Calimesa Connections A bimonthly Newsletter of the Calimesa Seventh-day Adventist Church

391 Myrtlewood Dr, Calimesa, CA 92320 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2016

CHRISTMAS OFFERING REPORT

by the editor

Our Calimesa Church was very blessed to raise a total of $42,155 for 2015’s Christmas Offering. This special offering will be going to amaz-ing ministries and projects all over the world that have special connections with our church family. Thank you Calimesa for your generosity! The following ministries will be supported:

Roatan Mission Trip - $10,000. This will be the 8th Calimesa Church mission trip to Diamond Rock and Camp Bay.

Bill and Laura LaBore Philip-pines Mission will receive $5,000 to assist with operating costs.

Raw Impact: is slated to receive $5000 for their Cambodia project. This non-profit organization serves the world’s poorest villages and commu-nities.

Davis Memorial Hospital Dental Clinic (near Georgetown, Guyana) will receive $5000. The hospital opened a dental clinic in late 2014.

Creative Ministry Fund, our lo-cal fund to support Thrive, Calimesa’s Community Garden and Easter, will receive $5,000.

Youth Short-term Missions - will receive $5,000. This will subsidize mission costs for students and fami-lies.

Community and Member Services Fund. $5000 will go to this fund designed to help community and or church members in need.

MULTI-PURPOSE ROOMDEDICATED

Pastor Ariza speaking for Multi-purpose Room Dedication

What we have known as the Fireside Room really can’t be called that any more because, with the recent completion of the Multi-purpose Building remodel, the fireplace was removed. Although the building looks the same from the outside, you won’t recognize the inside, as the interior has been completely re-done.

After months of planning and remodeling, our Multipurpose Building was formally dedicated on December 19, 2015 with a short dedicatory service led by project director Pastor Pablo Ariza. The service was held, after Sabbath morning church services, in the newly re-modeled youth room.

After the design and layout was completed by Tom Robinette of Prime Line Design, many people went into action. Our remodel committee included - Wendell Hesseltine, Dave Hall, Del Fran-drich, Marian Chrispens, Pam Emerson, Jenn Hoffer,

Tom Allen, KC Larsen, Danny Kohler, Tami Shankel, Stephanie Church, Lisa Ciccarelli, Pastor Jon Ciccarelli, Pastor Genevieve Isidro and Pastor Pablo Ariza. Carl Thornton was the contractor and Dave Hall provided invalu-able counsel at many key junctures. Don Richards built all the cabinets and Tyler Riddle designed and helped install all of the audio/visual equipment.

Many members, including those from the Quilters and Com-munity Services organizations gave considerable time and effort to move everything out and back in during the remodel process. Many members also provided ‘house warming’ gifts from registries at Bed Bath & Beyond and Target.

Funding for the project came from three sources - Christmas of-ferings, our Fireside Building Fund and the McAnnally Fund.

by the editor

Calimesa Connections Newsletter of the Calimesa

Seventh-day Adventist ChurchVol. 2016, No. 1

Editor....................................Michael FillmanAssociate Editor ..........................Bonnie ParkerCopy Editors......Arlys Fillman, Richard Parker

Reporters: Damaris Matthews, John Parrish, Roxy Heinrich, Heidi Steffen

Calimesa Connections is a general publication of the Calimesa Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its purpose is to share news and ideas relevant to its members. It is published every two months and sent free of charge to the home of every Calimesa SDA Church member.

Address all correspondence by e-mail to mfillman@mac.com, or to Newsletter Editor, Calimesa SDA Church, PO Box 647, Calimesa, CA 92320.

