United States Celebrates Thanksgiving This Week; and other world news

This week on ANN The United States is celebrating Thanksgiving this week—a time to pause, take stock of all blessings, and give thanks to God for everything He has done. ANN made a special episode for the Thanksgiving celebration to express how ANN has been grateful throughout the past year. Adventist pastors, teachers, young people, communicators, and digital missionaries have worked tirelessly to share Jesus with their communities. Adventist World Church president Ted N.C. Wilson also left his special message in this special episode. ANN also recalled numerous stories about how the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has worked tirelessly to help people throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. ADRA partnered with the Adventist Church to help more than 35 million people. Every year, Giving Tuesday is celebrated on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This year, Giving Tuesday will be on November 30 and ADRA is matching each donation received. If ADRA receives a one-dollar donation, it will match that dollar with three. Hence, a 15-dollar donation will be 45 dollars. People can also check ADRA’s Gift Catalog for more gift-giving ideas. The Solomon Islands Mission education department took the opportunity to visit rural schools. In Fiji, teachers from Suva Adventist College visited their sister school, Navesau Adventist High School, with groceries to support the teachers and their families. In South Korea, teachers at Tusgal School prepared and taught a total of 647 online classes. In the US state of Wisconsin, students from Adventist Christian Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point encouraged, motivated, and inspired students to remain faithful to Jesus. The Southern Asia Pacific Division hosted the Adventist Health Professional Summit, bringing together various professionals for fellowship, prayer, and recognition. Medical professionals from 14 countries attended the virtual summit held in late September 2021. COVID frontline healthcare workers shared testimonies of working with patients. Representatives from other institutions also shared testimonies of how God has worked through them to touch lives over the past year. In the US, AdventHealth Global Missions has prompted healthcare teams to volunteer on medical mission trips at ten locations in Rwanda and Peru, performing more than 50 surgeries in Juliaca, including general surgery, reconstructive burn surgery, and surgery to repair birth defects like cleft palate and cleft lip. In Argentina, the Adventist Sanatorium of Plata is carrying out advanced work on developing more tests for the disease in collaboration with the Adventist University of Plata, which provided the necessary equipment for diagnostic procedures. The testing will help the country do more for people infected and help prevent the spread of the disease. Over the past 18 months, despite constant setbacks, disappointments, and cancellations, pastors and ministerial directors around the world have seen more creativity in ministry during the second wave of the pandemic. In the South Philippine Union Conference, young people organized 275 simultaneous evangelistic series, both in-person and virtual, resulting in over 3,800 baptisms. Pathfinders and youth groups in El Salvador collaborated with ADRA to distribute 105 packages of brand new clothes and blankets to displaced individuals following devastating landslides. Through social media, Christians can evangelize all over the world. The Church launched an app “Adventist Teams” for digital missionaries to create, share and distribute hope in Jesus. The Adventist Church in Puerto Rico released its first major evangelistic film “Spin”; the second season of The Uncertainty Project was released—the result of the joint work of different countries, media entities, and five worldwide administrative offices of the Seventh-day Adventist Church: Inter-European Division, Trans-European Division, North American Division, Inter-American Division. Two churches in the US lake Union region of the Adventist Church created a digital animation evangelism project. Adventist communication experts from different Adventist Church entities worldwide worked together to share messages of hope through a series of 12 #DearCoronavirus videos shown globally on social media/viewing platforms. Erbil, Iraq, has a history that spans more than 5,000 years and has a deep connection with biblical history. President of the Middle East and North Africa Union, Rick McEdward, visited the citadel in the heart of the city and shares how it reminds him how God wants us to treat others. Adventist Mission has more: (link). Be in the know of the latest news and current events within the Adventist community. Visit Adventist News Network for more. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovLSxgivlWU