The Upside 04 - October, 2017

PART ONE: HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN

ADVENTIST SCHOOLS GET TEEN HEALTH TICK 3

The

About

A spring in your step?

As the weather warms up and the days grow longer, we have so many more opportunities to get outside and make the most of it! In this issue of The Upside, we’ve got some great tips for full-body fitness, a healthy Spring recipe, part one of a guide to coping with loss and grief (better mental health), a fascinating report on the correlation between attending an Adventist school and having a healthy BMI, plus how fitness and faith can be a perfect… well… fit.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a long history of involvement in having a wholistic approach to health.

We want people to have healthy minds, bodies and relationships. But it can be easy to lose balance in the world we inhabit — just think about how easy it is to be a workaholic. There’s so much to jam in to each 24-hour day, but what does your priority list look like? How are you making your life more balanced?

Maybe this issue of The Upside will help give you some new ideas.

Adele Nash

Editor-in-chief Paul Geelan Editor Adele Nash

Designer Susan Merchant

Cover

Enquiries

The

Wednesday, 11 October is International Day of the Girl Child, and it’s time for us to consider some tough questions: Why do girls feel unsafe not only in countries like Nepal, but also on Australian streets? Why do they feel less valued than boys? Why is there demand for commercial sex that enables trafficked young girls and women to continue to come to Australian shores? And, most importantly, what can we do to continue to address gender inequality?

Indira (pictured above), 14, walks 30 minutes every day — literally crossing hills — to get to school. Despite the difficulties of growing up in remote Nepal, she is determined to make the most of opportunities that come her way. Indira is intentionally involved in her own education, in and outside the classroom.

She helped decide the extracurricular activities in her school after finding out what interests the other students. She participated in a menstruation campaign in her community, raising awareness about hygiene and nutrition during menstruation. She, along with her friends, proposed for and received a grant from the local government to build a special resting room in their school so girls could still come to school when they have their period.

Indira was part of the birth registration campaign too. Since most of the previous generation in Nepal were married early, they did not register their marriage or the birth of their children. Many in Indira’s community did not know the value of a birth certificate in establishing their identity. So Indira and her friends met local government representatives to have the births of all students in her school registered. Now they are looking to doing the same for the school in the next village.

Unfortunately, not every girl child is able to attend school like Indira or receive opportunities to become a change agent. Conflict and violence, poverty, humanitarian disasters and gender discrimination are barriers that prevent children —

especially girls — from reaching their full potential. What about girls in Australia? According to Plan International’s Everyday Sexism Report, more than two-thirds of girls and young women believe gender inequality remains a persistent problem in Australia, only eight per cent believe they are treated equally to boys, and only 16 per cent feel they are always valued for their intelligence or mental ability.

Even more worryingly, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australia continues to be a destination country for human trafficking. UNODC estimates that 70 per cent of trafficking victims are female, and nearly one third of detected trafficking victims worldwide are children — mainly girls. When we talk about gender inequality, it’s natural to think that these issues affect women, but in fact, gender inequality begins early in girlhood.

How do we fight sexism, celebrate girls and empower them to reach their God-given potential?

By supporting organisations that enable girls to stay in school for longer, provide opportunities for women to learn vocational skills so that they can sustain themselves and their families, and raise awareness among boys and men against violence, trafficking, early marriage and child labour. This will help grow girls and women strong for life, and by challenging inequality in Australia through our own beliefs, actions and words; and through encouraging the girls in our lives to set goals and achieve them.1

— Bruna Tawake

If you would like to support girls in some of the most disadvantaged communities in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, sponsor a child at asianaid.org.au/children or donate to Asian Aid’s Next Generation Fund at asianaid.org.au/next-generation-fund

1 https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/32237/cga-nep-2010.pdf

Fitness and faith:

Sometimes as a Christian, you can wonder how you’re going to share what you believe in a way that benefits people in a holistic fashion — mind, body and spirit. Finding this balance is something that Ray Moaga (pictured above and on the cover) is passionate about. And he’s found a unique way of doing it through health and fitness, as well as by creating a community based around the concept of “Uso” — you’re going to have to keep reading to find out more about that!

