TThe 1967 film, The Gospel Blimp,portrays a group of Christian

friends who made plans to buy ablimp to evangelize their neighbors.The blimp could tow a banner dis-playing Bible passages. Gospel tractscalled “fire bombs” could rain downfrom above. And if fire-bomb-gospel-tracts and Bible-passage-banners werenot enough, they planned to broadcastChristian music via loud speakers toall the inhabitants of Middletown asthe blimp slowly cruised overhead.

The Gospel Blimp became a reali-ty for the group of Christian friends,and so did the unintended conse-quences. As the blimp flew high over-head, instead of bringing a message ofpeace, it aggravated their neighbors

relaxing in their backyards with loud,unwanted music. At other times, thefire-bomb-gospel-tracts landed in thewrong places at the wrong time infuri-ating those below. The Gospel Blimpdid catch the attention of Middletown.But the attention the blimp receivedwas the opposite of their intentions.Instead of attracting folks to thegospel it repelled them. It wasn’t thegospel message that was the problem,the problem was the delivery method.

Once the Lord has touched ourhearts, the next step isn’t to hire ablimp to share the good news but totell family and friends what Jesus didfor you. Jesus healed a man who hadan evil spirit and lived in the tombs.

continued on page 2

Bring a Friend to Jesusby Pastor Mitch

NNovember 21st is CelebrationSabbath. We will be

Celebrating what God has doneduring our Footprints inSpirituality series and in our SmallGroups.

We’re inviting all of our smallgroups to participate by sharing thestories of personal growth andlearning they’ve experienced dur-

ing the series. Thank God for hisprovidence in leading us throughthis life-changing study.

Every celebration needs somegood food. So plan to stay afterchurch for a feast that will be pro-vided by our small groups. It willbe a time of fellowship and sharingsome food. Don’t miss it. =

The Discipline ofGratitude

Gratitude … goes beyondthe “mine” and “thine” andclaims the truth that all oflife is a pure gift. In the pastI always thought of gratitudeas a spontaneous responseto the awareness of giftsreceived, but now I realizethat gratitude can also belived as a discipline. Thediscipline of gratitude is theexplicit effort to acknowl-edge that all I am and haveis given to me as a gift oflove, a gift to be celebratedwith joy. —Henri J.M. Nouwen

IINNSSIIDDEE

That’s Mine is on page 3

Blessed Assurance ison page 4

Ginny’s Kitchen onpage 5

What’s happening?see pages 6 & 9

Budget’s Don’t Count,or Do They? on page 7

Kid’s Page on page 8

Our Church Familypage 10

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

Celebration Sabbath

When Jesus was getting into theboat to move on to other places, thehealed man begged Jesus to takehim along. Jesus said, “Go home toyour family andtell them howmuch the Lordhas done foryou, and how hehas had mercyon you.” So theman went awayand began to tellin the Decapolishow much Jesushad done for him. And all the peoplewere amazed” (Mark 5:18-20).

The title of the message onNovember 7 is Bring a Friend toJesus. Why bring a friend? Sharingthe good news of Jesus with some-one you know is natural. The reasonthe gospel went out to the entire

world in the first century was it waspassed by one person to another.No internet, billboards or mediaannouncements were necessary. The

gospel waspassed byword ofmouth. We’llexplore theministry ofAndrew andhow thegospel movedfrom one per-son to another.

We continue the relational themeof sharing our faith with friends witha message on November 14 calledHow Friends Help You Grow. TheBible says: “And let us considerhow we may spur one another ontoward love and good deeds”(Hebrews 10:24). Let’s make clear

THE LATEST WORDTHE LATEST WORD

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that to “spur one another on” hap-pens through prayer and loving oneanother and not through haranguingand criticism. Instead the word ofGod says we should be available toone another and look for ways toencourage one another. And whenour lives are dedicated to God tofollow his word in this mannerwe’re the beneficiary. “By wateringothers, he waters himself” Proverbs11:24, (TLB).

