Maynard-Reid's 2021 Annual Letter

 

January 1, 2022                                                                                      397 SE Highland Park Dr

                College Place, WA 99324

Dear Friends and Family

Here is the 2021 edition of our annual Year-In-Review:

January:

Because of COVID-19, Pedrito’s teaching in Florida was all online. However, he taught from Natasha’s home. It was more central, since he had students Zooming in from as far away as Hong Kong.

One of the positive outcomes of the COVID crisis is Zoom drew families closer and made connections more frequent. We were no different. On a monthly basis the Maynard-Pembas, Maynard-Zhangs, and Maynard-Reids had a blast of time via Zoom! This was especially important to Vie since the pandemic restricted her travel and business endeavors for the first few months of 2021 keeping her isolated at home.

In the Maynard-Zhang’s household, Margaret continued to work on learning art: drawing and painting.

After 3.5 years as chair of the Adventist Peace Fellowship Board, Pedrito passed the baton to another champion of the cause, but remains active on the APF Board.

February:

Pedrito was a presenter and participant on a Zoom event (sponsored by the Kansas Ave. SDA church) entitled: “Liturgy and Experience: Worship According to the Black Experience.”

He also closed off February as the keynote speaker for the Central California Conference of SDA’s virtual Black History Month Weekend, themed “Show Up.”

 

March:

Pedrito visited his sister, Audrey, in So Cal. On the final leg home from Seattle to Walla Walla he became an Alaska Airlines Million-miler. The whole plane celebrated. The captain, in congratulating him over the speaker system, said that this achievement was like traveling to the moon twice and back!

 
 

April:

Natasha worked with colleagues nationally to produce a 9 part module toolkit on Socially Responsive in Health Service Psychology Education and Training - https://pr4tb8rrj317wdwt3xlafg2p-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/CCTC_Socially-Responsive-HSP-Ed-Training_v7.pdf.

We were delighted to receive this announcement from InterVarsity, which publishes Pedrito’s book on worship: “We are pleased to inform you that Diverse Worship has been contracted for publication in the Kiswahili (the official language of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan) by Inland Publishers. Translations typically take 18-24 months (sometimes longer) to release. We'll be sure to send you copies of the translated edition once they arrive.”

 

Armona Union Academy invited Pedrito to speak for one of their virtual Chapel events. He enjoys these small events and connections. The next month he spoke to the Village Church Pathfinders on early Adventist history, and also engaged with Auburn Adventist Academy faculty and staff on the issue of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Pedrito was presenter/speaker for Workshop for the North American Division (NAD) of SDA Human Resources Zoom Conference. His presentation was entitled, “Refocusing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Biblical and Social Foundation.”

As part of the Walla Walla University Donald Blake Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Culture’s annual conference Teach-In, “What does Equity Look Like,” the School of Engineering invited Pedrito II to make a presentation. His presentation was entitled,  "My Computer Science Journey: Is This What Equity Looks Like?"

In the Maynard-Pemba’s household, Mayamiko turned 13 (joining the ranks of teenagers!) and started
playing soccer.

May:

And in May, Dalitso turned 9 years old. Because of COVID, grandma Vie was not able to make her annual trip to celebrate either of their birthdays.

 

 

Pedrito II and Margaret celebrated their 20^th wedding anniversary.

 

 

 

 

 

We were all delighted that the North American Division of SDA chose Pedrito to be featured on the cover of the magazine, Adventist Journey. The link to his interview can be found here.

 

 

 

He was also the opening keynote speaker for the Rollington Town Church’s 90^th anniversary, with a message entitled, “What Are You Doing Here?” This church in eastern Kingston, Jamaica, was the childhood church of the Maynard-Reid family.

 

 

Pedrito was invited by the Independent Colleges of Washington (ICW) to be part of the statewide DEI Collaboration joint-listening session organized through the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges. Other collaborations include being part of the North American Division Coalition of Chief Diversity Officers in Higher Education; the Walla Walla Tri-Colleges Chief Diversity Officers coalition; and the Council of Christian Colleges and University (CCCU) Chief Diversity Officers fraternity.

