April 2013 The Latest Word

For the members, family and friends of the Downey Adventist Church

Forward? Turn Around? Wait?

by Bill Aumack

A

t the time of the writing of this article, we still don’t have a pastor selected. There is a lead time from when the newsletter is produced to when it is published, so maybe that situation will have changed by the time you read this. Or maybe it won’t have changed, and the pastor search will still be on-going. It’s hard to predict when the search will end. There are quite a few things that need to happen to select a pastor; interviews, church commit-

tee meetings, conference committee meetings, time to pray and ask for God’s leading and so much more.

Sometimes it seems like it’s just a hurry-up-and-wait game. I’ve had a similar experience in dealing with medical issues. One doctor will say hurry up and get this test. Then insurance, or another doctor, says wait.

It can be quite frustrating. There have been some moments during the pastor search that I have been frustrated because there were times when things

weren’t moving as quickly as I would have liked. I can be impatient like that. I’m still asking God for help with that one.

The delays lead me to wonder, how do we know if we are following God’s lead? Are we heading the wrong direction and God is trying to slow us down and get us to go a different way? Or is God saying that we are going in the right direction and we just need to wait a bit? At times, that can be difficult to

A Word of Wisdom You cannot stay where you are and go with God. You cannot continue doing things your way and accomplish God’s purpose in his ways.

Your thinking cannot come close to God’s thoughts. For you to do the will of God, you must adjust your life to him, his purposes and his ways.

—Henry Blackaby

continued on page 2

INSIDE

Ladies Tea Party and Bridal Fashion Show

Access Denied page 3

he Pathfinders are hosting a Ladies Tea Party and Bridal Fashion Show on Sunday, April 28. A lite lunch will be served starting at 12:00pm in the Fellowship Hall.

Pathfinder Camporee in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The camporee is the largest six-day Adventist Youth event in the world.

Taste & Inspiration on page 5

Donations are accepted to help defray the cost.

Shoppers Unite! on page 7

Don’t forget to wear your tea party hat. =

Our Church Family page 10

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This is a fund raiser for the Pathfinder club. They are trying to raise money to go to the International 2014

Glowstick Christians page 4

What’s happening? see pages 6 & 9

Kid’s Page on page 11

THE LATEST WORD Forward? Turn Around? Wait? (cont. from pg 1) in our lives. If you’ve ever been around a worry-wart you understand how this can affect relationships. If you have struggled with

and their safety and wellbeing. We might worry about the future and our jobs. If you go looking for topics, there’s am almost unlimited number of things we can worry about. The good news is, God didn’t How do we know make us to be worry warts, so there are if we are following a few things we God’s lead? can do to help curb our worries. Join us on April 20 for the message Why worry and the stress that Worry? goes with it, then you Am I Going to Heaven? really understand. Some is the message on April of us might be worried 27. It’s an important quesabout our new pastor. Will tion that we should all we like him? Will he give carefully consider. While messages that we like? this question is worthy of How many things will he our attention, we don’t change around the church?

Worry can be an need to worry about this.

We worry about our kids incredibly destructive force The Bible has provided plenty of information on this topic. Once we have followed the guidance provided for us in the Bible, we can stop worrying about that. We’ll be looking at Jesus’ parable about the Wedding Banquet.

“

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On the first Sabbath of April, the 6th, the message will be The Care and Feeding of Your New Pastor. There are some pretty bleak statistics regarding pastors and job satisfaction, depression and how many leave the ministry early. At Downey Adventist Church we’ve always been pretty supportive of our pastor.

That’s wonderful and we

need to keep doing that.

We’ll be talking about some things that we can all do to support our next pastor and help them lead our congregation. This is not just a message for the people on staff, or the elders, or the ministry leaders.

This is a message that if each one of us takes this to heart, it could really make a difference for our pastor and our congregation.

See you when the church gathers. = Schedule subject to change if we get a new pastor.

The Latest Word V 25 N 04 BILL AUMACK

WE DID IT

discern – at least it is for me. There are times in the Bible when God tells us to wait. There are times in the Bible when God tells us to move. There are other times when he says turn around and go the other way.

How are we supposed to know what situation we find ourselves in. Do we wait, act, or turn around? On April 13, the message is titled Trust or Action?