Plan now to be part of theCelebration Sabbath on November21. All the small groups are invitedto share what they’ve learned andexperienced during our 7 weeks ofFootprints in Spirituality. This is ajoyous celebration of our Lord andSavior and what he is doing in ourlives. A “sampling” luncheon isplanned and each small group is

WEDIDIT

The Latest WordV 21 N 11

BILL AUMACKeditor

BILL AUMACKlayout

LINDA AUMACKproof reading

LETTY DURANdistribution

MITCH WILLIAMSpastor

address mail to: (we like letters!)Downey-Florence Seventh-dayAdventist Church9820 Lakewood Blvd.Downey, CA 90240office: 562.869.6013fax: 562.622.1691downeychurch@gmail.comwww.downeychurch.com

distributed monthlyissue date: November 2009copyright 1992-2009

Sharing the goodnews of Jesus withsomeone you know

is natural.

continued on page 5

““

””

Bring a Friend... (cont. from page 1)

November 2009November 2009

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WWebster says “treasure” means“wealth stored up or hoarded .

. . a store of money in reserve. . .something of great worth or value. . .a collection of precious things”(Webster’s Ninth New CollegiateDictionary).

GGod says,”For where your trea-sure is, there your heart will be

also (Matthew 6:21 NIV).

A friend of mine was describingthe task she and her husband wereundertaking to clean out theirgarage. Part of that included gettingrid of some of their children’s oldtoys. That required some discretion,because as soon as their daughtersaw one of her old toys about to bediscarded, she immediatelyexclaimed, “that’s mine!” and want-ed to play with the toy. Wisely, myfriend allowed her daughter to playwith the toy and when she finished,it was put back in the box to betaken away.

Now this may sound like some-

thing only a child would do, but itactually reminded me of myself.Many are the times I’ve cleaned outa closet in my lifetime. Inevitably Iwill find things or items of clothingthat I have not used in a long time.Yet I say, “Oh, Ican’t get rid ofthat. I mightneed itsomeday.”Andsome-timesit’strue.Youmay notuse some-thing foryears andthe minute you give orthrow it away, you havean immediate need for it.So I have found myself,through the years, actingmuch like my friend’s daughter,

retaining unused, unnecessary thingsthat go back into the closet. Luckily,I only have one closet!

This story came to my mindwhen I was reading the book ofEcclesiastes recently. There is atime for everything, as written by

King Solomon inChapter 3.

Includedin his listis, a timeto be born,

a time todie; a time toweep, a time

to laugh; atime to be silent

and a time to speak;and there is even a

time to keep and atime to throw away.Imagine that. Here’ssome Biblical wis-dom that can be

applied to a householdchore such as cleaning out

Nov. 7Mitch Williams

Bring a Friend

Nov. 14Mitch Williams

How Friends Help You Grow

Nov. 21Mitch Williams

Celebration Sabbath

Nov. 28Bill Aumack

A Classic Thanksgiving

Worship Schedule

a closet!

I guess it’s human nature to col-lect things. Face it, we all like ourstuff. Perhaps we even feel a falsesense of security in the things weown-things that can be lost in amoment. I think we’re wise if wefollow the advice of King Solomon.But when it comes to things andstuff, Jesus said it best: “Do notstore up for yourselves treasures onearth, where moth and rust destroyand where thieves break in and steal.But store up for yourselves treasuresin heaven where moth and rust donot destroy and where thieves do notbreak in and steal. For where yourtreasure is, there your heart will bealso” (Matthew 6:19-21) =

God, Webster & You

by Linda BewleyThat’s Mine!

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“Let us draw near with a true heartin full assurance of faith…for He

who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10: 22, 23

“Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine!”Lyrics from the song,

Blessed Assurance

DDuring this time of thanksgiving,my thoughts usually drift

toward giving thanks for thehealth and well being of mychildren, grandchildren,family and friends.However, as I wasobserving in one of theSabbath School classesrecently, the teacher wasreinforcing the fact thatJesus is our only pathto Heaven.

