ANN Bulletin
Adventist News Network
Seventh-day Adventist Church World Headquarters
May 24, 2005

In This Issue:
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* Peru: Finley Leads 'Caravan of Hope' Meetings in Fast-growing Area
* Jamaica: Northern Caribbean University Students Win Regional
Microsoft Competition
* Serbia: Food, Clothes, Supplies from ADRA Aid Flood Victims
* Australia: Woman's Four-year Detention Ends
* Portugal: Adventist Junior Academy Celebrates 30 Years of Service
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Peru: Finley Leads 'Caravan of Hope' Meetings in Fast-growing Area
Lima, Peru .... [It Is Written/ANN Staff]
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The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Peru is continuing its astronomical
growth with a series of evangelism meetings in five of the country's
major cities from May 23 to 28. The meetings, called "Caravan of Hope,"
will be led by Pastor Mark Finley and the It Is Written television
ministry.

The meetings will be held in stadiums and coliseums, with capacities of
up to 60,000 people, in Tacna, Arequipa, Trujillo, Lima South and Lima
North. The meetings will also be broadcast on radio and television.

At a recent preparation for the Caravan of Hope meetings, Melchor
Ferreyra, president of the church in Peru, spoke to more than 6,000 lay
leaders in the capital city of Lima.

"There is no time to lose. We no longer need to talk about advancing
the cause of God; we have to talk about finishing it," Ferreyra said.

After more than 100 years in Peru, Adventist church membership in that
country is more than 660,000. Some 50,000 people joined the church last
year, overfilling church buildings. At the meeting's conclusion it is
estimated that at least 10,000 new members will be baptized.

The growth strategy for the church in Peru is modeled at the Miraflores
Adventist Church, the largest in the South American church region, with
approximately 1,500 members.

Royce Williams, It Is Written's director of global television and
evangelism, and Robert Costa, the ministry's Hispanic ministries
coordinator, witnessed the church's outreach efforts earlier this year.


"When we arrived for Sabbath School, our curiosity was piqued when we
were told that the majority of those in attendance were visitors, and
only half of the church members were permitted to attend church for the
purpose of ministering to the visitors," said Williams. "The other 50
percent were involved in small groups, organizing new congregations,
and picking up [those] who needed a ride to church."

New visitors to the church are assigned to the first in a series of
Bible study classes. At the end of the series he or she will have
learned the Biblical doctrines, started tithing and keeping the
Sabbath. The visitor can then choose to be baptized as a new member.
New members are encouraged to begin training to lead either Bible
studies or small groups, or to become a lay pastor in a church.

Before the Miraflores Church began this plan, their yearly baptisms
were approximately 12 to 15 people. Since then, their yearly baptism
average has grown to 250, and other congregations throughout Peru are
experiencing similar results.

Prior to the "Caravan" meetings, church members and administrators held
public events weekly, inviting people to attend festivities and
services.


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Jamaica: Northern Caribbean University Students Win Regional Microsoft
Competition
Mandeville, Manchester, Jamaica .... [Rhoma Tomlinson/Mark A.
Kellner/ANN]
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It's not as improbable as the Jamaican Olympic bobsledding team, but
the success of four Northern Caribbean University (NCU) students may
well be unique in their own way. The students, who are enrolled in the
computer science program of the Seventh-day Adventist-owned
institution, bested three other teams from the Caribbean and Central
America to advance to the final round of the 2005 Microsoft Corp.
"Imagine Cup" competition.

To win, they overcame visa difficulties that kept two students behind,
as well as their advisor's sudden illness, to go on and triumph in the
semifinal event. A Microsoft official praised the NCU team as being
"very skilled presenters for being students -- they did an excellent
job."

The final round will take place in Yokohama, Japan, from July 27 to
Aug. 1 and the students will travel there as guests of Microsoft Corp.,
the world's largest computer software firm. With teams from nine other
regional competitions, the NCU students will aim for the "Imagine Cup"
and its top prize of U.S. $25,000. A second place prize of U.S.
$15,000 and a $10,000 prize for third place will also be awarded.

According to Microsoft Corp., the Imagine Cup, now in its third year,
"is an annual global technology competition designed to provide an
outlet for students to explore technological and artistic interests
outside the classroom."