This is topic that all of us will deal with at one point in our lives. Do we move out or wait for a different situation. Join us as we see what the Bible says about this.

responsible for this

LINDA AUMACK copy editor

HATZUKO AISPURO paper distribution

TBD pastor

address mail to: Downey Seventh-day Adventist Church 9820 Lakewood Blvd.

Downey, CA 90240 office: 562.869.6013 fax: 562.622.1691

downeychurch@gmail.com www.downeychurch.com

distributed monthly issue date: Apr. 2013 copyright 1992-2013

April 2013 The Word & You

by Linda Bewley

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od’s word says, “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Don’t you just love those annoying error messages you get when working on your computer?

Sometimes I don’t understand them nor do I want to. I just want them to go away so I can accomplish my work. One message

Access Denied I’ve noticed occasionally is this: “ACCESS DENIED.” It happens to me occasionally when I’m trying to attach files to emails or when I’m reorganizing folders. At any rate, that message prevents me from accomplishing my task until I take steps to correct the issue.

Recently I thought about those words, ACCESS DENIED, in a spiritual sense. And I wondered whether there are times when God gets that message from me.

Are there moments when God tries to probe deep into my heart only to have me close the door?

ACCESS DENIED. What about opportunities when God asks me to let Him change me or my thought patterns at any particular moment and yet I persist in

stubborn ways? ACCESS DENIED. It’s kind of crazy when I think about it. Each morning I spend time with God in prayer and in His word. Each day I ask Jesus to live in my heart. So it’s puzzling to me to think about what could possibly happen during any given day that would ever cause me to deny God access to my heart. It is never my intention to do that, yet I know that it happens.

It’s times like that when I find some comfort in the gut-wrenching honesty and cries for help expressed in some of the Psalms. For example, there are a few thoughts I’ve highlighted in my Bible in Psalm 119.

I often feel the need to express these words as if they were my own. Here they are:

Worship Schedule

• Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your [God’s] principles! Then I will not be disgraced when I compare my life with your commands.

April 6 Bill Aumack

• Please don’t give up on me.

The Care and Feeding of Your New Pastor

April 13 Bill Aumack

Trust or Action?

April 20 Bill Aumack Why Worry?

April 27 Bill Aumack

Am I Going to Heaven?

• You [God] made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands.

There is an article printed next to Psalm 119 in my Bible entitled,

“God’s Word Cleanses.”

That article reminds me that “the Scriptures possess the ability to take away our moral uncleanness” (1 Peter 1:22) and that God is “faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong” (1 John 1:9). It also says, “the Bible will establish our total thought life if we will allow it to do so.” Wow! How is it that mere words can have enough impact to bring a true change of heart? The answer must be that it is because the Bible is not just filled with “mere” words. It is filled with God’s word which, according to the book of Hebrews, “. . . is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

In moments of weakness and shortcoming, it is a great comfort to know that God’s grace is sufficient for us. And it’s encouraging that our Holy God, the Creator of the universe doesn’t ever give up on us. In fact, our hope for change lies in His word. By His word He spoke the universe into existence. By His word He created all things. And by His word He will recreate me in His image as He planned long ago. =

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THE LATEST WORD Before the Father

by Linda Fernandez

Glowstick Christians

E Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence….

Matthew 5:16a

I will continue praying and imagine myself as shining in the eyes of the Lord and man

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very year, I try to do a little something different for my grandchildren.

This year I decided to send them a monthly box with goodies representing an event in that month.

As I was wandering the dollar store looking for fun things to put in their March boxes, I came across Shamrock Glow Wands. They were shamrocks on a stick of a liquid which would make them glow. In order to make the liquid work, however, you had to bend, snap and shake the stick for the liquid to reach its full brightness.

As we just finished our study of The Circle Maker in our small groups, I thought how similar the glow stick instructions are to our Christian experience. So often it is only after we have been shaken and bent and nearly broken that the true nature of our faith shows through.

In our prayer lives, we often want and perhaps need to see immediate answers to our petitions.

If you are like me, I want to believe that my prayers will be answered instantly and in the fashion I feel they should be. But alas, that has not been my experience. In His wisdom our Lord knows that if he were to grant us every wish, our

faith would not grow. We might even become impatient or demanding, much as we would protest that possibility.