When it comes to sport, Ray has always been an active person, and so for him, fitness has been a by-product of that. “I come from a family who is very active and involved in sport,” he says. “It’s always been a part of my life, but more so as I’ve gotten older. Now I’m in my 30s, I’ve been more intentional about how fitness benefits a person.”

Up until the beginning of this year, Ray worked as a pastor for the Adventist Church in Christchurch, New Zealand. He now “ministers” as a personal trainer here in the Newcastle/ Lake Macquarie region. It seems like a big change of direction, but Ray says, “There’s a massive connection between your spiritual and physical health, and that links in to the mental and emotional wellbeing sides as well. When my family and I came back to Australia, I said to Chantal (my wife) that I had something more to give than traditional pastoral ministry alone.”

So Ray went back to study and got his professional personal training qualifications. On social media, he was following

someone he describes as a “coach of coaches,” and this led to a surprising opportunity that might not have arisen otherwise.

One day on Instagram, this coach posted a story. Ray commented on the video, thinking nothing too much of it, as the guy has thousands and thousands of followers. “The next day, he messaged me and asked, ‘What are your biggest goals in life?’” says Ray.

“What was happening!? I wasn’t prepared to have that conversation! I took a day to respond. When I did reach out to him, I said I wanted to be the best version of myself to serve my family, faith community and whole community. The day after that, another guy who’s his assistant called me. Long story short, this led to going to a coaching training camp where they told me, ‘Hey, by the way, there’s a gym in Newcastle that’s part of our group!’”

The name of that gym, which is located in Adamstown in Newcastle, is Cornerstone Strength and Conditioning, and its whole philosophy is based around improving yourself, leaving a legacy for the next generation and holistic health.

Ray was amazed not only by the philosophy of the gym owners, but also the name — Cornerstone. This is a word that’s used to describe Jesus in the Bible (Isaiah 28:16-17; Ephesians 2:19-21). While talking to the owner, Ray says he could have “fallen off his seat” when the guy started to

a unique ministry journey

basically explain the health message that the Seventh-day Adventist Church has. “I thought, ‘This is a set-up, right?’ He’s talking fitness, clean eating, mental wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing. I was like, ‘Are you Adventist!?’”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has long had a health message to share with people — one based around a healthy plant-based diet, avoiding alcohol and smoking, getting adequate exercise and rest, and being connected with God and others. “The health message wasn’t something that convicted me or converted me,” says Ray. “But it was something that made sense. The journey to where I am now started in Christchurch where I realised I loved empowering people with fitness. It wasn’t about making them fit together, but teaching them movements, why they’re important and how to translate them into everyday life.”

Sharing the purpose and meaning behind fitness means that the “lightbulb moment” as Ray calls it comes quickly. “It makes a big difference in why people exercise every day!” he says.

“I’ve got an awesome opportunity to share God and health in a way I’ve never seen before and haven’t come across”

Using his experience in playing team sports, he realised his love for coaching and empowering people. This connects well with what he learned while studying theology and working as a pastor. He’s seen how lives can be changed when church congregations are encouraged and empowered from the pulpit, and he believes it’s the same when it comes to exercise and health.

“I’ve got an awesome opportunity to share God and health in a way I’ve never seen before and haven’t come across,” says Ray. “I know many personal trainers, including those in the Adventist Church. We’re looking at how we can find a balanced way of living that makes people say, ‘Their life makes sense!’ This means I look at how my relationship with my wife and kids is going, as well as my fitness. How am I doing financially? How am I mentally? Am I resting, eating and exercising right?”

Assessing his life holistically has led to a number of revelations, which have made Ray and his family more aware of how they live. “My background is Samoan — it’s our tradition to have your rice and your taro. What are vegetables? A little garnish! I ate like that until I went to Avondale College to study theology, and as a dorm student, I switched to vegetarian food. I noticed the difference in how I felt and my energy levels. And now Chantal and I are establishing our own ideas on healthy living, we’ve become fairly vegan, but are not overly strict. It’s about finding a balance.”

