Maynard-Reid's 2019 Annual Letter

January 1, 2020                                                                                          397 SE Highland Park Dr

College Place, WA 99324

Dear Friends and Family

Here is our annual letter highlighting events of the previous year in the lives of the Maynard-Reids:

January: 

The year began with a visit to Natasha and family in Florida on Pedrito’s way to teach at the Institute of Worship Studies. The Bethel Experience is a highlight at each session. It was good to visit with Maxine before returning home. Back at home we celebrated Three Kings Day and a late Christmas with Lorraine.  At the end of the month, Pedrito joined the rest of the planning committee for the Pastoral Leadership Evangelistic Council in Carlsbad Beach, CA, to plan for the 40th anniversary celebration in December.

In the Maynard-Zhang household, Leo, our only grandson, turned 15 and Jasmine, our first grandchild, continued to serve as co-captain for the Issaquah High School gymnastics team.

February: 

Vie continues to enjoy promoting her Real Time Pain Relief and receiving testimonies and rave reviews of the power of the product. Throughout the year she promoted it at Eastern Washington AG Expo; Hermiston

Home Show; Walla Walla Spring Fling; Regional Convocation in Portland; Umatilla County Fair; Lentil Festival in Pullman; Benton Franklin Fair; Walla Walla County Fair; Pendleton Round-Up; Horse Nation Indian Relay Race; Hemp and Health Expo in Pasco; and at the Pastoral Leadership Evangelistic Conference at Oakwood University.

Margaret was invited to present at DevFest in Silicon Valley. The Maynard-Zhangs also took a trip to Portland to visit Reed College, one of the colleges Jasmine was considering attending. It was virtually balmy compared to the Snowmaggedon the Seattle area had experienced a couple weeks before, dumping the most snow the area had seen in 50 years and shutting down schools for a week!

Natasha attended another year of Link to Pink with her family and survivor friends.

March: 

The annual national meetings for the Universities Diversity and Inclusion Officers took place in Philadelphia. Pedrito learns so much at these meetings. A week later he was invited by the North American Division of SDA Human Relations Advisory to conduct a workshop on the value of diversity and inclusion. It was the first time at the headquarters of the NAD in Maryland. It was great to visit with Mayra and family, and to spend time at WAU with Olive, Joan, and other former colleagues and students.

A great surprise came at the end of March when the National Association of Social Workers (WA chapter) honored Pedrito as Public Citizen of the Year—an award given to a non-social worker who has exemplified the ideals of the profession. The Attorney General of the State was the main speaker on the occasion at the University of Washington.

Jasmine culminated her high school gymnastics experience by receiving the Tutta Bella athlete award for being a superior scholar-athlete.

Natasha, Evans, Mayamiko and Dalitso traveled to the UK for Evans’ cousin’s wedding.

April: 

The annual West Coast Religion Teachers’ gathering convened at Pacific Union College in Angwin, CA. Pedrito was especially delighted to spend some quality time with his dearest friends Angel and Francis Hernandez, and to visit their daughter, Frances.

Mayamiko turned 11 years old and still enjoys math and reading.  

May: 

Vie looks forward to May when she makes her annual trip to Gainesville, Fl., for granddaughter Dalitso’s birthday, who turned 7 this year. There is nothing like having grandma around!

Mayamiko graduated from elementary school and later traveled with Evans to Washington, D.C. for the 5th grade safety patrol trip.  For the second year, Natasha took her group of psychology doctoral interns to Jamaica for a social justice consultation project on mental health awareness.  Evans continues to enjoy his work as an audiologist at The Villages.

 June: 

Jasmine graduated from high school with silver stole (for > 3.8 GPA), athlete cord, and honors cord. Vie was able to attend the ceremony. When Jasmine graduated, she had already been accepted into all six universities to which she applied! Soon after graduating, she started her first job, a summer job as an assistant gymnastics instructor at Jet’s Gymnastics Express for kids.

Pedrito II took a weekend trip to the Bay Area for kung fu training and to visit with his dear friends Trina and

Kevin.

Mid-June found Pedrito in Jacksonville, FL teaching at IWS; and taking time to visit Natasha and family.

Evans went to Zimbabwe to visit his mom.  His brothers Alexander and Arthur met him there and they celebrated Arthur’s 40th birthday with a cross country trip and a visit to the Victoria Falls.

July: 

The big event of the month was a family reunion in Jamaica at the beautiful resort in Runaway Bay. It was a celebration of Jasmine’s graduation from High School and Noel and Ann Thompson’s wedding anniversary. It was a delight to have Shelley-B come by and visit with lots of Jamaican goodies; and to go to Kingston and see Erma; and to Mandeville to see Amy.

The following week we, along with Lorraine, flew to NY to celebrate Dexter’s 70th birthday. Another grand family occasion! Lovely spending time with Pam Cameron, and visiting with the Pryces.

The next week we attended the Oregon Campmeeting where Pedrito taught the general Sabbath School lesson.

Dalitso started 2nd grade and continues to have a joy for learning.  She especially excels in reading!

August:

Both our flower and vegetable garden continued to produce exceptionally well with thousands of flowers throughout the Spring, Summer, and Fall; and veggies abundant in the Summer and Fall. Here is the link to the pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143715478@N06/albums/72157708880381208.

