out into song from Phantom of the Opera) is to sign up using this form letting us know how many people are joining us and what you will be bringing. I will provide the hamburgers and hotdogs and rolls. As of right now, it looks to be sunshine and a high of 90º so it should be a wonderful day. Open to the public and a great time to bring prospective members to see what we are doing!
• June 28 - Strawberry Night, Friendship Lodge 84, 7:00 PM
• Annually, we get together one last time before going dark in celebration of our members who have achieved milestones in their Masonic life (having served for 50 years as a member or special awards or the like) and enjoy the sweet goodness of the local strawberry harvest. Even though this year we do not have anyone to award a service pin or special award, we are still getting together as the last regular stated communication before we go dark and enjoying some more fellowship. Here is the form to sign up to let us know how much we should be preparing. We don’t ask for you to bring anything but just let us know how many are enjoying the night with us. Open to the public and a great time to bring prospective members to see what we are doing! We will open lodge very quickly at 7, call for a quick recess to enjoy the night and not keep our guests waiting, then proceed to do some very quick business after we are done, then close up and head home.
• June 29 - MM Raising - Hagerstown 217 - 7:00 PM
• The Grand Lodge of Maryland will be raising 5 brothers on June 29th. The degree starts at 7.
• July 8 - 2 Initiations - Friendship Lodge - 7:00 PM
• On July 8th, we will be initiating two new members into our fraternity. The degree will start at 7. This is always a great way to see the sidelines full of brothers in support of bringing new candidates in. There is no bigger impact on a candidate to see the lodge full on their initiation.
• July 10 - MM Raising - Friendship Lodge - 10
• We are honored to help Antietam Lodge raise a brother to MM by having them use our lodge. The Shield and Square Club will be raising this brother. Please come out and join us. It’s always good to see a brother get raised and too join in fellowship with other members of the fraternity who you might not otherwise get a chance to meet.

• Finally, we are constantly working on ways to make Friendship Lodge better. Some of the things that you will see that we are doing is trying to increase communication via email and traditional mail. You should have received a paper copy of the trestle board recently. You will see that it is a newer, more simplistic format. Please plan that you will be getting trestle board once a quarter but we will try to send out electronic communications more monthly. This is due to the rising cost of sending out postage (I didn’t even realize until recently that postage is over .50¢ for a stamp!) and efficiency of electronic communication.
• We are also trying to increase the normal day to day conversations of the members of the lodge and fraternity by having started a Discord Server. This link will take you to the server. Once you download the app and sign in, you will be able to start communicating with all of the other brothers on discord (we are trying to set it up so that all of Western Maryland is on there - we can show you how to set it up and manage notifications and the like this coming Thursday, if you are available!).
• In the fall, I am trying to plan a night that we travel to another lodge as a lodge. We had done that once or twice before and it was a great time. There is so much fellowship to be enjoyed during those trips.
• In October, we are hoping to travel to another place of worship as a lodge but this will be something that most of you have probably never experienced before and it will be amazing! As soon as I have some more details, I will let you know just as fast as I can!)
• In November, there will be a festive board sometime. Keep a look out for more information coming up as soon as possible
• We are also utilizing a sign-up sheet for Masonic Education. This is so brothers can sign up for a night that works best for them. All I ask of you is to list the topic that you want to cover. All Masons should be giving a presentation on something that interests you! They don’t have to be a 45 minute Powerpoint. It could simply be a 5-10 minute talk about something you researched about. (Not everyone has the same attention span or desire to be inundated with information for long periods of time so having something other than a 45 minute presentation with slides and all of the glitz and glamor can be quite refreshing to many Masons). If you need topics, please come ask me. I have a plethora of ideas on things that people can research or just ideas to get you started on what you would like to present on. - I always think about the part we hear as an Entered Apprentice……By the Perfect Ashlar, that state of perfection at which we hope to arrive by a Virtuous Education, our Own Endeavors, and the blessings of God.

• I know I said “Finally” before and kept going but this time I really mean it…..it has always been my pleasure to be associated with Friendship Lodge. You have helped me more times than you will ever now. I still smile when I get to come to lodge and be around my brothers. For that, I thank you. If there is anything that I can do (no matter how trivial), please don’t hesitate to let me know. I can always be reached at 301-305-4107, this email, or on Discord.

With much Brotherly Love,

Benjamin Zamostny
Worshipful Master