The concept of “Uso” — which we mentioned earlier — also comes into play here. “Uso” is a Samoan word that means brother to brother or sister to sister. Ray and a fellow pastoral colleague in Christchurch used to go on prayer walks at 6.00am every morning, and they’d pray for their families, each other and their ministries. But one day they got talking about other passions they had that they’d forgotten about or didn’t think could happen.

“I’d always had a passion to create T-shirts,” says Ray. “I had an obsession with them! But I wanted to create something with a message. While we were praying, I sensed I could make a brand that highlights Christ-like values of looking out for each other and accountability. I had the impression to use the word ‘uso,’ so got 50 shirts printed and was like, ‘So now what do I do?’”

After getting the T-shirts printed, he reached out to people on social media and asked if they wanted to wear them, explaining what the brand was all about — empowering generations to be better than they were yesterday, mentoring and coaching. “With the word ‘uso,’ it’s a lifestyle, it’s accountability,” Ray notes. “If I call someone an ‘uso,’ they’re not just a mate or a bro. It’s like they’re actually my brother or sister and I want to care for them like they are.”

It also gave him the opportunity to connect the concept with the world of the Bible, telling people, “Christ is our brother, and He asks us to treat others like brothers and sisters. He wants us to really love on people and genuinely care for them. I want people to know unashamedly that I have a relationship with God, and because I love Him and He loves me, I’m compelled to love others.”

Sharing this with people on social media resulted in people getting excited and buying in. This has allowed social media influencers to share what the brand is about. “It’s amazing how God has used it,” says Ray. “I’ve even had sports managers approach me to get shirts for Rugby

League and NRL players. But there’s no red tape about who can wear ‘Uso’ shirts. I just want to teach someone the value of having an ‘uso.’”

Looking to the future, Ray has a dream of opening a holistic health centre in Morisset in the Lake Macquarie area. He’s not sure how it’s going to happen, but says, “For a long time, I’ve been asking, ‘Where do you want me to go, God?’” He’s sure that God will continue to guide him in faith and fitness.

— Adele Nash

“Uso” is a Samoan word that means brother to

for Cambodia fundraiser

Avondale School hosted its 15th Annual Family Festival on 10 September, bringing members of the community together, and highlighted by the first ever Colour for Cambodia run hosted by the school.

The school colour fun run, titled Colour for Cambodia, was based on the popular Colour Run concept, and helped raise $8500 (and counting) for RestoreOne, an organisation run in Cambodia by former school parent Tanya Lawrence. Each year, the graduating Year 12 class have the opportunity to go to Cambodia to support and assist in this project, providing lifelong skills and much-needed help to a community in need. Avondale School Primary students were asked to seek sponsors to participate in the run and others paid to participate, with all the proceeds going to the Cambodia project.

“We are so thankful for the support of Avondale School over the past four years,” says Tanya.

“This November, Year 10 is opening at the Restore One school.

Education provides choice, which gives freedom. Education of a village is a long-term gift that is a poverty breaker!”

The run took place on the school grounds, beginning in the top carpark of the secondary campus and concluding on the primary campus oval with a concert from Felix Quinn Music.

Despite the day being somewhat scaled back compared to previous years due to funding constraints, those in attendance had a good and relaxing day in near-perfect weather. There were 28 stall holders for markets, a variety of food stalls, carnival rides, mini golf, laser tag and pony rides. RhemaFM Newcastle was also on hand, broadcasting live through the event. A special thanks goes out to our Parents and Friends (P&F) who put in a big effort with food organisation.

“It was great to have the community come in and support our school and our service trip to Cambodia,” Avondale School Principal Dr David McClintock reflects. “Our local member, Greg Piper, ‘took his life in his hands’ as he stood in front of the energetic group of students and parents and started the run. We were blessed with a beautiful day and it is so good to see service to others being the driver for the day’s events.”

Colin Chuang

—

brother or sister to sister.

Avondale Family Festival highlighted by first Colour

New branding

rolled out for

Adventist Community Services

Creating a unified, distinctly-recognisable Adventist brand when it comes to involvement in service and aid projects has driven the newly-created Adventist Community Services Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North New South Wales to roll out a variety of logofocused initiatives.

