The pastor stood at the door saying goodbye to

a young couple following a home visit with them. The young woman expressed her excitement at their upcoming baptism. Her husband’s furrowed brow expressed an unanswered question. The young man asked, “How can our salva-tion be so simple? Pastor, you said all we have to do is believe—that sounds too easy.”

The pastor opened his Bible to Acts 16 and began

reading at the 29th verse: “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. . . . then immediately he and all his family were bap-tized.”

The reason our salvation

appears undemanding is our God paid the price for us. The following sentences taken from a book I’ve enjoyed reading over the years, describes God’s giv-ing of himself for us—for our salvation.

“He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righ-teousness. If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Savior, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous.

continued on page 2

Friendship Dayby Pastor Mitch

Just do it

“Fold the arms of your faith and wait in quietness until the light goes up in your darkness. Fold the arms of your faith, I say, but not of your action. Think of something you ought to do, and go do it. Heed not your feelings. Do your work.”—George MacDonald

INSIDEImagine That on page 3

Love ... Goes the Extra Mile on page 4

Ginny’s Kitchen on page 5

What’s happening? see pages 6 & 9

Hand Out or Hand Up is on page 7

Our Church Family page 10

Kid’s Page on page 11

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

Celebration Sabbath

November 20th is Celebration Sabbath. We will be Celebrating what God has

done during our 6 Weeks of Becoming a Contagious Christian series and in our small groups.

This is an extra special Sabbath because there will also be a baptism. We know that heaven rejoices with every soul that is saved. Be sure to be at church on that day so you can be part of that celebration. If you would like to be baptized, please talk to Pastor Mitch.

Additionally, there will be a special

offering for Evangelism on the 20th. This offering helps our church provide more programs and outreach events to our friends and neighbors. Please don’t think of this as “fund raising”, but as “Faith Raising.” We desire to help as many peo-ple as possible develop a relationship with Jesus.

Every celebration needs some good food. Please plan to stay after church for a feast that will be provided by our small groups. It will be a time of fellowship and sharing some food. Don’t miss it. =

THE LATEST WORD

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Christ’s character stands in place of your charac-ter, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned” (Steps to Christ, p. 62).

On Friendship Day, November 13, I’m looking forward to sharing a diagram that puts in a nut-shell the salvation message. The mes-sage is called God’s Contagious Love. When you see how simple the diagram is and how clearly it illustrates the Bible’s gospel message I think you’ll agree “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The diagram is something you’ll discuss in your small groups and learn to

share with your friends.

Friendship Day is an outreach service. This is your opportunity to invite

the person you’re pray-ing for over the 6 Weeks of Contagious Christians small groups. In addition, invite your friends and family. There is no fel-lowship luncheon planned so you might want to invite your guests home for lunch or to the park

for a picnic. Let those you invite know that the gospel message will be presented with an invita-

tion to receive Christ as their personal Savior.

I read in the Wall Street Journal the heroic story of Marine Corporal Jason Dunham. While on patrol in Iraq in 2004, a gre-nade was thrown in

his direction. To protect his comrades, the young corporal threw his Kevlar helmet and his body onto the grenade. Corporal Dunham became the first Marine since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor.

What a powerful pic-ture of self-sacrificing love. We’re all inspired by acts of heroic selfless-ness. The greatest hero of all times is Jesus. Jesus said in John 15:13 (NLT): “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Jesus demonstrates the power of his words by willingly laying down his life for the sake of us, his friends.

That story—that con-tagious message called the gospel which has been spreading around the globe for two thousand years—is the message on November 6. The title of the sermon is A Contagious Message. We want to get a real grasp on what that mes-

sage is and what it means.

Celebration Sabbath is the conclusion of the 6 Weeks of Contagious Christians’ small groups on November 20. The message comes from all the small group partici-pants. The groups mem-bers will share their expe-riences of the Contagious Christian message over the past 6 weeks. What was new? What was learned? What life changes have been made? Those ques-tions and more will be shared by members from each group. A luncheon is set for Celebration Sabbath with the small groups pro-viding their favorite soups.

WE

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ID

IT

The Latest Word V 22 N 11

BILL AUMACKresponsible for this

LINDA AUMACKproof reading

LETTY DURANpaper distribution

MITCH WILLIAMSpastor

address mail to: Downey Seventh-day Adventist Church9820 Lakewood Blvd.Downey, CA 90240office: 562.869.6013fax: 562.622.1691 downeychurch@gmail.comwww.downeychurch.com

distributed monthlyissue date: Nov. 2010 copyright 1992-2010

There’s a key part of being thankful

that we don’t often talk about, and

that’s giving.