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Upcoming Events

January Jan 23 Mike Bennie Jan 30 Jon Ciccarelli

February Feb 6 Issac Kim Feb 13 Jon Ciccarelli Feb 20 Jon Ciccarelli Feb 27 Reverend Bewes

Worship Calendar

SAVE THE DATE March 5: Calimesa Women’s Retreat 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Plantation on the Lakes Recreation Center

April 22-24. Church Retreat at Pine Springs Ranch

LIVING IN THE WAITING

Believe it or not we have of-ficially reached 2016. How many of us saw this coming years or decades ago? Remember 1999 and all of the anticipation, excitement, and anxiety about what may or may not happen in Y2K? Some people were certain Jesus would return by then. In fact, some people even had charts they had created out of their understanding of the Bible that “proved” Jesus was coming back in the year 2000. This was to be the end of the world as we knew it!

Well, sixteen years later and we are still waiting for Jesus to come. Still waiting for the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, to come. Or are we? Yes, we are waiting for Jesus to return in the clouds and rapture His people from this earth (note…not a ‘secret’ rapture). Yes, we are waiting to hear those trumpets played by the angels heralding His triumphant return and victory over Satan and his evil effects on us and the planet. Yes, we are waiting for and long-ing so much for the New Earth and for ourselves to be completely transformed and made new. This day will come and it will be more amazing than we can even imagine!

But wait a minute, didn’t Jesus say that He brought His Kingdom with Him when He came the first time? Didn’t He invite those He spoke to and walked with into His Kingdom at that moment? Yes, He did. He gave those He interacted

with the invitation of the abundant life. A life of accepting, entering into and surrendering to the loving, merciful and gracious governance of Jesus.

Practically speaking, in living out this life in the 21st century, I find it is in the personal daily sur-render to Jesus’ reign that I experi-ence His Kingdom come. When we surrender daily, several times throughout the day in specific situ-ations, the Kingdom of Heaven reigns and comes into our lives and spills out into and ‘onto’ the rela-tionships we share with others.

Yes, it is going to be amazing when Jesus returns and we get to see Him face to face and He com-pletely makes all things new again! But until then, as we wait for that final day, Jesus and His Kingdom come to us every day with the op-portunity to surrender and rest in His righteous reign. Jesus, may Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

At His Feet,Pastor Jon

The Gary Bonner Singers blessed our congregation and community again, as they have so many times over the years.

Three nearly full house concerts were presented on December 18 and 19, 2015.

BONNER SINGERSDELIGHT

The Gary Bonner Singersperforming in Calimesa

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YAMI BAZAN TO SPEAK FOR WOMEN’S RETREAT

Calimesa’s next women’s retreat will be held on March 5, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the spacious Planta-tion on the Lakes Recreation Center: 10961 Desert Lawn Drive, Calimesa, CA. Yami Bazan, Vice President for Student Life at La Sierra University, will present the topic – “Messy Liv-ing.”

The registration fee is $28 and the deadline to register is Monday, February 29, 2016. Please find the registration form below.

Yamilet Bazan, Yami, was born in Cuba and came to the United States when she was 8 years old. A pastor’s daughter, an athlete, a sister, cousin, wife, mother, teacher, pastor; all these can describe her, but she prefers the label - a child of God. A graduate of La Sierra University (BA & MA) and of Andrews University (PhD), Yami feels “indebted to the lives of the men and women who took the time to grow my faith, my intellect and ultimately my love for God.”

Yami’s been involved in education and youth ministries for the past 23 years. Her ministry began as a middle school teacher at Mesa Grande Acad-

emy, went on to public school, spent a year as a missionary with her husband, returned and served for eight years as the Associate Youth Ministries director for Southeastern California Conference whereby she designed, implemented and ran high-school-aged youth ministry. She cares deeply for young people and has dedicated her life to serving God, the youth and her beloved Adventist church. She began as an educator; was called into min-istry; and for the past nine years has used both roles in her service as the Vice President for Student Life at La Sierra University. Her passion is to set the record straight about God and the Truth we hold so dear. She preaches Christ and Christ alone. There is no other Truth that can ever compete with His grace.

Yami’s been married for 25 years. “My husband is my best friend, greatest supporter and my complete opposite.” Together they share a thoughtful, musical and funny sixteen-year-old son; both dad and son are named Daniel.