When we look back at the examples of the great leaders of faith in the Bible, we find many disappointments and seemingly unan-

swered prayers. I think of Daniel when he prayed for three weeks about something that was troubling him. The angel who was sent with the answer to his petition said that his prayer was heard from the first day, but he had been detained.

Again, when Daniel is faced with breaking the law of the land or breaking

his communication with his God, the Bible says he went directly to his room, opened the window wide and prayed as he had always done.

Thinking of Joseph, who would believe that a refugee could become second in command in the land in which he had been taken captive? How many disappointments and injustices did Joseph suffer through, praying all the while until his light so shined before men, showing his moral excellence?

In the future, when I am faced with hardship or feel like I am being bent, shaken and nearly broken, I will continue praying and imagine myself as shining in the eyes of the Lord and man. Let’s pray….

Father, thank you for day to day examples and reminders of what it means to be a Christian; help us to stand firm when the answers to our prayers are delayed. =

April 24 Be sure to tell Hatzuko how much you appreciate her!

April 2013 Taste & Inspiration Penne with Broccoli Then God said, “I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.

They will be yours for food.” Genesis 1:25

to better utilize these God given foods that promote stronger spiritual and physical health and wellbeing. We hope you will be inspired too.

God continues to provide us with everything we need nutritionally to maintain and strengthen our bodies, minds and spirit. This recipe is simple yet nutritious. Most of the ingredients are in their natural state. We are inspired by this and are choosing and promoting healthier food consumption. The way we believe God intended; lots of veggies, fruits, nuts, legumes, and grains. It has become a fun and challenging discovery as we learn how

Ingredients: 1/4 C salt 1 ½ lbs. broccoli washed, stems discarded, cut into bite-size florets 1 lb. penne rigate 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil 2/3 C finely grated pecorino cheese plus extra for serving Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Pilar & Phillip

Instructions: Bring 1 gallon pot of water to boil.

Add salt to water once it boils.

Add olive oil and pasta to boiling water and stir to prevent pasta from sticking.

Cook pasta until al dente. Strain pasta and place in serving bowl.

Replace pasta water

with fresh water and let come to boil again. Add the broccoli florets. Cook in boiling water for 1 minute.

Strain and add broccoli to pasta.

Add cheese, pepper and a splash of olive oil and mix vigorously.

When serving, garnish with a little bit of pecorino cheese.

Enjoy! =

Be sure to keep up with the latest news by signing up for the Wednesday email.

You can sign up here www.downeychurch.org/Signups.html or send us an email at DowneyChurch at gmail dot com and we’ll add you.

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Downey Adventist Church Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

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Wednesday

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Thursday

Friday

Saturday

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7:16 pm sunset

6 9:30 am S.S. 10:50 am Worship Bill Aumack

3 pm Pathfinders/ Adventurers

7 pm Band Practice

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12 7:22 pm sunset

9 am Pathfinders/ Adventurers

13 9:30 am S.S. 10:50 am Worship Bill Aumack

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

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7 pm Band Practice

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7:27 pm sunset

20 9:30 am S.S. 10:50 am Worship Bill Aumack

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

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3 pm Pathfinders

26 7:33 pm sunset

Pathfinder Fair Prado Regional Park 8:30 am - 4 pm

27 9:30 am S.S. 10:50 am Worship Bill Aumack

7 pm Church Board Meeting 7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

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7 pm Band Practice

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7 pm Band Practice

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4 9:30 am S.S.

Ladies Tea Party & Bridal Fashion Show 12 pm

Visit www.downeychurch.org S.S. – Sabbath School C.S. – Community Service

10:50 am Worship Gerard Kiemeny

April 2013 Stewpot

by Gordon Bottling, DrPH, CHES

D

id you know that shopping is a science?

At least it is to the modern business retailer who not only employs salespersons and clerks, but also may have a shopping anthropologist on contract. What is a shopping anthropologist? This is the person who is stationed near strategically positioned merchandise to see how each shopper reacts to that merchandise, watching and timing their every move and behavior and then reporting this data to a marketing company such as Envirosell, Inc. This company has branch offices in every major city with personnel who lurk in the shadows and observe shoppers at most major retailers and malls. The evidence from this company shows that 70% of all purchases are unplanned.