David Haupt, Director of Adventist Community Services, says that the consistent branding will help to avoid confusion in the community that exists when Adventist groups providing aid use a wide variety of logos. “Qantas never changes their logo,” says David. “But every church with a passion to help others has a different logo! Our aim is to have a consistent brand out there so that, whatever and wherever service is being done, we can be recognised as the church that cares.”

Part of this branding includes two vehicles — a van and a truck — that are the start of what is planned to be a larger fleet to be used for things like food pantries, community service projects and delivery of aid. The van and truck were covered with decals created by Sticky Business. Using the Adventist Church’s corporate colours and logo elements, the Adventist Community Services branding is boldly displayed on both.

“We’ll have one vehicle in the south, which will be predominantly involved in food pantry work,” says David. “This involves feeding people and bringing food up to the Central Coast area from Foodbank NSW and ACT in Sydney. The van which used to belong to Better Books and Food, has been redeployed to now operate in the north of our conference. It will be used in the Tweed Valley, with three services sharing it.”

These services are a group that feeds homeless people on Saturday mornings called Breakfast With Friends, which is run by Kingscliff Adventist Church and The Vine Church); a group at The Vine who were approached by Southern Cross University’s chaplain group to help provide food aid for international students who have no Centrelink support; and a God’s Closet community clothing project, which will operate through The Vine.

David says, “The vehicles are an opportunity to better serve people. All the food and clothing is transported to where people are in need, serving people where they are. It’s also an important opportunity for constant brand awareness. With the vehicles clearly branded and logos on the clothes our volunteers wear, people will know which church is providing the service.”

The intention of having the branding extend to clothing adds to the potential reach Adventist Community Services can have. David says, “Our aim is to get our church people involved and have branding featured on the things they wear. There is a shirt with a logo for pastors, as well as one for volunteers. There are also some high-vis vests, although they are currently available in limited numbers.”

He adds, “This is all about the mission of the church. We want people to know which church they can turn to when the Holy Spirit knocks on their hearts — a church that shows them the compassion of Christ.”

— Adele Nash

ADVENTIST SENIOR LIVING MINISTER TO BLAZE A TRAIL OF WELLNESS

Adventist Senior Living Chaplain Kenn Duke, alongside his Harley Davidson Ultra Glide, as he prepares to journey across the Nullarbor, promoting positivity and choice.

Commitment. Future. Mission. Respect. Honesty. Words of purpose, but also a set of core values that are the motivators for Adventist Senior Living Chaplain Kenn Duke as he prepares to join one leg of an epic month long God’s Squad Christian Motorcycle Club charity ride around Australia. One man, Scotsman Gordon Cruden — riding as a member of the UK Chapter of the God’s Squad — will

complete the entire 20,000km journey as part of his mission to raise funds and set new futures for troubled teens in Scotland. So inspiring is Gordon’s commitment and respect for a group of troubled youth on the other side of the world that Kenn has signed on to support him in the section of the journey that sees them roar across the widest continent on the planet together.

As the pair thunder their way across the Nullarbor in the middle of this month, Kenn plans to blaze his own trail of wellness and awareness for the vulnerable in our own communities. While the initial trip across the desert will be a lightningquick 3000km in five days astride their Harley Davidsons, Kenn’s solo return to Cooranbong in New South Wales will be a more sedate threeweek journey, with many church and youth stops along the way.

“I want to encourage hope and choice in every place I visit,” he says, “reminding the troubled among us that it is possible to live actively in the present and have hope for the future by choosing our own life paths. We cannot always control how others behave, but we can certainly provide our own model to live by.”

“I can find countless opportunities for a ride,” he added, “but none as challenging and worthwhile as one that promotes a cause greater than myself. That and the fact that this journey does connect with my core values, and those I represent, says it all.”

“Commitment, future, mission, respect, honesty are truly words to live by,” says Kenn.

— Felicity Pittaway

WHITE BALLOON DAY RAISES FUNDS TO END ABUSE

The team at the North New South Wales Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church raised close to $300 for White Balloon Day through a fundraising morning tea and cake auction. The morning tea was provided by staff members Jodie Bird, Adele Nash and Pastor Daron Pratt, while Daron’s wife Lisa baked two amazing cakes that kicked off a bidding frenzy.

