by MATTHEW NASH
Sequim Gazette

Aspiring teacher Chelsea Hasenpflug said she’s found the perfect job as Trinity United Methodist Church’s new education coordinator.

Combining her passions of ministry and education, Hasenpflug was hired in January to take the reins from long-term worker Judy Croonquist, leader of adult and children’s ministries.
Hasenpflug said her main emphasis is children’s ministry.

She helps run a children’s church program from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Tuesdays with snacks, games and music.

Through her efforts, teens are preparing Haiti earthquake relief kits together with adult church members who contribute sanitary, health and food items. She and the teens will pack and ship the boxes in about three weeks to United Methodist Committee on Relief volunteers for distribution.

“I like to see kids get involved with church,” she said.

“It’s fun to see them get excited about what God is doing in their lives.”

Hasenpflug, a 2003 Sequim High School graduate, is working toward a master’s degree in teaching. She hopes to work in a first-grade classroom.

After six years away, she moved back to Sequim in September to be near family while commuting to Seattle Pacific University once a week. 

Her preference is to teach in a smaller school district like Sequim because she enjoys knowing the people in the community.

She said when catching up on work in Starbucks, it’s not uncommon for her to say “Hi” to five people she knows.

She likes that.

Hasenpflug volunteers at Helen Haller Elementary once a week in the first- and second-grade science lab.

From August 2007-August 2008, she served as a missionary for Campus Crusade for Christ in Venezuela.

She found the experience enjoyable and made friends whom she contacts regularly.

“I would love to go back and do more missions in the future elsewhere, but I don’t know how that’s going to fit with my life right now,” she said.

Hasenpflug has a one-year contract at the church.

She can be reached by calling 683-5367.

Trinity United Methodist Church is at 100 Blake Ave. in Sequim.

Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.