Of that 70% in 2011, 43% of shoppers said they spent more than they planned because the “deals were so good.” Believe me, shopping is really a competition between you and your money and the retailers and their profit.1 Good shopping skills developed over time will save you and your fam-

Shoppers Unite! ily hundreds of dollars for your household budget.

Listed below are a few shopping tricks, traps and ploys to help make you a winner in the shopping game.

is often far more than the profit on the item itself.

If the words, “No thank you, the manufacturer’s warranty is sufficient,” are not enough and the clerk harasses you about purchasing the extended warranty, add this question, “Is this product so bad that it needs a warranty for the first two years?”

It’s Amazing!

Shop to Shop, Not to Drop Refuse to go to the local mall or galleria unless you have a reason.

Remember what usually happens when you visit a store? You buy something!

Unless you have one of the genes from Mr. Scrooge, you can always find a reason to drag home something when you browse at a shopping center. And let’s not forget that you also have to find a place to put that new item.2

Just Say No! Just say NO to extended warranties – period. For the seller, the profit margin on an extended warranty

Did you ever wonder how the big box stores (supercenters, superstores, megastores) can have advertising claims such as no interest for three years and still stay in business?

In the majority of cases, they are passing those upfront costs on to a credit card company. Even if they do carry the large outlay for those three years, statistically they know that more than 80% of purchasers will not pay off the item on time and will end up paying the 28% interest, which unfortunately is retroactive to the date of purchase. Seventy-two percent of people have every intention of paying the balance in full a few days before the due date, but then have an unforeseen situation or money crisis and end up paying twice as much. continued on page 8

“One who thinks that money can do everything is likely to do anything for money.”

— Anonymous

“The average supermarket carries 48,750 items” — Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine, May 2011

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THE LATEST WORD Shoppers Unite! (cont. from page 7) Wait Until the End

Play the Match Game

The goal of retailers is for you to purchase store products at full price so they make maximum profit. But they do have clearance sales at the end of each season or after particular holidays to make room for new merchandise. Your goal should be to shop those end of season sales. However, buy and put away only the items you know you will definitely use in that season next year.3

Having a coupon is like having an ace in a supermarket game, but remember that you’ll get a better value for your money if you can combine a coupon with a great sale on the specific item you wanted. Coupons can still be found in newspapers and magazines, but the good news is that they now can be downloaded from the Internet. Go to the website of your favorite manufacturers and print the coupons they are offering. Also, remember that the average supermarket or drugstore has a sale on most items every three months — try your best to combine that sale with a great coupon.

Beware of Warehouses Purchasing in quantity is great because it saves you money, but don’t buy more than you will use over the next 12 months.

Paying an extra 30 cents each for a couple cans of beans at the local supermarket is better than paying an extra three dollars at the superstore to purchase a packet of twelve cans of beans, then using only two of them and having the rest sit on the pantry shelf for months and months.

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Mind the Images Behavioral economists relish the opportunity to experiment on people and particularly on our children. They have found that if you single out a bowl of fruit with a glistening light, youngsters are more likely to eat that particular

fruit item. We have known for a long time that candy companies place snack bars and sweets at children’s eye level to entice sales. Interestingly, placing a salad bar in front of a shelf of candy at school actually encourages children to eat more salad.

Perceptive restaurateurs often plan their menus with simple design logos and sample in pictures and boxes that influence adult customers to purchase more profitable entrées. If you want to save money at a diner or café, a good rule of thumb is to avoid menu items that are emphasized by either an illustrated box or a highlighted image.4

If you regularly and consistently make use of these principles, you are guaranteed to make that paycheck go further every week. =

Watch the Clerk

1. Mary Hunt, “The Science of Shopping,” Debt-Proof Living Newsletter, July 2010: pp. 1 & 4.

Make it a habit never to stand idly by at the checkout counter. Watch as the clerk rings up your items and prices. If you can’t monitor it right then, take a few moments afterwards and check your receipt. How many times has a busy clerk accidently scanned the same item twice? It may be just a few dollars here and there, but it might surprise you how much of your money is being donated to the store because of human and scanner errors.2

Resources:

2. Cynthia Yates, “Becoming a Savvy Consumer,” Sound Mind Investing Newsletter, October 2004: p. 150.

3. Mary Hunt, “Consumer Tricks and Treats,” Debt-Proof Living Newsletter, October 2010: p. 1.

4. Derek Thompson, “How Good is Your Shopper’s Math?”

Reader’s Digest, February 2013: p. 149.