“

”

Friendship Day (cont. from page 1)

continued on page 5

November 2010

3

Webster says “thanks-giving” means,

“the act of giving thanks . . . a prayer expressing gratitude” (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary).

God says we should “come before him

with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song” (Psalm 95:2).

I love reading the sto-ries in the Old Testament, particularly the ones which tell how God acted in response to the prayers of ordinary people who were in trouble or distress. The prayers alone provide a source of comfort to me. Perhaps it is because I can relate to the words and feelings they express. One such story is that of Hannah and Samuel as

recorded in 1 Samuel, Chapter 1. Why not take a moment to read that right now, just the first 20 vers-es. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Ready? What did you see? It’s pretty simple, right? A young woman in distress and provoked by her rival; a heartfelt prayer and commit-ment to God; and God’s answer, the result of which is the child Samuel who became the last per-son to serve as judge over Israel. That is what I have seen each time I’ve read the story over the past 20 years. But when I kept

reading through the book of Samuel, something new occurred to me. It took only 20 verses for the writer to cover the pain and sadness as well as God’s answer to Hannah’s prayer. In comparison, it took the writer seven whole chapters to relate

the life and ministry of Samuel. I see a great con-trast there which helps me to put things into perspec-tive.

It is obvious from reading the passage that Hannah’s situation lasted for a number of years before she experienced an answer to prayer. But even though she did not recognize it, her situa-tion was temporary and was eventually handled in God’s perfect way and in God’s perfect time. I think I tend to forget how temporary things are here on earth. Sometimes when

sadness or trouble comes along, it is hard to cope, even harder to give thanks. Perhaps that is because the situation seems any-thing but temporary. But God assures us that it is just that. Read what Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “For our light and

momentary troubles are achiev-ing for us an eternal glory that far out-weighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is tem-porary but

what is unseen is eternal.”

Hannah laid her burden down and committed to God the child born to her. The result was of eternal significance for God’s people. I am thinking it might be the same for us. If we store up our trea-sures in heaven instead of here on earth, as Jesus told us to do, we will celebrate and enjoy those treasures for eternity. Looking forward with that kind of hope can produce abun-dant thanksgiving. What do you think? =

November 6 Mitch Williams

A Contagious Message

November 13Mitch Williams God’s Contagious

Love Friendship Day

November 20Mitch Williams

Celebration Sabbath

November 27Bill Aumack

Re-gifting Thanks

Worship Schedule

God, Webster & You

by Linda Bewley Thankful for Hope

THE LATEST WORD

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Before the Father

by Linda FernandezLove is ... Thankful

When I used to tell the Children’s Story in

church many years ago, I was always taken by surprise when now and then, the Lord would erase the well rehearsed story from my mind and replace it with one of His own. As I returned to my seat, my husband would often remark, “That wasn’t your story, was it?” There are times even now when I think I have all the mate-rial I need for this article, but then for some reason the Lord keeps me from the keyboard. This was one of those times…

Communion: I love the communion service. Pastor Mitch always tries to keep us on our toes when it comes to com-munion by changing it up just a bit each time. Our most recent service was no exception. Not only did he switch up the order of the service (not a surprise ☺), but before we sepa-rated for the foot-washing portion, he suggested that we turn to a friend or fam-ily member and apologize for a hurtful or neglectful act or word that had not yet been addressed. I think that threw most of us for a loop.

One of the blessings of being a long time mem-ber of a church is that you tend to develop deep

and lasting friendships. This was my dilemma as I searched for a friend to whom I needed to apolo-gize. Usually, most issues are resolved right away. I did, however, have an overwhelming desire to apologize to one of my dearest friends for not verbally

expressing my thanks for all the wonderful things she has done and been for my husband and me. Suddenly, that sense of wonder nearly overcame me. I apologized to one friend for not being more faithful; to another for not being better at keeping in touch.

One of our daughters posted a comment on Facebook about enjoying life. Since they are the gadabouts of our family, I thought perhaps they were at some exotic and excit-ing location, but no she said she was just sitting

quietly near her husband, thankful for her family and life as it is right now.