Yami Bazan

REGISTRATION FORM - Calimesa Women’s RetreatSaturday March 5, 2016

Name __________________________________ Address ________________________________

City ___________________ State ________ Zip ________

Phone ____________________________

Email ____________________________ Mail this registration from with a check for $28/person Payable to: Calimesa SDA Church (CWR on memo line) MAIL TO: Pam Knox, CWR Registration 33562 Casa Vista Street Yucaipa, CA 92300 List below any additional attendees included in your check ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

VEGETARIAN LUNCH PROVIDED

REGISTER EARLY!

Plantation on the Lakes - Recreation Center10961 Desert Lawn Drive, Calimesa, CA 92320

SWEET HOUR OF PRAYERby Earl Mack

Some of your fellow church members have felt a need to start a regular prayer meeting where we can support each other. If you share that need and have personal, family or other issues you would like to bring before the Lord, or if you would just like to be part of our prayer support, you are invited to join us as often as you are able each Friday night at 7:00 P.M. in the music room. For more infor-mation, call 909-795-8773.

ALFRED’S RIDDLEWhat happend whenthe shellfish tried to

dance? (answer on page 4)

DID YOU KNOW THAT . . . compiled by Bonnie Parker

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…on October 11, 2015, the Drew and Torrey Riddle wedding went off without a hitch! (except for the couple getting hitched of course)? The venue was an outdoor wedding with a Mid-dle-Eastern theme and was decorated to perfection, courtesy of the mother of the bride. Stress levels were high, even for the groom, but the bride was floating on clouds. Drew’s parents, Alfred & Joy Riddle, are thrilled to add another wonderful woman to the Riddle family! The couple now lives in Loma Linda with no puppies and no kitties. (They may be in the market for one though!)

Torrey has a Doctorate of Physical Therapy and works in outpatient PT in the community. Drew is a unit secre-tary in a pediatric outpatient surgery unit at the Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital. They both just graduated in 2015.

…after four short years, Mitch-ell Fairhurst is graduating from the University of Redlands with his BA in Business Administration at the end of April, 2016? After graduation, he has the privilege of traveling to China for three weeks to explore financial insti-tutions with his business professors from the University of Redlands.......then life’s journey continues!

.... Brittany Kohler married Chris-topher Plata at a beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony on December 12, 2015? The ceremony was held on Danny and Sylvia Kohler’s Cherry Valley ranch on a sunny fall afternoon. After the ceremony, the guests moved into a large tent for dinner and festivi-ties. Christopher is a data engineer for Disney in Burbank, CA. He is the great nephew of former Calimesa member Roger Plata. Brittany is now working at the Beaumont Surgi-cal Center as a para-anesthesia nurse. They are currently waiting for their new home to be completed in Single-ton Heights in Calimesa where they will reside. Congratulations Brittany and Christopher ! ! !

….the 2016 Women’s Devotional, Living His Love, is an excellent way to start the day? This book was published by the Pacific Press Publish-ing Association and edited by Caro-lyn Sutton and Ardis Stenbakken. Each day’s contribution is written by Seventh-day Adventist women from around the world; including one from Bonnie Parker. Each author has shared their talents so that all profits go toward global scholarships for Adventist women in higher education. The goals of these scholarships are to help build stronger families, stronger communities and a stronger church. “Each morning as I read the scripture

and the thoughts for the day I am so blessed”. If you would like to obtain a copy of this book call 1-800-765-6955 or visit http://www.adventistbookcen-ter.com

…Judy Rentschler just retired from EPIC Management (Beaver Med-ical Group) as the Director of Nursing Administration? Judy worked for BMG for 16 years as a staff nurse and nurse manager before becoming the Director of Nursing. She graduated from Loma Linda University School of Nursing in 1969 and worked on the Coronary Care Unit, ICU, Medical-Surgical and Staff Development before deciding to stay home with three chil-dren. After the children were grown, she taught in the School of Nursing for five years and worked in an OB-GYN office before joining Beaver Medical Group. Besides being an avid reader, Judy plans to garden and travel with husband Bob, visit grandchildren in Maryland and take up quilting again.