As we travelthrough this refreshercourse on God’spromises, I thoughtthat is such a great promise andassurance we can hold on to and

claim. It’s amazing how God worksthings out along our paths. Soonafter attending that young SabbathSchool class, an opportunity to teachthe very young children in churchcame up. The regular teacher wantedto attend a KIDS IN DISCIPLE-SHIP mentoring program for par-ents, teachers, grandparents and oth-ers of influence in the lives of chil-

dren. While it hasbeen many yearssince teaching this

age group, I amlooking forward tothe challenge. As Iprepare, I began to

think back on thoseearly days with young-sters this age. Forthem, the answer to

every question wasJESUS! Whofloated in a basket

in the river?“JESUS!” Whoprayed in the

lion’s den? “JESUS!” Even thoughhaving been taught the Bible stories

correctly, for so many lessons, theanswer actually was JESUS, in theiryoung minds they just couldn’t gowrong with that answer.

What a lesson they taught meback then. A lesson I can still holdon to today. The questions in mylife these days are much heavier andfar more complex, yet when all theworrying and fretting is done, theanswer still remains…JESUS! As Imentioned before, it always amazesme the way God works things out inour lives. Initially, I thought I wouldbe helping during this time of teach-ing, but I am beginning to think I amthe one who needs a refresher courseon trusting in that BlessedAssurance. These little ones may bejust the ones to help teach theteacher.

Gracious Father, help us to learnfrom our children in thanking youfor the assurance of not only spend-ing eternity in Heaven with you, butalso counting on your presence inour day to day lives. Yes, JESUS isthe answer! =

Before the Father

by Linda FernandezBlessed Assurance

OOn Sunday, November 8, theAdventurer Club with be

Gleaning to benefit Second HarvestFood Bank. Everyone is welcomedto join us!

WHEN: Sunday, November 8TIME: 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.WHERE: Incredible Edible Park,15058 Harvard Avenue, Irvine, CA92612BRING: Hat, gloves, water, consentwaiver form (see Irene if interested)

All crops gleaned help feed thehomeless at the soup kitchens inOrange County

Directions to Incredible EdiblePark

From the 5 Fwy. Exit Culver –go west on Culver – turn right onWalnut – turn left on Harvard – godown Harvard until you cross therailroad tracks. As soon as you crossthe tracks, you’ll see the IncredibleEdible Park on the left side of the

street. You will also see a bike trailgoing through the park – follow thetrail to the field.

From the 405 Fwy: Exit Culver –go east on Culver to Irvine CenterDrive – turn left on Irvine CenterDrive – go down to Harvard andturn right – keep going downHarvard approximately 150 yards –the Incredible Edible Park will be onthe right side. If you cross the rail-road tracks, you’ve gone too far. =

Gleaning with the Adventurer Club

Eggplant Parmesan

November 2009November 2009

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With Love From the Kitchenof Ginny Williams

olive oilcooking spray “Pam” medium eggplant peeled and cut into¼ inch slices.jar favorite spaghetti sauce1 box “Progresso Italian” dry breadcrumbs 1 jar of “Vegannaise” mayo or useKraft Mayo with olive oil(“Vegannaise” is found at Von’smarket in the refrigerator section byhealth food). mozzarella cheese shreddedParmesan cheese

1. Spray a baking sheet with “Pam”and drizzle 1 T. olive oil over top ofbaking sheet. 2. Peel and cut eggplant into ¼ thickslices.3. Spread Vegannaise on both sidesof eggplant. 4. Dip and coat each slice in Italianbread crumbs.5. Place on prepared cookies sheetand broil for 7 minutes on each side.6. Top each slice with 2 or 3 T.spaghetti sauce and some mozzarellacheese.

7. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 oruntil hot and cheese is melted8. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese=

invited to prepare its favorite soupand one entrée. The small groupswill select a station in the fellowshiphall and will serve their food itemsto those who attend. Save yourappetite for this extravaganza of fla-vor.