Our world is so topsy-turvy. Unpredictable weather. Abounding fear worldwide. Uncertainty everywhere. Dishonesty and deception by our lead-ers exposed on every page of the newspaper. We are truly being shaken, but maybe that is a good thing. Maybe we are being shaken from the grip we have on this world and its treasures. As I searched for a scrip-ture for this article, I knew I had hit pay dirt when I found the one above. It

seemed so appropri-ate when thinking about Communion and thankfulness. I

think we are always a little more reverent dur-ing a communion service because of the importance and impact of partaking of the precious emblems, but also a sense of awe is palpable. Maybe it’s the reminder that Christ is truly among us and that He has promised us a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let’s pray….

Father: Thank you for your constant guiding and leading in our lives and for the assurance that no matter what we face here on earth, Jesus is coming soon to take us home. =

Therefore, since we are receiv‐ing a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God accept‐ably with reverence and awe….

Hebrews 12:28

Maybe we are being shaken from the grip we have on this world and its treasures.

November 2010

5

Vegetarian Meatballs with special sauce

From Ginny’s Kitchen

MEATBALLS:

5 eggs 1 cup grated cheese ½ cup chopped onion ½ cup chopped finely pecans 1 tsp. basil ½ tsp. salt ½ tsp. sage 2 cups Pepperidge Farm Stuffing

Mix all together in a large bowl and form into 2” balls. Or use a (cookie scooper).

Place in a greased dish and cover with special sauce.

SPECIAL SAUCE:

¼ cup oil 1/8 cup rice vinegar or less 1 cup apricot jam ½ cup ketchup 1 Tbsp. brown sugar ½ tsp. salt and oregano

Whisk special sauce mix-ture all together and pour over vegetarian meat balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

This recipe is one of my favorites. It came from my daughter Becki, who lives in Colorado. This summer we trav-

eled to the state of Georgia. That state is known for their delicious pecans. Of course I brought some home with me. It is good to use a variety of nuts in your daily diet. I am happy to share my daughter’s recipe using pecans. =

Friendship Day (from page 2)

You may have heard about “re-gifting.” It’s the act of taking something that was given to you as a gift and and giving it as a gift to someone else. There’s some debate as to whether re-gift is com-pletely kosher. However, there are some things that definitely should be re-gifted. Thanks is one of those things. Being thank-ful is an important part of being a Christian. That includes being thankful to God for all He has done for us as well as being thankful to the people

around us. There’s a key part of being thankful that we don’t often talk about, and that’s giving. We’ve gotten the idea that if we just think some nice thoughts, that’s being thankful. But there is more to it than that. Join Bill Aumack on November 27th as he brings us the sermon entitled Re-gifting Thanks.

See you when the church gathers. =

Remember to set your clocks back one hour on Sunday, November 7th, as Daylight Saving Time ends.

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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7 9 11 12 13

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21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

4:52 pm sunset

4:48 pm sunset

4:45 pm sunset

9:30 AM S.S.

9:30 AM S.S.

9:30 AM S.S.10:50 AM Worship Celebration Sabbath12:30 Luncheon

9:30 AM S.S.10:50 AM Worship Bill Aumack

Visit www.downeychurch.orgC.S. - Community Service

S.S. - Sabbath School

10

10:50 AM Worship Mitch Williams

10:50 AM Worship Mitch WilliamsFriendship Day

8

10 AM C.S.

6:30 pm Band Practice

14

Downey Adventist Church

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

6:30 pm Band Practice

5:58 pm sunset

6:30 pm Band Practice

6:30 pm Band Practice

7 pm Women’s Prayer Group

3:00 Pathfinders

November 2010

7

Nutrition is big news!

Next to celebri-ties, politics and religion, health and wellness may be the two favorite topics of mass media— from television to magazines, newspapers and even more importantly the Internet. The number of health resources on the Internet is mind blowing, which unfortunately, provides more opportunities for inaccurate nutritional information and erroneous advice to flow to the gen-eral public.

According to a sur-vey of more than 1,000 individuals conducted by the American Dietetic Association last December, 60% had trouble finding correct food and/or nutri-tional information on the Internet. Approximately seven in ten individuals visit two or three web-sites looking for food and health information. Sadly, nearly every person sur-veyed believed that the information they found online was dependable and truthful even though the scientific experts continu-ally warn the public that health misinformation abounds on the Internet.1

As stewards of our health, we cannot just rely on magazine and Internet

articles for authentic nutrition-al facts. It is easy to see how sen-

sational stories can easily become a part of common knowledge and be accept-ed as real science. To help you with this confusion, here are some of the most recent half-truths and misperceptions that relate to health and wellness.*

Good Chocolate, Healthy Chocolate?