June:

Natasha presented a workshop and keynote address to the Counseling Psychology Division of the Canadian Psychological Association.

 

Vie turned the big 70. We all (Maynard-Reids, Maynard-Zhangs, and Maynard-Pembas) celebrated in Florida at Natasha’s. Added to the celebration was having her siblings (Yvonne, Janice, and Noel) Zooming in from Jamaica and Canada.

 

 

Pedrito stayed on to teach in-person at the Worship Institute in Jacksonville. It was dual: Four students in-person and one online.

 

 

 

 

We were so proud to celebrate Jaxsen’s (Pedrito’s mentee) graduation from High School.

 

 

July:

 

 

Pedrito joined his sister, Audrey; niece, Ruth-Anne; and cousin, Liz, in Vegas for a double birthday celebration for Liz and himself.

 

Natasha was promoted to Clinical Professor. She also maintains her role as licensed psychologist.

After serving a year as a consultant/member of the Walla Walla Symphony’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Taskforce, Pedrito was invited to join the Board of Directors.

 

The 1965 blue bug made its debut as a wedding get-away car for Pedrito’s Teaching Assistant, Bri Johnson. What a beautiful couple.

 

 

A highlight of the month was the wedding on the Oregon coast of Natasha’s brother-in-law, Alex/Zanda to the beautiful Grace Diehl. Pedrito officiated at the most delightful small ceremony on the beach at Seaside, OR.

 

 

 

 Natasha and the kids went to Disney World and had a blast.

 

 

 

Olive Hemmings (Pedrito’s former student from Jamaica and presently a professor at Washington Adventist University) hosted a Northern Caribbean University Alumni Summit on the future of Adventist education. Pedrito was thrilled to be invited to participate, especially as he was beginning his 52^nd year as a Theology professor.

August:

It is always a pleasure to have Olive visit us here in Walla Walla. This time we took a trip with her to Grant’s Pass, Oregon to see Bernie Beck. It was her first trip deep into Oregon.

Olive was also here to experience the annual Garage sale weekend along with Pedrito II and family, and Lorraine; enjoy a potluck dinner with a few friends and admirers; and help reap and eat produce from the garden.

Pedrito, along with Olive, were among the four honorees selected by the Society of Adventist Academic Professionals for their decades of scholarship and service to the Caribbean.

Pedrito II’s 2021 motorcycle trip traversed the Pacific Coast Highway. Highlights included Joshua Tree National Park and rendezvousing with his family in San Diego.

 

 

 

Leo, Pedrito II and Margaret’s second child, began his senior year in high school.

 

 

 

Dalitso Maynard-Pemba started the 4th grade, and her big sister, Mayamiko, started the 8th grade.

 

 

 

 

We were happy that Pedrito could make another visit to Audrey, and especially that they could visit and spend some quality time with their 99-year-old Aunt Cissy.

 

Joneen, Pedrito’s cousin on his father’s side, spent two weeks with us as she did classes at the University for her Masters in Media.

 

A highlight of the year was a wonderful visit with a cousin on Pedrito’s mother’s side, who we had not met before. She was a bundle of joy – and that’s her real name: Joy!

 

 

Although the Delta strain of the COVID-19 virus was raging, Vie was able to have booths both at the Benton County/Tri-cities and Walla Walla fairs. We would love for you to look at this video of her products, which you can view here.

 

Normally Pedrito would be in Thailand during the time the President’s Cabinet is on a business/play retreat at our Rosario Beach campus. But the virus kept him home and he was able to join his colleagues this year. A highlight was climbing the last leg of the 5,541-foot Sauk Mountain trail with about 30 switchbacks. What a glorious 360-degree sight of Canada and Washington mountains.

Hey! We got a brand spanking new red pick-up!

 

September:

A highlight of the end of the summer was the visit of Vie’s brother, Noel. This was his first visit to the Pacific Northwest. We had a blast. We can’t wait for the next time he and his wife Ann will come and bless our home.

Vie and Pedrito took a quick 3-day vacation on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Thoroughly refreshing.

 

The Regional Adventist Conferences are sponsoring a series of lesson studies (similar to the weekly Sabbath School lesson study guide) for the month of February 2022. The theme is “Social Justice in the Bible.” Pedrito is the author for the first series of lessons.