 

Another great group joined together for our 17th annual trip to Thailand. A new project was added this year: A visit to Bamboo School, where Momo Cat takes care of over 70 orphans who are at various stages of disadvantage.

Pedrito II went on his annual motorcycle trip, this time a week exploring British Columbia, Canada. Not to be outdone by her father, Jasmine earned her motorcycle-riding license and got her first motorcycle, a Honda Rebel 250. Her dad looks forward to rides together.

Mayamiko started middle school - 6th grade! She is in the magnet program and is navigating middle school like a champ.

Natasha had the great honor of receiving APA Fellow status from the American Psychological Association for her outstanding contribution/performance in the field of psychology.  

September:

Vie made a quick trip to Las Vegas to spend a few days with Pedrito’s sister, Audrey. 

Immediately after returning from Thailand, Pedrito headed down to Palo Alto to speak for the annual Lecture Series at the SDA church. Steve and Pat Constantine were wonderful hosts. 

The following week he was at the Edinburg SDA church as the guest speaker for a one-day conference on Music and Worship.

Pedrito was invited to be a Consulting Editor for Sacrum Testamentum Online Journal.

For the rest of the year Pedrito traveled weekly to WWU’s Portland Nursing campus to teach a class on 1 Corinthians to the upper-class Nursing students. He adores this assignment, whenever it is his turn.

Jasmine turned 18 and started her first year at the University of Washington. Leo started 10th grade at Issaquah High School and has been earning excellent grades. He also successfully completed driver’s ed. Margaret was invited to present at DevFest Vancouver.

Natasha ended her nine-year term on the national board of the Association of Counseling Center Training Agencies.

October:

Vie took a break from her Pain Relief business and went to Florida to spend over two weeks with Natasha and her family. Later in the month she flew to Huntsville, Alabama, and met up with Juliette Knight. Together they drove to Birmingham to attend the Real Time Pain Relief Conference. 

Pedrito’s job as the chief diversity officer of the university is very rewarding, especially for the wide support he receives. A large contingent of administrators, faculty, and staff accompanied him to the Council of Christian Colleges and University Diversity Conference at George Fox University.  Later that month he co-founded a tri-college diversity, equity,

and inclusion coalition with the chief diversity officers of Whitman College and Walla Walla Community College.

It is always fun to have Pedrito II coming from Seattle, and Lorraine coming from Portland, for the annual apple-juicing weekend. We went a little overboard this year! (Pedrito II addendum: What year do we not?!)

Margaret continued hitting the conference circuit with an invitation to present at Tensorflow World in Santa Clara, California.

November:

One of the most impacting invitations to speak that Pedrito was happy to receive, was for Education Day at West Houston SDA church. The positive reaction and action were most heart-warming. What a pleasure to meet up with many students and colleagues from Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Walla Walla. Mrs. Colville Jones was especially delightful.

The next weekend Pedrito was off to San Diego for the annual Religion Scholars conferences. Besides the great meetings, it was wonderful to spend quality time with Olive, Rachel Davies, and Ella Simmons. He then went up to see his sister, Audrey, for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving dinner was at her daughter’s, Leondra’s, home in the California Bay area. We then went on a driving tour of that area of the state including the beautiful Monterey Bay.

Margaret started a Machine Learning Engineer role at Microsoft.

December: 

Vie and Pedrito attended the 40th anniversary of the evangelism conference at Oakwood University, with students Emily Ellis and Ryan Bing. WWU was further well represented with Church executive pastor, Allareece Collie; senior pastor, Andreas Beccai; and Cassandre Beccai (diversity and equity specialist). Pedrito was one of the eight honorees this year for his many years of service and evangelism. One of the highlights was our WWU team having lunch at Earl and Lela Gooding’s home with Barry Black, the Chaplain of the United States Senate.

We spent Christmas week in the Seattle metroplex: First preaching at Poulsbo Church on Sabbath morning and performing the wedding of Vixie Bailey and Dustin Schaber in the afternoon at Port Orchard. We then stayed with Pedrito II and Margaret and family for a delightful Christmas celebration.

Natasha, Evans, Mayamiko and Dalitso took their first solo family vacation on a cruise to the Caribbean.  It was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the year!

The Maynard-Zhangs continue to stay busy, but also try to make time for favorite pastimes. Jasmine enjoys Dungeons & Dragons, playing the ukulele, cooking, video games, roller skating, and more. Leo enjoys playing online games with his friends, especially League of Legends and Overwatch, and is known for being quite good at them.

The year ended with Pedrito heading to Jacksonville, FL to teach at the Worship Institute. On the way there he popped in to spend a few hours with Natasha, Evans, and the grands.

Well, that’s it for life at the Maynard-Reid’s (and Maynard-Zhang’s and Maynard-Pemba’s) for the last 12 months. Thanks for your love and prayers. If you wish to see numerous photos of this year’s events, please visit our photo site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/143715478@N06/albums/  and visit Pedrito’s blog as well:  http://blessingsfrompedrito.blogspot.com/.

We would love to hear from all of you, so drop us a line at pedrito@wallawalla.edu or violet.maynard-reid@wallawalla.edu or “friend” us on Facebook.

Blessings

Vie and Pedrito