Do you ever feel like you need a break? In

order to keep up with the demands of society, we seem to live busier lives today than at any other point in Earth’s history. In the 19th century, our country had its Industrial Revolution which spawned off the need for labor rights, and in 1887, U.S. President Grover Cleveland declared that on every first Monday of September there will be a national holiday called Labor Day. I must say that

I truly appreciate President Cleveland’s declaration as I have often taken full advan-tage of that day off of work, and have many fond memo-ries because of it. However, Labor Day is a simple gesture from our govern-ment to show that it values the efforts of its working people, but a once-a-year holiday certainly was not intended to adequately give us the rest we need from a year’s worth of work. What it does show is that we just can’t keep going on

with life without a periodic break in our daily routine.

God has also given us his own version of “Labor Day”, and he has out-done our country’s national day of rest. Instead of once-a-year, God’s labor day is once a week called the Sabbath. The Sabbath is God’s declared holiday which allows his children to have sufficient rest in order for us to have some time in peace. God certainly knows that most of us are

continued on page 1

A Day of Rest by Cary Fisher

At the Core

Prayer is the core of our day. Take prayer out, and the day would collapse, would be pithless, a straw blown in the wind. But how can you pray — really pray, I mean — with one against whom you have a grudge or whom you have been discuss-ing critically with another? Try it. You will find it cannot be done.

—Amy Carmichael

INSIDEThe Reunion page 3

Walls Built to Last page 4

Taste & Inspiration on page 5

What’s happening? see pages 6 & 9

Our Church Family page 7

Parking Lot Party page 8

Kid’s Page on page 9

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

Downey Community Health Fair

Join us on Sunday, Sept. 21 from noon to 5pm as

we host the free Downey Community Health Fair.

Learn some holistic health principles to improve all areas of your life. It is based on the principles from the C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N. Health Series by Florida Hospital. (CREATION represents Choice, Rest, Environment, Activity, Trust,

Interpersonal, Outlook, and Nutrition)

There will be lots of booths and a health van from Glendale Hospital.

Invite some friends and join us for this life changing event. =

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not only overworked, but emotionally and spiritually we are exhausted from the abuse and the guilt that comes from living in this sinful world.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew ll:28). Isn’t it reassuring that our God desires us to rest as he handles our worries and anxieties? God made us in a way that when we are resting, we are allowing our body, mind and soul to heal, and the Sabbath is one way to do as Jesus told us when he says, “come to me, all you who are weary and burdened.” May it be our goal to take full advan-

tage of God’s plan for rest as we take part in his own “Labor Day” for us.

September’s Calendar

The month of September will be busy for us at the Downey-Florence Seventh-day Adventist Church. On September 6th, we will have our

annual Parking Lot party with a Western theme, so bring your cowboy hat. Also, we are going to host a Downey Community

Health Fair using the material from Creation Health. This community outreach will be on Sunday, September 21st from 12 pm to 5 pm.

September 6th - “Eureka” - Our

message for our worship service will have a bit of a Western flavor to go with our “Parking Lot” party. Jesus says this when we come to God, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ...”(John 17:3). We all know that the western gold miners would shout out Eureka as they have found gold, but it is when we find Jesus is when we have truly found something.

September 13th - Pathfinders’ Sabbath - The Pathfinders will be leading out in our worship service. They will be back from their Oshkosh Camporee trip, and will give high-lights from their trip. Eagle Rock’s Pathfinders Director, Steve Clement will be our guest speaker for this Sabbath.

September 20th - Communion Sabbath - This Sabbath will be one of our quarterly worship

services of the Lord’s Supper and footwash-ing. This is the time to remember all that Jesus has done for us, and a time to rededicate our lives as we symbolically accept his sacrifice for us.

September 27th - Living Out God’s Plan - Proverbs 19:21 writes, “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that pre-vails.” My message will help us see how we can focus on living the life that God wants us to have.

See you when the church gathers. =

WE

D

ID

IT

The Latest Word V 26 N 09

BILL AUMACKresponsible for this

LINDA AUMACKcopy editor

LAURA LUNApaper distribution

CARY FISHERpastor

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: Sep. 2014 copyright 1992-2014

God has also given us his own version of “Labor

Day”, and he has out-done country’s national

day of rest.