The NCU group comprises Leon Green, George Long, Keron Tooma and
Romaine Carter. NCU professor Kenrie Hylton, faculty advisor to the
student team, said he could not give details of the actual software as
the NCU group is still in competition. However, he said, "Our project
by its very nature seeks to break down cultural barriers and move
people closer across borders."

According to Microsoft Corp. academic programs manager Liz Romero, who
oversaw the competition, the NCU student project "exemplified" the
theme of the event. "It shows an excellent use of our technologies,"
she said in a telephone interview. "It also very well represented the
use of technology with a particular purpose of breaking these
[cultural] barriers."

A company statement indicated that "over the past three years, there
has been tremendous growth in the number of students participating in
the Imagine Cup and in the number of countries and universities
represented. In 2003, 1,000 students representing 25 countries competed
in the Software Design Invitational for prizes totaling $50,000 (U.S.).
Three new invitationals were added for Imagine Cup 2004, which drew
more than 10,000 students from over 90 countries competing for total
cash prizes of $85,000 (U.S.)."

This is the first time Jamaica has entered the competition, Hylton
said. "We would like our department, our students, our university and
our country to be recognized as a source of top programmers and
software designers," he added.

The NCU team was one of only three teams from the region to advance to
the semifinals, from a starting roster of 22 teams, and they are the
only team from the region to move on to the Yokohama event.

Romero wouldn't predict how the NCU students would do in the final
competition, but was lavish in her praise for their effort: "They have
an exciting application," she told ANN. "They're obviously a team with
a lot of things going for them. They have a great idea and we are
certainly doing everything we can to allow them to show [it] and
maximize their talents and abilities."

Northern Caribbean University is a multi-disciplinary institution with
an enrollment of some 4,500 students. Formerly known as West Indies
College, it was upgraded to university status in 1999.


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Serbia: Food, Clothes, Supplies from ADRA Aid Flood Victims
Jasa Tomic, Vojvodina, Serbia .... [Miroslav Pujic/ANN Staff]
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In the midst of a tremendous flooding disaster, the Adventist
Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) moved quickly to help residents of
Jasa Tomic, in the Vojvodina province of Serbia, said Roy Richardson,
the ADRA director in the Trans-European region.

The village of 3,500 people, located in the Northeastern part of
Vojvodina, close to the Romanian border, was flooded by the Tamis river
on April 21. A flood wave came from Romania after flood dams there
released due to heavy rains, according to information from the World
Health Organization (WHO).

ADRA responded immediately by sending three truckloads of supplies that
included 320 boxes of clothes; shoes for 110 people; 440 pounds (200
kilos) of corn flour for "kachamak", a Serbian porridge; 500 candles;
6.5 tons of bread flour; 200 boxes of food and 400 baby meals.
Supplies of clothes and food were sent from the ADRA warehouse near
Belgrade and in cooperation with the Southeast European region of the
Adventist Church, which funded the bread flour.

The town took a heavy toll from the flooding: more than 250 homes were
destroyed and more than 700 others were flooded. Since most of these
houses are constructed out of clay bricks, the fear is that more houses
will be weakened or destroyed as the water subsides. Since April 22,
the water has gone down 20 inches (50 cm) and could take up to five
more weeks to fully abate.

A proposal for further help was submitted, and ADRA's United Kingdom
and Trans-European units responded with a further U.S. $20,000 (15,573
pounds) to provide additional food for the families who have lost their
homes or are waiting for the waters to subside in order to return to
their homes. On May 10 the first truckload of this new project
delivered 6,000 meals and nearly 900 gallons (3,320 liters) of drinking
water to the residents of Jasa Tomic. The same day, Richardson
accompanied Dragan Pejovski, ADRA Serbia director, on a visit to the
town.

"It was an experience to be paddled around the streets in a little boat
and witness the hardship many families are facing," Richardson said. "I
could see the tremendous loss in the many houses that have collapsed
and was able to feel a little of their grief. ... I was [also]
impressed by the resilience of the people and how they are making the
best of this terrible situation."

ADRA's Serbia unit will continue to support the villagers, as they are
able. Internationally, ADRA is present in more than 120 countries
providing individual and community development and disaster relief
without regard to political or religious association, age or ethnicity.
Additional information can be found at www.adra.org.