April 2013

THIS MONTH

Upcoming Events April Birthdays Jessica Michel – 6 Veronica Lozano – 7 Gabriel Gomez – 7 Jessica Ramirez - 18 Daniel Michel – 19 Judy Joseph – 19 Edwin Morales – 20 Erik Concha – 20 Miranda Gomez – 21 Ricardo Gonzalez – 24

Thursdays - 7 p.m. Women’s Prayer Group Fridays - 7:00 p.m. Band Practice Apr. 6 - Pathfinders / Adventurers @ 3pm Apr. 7 - Pathfinders / Adventurers @ 9am Apr. 20 - Pathfinders @ 3pm Apr. 21 - Pathfinder Fair Prado Region Park 8:30am to 4pm Apr. 28 - Ladies Tea Part & Bridal Fashion Show 12:00pm Fellowship Hall

If your birthday is left out in the monthly newsletter, please contact the church office so we can put it in.

The Latest Word deadline is the 5th of the month.

Coming Soon May 11 - Mother’s Day Sabbath June 1 - SGA Chorale June 8 - Adventurer Lock-in June 15 - Father’s Day Sabbath

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THE LATEST WORD The Latest About

Our Church Family Congratulations to Karin Lopez who was baptized on March 9. Be sure to welcome him into the church family.

If you know of anyone who is graduating this year, please let us

know so we can celebrate with them. Thanks.

If you have any Church Family news, please contact the church office so we can get it into the newsletter. =

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So I was surprised to observe that Mocha didn’t share my dismay.

He hopped along happily on three legs without complaint. Neither did the surgery dampen his spirits.

Never mind the six-inch scar or the cone around his collar. The ordeal made no noticeable impact on his

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For the Box Tops for Education, please save the Box Tops coupon.

Please give your labels to Linda Aumack. Thank you for your support! =

Keep on Believing

Why Me? hen our puppy developed hip dysplasia requiring surgery, I asked, “Why him? Why me?” Finding no satisfying answer, I proceeded to feel sorry for Mocha and myself — sorry for his pain and suffering and for the financial sacrifice we’d have to make to help him.

Thank you to everyone who has been saving Box Tops for Education. That is greatly appreciated.

determination to enjoy life.

I reasoned, “That’s because he doesn’t have the capacity to ask why bad things happen to good dogs.” But then a thought occurred: Perhaps if God revealed the answers, our human minds wouldn’t have the capacity to understand. So maybe Mocha had the right idea. Maybe it’s better not to waste time wondering why and just be thankful instead for what we have.

—Kari Myers =

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hen Roy went to college, he joined the track team and soon won the broad jump in a track meet. It thrilled him so much that he couldn’t talk to his mother about anything else. She, however, wanted to know about his class work. What had he learned? Had he discovered any new ideas?

He preferred to focus on his athletic victory that great leap which had made him a winner. He swelled with pride.

Not long afterwards, while he was still glowing about his jump, he was on a drive with his mother.

Suddenly, a jackrabbit leaped out from behind a bush and bounded across the road in a couple of hops. Roy’s mother saw

an opportunity. “Roy,” she said, “that jackrabbit never went to college and it can jump farther than you can.”

Roy’s pride was punctured. But he had been given a new perspective.

He learned that a person should not let pride and arrogance rule one’s self.

There is always someone or something that can humble us and keep us from thinking more highly of ourselves than we should.

This young man eventually became Dr. Roy L. Smith, one of the outstanding ministers in California in the last century.

-Adapted from a story told by the late Bishop Gerald Kennedy =

April 2013

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April 2013

Ponder This... = “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”

—Martin Luther = “We are only fully alive when we’re helping others.”

—Rick Warren = “When you talk, choose the very same words that you would use if Jesus were looking over your shoulder.

Because he is.”

—Marie T. Freeman

Downey-Florence Seventh-day Adventist Church 9820 Lakewood Blvd., Downey CA 90240

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