….that Steve Morrow was elected president for the California Dental Board in December 2015? Steve is currently serving and enjoying his second term on the board.

…Ben Clausen (not Ben Carson) spent Christmas week near Mombasa giving science/religion lectures to Seventh-day Adventist students at-tending public universities in Kenya? The group was made up of about one hundred student leaders, chosen from tens of thousands of such university students.

Drew amd Torrey Riddle

Christopher and Brittany Plata

RIDDLE ANSWERHe Pulled A Mussel!

Thought For The Day

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have time to

do it over? John Wooden - former UCLA

basketball coach

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RANDOM ACTSOF KINDNESS

One evening, my husband John and I were enjoying eating at Ocean Pho Restaurant in Yu-caipa. It’s a small restaurant with great food (vegetarian menu) where we often enjoy a Friday evening meal. We were actually through eating and had already paid our bill, when I remembered Bonnie Parker sharing about “random acts of kindness.” I said to John, “Let’s pay someone’s bill”. Of course my generous husband never has a negative reaction to generosity. We looked around the restaurant and I asked, “do you have a table in mind.” “ Yes,” he said, “the fam-ily in the corner.” We asked for the waiter to come over and explained that we would like to pay their bill. He did not speak good English and thought we had problems with our bill. He sent someone over who spoke English and she understood what we wanted to do.

It was so much fun doing this! We did not get to see their response, but I know there were smiles on their faces when they received their check with a zero balance including the tip. What an honor it is to be God’s servants and serve others without expecting anything back. It was wonderful just knowing we had the power to put a smile on a family that night. What a privilege it is to give. I’m sure we experienced as much joy as they did, if not more.

Thanks Bonnie for reminding us of the joy of giving. Like you encouraged John and me, we hope we can encourage others.

by Georgie BarrettWhile visiting my daughter

Lauren in Portland, Oregon after the birth of her baby girl, I was at WinCo buying groceries and things for the baby. At the checkout I tried to pay with my charge card, but it wasn’t being accepted since I was out of state. The kind lady behind me saw my dilemma and offered to pay for my whole bill, which came to over forty dollars. When I offered to give her a check, she refused saying she helps people in her Bible study and she could help me too! I will never forget her kindness!

by Cindi Wright

OUR NEW MEMBERS

by Arlys Fillman

The New Member feature has been absent from our newsletter for at least two years – but we are bringing it back for 2016. This means we have a lot of catching up to do. If you have joined our church during this time, even if you don’t feel “new” anymore, we would like to know more about you. Arlys Fillman will be con-tacting you for information and a picture, or it would be great if you would contact her at aafillman@verizon.net since we may have an incomplete list or contact infor-mation. If you haven’t put your information in the online church directory yet - calimesasda.court-yardapp.com - doing that would be helpful. You will need to call the church office (909-795-9741) for help setting up a log-in profile if you haven’t already done so. Welcome to Calimesa!

MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS

Claudia French and daughterStephanie Tapu

Claudia French and her daughter, Stephanie Tapu, joined our church in November of 2015. Two years ago they moved to Ban-ning from Corona where they had been living for 15 years. Claudia, who immigrated to southern Cali-fornia from Romania 31 years ago, is a professional artist and has a degree in CAD Civil Engineering Drafting. She recently closed her Cotrutza Gallery in Los Angeles. Her husband, James, teaches in the Colton School District and is Mu-sic Director at the Cathedral Center Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. Stephanie is also an artist and lives with her parents. I am sure several of our church ministries will ben-efit from their artistic talents.