Russell Halliday, CFO of the Adventist Church in North New South Wales, acted as the auctioneer — complete with using a plastic fork as an auctioneer’s hammer — and he had the staff competing for who would get to take home the baked goodies. Preventing child abuse and exploitation

is a passion of Daron’s. He says, “We had an awesome morning of fundraising for a worthy cause on Thursday, 7 September. We all need to take a stand to protect children, and White Balloon Day is a great way to help the cause.”

He adds, “Hetty Johnson and the Brave Hearts group have done a phenomenal job in advocating for, protecting, educating, and standing up and speaking out — even when it has not been popular to do so. This morning tea was for them, but also for us to stand as an office and as a church to say, ‘Enough is enough!’ It’s time to educate, empower and protect our kids.”

— Adele Nash

To find out more about White Balloon Day, visit whiteballoonday.com.au 8 [October 2017] The Upside

If your child is likely to experience weight problems and if you have the financial means, send them to a Seventhday Adventist school. Students at these schools are less heavy than and less likely to become as heavy as other adolescents in Australia, a first-of-its-kind study shows.

Rates of being overweight and obese are between five and eighteen per cent lower among students in Adventist schools than among other adolescents and those in other Australian schools, finds a study published in the Journal of School Health in August. And despite a national increase in the prevalence of overweight and obese adolescents over the past 30 years, the study found no increase in Adventist schools.

It appears adolescents attending Adventist schools in Australia are “trending some 20 years behind the wider population,” write the researchers in their paper.

Findings from the study come from a health and lifestyle survey commissioned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. The survey is the first Australia-wide evaluation of body mass index for adolescents attending Adventist schools. Almost 2000 students — 788 in 2001 and 1098 in 2012 — from 21 schools participated.

Researchers from the Lifestyle Research Centre at Avondale College of Higher Education analysed the data. They found a higher number of the students compared to adolescents in other studies ate the recommended daily servings of fruit, vegetables and whole grains. A lower number — only four per cent of the students in 2012 — regularly drank soft drinks. With one in three claiming to be vegetarian, the researchers thought diet may in part explain the students’ lower body mass index. But they found no significant difference in the body mass index of the vegetarians and those who ate meat.

ADVENTIST SCHOOLS GET TEEN health tick 3

Three-quarters of the students in the study grew up in a family that had at least one Adventist parent. With the church’s emphasis on wholism, the researchers suggest the students may be copying the good health behaviours of their parents — which the researchers observed in other studies.

The influence of the Adventist schools themselves may also be a contributing factor. All of the schools in the study serve only vegetarian food in their canteens. Some enforce the eating of fruit or vegetable snacks during recess. And some implement needs-based health interventions, such as a breakfast program. The researchers suggest, based on their reading of other studies, that the emphasis on spirituality may also exert a positive influence on health attitudes and behaviours.

The study identified the keys to keeping a lower weight, and they apply as much to adults as adolescents: regularly eat breakfast and exercise; and consume less sugar, particularly soft drinks, and more fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

The researchers suggest schools can play a leading role in addressing concerns over rising rates of being overweight and obese. Their recommendations include:

Expanding health education and physical education teaching in and out of the classroom, supported by classes on cooking and nutrition

Enforcing the eating of fruit or vegetable snacks during recess

Reducing the availability of unhealthy food and drink in canteens

Offering a breakfast program

Increasing opportunities for physical activity with, for example, organised sports during recess and lunch, and

Collaborating with families to offer active transport, such as a bike or walking bus to and from school

STUDENTS REPORT BETTER BODY MASS INDEX THAN OTHER ADOLESCENTS IN AUSTRALIA

CCAS STUDENTS GIVE HOPE

During Week of Spiritual Emphasis (WOSE) at Central Coast Adventist School (CCAS), students were inspired and challenged to #givehope to others. Joshua Goss, chaplain at Macquarie College, shared with students during the week and spoke of how powerfully God had impacted his life.

