About a year into his job as a chaplain at AdventHealth Orlando in central Florida, Jamie Ricketts, a native of Alberta, Canada, encountered something none of his training prepared him for: a global pandemic had reached the community he serves.
“Who could have imagined something like this happening?” Ricketts said. “The impact is so unprecedented it requires us to innovate as we work.”
Worldwide, according to data released June 8* by Johns Hopkins University, more than 7 million people have…Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ann-en/~3/cTpsHwhCHhY/

The simple actions of an 8-year-old girl in the central Brazilian city of Planaltina won the hearts of healthcare workers and first responders. Challenged by speakers at an online youth camp organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Federal District, little Maria Eduarda decided to honor healthcare workers with greeting cards sent to employees of the area’s Mobile Emergency Care System known as Samu.
Shaped like a heart, the cards read: “Thank you, angels from the health area! May…Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ann-en/~3/Iq3sycrKYWA/

Children whose first memories of life involve deprivation, abuse, and sorrow are finding refuge, healing, and hope at “Welcome Children” centers across Brazil. The centers, called “Casas de Acolhimento” in Portuguese, are sponsored by ADRA Brazil, the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s relief and development arm.
From a very young age, Juliana do Rosário experienced the life of an abused child. She was sexually abused by her mother and stepfather when living with them. Relocation to her biological…Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ann-en/~3/LOPhG3eHOhw/

What happens when a global pandemic blocks the distribution of printed Seventh-day Adventist literature? In Angola, a nation on Africa’s west coast, books are offered digitally, with unexpected results.
For Seventh-day Adventists, sharing the “book of the year,” in this case Hope Beyond Tomorrow by evangelist Mark Finley is a traditional means of bringing the gospel message to many who might not be receptive to a Bible study invitation or another approach. When a lockdown was imposed, leaders…Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ann-en/~3/i_tUkz6xbdQ/

Homeless people in the city of Lages, the largest city in the mountainous region of Brazil’s Santa Catarina state, received food and encouragement from Seventh-day Adventist youths on the evening of May 30. Seventeen young adults from the city’s Central Seventh-day Adventist Church participated, first visiting a temporary shelter managed by city officials. The shelter is designed to help protect the homeless from extreme cold temperatures and other conditions.
The young people distributed 33…Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ann-en/~3/CQzIzP5qUO0/