In addition to all our plans forCelebration Sabbath, we’re filling upthe baptismal pool and inviting any-one who wishes to be part of thebaptismal service that day. This isthe third baptism we’ve celebratedthis fall. If you’re interested to learnmore about being baptized or justhave a few questions please callPastor Mitch at (562) 869-6013.

November 26th is Thanksgiving.It’s a day to express our thanks toGod for the blessings we have. Itseems sometimes we forget the

‘expressing our thanks’ part and theday is just about food and football.Not that food and football is all bad,but the day should be more than that.On November 28th, Bill Aumack’smessage is A Classic Thanksgiving.We know about classic Coke, classiccars and classical music, join us onthat day to see what the Bible saysabout classic thanksgiving.

See you when the church gathers. =

Bring a Friend... (cont. from page 2)

November 11th is VeteransDay. Remember to fly yourflag in support of the soldierswho have given so much tous.Did you know that it’s traditionto wear a poppy to show sup-port for the Veterans? Get outthose flags and poppies!

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

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4:52 pm sunset

4:47 pm sunset

4:44 pm sunset

9:30 AM S.S.

9:30 AM S.S.

9:30 AM S.S.10:50 AM Worship Mitch WilliamsCelebration Sabbath

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

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

S.S. - Sabbath School

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10:50 AM WorshipMitch Williams

10:50 AM Worship Mitch Williams

910 AM C.S.

6:30 pm BandPractice

6:30 pm BandPractice

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Downey Adventist ChurDowney Adventist Chur ch ch

7 pm Women’sPrayer Group

7 pm Women’sPrayer Group

4:57 pm sunset

6:30 pm BandPractice

6:30 pm BandPractice

7 pm Women’sPrayer Group

12:30 PM Luncheon

7 pm ChurchBoard

HHow many times have you saidto yourself: I just don’t know

where all my money goes or I can’tseem to make ends meet when itcomes to my finances? Believe me,you are not alone with thesethoughts, especially in the currentfinancial recession.

The best answer to this financialdilemma is a household budget. Iknow, as soon as you read “house-

hold budget” you have the feeling ofbeing sent to your room as a teenag-er, getting a “time out” or standingin the corner as a child. For themajority of people, going on a bud-get just sounds disagreeable. Andwhen we observe the way ournational leaders disregard finances,it’s no wonder the average Americandislikes and even ignores developinga household budget.

Many of the readers of theStewpot may have failed to establisha personal financial plan or budgetin the past because you hold on toone or more excuses for not doingso. Below are four common excuses,presented in a “tongue-in-cheek”manner. Most of them are unfoundedand illogical, but we continue to usethem as ways to get ourselves out ofdeveloping a plan. The bottom lineis that having a budget is actually aliberating experience.

Excuse #1: Hanging on to

old budget myths. When youand your spouse start thinking aboutdeveloping a sound financial plan,

you quickly fall back on such timehonored myths as, “We just don’thave the time,” “We didn’t get theaccountancy gene,” or “Puttingtogether a budget, whoa, that’s a lotof hard work.”

Perspective: When you look atthe whole scheme of money man-agement, it seems that comparingthe one or two hours a month ittakes todevelop abudget to the160 plushours youwork to earnyour money,it is timevery wellspent. If youwork anaverage ofover 2,000hours peryear, it defi-nitely seemsworthwhileto put anadditionalone to twopercent ofthat timedeciding justwhere that money is going to go.

Excuse #2: You lovefinancial arguments. Instead ofrelaxing and enjoying a quietevening reading a great book orenjoying your favorite hobby, afavorite pastime seems to be havingheated discussions about eachother’s spending habits. You wouldrather argue with your spouse aboutwho spends the most money and

throw economic grenades at eachother, as if you don’t get enoughpressure from work, relationships orlife as a whole.