Throughout the week, Sharon Green, Dominique Brown and Year 12 girls shared real stories of girls in Northern Thailand who have been rescued from oppressive conditions and given hope through the Keep Girls Safe (KGS) project run by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Australia.

At the beginning of the school year, the student leadership team at CCAS chose “Hope” as their theme for 2017. The school captains and prefects saw an opportunity during WOSE to engage the school body in supporting a project that brought tangible hope to others.

A lunchtime festival was held during the week, aimed at raising funds for ADRA Australia’s Keep Girls Safe project. The event was student-driven and included a range of stalls where, for a gold coin, students could purchase popcorn, baked goods, handmade cards, balloons and have their face painted. A number of students played live music during the event, and one of the school captains, Oliver Patterson, shaved his head to raise additional funds for the project. The camaraderie, spirit of joy and generosity shown by students from Kindergarten all the way through to Year 12 resulted in more than $5500 being raised during the lunchtime event. School principal Tony Kent was amazed by the generosity of the students and shared that CCAS would match this amount dollar for dollar, resulting in a total of $11,000.

At the conclusion of WOSE, a cheque for $11,000 was presented to Mark Webster from ADRA Australia for the Keep Girls Safe project. This amount will enable 55 girls in Northern Thailand to receive shelter, food and education for 12 months.

— Leighton Heise and Brenton Luchow

Photos courtesy of Christopher Tedds and Leighton Heise

MEET OUR

Ministry Team

Blake Penland and his wife Malvinas are an amazing couple — enthusiastic, talented and filled with love for Jesus. Although Blake currently ministers to the Raymond Terrace Mission Adventist Church (AKA: RTM — www.facebook.com/rtmchurch), he was born in Round Mountain near Redding, California. So how did he end up here in Australia? Read on to find out!

What led you not only to come to Australia, but into ministry in North New South Wales?

I came to Australia to surf more than 10 years ago, but when I arrived, I met my wife, and found Jesus as my friend and Saviour. I quit drinking and stopped using drugs, then began reading the Bible and started baptismal studies. I have been volunteering in churches since 2009 after being baptised into the Adventist Church, and then one year ago, I was asked to be a church planter in Raymond Terrace.

How do you think your life experiences have made you more able to deal with challenges or problems you face in ministry?

Because of my past — including previous addictions to alcohol and drugs — I am able to relate to others who are struggling with similar battles. I think it gives people hope to see that they can find victory in Jesus and they don’t have to be slaves to substances or habits.

What sort of things are happening at RTM? We’ve heard that the church plant is really growing and doing exciting stuff! We had six baptisms in 2017 and are doing more than 40 Bible studies each week with people in the community. We have four Bible workers, three of them from the amazing ARISE For Life program. We’ve been working tirelessly to share the gospel of Jesus with Raymond Terrace, and have been blessed to be able to purchase a building on the main street. We’re renovating that into a church building, as well as a Newstart Juice Bar and an Adventist Community Services Op Shop Centre. We hope to be a centre of influence in the heart of Raymond Terrace where we meet on Saturdays at 10.00am!

How are you meeting needs in the local community through RTM?

With our Adventist Community Services program, we’re visiting homes of single parents and elderly families, then performing yard work, lawn maintenance, house cleaning and general handyman activities for those unable to afford those services. We’re developing a community garden in the area, and have had really positive interactions with the local council and law enforcement to better find the needs of the community. Many people in Raymond Terrace really struggle with serious health problems, so we’re planning some future health expos and Depression Recovery programs. Everything is done with no strings attached, no expectations — we just want to serve the community as best we can.

You’ve got an incredible can-do attitude when it comes to doing things for God. How do you grow this and maintain it?

My enthusiasm is maintained by remembering that forests begin with a single seed. Understanding that it is not possible to accomplish everything in a single moment is essential to staying the course and remaining positive, even when it is raining negativity. Within a single seed is the potential for an entire forest, one tree at a time. Finding little victories and putting them all together gives you the opportunities to, every once in while, step back and realise that Someone Great is doing something great through you.