Pedrito was the guest speaker for International Day at Tacoma Park SDA church in the Washington DC metropolitan area. How wonderful it was to meet up with Grace (Brown) Tesnau from Puerto Rico days.

Pedrito II’s work at Amazon for underrepresented Future Computer Scientists was highlighted in Forbes Magazine: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinamilanesi/2021/09/30/lack-of-access-to-computer-science-resources-not-lack-of-interest-negatively-impacts-students-from-underrepresented-groups/?sh=6e5fc55c726a. This is so very exciting!

Jazz, Pedrito II and Margaret’s first-born and Vie’s and Pedrito’s first grandchild, turned 20, and also came out as transgender and non-binary. Jazz prefers they/them pronouns. Jazz started their third school year at the University of Washington, got accepted into the Informatics major, and moved into their first house!

Leo began earning college credit via the Running Start program.

October:

We flew to Washington DC to attend Alex and Grace Pemba’s wedding reception in Philadelphia. Natasha, Mayamiko, and Pedrito II all flew in and joined the festivities. Had a great time at Mayra and Dalton Malcolm’s home. Visited the Museum of African American History, a moving experience.

 

Pedrito was featured in three episodes (2, 5, and 11) of the North American Division’s Adventist Learning Community podcast on how the church works (https://howthechurchworks.podbean.com/).

The Avalon got a new paint job after 25 years and 385,000 miles!

 

Vie and Pedrito headed to Florida for a couple weeks at the end of October. Pedrito took the time to get some sabbatical research and writing done. But we all made sure that we had a lot of fun time with

the Maynard-Pembas, especially going out trick-or-treating. We also got to spend a lovely day with Dolly Moncrieffe in Orlando – especially shopping at the big Caribbean Supercenter.

November:

Pedrito II transitioned to the position of Senior Research Scientist at Amazon. In this new role he leads Amazon Future Engineer's Global Research & Measurement.

Pedrito II’s spouse, Margaret, received a TensorFlow top contributor award. TensorFlow is a free and open-source software library for machine learning and artificial intelligence. She also gave a talk at Open Data Science West Conference.

We are all so excited that Jazz got accepted into the Informatics program, a competitive computer science-related major that they have been working hard to get into since college started.

Leo finished college applications – a big deal for high school seniors!

The Adventist Society for Religious Studies and the Society of Biblical Literature meetings were back in-person in San Antonio, Texas, this year. Besides the good scholarly work, it was always a delight for Pedrito to spend time with dear friends and colleagues such as Olive and the Johnstons, and share a room with Gerald Wheeler and Ernie Furness. And to top it off spending an evening and overnighting with Cyndy Dinwidde and Matthew Epp.

 

It’s becoming a habit, or more of a tradition, to celebrate Thanksgiving at Lorraine’s in Portland. How delightful!

December:

This year for our annual trip to Oakwood for the Pastoral Evangelistic

Leadership Council (PELC) we took four Theology majors (Raven Leonardini, Matthias Bernard, Levanny Laureano, and Rachelle Martling). Juliet Knight and Vie had a booth promoting Real Time Pain Relief. Pedrito is a member of the PELC planning committee; and also conducted a breakout workshop entitled: “Present Truth: Apocalypticism for Today – Conspiracy Theories, Social Justice, or Traditional Prophecy.”

Jazz accepted a paid data engineering internship with West Monroe for summer 2022.

 

The Broadway musical, “Hamilton,” was playing at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles; and Pedrito got the opportunity to attend one of the performances with his sister, Audrey. Spectacular! They also took time to visit their Aunt Cissy, who will turn 100 in a couple months.

 

 

Christmas was a blast in Walla Walla. Natasha and family came up from Florida. Her husband’s
(Evans) brother, Alex, and his wife, Grace, came from Portland, and their sister, Grace, came from England! Then the day after Christmas, the Maynard-Zhang clan came down from Seattle. It was very, very cold with a lot of snow, which was “good” for sledding! And Vie and Pedrito ended Christmas in Portland with a final gift exchange with Lorraine Jacobs.

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, Pedrito, and tribe