Perspective: Having a pre-arranged, spouse-approved system todirect your spending decisions is amust. For nearly 40 years, my wifeand I have practiced this simple rule:if it’s not in the budget and costs

more than $100,let’s discuss itfirst, so there areno hard feelingsand the house-hold budgetremains intact.Well plannedbudgets or spend-ing plans reduceand eliminateblame games.This should giveyou more time totalk about how orhow to pick bet-ter mutual fundsin your 401k.

Excuse #3:Financialbungeejumping.

Keeping an account of every itempurchased seems very mundane tothe majority of individuals. Theywould rather play the proverbialRussian roulette with their personalfinances. Receiving bank noticeswith a $35 bank charge or a $75penalty for a credit card infractionare the only times they have amomentary glimpse of what a house-hold budget could and would do for

November 2009November 2009

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Budgets Don’t Count -Or Do They?

Stewpot

by Gordon Botting, DrPH, CHES

continued on page 11

“Make yourself rich by making your wants few.”— H.D. Thoreau

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Nov. Birthdays

Laura Luna - 3 Sandra Gomez - 3 David Chavez - 4 Juanita Cabrera - 5 Norman Markussen - 6 Clarice Murray - 10 Noemi Morales - 10 Esther McPhoy - 10 Daniel Lewis - 12 Mark Pond - 12 Ava Meade - 13 Melissa Archila - 16 Gustavo Ortega - 17 Jasmine Amezaga - 18 Alex Chavez - 18Evelyn Vierna - 20 Araceli Sanchez - 21 Mariah Chavez - 22 Mark Toban - 22 Rebecca Stephens - 23 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 itin.

November 2009November 2009

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UpcUpcomingomingEEvvenentsts

2nd Sunday - 10 a.m. Community Service3rd Saturday - Adventurer ClubThursdays - 7 p.m. Women’s Prayer GroupFridays - 6:30 p.m. Band Practice

Nov 1 - Time Change. Set clocks BACK onehourNov 21 - Celebration Sabbath & FellowshipLuncheon

The Latest Worddeadline is the 5thof the month.

Coming Soon

December 5 - Kids SabbathDecember 19 - Community ChristmasJanuary - Bible Marking Series

this month

If you are looking for a new, fun way toread The Latest Word online, be sure tocheck out the newest format athttp://issuu.com/downeychurch. Samegreat content in a richer environment. Besure to check out all the reading modes.As usual, you can still get read it at ourwebsite at www.downeychurch.org.

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The Latest About

Our Church FamilyWe sorrowfully report the passing

of Marylene Morris’ son, DeanMorris. Dean grewup in the Downeychurch and was livingin Ohio. He is sur-vived by his wife Bevand daughter Krystal.Please remember theentire family in yourprayers as they mournthe passing of Dean.

Congratulations toAlex Chavez. He was recently bap-tized here at the Downey Church.Welcome to family Alex!

Bill’s friend, Mikey, does a verycool project to help the troops. Hecould use our help. Early Christmasmorning, Mikey’s family meets with

other families to visit with sick andinjured recruits at Marine Boot

Camp in San Diego. Theygive them a bunch ofgoodies, including lettersfrom children and adultsto try to encourage themin their healing process sothey can fulfill their mis-sion to serve and protectour country.

They need 1000s of let-ters and your help is SO

appreciated. The deadline to mailletters is 11/16/09!

Get more info here:www.mikeysfunnies.com/archive/20091013/index.html

Thank you to everyone who hasbeen saving Campbell Soup Labelsfor education and Box Tops forEducation. That is greatly appreci-ated.

On the Campbell Soup labels, allthat is really need is the UPC (thebar code). You don’t have to savethe entire label, just the UPC barcode.

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

Please give your labels to LindaAumack. Thank you for your sup-port! =

Food Drive

OOnce again our church will do aThanksgiving food drive. The

food we donate will be given to theDowney PTA HELPS to benefit peo-ple right here in Downey.

Last year we did really well byfilling up the the back of Bill’s truck.