Bad news sells, and unfortunately we can’t avoid it. In the media, our communities and personal lives, we are constantly reminded of things that are going wrong. On the upside, the Bible shows us what can go right and offers hope in seemingly hopeless situations. To learn more, simply post this completed form to receive FREE “The Prophetic Code,” an ongoing series of beautifully-illustrated lessons. Topics include “The secret to Success,” “Life After Death” and many more. Experience this life changing opportunity, obligation FREE, today.

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Wallsend NSW 2287

PART ONE:

FULL-BODY — HOW TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE FULL-BODY WORKOUT

This is a really simple way to create a full-body workout in less than a minute!

The template below is based on four categories by which you’ll be working every muscle group in your body (arms, chest, shoulders, back, legs and core).

1. Choose one exercise from each category below.

2. Complete 10 reps of each exercise.

3. Complete each exercise as a circuit, going from one to the next.

4. Rest as needed to catch your breath between exercises.

5. Complete three rounds.

Exercise categories: Here are the exercise categories to choose from. Under each category is a short list of exercises. However, any that would fall under each category will work.

CORE

Plank

Lying Leg Raises

Crossover Crunches

SAMPLE WORKOUT

Complete 10 reps of each exercise back-to-back for three rounds, resting between exercises as needed. Workout done and dusted!

LEG EXERCISE

Alternating Lunges

Goblet Squat

Deadlift

Bent over Row

Pull Up

Plank Row

Push Up

Shoulder Press

Chest press

Now, give it a try. Choose one exercise in each category to build your own workout. How long did that take? Hopefully less than a minute!

Push Up

SPRING GRAIN BOWLS

Lying Leg Raises

Ingredients (serves four)

– 500g pumpkin

– ½ cup quinoa

– 2 tsps vegetable stock

– 250g beans or lentils, cooked

– 20 cherry tomatoes

– Four very generous handfuls of mixed leaf salad

1 avocado

20 pistachios

Hommus (homemade or store-bought)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. While the oven is heating, peel the pumpkin and cut it into consistently-sized cubes. Once the pumpkin is prepared, toss it with a small amount of oil and salt to taste, then spread the cubes on a lined baking tray. Place the pumpkin in the oven and roast it for around half an hour/until it’s tender.

2. As the pumpkin cooks, set a saucepan of water on to boil to cook the quinoa and add the vegetable stock to the water. Prepare the quinoa by first placing it into a fine mesh sieve and rinsing it, then cook it for approximately 15 minutes until it’s tender. Drain and set aside.

3. Prepare the grain bowls by placing a generous tablespoon full of hummus in the bottom of the bowl — it will act as a dressing. Then divide the other ingredients into quarters and add them to the bowls.

4. Garnish with some decorative leaves, such as mint or red-vein sorrel, serve and enjoy!

Note: To make the salad a little heartier, you can add something like grilled tofu, haloumi or more veggies — things like roasted broccoli or grilled eggplant also work well!

Share your spring grain bowl photos with us on the North New South Wales Conference Facebook page — facebook.com/NNSWconference

Goblet Squat

Plank Row

book review

STORIES FROM SUNNYSIDE

BY MARIAN DE BERG

Ellen White, one of the founding members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, didn’t spend all of her time in America. She travelled extensively, and also spent nine years in Australia and New Zealand. Coming here at the age of 64 would have been a challenge — this was in the 1890s, not now days when you can fly between countries on a plane or talk to family and friends in distant lands via FaceTime.

What happened in the time when she was out here? If you’ve ever wanted to find out more — particularly when it came to the time she spent in her Cooranbong home called Sunnyside — you’re going to love Stories from Sunnyside.

Marian de Berg, who works as an administrative assistant at the Ellen G White/Seventh-day Adventist Research Centre at Avondale College of Higher Education, wrote the book. It is full of photos, illustrations and anecdotes, drawing on information provided by letters and material that Ellen wrote while in Australia.

From Ellen’s arrival in Australia through to visits to meetings around the country — from Adelaide to Brisbane — and the personal friendships and connections she built, Stories from Sunnyside paints a picture of someone who was not only deeply involved in the work of the Adventist Church, but who loved meeting new people, making friends and providing care for them.