“

”

A Day of Rest (cont. from page 1)

September 2014

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numbers which were thought to be incorrect. Even though a reunion ser-vice had made unsuccess-ful attempts to locate cur-rent information, I heartily accepted the assignment. If you know me well, you know that there is nothing I enjoy more than locat-ing people to reunite them for good purposes. I’ve had the privilege of locat-ing people connected with adoptions and always love that type of work, but for the most part, friends ask me to help find someone from the past with whom they’ve lost contact. My employers also consider me their in-house detec-tive, one aspect of my job I love! With the Internet, it is often quite easy. Easy that is until you run across old addresses and tele-phone numbers. As far as my friend’s high school

classmates are concerned, I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the project but so far I have only been able to find current information for two of them, a very small percentage. That’s been a little frustrating, but I was encouraged when I was able to speak to one person. She was delighted that someone had taken the time to locate her and reach out to her, and she assured me that she would be at the reunion.

The Bible reminds us that God is on a mission to search for people who are lost. He is seeking to find people He created but who are not connected to him. I used to be on that list. How about you? Jesus reminded His listeners of the great lengths God goes to find the lost. One illus-tration He used was that of a lost sheep. I think we can imagine what it would be like to be a shepherd and lose an animal. We might even compare it to the pro-cess that happens when a beloved pet is missing. We exhaust every avenue to find our little furry family member. Or what about the illustration He used of the lost coin? I can certainly relate to losing money!

It seems, though, that in Jesus’ story, the illustra-tions of the sheep and coin were appetizers. They pre-pared the way for His lis-teners to hear a very touch-

ing story about a father who lost his son to the world. Without retelling that story, I think we can easily relate to that young man. After all the time and energy we spend on other things, we are amazed that God has been there all the time, patiently wait-ing for us to make a deci-sion to connect with Him. Personally, I find it amaz-ing that He never gives up. Not in the past and not in the present. Regardless of what yesterday was about or the mistakes made, God still searches for ways to restore us to Himself. But here’s something to consider. He’s not done searching for His children. It’s not enough that He found me. Or you. He wants help to actively search for others. We may all have situa-tions which discourage us when trying to tell friends or family members about Jesus. Sometimes it seems that our words go in one ear and out the other. But you never know when one word differently spoken, an invitation extended or a particular event will bring another result. And imag-ine the delight when some-one comes to the Lord as a result. It’s never our work, of course, because we do not have the power to change a heart. But God does. And He asks for our cooperation and assistance as He works to move peo-ple from lost to found. =

Sept. 6thCary Fisher

Eureka

Sept. 13th

Steve ClementPathfinder Sabbath

Sept. 20thCary Fisher

Communion

Sept. 27thCary Fisher

Living Out God’s Plan

Worship Schedule

The Word & You

by Linda Bewley The Reunion

God’s word says, “For I am con-

vinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[a] nei-ther the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NIV).

Recently a friend of mine asked me for assis-tance in locating former classmates. He is look-ing forward to attending a high school reunion and had been assigned the task of locating a handful of people from his graduat-ing class. The list given to him contained last-known addresses and telephone

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As horrific as 9/11 was, it could’ve been

even worse if not for a 30-year-old engineering feat. Reaching some 70 feet underground, a 3-foot-thick concrete structure called a “slurry wall” sur-rounded the base of the World Trade Center com-plex. Designed to prevent the Hudson River from flooding the basement, this wall prevented New York’s subway system from flooding and count-less additional people from dying on September 11, 2001.

A slurry wall is con-structed by pouring a thick, goopy mixture of powdered clay and water into a deep, narrow trench. The solution coats the sides, preventing water and soil from collapsing the trench. Pipes are then inserted through the slurry, and concrete is pumped into the trench, pushing the slurry up and out. At the WTC, the concrete formed such a strong wall that even two airplanes and the falling towers didn’t fracture it. Part of the slurry wall still stands at the 9/11 Memorial site, a symbol of resilience.

Sometimes God uses life’s “slurry” to make us stronger than we ever thought possible. We might wish something yucky hadn’t happened — until we discover it was

part of what sustained us, making us resilient and enabling us to rise out of destruction and death to awe-inspiring new life.

There are some times when some really “yucky” things can happen in our lives. Some of these things are truly horrible; the death of a loved one, hor-rible sickness, disabling injuries, and on and on it goes. Some of the things that happen to us are what we call “first world problems.” They may not really be that serious, but because we live such good lives, a small thing can seem like a big issue.

