By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (ADRA Romania)

Every day lived during the uncertain period of COVID-19 is a continuous struggle for those affected, and not only from the point of view of health. We are moving, both physically and mentally, from a state of panic to a state of relaxation, the future being uncertain for everyone. We want to know what it will be like going forward and if things will ever return to “normal.”
In this context, ADRA Romania is on the ground helping and continuing to offer all the support of our fellow people in…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Julia Sinitsyna, Olga Kozulya)

The Good Hands volunteer association has been helping people in need since November 2019, and on June 14, they were at it again. This time, Good Hands collected food packages for large families in their local community of Nizhny Novgorod, in Russia.
“We adjusted the collections to suit the needs of large families,” explains Olga Kozulya, coordinator of the Good Hands movement. “They added to the boxes dry cream and sweet surprises for each child.”
Many social assistance recipients are mobile…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Marc Membrere/Record staff)

Thanks to support from 67 churches in Upolu, Samoa, Lalovaea Seventh-day Adventist College celebrated the opening of a new building and new classrooms at a ceremony held on Sabbath, July 4.
During his opening address, Samoa-Tokelau Mission general secretary Pastor Sione Ausage thanked the church for its support and gave glory to God for the new building, four classrooms, two offices, and restrooms.
“The reason why we are here is to celebrate together the official opening of this work and I…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Maycon Santos)

Despite a substantial agricultural sector and a high standard of living, poverty and food insecurity still dogs the poor in the city of Chapadão do Céu, in the central Brazilian state of Goiás. Recently, Seventh-day Adventists in the community took steps to help, setting up a “food exchange” stand.
The stall was displayed in front of the home of a resident of the Jardim Terra Nova neighborhood. With a sign reading, “Take if you need it and leave if you can,” the project captures the attention…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Rafael Brondani)

A partnership between the Adventist Development and Assistance Resources Agency (ADRA), the Municipal Administration of Samambaia, the Uber transport company, and Mesa Brasil Sesc (Brazil Table of the Social Service of Commerce) served more than 900 people in Samambaia, the administrative region of the Federal District. The distribution was on the morning of July 1, at the city’s ADRA center. The families were duly registered, and all COVID-19 safety measures were taken in the distribution.
…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Mauren Fernandes)

Blending drama, music, and faith, a new video web series asks and answers the spiritual question of how Christian living applies to daily life.
Bequadro (“Natural”) is the latest addition to the Feliz7Play programming catalog, an original production from the Adventist Church’s video aggregating platform. Set in an Adventist boarding school, it tells the journey of a musical group and its conductor, both with little prestige. In the struggle to be recognized, they forget spirituality and Christ,…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Gabriela Porto)

Members of the Central Seventh-day Adventist Church in Campo Novo do Parecis, located in the western part of Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, recently came up with a different way to thank health system workers during the COVID-19 crisis: they made 150 disposable lab coats and donated these to the city health department.
Elaine Aparecida da Silva, who developed the idea, is a member of the Central Church and coordinator of the Municipal Mobile Emergency Service (Samu). According to her, the action…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Tracey Bridcutt)

The inaugural #weRtheCHURCH Sabbath program received such a positive response that it will now be held quarterly.
Organizers of the South Pacific Division (SPD) initiative are planning to share more inspiring stories on what the Church is doing across the region through three Friday night programs, the first to be held on August 28. The fourth program will be a Friday night/Sabbath event similar to the one held on May 22-23.
Each program will be themed around discipleship using the harvest…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Fernando Torres, with the collaboration of Jhenifer Costa)

In June, Adventist state deputy Damaris Moura passed an amendment that guarantees religious conscientious objection to students and civil servants in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
The text is part of Bill 350/2020, which establishes emergency measures for the period of public calamity caused by the new coronavirus, voted in an extraordinary virtual session by members of the São Paulo Legislative Assembly (Alesp). The amendment helps Seventh-day Adventists in the state of São Paulo.
From…

Source:: sda website

By AdventistNews@gc.adventist.org (Weijie (Frank) Kao)

*Editor’s Note: Since 2004, the Northern Asia Pacific Division (NSD) has featured The Golden Angels, a missionary singing group composed of young volunteers who serve the Lord as “musicianaries” for a year. The following testimony shares how the current group is able to continue ministering, even in the midst of the coronavirus shutdown.
In February 2020, the missionary singing group, The Golden Angels, had completed a two-month spiritual, physical, and musical intensive training and were ready…

Source:: sda website