Pastor Jose's Updates

Pastor Jose's Update 8 14 06

Greater New York Conference of the Seventh-dayAdventistChurch

Adventist Youth Ministries Department

Pastor Jose�s Update

8/14/06

It�s great to be back at home and at the office. With the English, Hispanic, Franco Haitian Camps, and the Mission Trip, Joanne, Jose III, and I had forgotten what our beds feel like. We had been away since the first week of July; so it was excellent to be home last Thursday, August 10th. I would like to thank God for bringing our group back safely, on the very same day, where all of the terror plots were discovered and announced. The trip was long, with delays, but we are happy to be back. Of course our group of 63 teens, young adults, and adults worked in construction and helped two different churches; we also led a VBS with lots of non-Adventist kids. Out of the many highlights of the trip, the main one took place on the last night, after worship, where 11 of our own young people got baptized. Construction and church improvements are important and great, but the main thing is to make sure that we bring young people to Christ. This type of thing is what we live for, here in the Youth Department.

My happiness to be back home won�t last long, tomorrow evening I will be headed to Boise, Idaho (Headquarters of the Pacific Press Publishing Association) to attend the North American Division Hispanic Evangelism Committee. When I return on Friday, it will be time to go to the GNYC Pastors� Retreat for the weekend.

Now, for those of you that were not at any of the campmeetings, I�ve got the best news: our family is expecting another baby. This time I am not going to make any predictions or prophecies regarding the gender, like I did last time. By February next year we�ll have another Baby Cortes around; and then that�s it. No more babies after that.

Following a little update on what�s coming up in the next few weeks.

UPDATE

1. Adventist Youth Fun Day (this Sunday, August 20 @ Six Flags Theme Park and Safari): Our second Adventist Youth Fun Day of the year will take place at Six Flags� Theme Park and Safari, as scheduled in the Calendar and Website. To get tickets, please call the Adventist Youth Ministries Department. For more info regarding tickets and Fun Days, please check our website. This outing is for anyone who would like to attend, young adults, collegiate, teens, Pathfinders, Adventurers, adults, visitors, anyone who would like to go. Tickets will not be for sale at the park. The prices for the tickets are $29.00 per person.

Don�t forget to wear a Christian t-shirt, something that allows people to know that there are thousands of Adventist young people who love and obey God.

*If you are not able to participate on the schedule days, you can purchase the tickets and go on any other Sunday or weekday, tickets are valid for the entire season. If you check the prices at the park and the prices of the tickets at the Adventist Youth Ministries Department, you could even use them for Fundraising.

2.Taste of Life (this Sunday, August 20 @ Central Park): There will be a great Adventist presence at Central Park this Sunday, as a group of Manhattan area churches, sponsored by our Conference, will get together for music, fun, food, and fellowship. Everyone is invited. For more info, please check our website.

3. United Campmeeting ( Sabbath, September 16 @ CampBerkshire): We are expecting over 3,000 young adults, teens, Pathfinders and Adventurers on this day. SabbathSchool will be done by the Adventist Youth and the Pathfinder Coordinators together. On this day we would like to have a very colorful SabbathSchool and worship, with the flags of all the countries represented in the audience. Plan to attend this big event. More details will come your way, in the days to come.

4. Website is working again: As soon as we got back from the Mission Trip, we realized that our website was not working properly or working at all. That has been corrected; you can now enter our website again.