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Australia: Woman's Four-year Detention Ends
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia .... [Record/ANN Staff]
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A family from Papua New Guinea, who six months ago faced detention and
deportation from Australia, is celebrating a reunion and the chance to
remain in Australia.

On April 29, Macarthur Adventist School in Macquarie Fields, Sydney,
where two of Sereana Naikelekele's children attended, celebrated the
release of Mrs. Naikelekele and three of her young children from the
Villawood Immigration Detention Centre.

The family was held at the Centre after the Australian Migration Review
Tribunal found the children's mother did not meet the criteria for a
bridging visa, which would have allowed her to stay in Australia. The
family could have been split up if Mrs. Naikelekele had been sent back
to Papua New Guinea. [See ANN story Nov. 2, 2004].

Eleven-year-old Sally Koroitamana and her brother, Jope, 10, are
Australian citizens who had been attending Macarthur Adventist School
since January 2002. However, the two did not return from school
holidays in October 2004. Instead they joined their Papuan mother and
three other siblings, who had been living at the Villawood Immigration
Detention Centre for nearly four years.

After many prayers and hard work by the school, its students and others
in the community, Mrs. Naikelekele was granted a "bridging visa" after
her appeal of a deportation order issued Oct. 29, 2004.

Jill Pearce, principal of Macarthur Adventist School, said "The latest
news we had was that her appeal had been quashed, so she was as stunned
and surprised as we all were to be told she could go."

The bridging visa will allow Mrs. Niakelekele to live in Australia with
her children, and the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
has pledged to help the family.

"Everyone is absolutely stunned by the power of God working in this
situation. When we felt that all was lost, He had been working
tirelessly for this family. I know that there were many people from
across Australia who were praying for this and will be encouraged by
this news," Pearce said.

Students at the school had prayed for her release and also wrote to the
Australian Federal Immigration Minister.

"Last year, the Macarthur students went directly to Jesus, petitioning
Him on behalf of their fellow students, whose mother and siblings were
detained at Villawood Detention Centre," said Kura Makemare, a teacher
at the school.

"Although the children were encouraged to accept all outcomes, they
were able to see the answer to this special prayer when Mrs.
Naikelekele recently visited the school to personally thank them for
their prayers," Makemare added.

In her "thank you" speech, Mrs. Naikelekele tearfully praised the
students, parents and teachers for their courage, prayers and support.


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Portugal: Adventist Junior Academy Celebrates 30 Years of Service
Oliveira do Douro, Portugal .... [Artur Machado/ANN Staff]
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A commemorative event at the Colégio Adventista de Oliveira do Douro,
(CAOD), the Seventh-day Adventist junior academy in Portugal,
recognized three decades of service to the Adventist Church and the
community. A book chronicling the school's history was also released at
the May 8 event, where present and former students and faculty were
among those participating.

CAOD has 240 students from preschool to ninth grade. Approximately 58
percent of the students are not Adventists. School officials expect
enrollment to increase, giving the community an educational resource as
well as insight into the ministry of the Adventist church.

At the celebration, Pastor Mário Brito, president of the Seventh-day
Adventist Church in Portugal, and one of the first principals at CAOD,
noted that Adventist education was designed "to focus on the whole
person."

Church education director Maria Rosa Nunes explained
"this kind of education permits students to develop a concrete and
harmonious vision of the world."

Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, president of the Oliveira do Douro town
council, underlined the good collaboration that has existed between the
school and the town council, pointing out that CAOD "during these many
years has been distinguished by the quality of its projects," including
those aimed at community development

The town council recently awarded the school a gold medal of merit for
its participation in community activities. "CAOD is among those
institutions that are used to giving their maximum for society," city
council member Luís Filipe Meneses said. The school's achievements add
to the "richness" of a nation, he added.
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ANN World News Bulletin is a review of news and information issued by
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ANN Staff: Ray Dabrowski, director; Mark A. Kellner, assistant director
for news; Wendi Rogers, editorial coordinator; Taashi Rowe, editorial
assistant; Lynn Friday, administrative assistant.

French translation by Claude Fivel, Portuguese translation by Azenilto
Brito, Spanish translation by Marcos Paseggi, Italian translation by
Vincenzo Annunziata and Lina Ferrara