Yes, for chocolate lov-ers it is great news that a number of scientific studies have found that falconoid polyphenols and antioxidants give chocolate the benefit of being heart healthy. But watch out for the high saturated fat and calories that are an integral part of this smooth tasting sweet. Make your choco-late pick one that is at least 70% cocoa to increase the amounts of polyphenols you are getting in each bite.1

Alwyas Best Raw?

Serving raw vegetables

can often be the best way to go nutritionally, but not always. While some watersoluble nutrients such as the B vitamins and some antioxidants are best eaten raw, many foods need to be heated to bring out their best nutrition. One excellent example is tomatoes because their lycopene is released by heating. Testing has shown this also applies to other compounds in carrots. The cooking of some vegetables improves their digestibility, breaks down

vegetable proteins and loosens or removes the pro-tective coatings that might keep them from being

fully digested.

Is Sugar The Culprit?

It is true that for many Americans sugar has replaced fats as our # 1 nutritional enemy. Unfortunately, we are eat-ing 50% more sugar than we did half a century ago. The overconsumption of added sugar is definitely to blame for the increase in obesity, particularly when

you consider the addi-tional

Nutritional MythsStewpot

by Gordon Botting, DrPH, CHES

continued on page 8

“Be careful of reading health books. You might die of a mis‐print.” — Mark Twain

“A [so‐called] balanced diet is a cookie in each hand.” —Anonymous

“Common sugar is an almost ideal food — cheap, clean, white, portable, imper‐ishable, germ free, highly nutri‐tious, completely soluble, alto‐gether digestible, requires no cook‐ing and leaves no residue. Its only fault is its perfec‐tion. It is so pure that man cannot live on it.” —Anonymous

THE LATEST WORD

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22 teaspoons of sugar added per day to our diet, which represents one extra pound every two weeks. However, you cannot blame all our health woes on sugar. Sugar is probably not the cause of your finan-cial worries or your sleepless nights. On the other hand, it would be wise to follow the American Heart Association recommendation for daily sugar intake of no more than 100 calories (6 teaspoons) for women and 150 calories (9 tea-spoons) for men.4

Butter BreadIt may be true that a

tablespoon of butter con-tains 100 calories com-pared to a tablespoon of liquid vegetable oil at over 120 calories, but butter is less calories because 20% of butter is water. Once

that water is released in the cooking process, then butter has far less calories than oil. Nevertheless, but-ter has more grams of sat-urated fat and less grams of healthy polyunsaturated fat. Therefore, liquid oil is definitely the smarter choice.2

Healthy Smoothy?

The majority of smoothies, whether bottled or made fresh in a store,

are gener-ally made from berries, mangoes, beets or carrots, which are rich in vitamins

and minerals. “Boosts” — such as ginkgo, bee pol-len, Echinacea, St. John’s wort, and carotene are not likely to do much good since most contain too little of these substances to have any nutritional effect. The latest trend is to add acai, pomegranates, or other so-called superfruits. They are not healthier than smoothies made from these other fruits. The majority of smoothies are loaded with calories— from Jamba Juice’s “origi-nal” size Strawberry Surf Rider (300 calories), to Tropical Smoothie Café Health Nut (530 calories), to the 40-ounce Smoothie King’s Slim-N-Trim (700 calories). Finally, smooth-ies are not cheap; ranging in price from $4—$7. A better long-term invest-ment would be to purchase a blender and make your own.3

*TWO AREAS OF NUTRITION THAT NEED EMPHASIZING

Whole Grain Bonanza

There is no question that “whole grains” play a key role in a heart-healthy, anti-cancer diet. They are definitely linked to the reduction of stroke, dia-betes and heart disease. In a recent study, women who ate whole grains rather than refined grains (those stripped of their bran and germ) reduced their risk of heart attack by 30%. No wonder the cereal manufacturers have had a field day with this scientific news. Last year cereal sales increased by 17% and are expected to reach $6 billion by 2013. Yet surveys indicate that only 4% of Americans are eating the recommend-ed six daily servings of whole grains. (The average is 3.2 servings). Look for the first ingredient listed to be whole grains. Do not be fooled by these mysti-cal food words that indi-cate the product may have little or no whole grains: unbleached, 100% wheat, multi-grain, bromated,

stone ground, 7-grain or deceiving phrases such as “made with whole grains.” 1 & 5