That was great. However, there wasmore room in the truck

The bed can be expanded from 5feet long with the tail-gate up to 6 and 1/2feet long with the tail-gate down and the gateinstalled (as pictured).Additionally there is atrunk under the pickupbed. We’d like to fillup all that space this year.

This is a big challenge for us.That would mean we would need atleast a 175 bags of food (quite likelymore than that).

The food drive isn’t somethingwe take lightly. Several times in theBible we are commanded to care for

others. Duet. 15:11 says, “ThereforeI command you to beopenhanded toward yourbrothers and toward thepoor and needy in yourland.” This is somethingGod is very clear aboutand we want to activelyfollow His word as best

we can.

Our deadline so the Downey PTAHELPS has time to organize thefood is Nov. 7. Please bring yournon-perishable canned and driedfood to church so we can fill up thetruck and follow God’s command. =

November 2009November 2009

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their financial freedom. The onlytime you feel the need to developa money management program iswhen you are in financial freefall.

Perspective: To be honest,having a comprehensive budgetwill allow you to have regularnights out with your spouse andfriends, as well as the dollars andcents to pay for those concerttickets and the babysitter. It willalso allow you to have the fundsneeded for annual family trips toa theme park or maybe even anAfrican safari.

Excuse #4: Half-heart-ed blowouts. The ultimateexcuse for not having a budget ishaving a half-hearted one. This is thebudget you have in your mind, butwhich is quite different from the onein your spouse’s head.Consequentially, they both add up to150 percent of your combined 100percent salaries. This lackadaisicalthinking falls under the same catego-ry as that of the individual whobelieves that if there are checks inthe checkbook, there certainly ismoney in the bank.

Perspective: A household budgetthat truly reflects every aspect ofyour financial needs and also plansfor emergencies and other unfore-seen financial crises will save you alot of headaches and sleeplessnights.

Budget Basics

1. Make a conservativeincome projection. Includeonly your current salary, plus other“known” monthly incomes, such asinterest from a savings account orincome from rental property. Do notinclude “hoped for” tax refunds, costof living raises or end of year bonus-es. Considering Murphy’s Law, these“hoped for” incomes probably willnot happen to you in the currenttwelve month period.

2. Know and understandyour budget. There are generallythree sections to your budget: o Firm or known amounts that never

change, such as the monthlyrental/mortgage payment on your

home or a vehicle pay-ment.o Flexible or variableamounts, such as utilities

and telephone accounts. If yourhome is heated by gas, butcooled by electricity, it makessense that the gas bill will behigher in winter and the elec-tricity bill higher in summer.o Fixed or limited amounts willbe those items that are left, suchas groceries, clothing, entertain-ment or allowances. This sec-tion often determines whether ornot a budget will work for you.

3. The key to a budget.The key to staying within yourbudget is to tailor it to yourfinancial income. Like the para-ble of Jesus, where one stewardwas given five talents of money,another three and another one,so it is in our modern society: if

you make $25,000 a year, that iswhat your household budget shouldreflect; if you earn $50,000 a year,your budget should reflect thatamount; if your salary is $80,000 peryear or more, you can obviouslyhave a larger budget.

The average credit card balanceof the majority of individuals orfamilies is approximately $10,000.This is usually because over theyears their monthly expenses typi-cally exceed their monthly incomeby only $100 or $200-and the debtjust keeps on going up and up andup. =

References: Some concepts from“Budgeting Basics 1: Reasons Not toBudget” by Matthew Pryor, Sound MindInvesting magazine, January 2009, page 6.

Budgets Don’t Count-Or Do They? (cont. from page 7)

“If your outgo exceeds yourincome, then your upkeepwill be your downfall.” — Bill Earle

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

Return Service Requested

DATED MATERIAL

November 2009November 2009

PPonder This...onder This...

= “I have so much to do (today) that I should spend thefirst three hours in prayer.”—Martin Luther

= “Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a sin-gle day.”—Robert Caspar Lintner

= “When I give, I give myself.”—Walt Whitman

= “A coincidence is God’s way of remaining anony-mous.”—Unknown