Arizona Conference
Phoenix Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventist Company dedicated their church on Sabbath, May 28. Elder Ed Keyes, Elder Reggie Leach, and Elder Villamor Meriales helped with the ribbon cutting ceremony and the choir and choir robe dedication.
What a high Sabbath it must have been! We pray for the leaders and members of this church and their dedication to spreading the gospel.
Hawaii Conference
The first conference-wide young adult retreat in recent memory took place April 22-24 at Camp Wai’anae. The retreat grew from this idea: it is good for this generation of young adults to be together and to accomplish things together. Soon the Hawaii Conference had a planning team representing four churches on O’ahu. They prayed, chose a date on the calendar, and partnered with Pastor Erik, then in the Youth Department.
They then began taking inter-island trips to connect with other young adults to spread the word, and people came. Over the course of the retreat weekend, over 100 individuals joined, with representation from five of the islands.
Northern California Conference
After a year without a head pastor, the Placerville church welcomes Pastor Andrew Uyeyama, wife Andrea, and their two beautiful daughters, Remi and Riley. At the ceremony held on May 28, the church committed to connecting the community to an abundant life with Jesus Christ and preparing them for His second coming.
Moreover, they are committed to being mission-driven and community-relevant in their ministries. On a personal level, the congregation agreed to be passionate hard workers with a servant's heart while being contagiously kind.
Southern California Conference
It all started 15 years ago. Schubert and Yolanda Palmer, members of Vallejo Drive church, had recently completed production on a CD of inspirational worship songs when, as they put it, “Yolanda heard God speaking to her, not audibly, but with the distinct impression, ‘Put my words to music.’”
As songwriters, the husband-and-wife team thought perhaps God was impressing them to create another original production. But through fasting and prayer, “it dawned on us that God was impressing us to do, not another concert, but a very special musical for these end times, showcasing God’s Ten Commandments, in God’s own words!”
Health Care in the Pacific Union: Loma Linda University Health
Loma Linda University Health recently launched a tattoo removal program to help people efface visible gang-related or anti-social tattoos. The program is part of an endeavor to curb violence associated with gangs, for which the Inland Empire holds a reputation. Sigrid Burruss, MD, a trauma surgeon at Loma Linda University Health, founded the tattoo removal program, with the support of Juan Carlos Belliard, Ph.D., and the Institute for Community Partnerships, to approach the issue from a specific angle—removing stigmatizing tattoos could help patients de-identify as gang members and avoid repeated assault.