Stories from Sunnyside is an inspiring read. Ellen’s love for Jesus and others shines through, and it’s fascinating finding out more about the origins of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia through this book.

— Adele Nash

Jesus used to go out boating and fishing with His disciples. He even calls us to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19) — how awesome is that?! This isn’t like the boats He would have sailed on with His disciples, but you could certainly imagine what it may have been like for them.

Tie similar lengths of driftwood together with string, going over and under, and tieing a knot when you get back to where you started. Do this on both ends.

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Cut fabric into triangles for sails (if you’re in to sewing, fold the edges over and use a running stitch to stitch the edges down, but start and end with a tail of thread hanging out — this can be used to tie the sails on).

MARIAN DE BERG

Dealing with Loss and Grief – Part 1

3

with Pastor David Stojcic

Experts describe loss as the state of being deprived of something you hoped for, or once had or thought you had; the perception of being without something that you valued and would have liked to retain.1

Males and females respond to loss differently. When dealing with loss and grief, on the “emotional staircase” that consists of four basic emotions (joy, anger, fear and sadness) males tend to stop at anger and females at sadness.

Males look for solutions and try to fix the problem, and when they can’t fix it, they respond with anger. Anger is a protective emotion, a red light on the dashboard of our car that tells us that something is wrong under the bonnet and that we need to deal with it.2 Males can also withdraw from the reminders of their inability to fix the loss, repress their grief and consequently fall into depression.

Glue the kebab stick in-between the pieces of driftwood, then tie the sails onto the kebab stick. Tie the other ends onto the driftwood.

Cut small triangles out and use a running stitch to stitch them onto a length of thread for bunting for your little boat. 4 5

Tie the bunting on to the kebab stick and driftwood. And then finish it off by gluing a small triangle of fabric on the top of the kebab stick for a flag.

Females respond to loss with sadness — another protective emotion that signals we have experienced a loss — and it serves to provide energy to grieve and to recover. The female brain can get stuck in a cycle of grieving rehearsal — almost ignoring relationships that remain, and/or failing to take constructive action and move with life. This also can lead to depression and anxiety.

Our brain appears to be designed to live with joy and use the three protective emotions (anger, fear and sadness) as needed to recover and move on to balanced living.3

So, what help is there for those who face loss and grief, and for those who are tempted to think they will never experience joy again? A good GP and a good counsellor will give you some holistic strategies for dealing with loss and grief. Frequently neglected, however, is spiritual help. Some people don’t like to talk about God, as they never want to offend anyone. This is especially the case with some health professionals.

This is unfortunate, since the greats of psychology, such as Jung, Rogers and even Maslow, point to spirituality and spiritual experiences as agents of “behavioural changes” and the “cornerstone of future discoveries and results in a new lawful order of things.”4

The Bible, the textbook on spirituality, is replete with descriptions of loss, sorrow and grief, but it is also a God-inspired book filled with hope. It reminds us “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”5

Seeking help is not a sign of weakness, but of wisdom and courage.

Now you’re ready to go sailing! Or imagine “fishing” for men!

Asking, “Are you OK?” and pointing someone in the direction of help is the least we can do for our fellow humans.

1 Dr Arlene R Taylor, Grief Recovery Pyramid & Epigenetics, Monograph, Realization Inc., August 9, 2017 2 Chip Ingram and Becca Johnson, Overcoming Emotions that Destroy, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI, Ebook edition, 2012, page 130.

Dr Arlene R Taylor, Loss, Grief Recovery, Realization Inc., March 2017

By Michelle Villis, Amelia Magazine 2017

Last weekend I saw loads of driftwood on the beach, and with the weather warming up, this seemed just the way to put some of that wood to use!

Tour Ireland and Wales

Ireland and Wales includIreland, plus the sights of Ireland and Wales!

The tour starts in Ireland, of Moher, enjoy Dublin and Belfast, explore The Giant ’s Causeway and much more.

Then cross to Wales and see Caernarvon Castle, go to the top of Mount Snowdon and see many other places of interest.

seven days will take you to four of Norway ’s great spots too.

If you wish, you can then add other places in Britain oron (02) 4385 8282 or email <harold.harker@gmail.com>.