These yucky, bad things that happen, big or small, can help us develop into stronger, bet-ter people. That is, if we let them. Some people pull back away from these events. They retreat into a shell and sometimes they never come out again. Others seem to develop into stron-ger people after these events. They seem to be better equipped to deal with the struggles

that this world throws at them. They emerge stron-ger and yet also more compassionate. They know what it is like in the depths of the storm. They also know what it’s like on the other side of the storm. They know how the Lord has strengthened them and helped them. And they become sort of like a light house that can guide others to safety when they are in their storm.

What’s the difference between the two types of people? It’s the firm foundation. It is a foun-dation built to withstand hardship. It is a foundation built on promises of God. It is a foundation that is built for eternity, not just for a few years here on earth.

What is your founda-tion built on? That’s worth pondering about... =

by Bill Aumack Walls Built to Last

Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscrip-tion: “The Lord knows those who are his,” 2 Timothy 2:19

They become sort of like a light house that can guide others to safety when they are in their storm.

All Church Luncheonprovided by Pathfinders

In appreciation for all the support from the church, the

Pathfinders will host an Appreciation Luncheon on

September 13th.

Everyone is invited!

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With many of the choices we are

offered in the local mar-kets and grocery stores, it’s difficult to resist those food products that are “fast & easy” to prepare. “Quick serve” “brown & serve” or whatever buzz word the package is labeled with sells us on how easy and convenient the item is to prepare for consumption.

Today it seems like time, or lack of, and such busy schedules in our life is what challenges most of us from budgeting the necessary time to prepare a fresh, healthy, home cooked meal. Convenience is what we seem to take most in to consideration when preparing our meal menu. This can be danger-ous.

Dinner, or supper as some refer to it, was THEE meal I remember as a kid that we all, as a family, sat down to the table and shared together. My mom, a stay-at-home housewife, had and took the necessary time to pre-pare a good, hearty meal for our family. Back then she didn’t have the con-venience of a microwave (thank God )or convenient pre-packaged foods avail-able like we so commonly do today. Looking back,

it seems taste was more of a factor with what she prepared than health or convenience. Not that she knowingly cooked unhealthy meals, but I don’t remember healthi-ness being a factor in menu choices. The closest thing to that I do remem-ber was hearing, “Make sure to eat ALL your veg-etables. You don’t want to get scurvy.” I didn’t know what scurvy was but I didn’t like the sound of it and I knew it wasn’t healthy. And if my mom said I don’t want to get it, then certainly I didn’t want to get it. Hey, moms KNOW!! So I deduced, vegetables are healthy.

Now, it seems like we, as a society, are exchang-ing convenience for health in how we plan our menu. With all the chemicals, artificial flavorings and preservatives that so much of the “foods” of conve-nience we eat contain, it’s no surprise with how unhealthy a lot of us have become. Obesity and dia-betes are two of the more dangerous results we face when continuing to fuel our bodies with these kinds of “food”. One of the pieces of criteria I’m trying to incorporate in my healthy diet if what I’m eating isn’t fresh out of the garden is this: When

reading the ingredient and nutrition label on a can, bag or jar of food I’m con-sidering consuming, if I can’t pronounce it, I won’t eat it.

There are so many dif-ferent fresh fruits, vegeta-bles, grains, legumes and other foods available the same way now as when they were first created by God himself in how He would have us feed and fuel our magnificent bod-ies in the most healthy ways.

If you have any com-ments, questions, concerns, ideas or recipes for consid-eration, feel free to share them with Pilar or myself.

God Bless!!

Ingredients: • 2 cups cooked or 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans (BPA-free), preferably organic

• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed

• 1 medium tomato, diced

• 1/2 medium red onion,

chopped

• 2 TBS parsley, chopped

• 1 TBS fresh lemon juice

• 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil

• salt and pepper to taste

Optional:• 1/4 cup feta cheese

• 6 sliced kalamata olives

• 1 tsp rosemary

Directions: 1. Press or mince garlic and let sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out its hidden health benefits.