G0 Gluten As part of the low-

carb weight loss craze of the 21st century, many socalled health experts have encouraged a gluten-free diet frenzy. They forget that non-gluten free wheat has been a staple in western culture for generations. Yes, it is true that we are eating more gluten today because of the increase in snack and processed goods, but there is no scientific evidence that we need to eliminate gluten from our diet.1 =

References:

1. EN Tackles the Top 10 Nutrition Myths, Environmental Nutrition Magazine, May 2010, pp 1& 6.

2. Nutrition in the News: Time for a Reality Check, Tufts University Health & Nutritional Letter, July 2010, p 6.

3. A Smoothie Shakeup, U C Berkeley Wellness Letter, October 2010.

4. Heart Experts: Cut Way Back on Sugar to Fight Obesity, Tufts University Health & Nutritional Letter, November 2009, p 3 and Annuals of Family Medicine, July/August 2009.

5. Americans Failing on Grain Goals, Tufts University Health & Nutritional Letter, November 2009, p 3.

Nutritional Myths (cont. from page 7)

November 2010

9

November BirthdaysLaura Luna – 3 Sandra Gomez – 3 David Chavez – 4 Juanita Diaz – 5 Norman Markussen – 6 Clarice Murray – 10 Noemi Morales – 10 Esther McPhoy – 10 Mark Pond – 12 Ava Meade – 13 Melissa Archila – 16 Gustavo Ortega – 17 Alex Chavez - 18Evelyn Vierna – 20 Araceli Sanchez – 21 Mariah Chavez – 22 Mark Toban – 22 Beverly Kauffman – 24 Flor Munguia – 27

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

Upcoming Events2nd & 4th Saturdays - 3:00 p.m. Pathfinders2nd Sunday - 10 a.m. Community ServiceThursdays - 7 p.m. Women’s Prayer GroupFridays - 6:30 p.m. Band Practice

Nov 6 - Thanksgiving Food DeadlineNov 7 - Daylight Savings EndsNov 11 - Veterans day Nov 20 - Baptism & Celebration SabbathNov 20 - Fellowship Luncheon Nov 25 - Thanksgiving day

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

Coming Soon

Dec 4 - Kid’s SabbathDec 4 - Deadline for Christmas Food and Toy DriveDec 25 - Christmas Program

THIS MONTH

If you are looking for a new, fun way to read The Latest Word online, be sure to check out the newest format at http://issuu.com/downeychurch. Same great content in a richer environment. Be sure to check out all the reading modes. As usual, you can still get read it at our website at www.downeychurch.org.

THE LATEST WORD

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The Latest About

Our Church FamilyCongratulations to Sal

and Karen who had baby Grace on October 1. She weighed 7.3 oz. and was 19” long.

Congratula-tions to Franky and Patti Duran. They were married on October 15 in our church.

Way to go Gustavo Ortega. He was in a big article in the LA

Times about the roads up in the local mountains.

The upper grades of AUS also made the paper. They were on the front page of the Press-Telegram for helping

to clean up the park.

Congratulations to the

new parents, Octavio and Mariana Navarro, who had a baby boy named Jacob on October 7.

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

Thank you to every-one who has been saving Campbell Soup Labels for education and Box Tops for Education. That is greatly appreciated.

On the Campbell Soup labels, all that is really needed is the UPC (the bar code). You don’t have to save the entire label, just the UPC bar code.

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

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

As soon as our Thanksgiving food

drive ends on Nov. 6, we will start the Christmas Food and Toy drive. We need to get the food and toys to the Downey PTA Helps early so they can get the boxes ready for the fami-lies.

Please bring your food donation and an unwrapped present for a teen-ager by December

4th. All food and toys will be given to the Downey PTA Helps to help local families. Thank you. =

Christmas Food and Toy Collection

Our Pathfinder club is underway. Edwin

Morales is the director. Celene Aispuro, Samuel Aispuro, Tomas Aispuro and Alberto Melenciano are helping to lead out in the club.

All students who are 10 years old or in the 5th grade are encour-aged to sign up.

If you are willing to volun-teer to help with honors or trips or the many other Pathfinder activi-ties, please talk to one of the leaders and let them know you are

willing to help out. The leaders and the kids will appreciate it. =

Pathfinders

November 2010

11

November 2010

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Downey-Florence Seventh-day Adventist Church9820 Lakewood Blvd., Downey CA 90240

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DATED MATERIAL

Ponder This...

= “Let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings.”—Henry Ward Beecher

= “Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”—W.T. Purkiser

= “If we do not show love to one another, the world has a right to question whether Christianity is true.”—Francis A. Schaeffer