Claudia and James have two daughters who are college students, Emily at UCSD and Sarah at CalState Fullerton. They also have two married daughters, dietitian Adina Pearson in Walla Walla, WA and Cecilia McKenzey, man-ager at a Sears Optic Center in the Seattle area. Son Jerome French is a CPA in Pasadena and son Patrick Tapu is Director and Cinematog-rapher at Embryo Productions in Culver City.

continued on the next page

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Reservations will be available soon for the 46th annual Mountaintop Retreat for Calimesa Church mem-bers and friends held at Pine Springs Ranch. Dr. Robert Soderblom, long-time coordinator for the popular event, says reservation forms will be avail-able in February at the church and on its Web site, www.calimesasda.com.

Featured speakers and musicians for the April 22-24 weekend include Mark Carr, PhD; Gerald Winslow, PhD; vocal artists Rollyn and Angie Betts; and writer/dramatist Colette Carr. Dozens of other volunteers will lead and support the programs for retreat-goers of all ages.

Mark and Colette Carr are well-known to all but the most recent new Calimesa Church members. Now living in Mark’s former home state, Alaska, both were notable contribu-tors to church and community life here before moving away in 2013 – he then an ethics professor at Loma Linda University and she a teacher who adapted and directed our church’s pro-ductions of the epic religious drama “Once Upon an Eternity.” Mark is currently the Regional Director of Eth-ics at Providence Health & Services in Anchorage, Alaska.

Gerald Winslow is vice President

for mission and culture at Loma Linda University Medical Center. He is also vice president for spiritual life at the university and professor of religion in the Loma Linda University School of Religion.

Rollyn and Angie Betts are popu-lar vocal artists appearing throughout the Pacific Northwest. They live in Salem, Oregon, where, in addition to their music performances, he is a pri-vate music instructor and she a mas-sage therapist and health lecturer.

Rob Wilson and Chris Church will be hosting Saturday Night at the Ranch again at PSR – 2016! This year it will be an actual talent show featuring the amazing/bizarre talents of Calimesa members, (yes, that’s YOU!). This is the time to start getting your musical instru-ments out and thinking up some fun creative skits. Watch for adver-tisements coming in the future how you can volunteer to be part of this fun evening. It’s only as fun as YOU Calimesa Saturday Nighter’s make it!

Reservatons coordinator Rhonda Wilson says - “this year we will not be able to accept payments at PSR on Sabbath during the retreat. Please make your payments in advance even if you are just having a meal on Sabbath. Thank you for your coopera-tion.”

Accommodations at Pine Springs – in the comfortable main lodge, nearby winterized cabins, and assigned tent and RV campsites – are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, Dr. Bob advises, and some accommoda-tion categories will likely reach capac-ity before the big weekend.

Suzi and Lucien Hebert are delighted to be back “home” with Calimesa Church family and friends. They rejoined after Camp Meeting in 2014 when they discovered how much they had been missing the fellowship at Calimesa. They have been gone since 2002 pastoring at the Ontario and then the Victorville churches.

Lucien is still working at his his-tology lab, “X-Cell” in Redlands and loving every minute of it. He loves racquetball and helping in Kindergar-ten Sabbath School. Suzi said goodbye to their Victorville church family in 2013 after a difficult conversation with the Lord over commute time and its effect on the grand-children, five of whom live closer to the Beaumont area (and a sixth on the way any day now: Kyle Grace is the soon-to-be born daughter of Erin and Jeremy Hoch who live in Beaumont with daughter Kendall who is seven).

Other children are Loryn who is married to Shaun and lives in Palm Springs with their children Jacob, 14; Melanie, 7; Mason, 4; and Jonah, 8 months.

Their oldest daughter Robyn, a stay-at-home Mom, lives in Dorr, Michigan with Josh, a pastor. They are the proud parents of Stella, age 4.

Suzi enjoys walking, gardening, visiting and writing. She is excited to be doing her small part helping the deaconesses and with some of the decorating for the Women’s Retreat.

by John Parrish

Mark Carr and Gerald Winslow

MEET OUR NEW MEMBERS

Suzi and Lucien Hebert