2. Drain liquid from gar-banzo beans and rinse under cold running water; this helps prevent intesti-nal gas.

3. Combine all ingredients with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 2

Enjoy! =

5-Minute Greek Garbanzo Bean Salad

Taste & Inspiration

Pilar & Phillip

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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7 9 11 12 13

15 16 17 18 19 20

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

28 29 30

7:02 pm sunset

6:52 pm sunset

6:43 pm sunset

9:30 am S.S.

9:30 am S.S.

9:30 am S.S.10:50 am Worship Communion

9:30 am S.S.10:50 am Worship Pastor Cary

Visit www.downeychurch.orgS.S. – Sabbath School

C.S. – Community Service

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10:50 am Worship Pastor Cary

5:30pm Parking Lot Party

10:50 am Worship Pathfinder Sabbath12:30pm Luncheon provided by Pathfinders

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7 pm Band Practice

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Downey Adventist Church

7 pm Band Practice

7:12 pm sunset

7 pm Band Practice

7 pm Band Practice

7 pm Wed. Fellowship

7 pm Wed. Fellowship

7 pm Wed. Fellowship

7 pm Wed. Fellowship

7 pm Church Board

September 2014

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September Birthdays Yazmin Williams – 2 Abraham Guevara – 3 Pilar Centeno, Jr. – 5 Pat Novinski – 6 Destinee Macias – 8 Kean Aispuro – 9 Elora Chavez – 9 Shelby Jackson – 11 David Guerrero – 12 Mario Delgado – 12 Dolores Gamboa – 13 Amber Macias – 15 Mitch Williams – 19 Hector Archila – 21 Enoch Aispuro – 22 Matthew Macias – 22 Patricia Jackson – 23Eloy Luna – 23 Dessirey Torres – 24 Dennis Navarro – 26

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

Upcoming EventsWednesday - 7 p.m. Wed FellowshipFridays - 7:00 p.m. Band Practice

Sept 1 - Labor Day - Office ClosedSept 6 - Parking Lot Party, Western theme 5:30pmSept 13 - Pathfinder SabbathSept 13 - Luncheon provided by PathfindersSept 18 - Church Board 7pmSept 20 - CommunionSept 21 - Health Fair 12pm to 5pm

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

Coming Soon

Oct. 11 - Small Groups beginNov. 22 - Celebration SabbathDec. 20 - Christmas program

Be sure to keep up with the latest news by signing up for the Wednesday email. You can sign up here www.downey-church.org/Signups.html or send us an email at DowneyChurch at gmail dot com and we’ll add you.

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The Latest About

Our Church Family Pilar Sr. is recover-

ing from knee surgery. Remember her in your prayers. Be sure to ask her about it.

Thanks to all the parents and Pathfinder leaders who took our kids to Oshkosh and back. Be sure to ask them about their adventurers.

Check out the pictures in our App.

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

newsletter. =

Parking Lot Party

The party will begin on Sept. 6th at 5:30pm.

This year we have a Western theme. Come ready to enjoy the party Western style. There will be food, worship and fun in our parking lot.

Show off your artistic side in the pavement draw-ing contest, or play some ping-pong, vol-leyball or basketball or just hang out by the

fire and enjoy the food and fellowship.

Bring some picnic food to share, some lawn chairs to sit in, invite some friends and enjoy the eve-ning with us.

=

These days, there’s a smartphone app for just about everything. But what about spiritual concerns? Where can you turn?

• Depressed? Try the joy app. Read Isaiah 51:11.

• Tired? Try the renewal app. Read Isaiah 40:30-31.

• Unsettled? Try the peace app. Read Philippians 4:7.

• Unloved? Try the love app. Read Romans 8:38-39.

• Worried? Try the refuge app. Read Psalm 46:1.

• Fearful? Try the power app. Read 2 Timothy 1:7.

• Guilty? Try the forgive-ness app. Read Colossians 1:13-14.

• Praying? Try the prayer app. Read 1 John 5:14-15.

The Scriptures are God’s storehouse of mean-ingful applications for what we face every day. Think of the Bible as the iTunes Store of spiritual apps. Best of all, every-thing’s free! —Timothy Merrill =

There’s an App for That

September 2014

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September 2014

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

Return Service Requested

DATED MATERIAL

Ponder This...

= “Faith takes God without any ‘ifs.’” —D.L. Moody

= “Use what talent you possess. The woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those who sang best.” —Henry Van Dyke

= “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. But if you look at Christ, you’ll be at rest.” —Corrie ten Boom