Maynard-Reid's 2022 Annual Letter

 

January 1, 2023                                                                                                    397 SE Highland Park Dr

                 College Place, WA 99324

Dear Friends and Family

 

Here is the 2022 edition of our annual letter:

 

January:

Pedrito began the year teaching in Florida at the Robert Webber Institute of Worship Studies, minus his main suitcase, which finally arrived at the Orlando airport the day before he departed for home. At least he got to purchase some new outfits, paid for by American Airlines! It was good to be fully in-person with an awesome cohort of students.

The two-day planning session for the Pastoral Evangelism and

Leadership Council (PELC) was held at a beautiful resort in Destin, Florida. This was Pedrito’s first time to that very western area of the state, which is in the Central Time Zone.

After a couple years, when because of COVID-19, Vie was not able to do much with her Real Time Pain Relief, this year many opportunities opened up, beginning with a Tri-Cities Family Expo.

Pedrito was featured in the news article, “Stronger Together,” a story about the formation of a coalition of chief diversity officers in the Walla Walla Valley: (https://www.wallawalla.edu/news/detail/news/tri-college-support-group/).

February:

As was mentioned in last year’s letter, Pedrito was one of the authors of the Social Justice in the Bible study guide for Black History Month 2022. He received many invitations to preach or participate in panel discussions regarding the lessons. It was impossible to accept most of them. You can find a summary of his thoughts here, from a presentation that he did for Oakwood University.

Vie flew down to Florida to spend two weeks with Natasha and family. When she was about to return home, Dalitso said, “Grandma, can you come and live with us?”

Pedrito was able to take his Church Worship class on their annual field trip to Seattle to experience worship at African American churches. What a rich experience. As usual Pedrito II and Jasper (aka Jazz) joined us at the New Beginnings Christian Fellowship Baptist Church on Sunday. Great conversation with Pastor Braxton and his team after the service.

At the end of the month, he made a quick day trip back to Seattle to speak at Auburn Adventist Academy for their Black History Chapel.

March:

Pedrito II received a second patent, this time for work his previous team and he did titled “Using Specified Performance Attributes to Configure Machine Learning Pipeline Stages for an ETL Job”.

Pedrito’s Aunt Cissy turned 100 years old. We would have liked to have celebrated in person; but Zoom
brought us together online, which was almost like being there.

 

Pedrito modeled for BSCF beanies. Hilarious! https://www.instagram.com/p/Ca6N5IcLyJM/

 

 

Audrey, Pedrito’s sister, got complimentary tickets for two on a southern Caribbean cruise to the Dutch islands of the West Indies. She invited him to join her. It was delightful to visit the islands of St. Maarten/St. Martin, Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire (this was his first time to Bonaire).

 

 

 

Pedrito was invited by the Walla Walla Symphony to narrate the story of “Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev. Hopefully it will soon be

available on YouTube. But for now you can access it privately here.

 

Leo (Pedrito II and Margaret’s second-born) was accepted into at least five highly selective universities in California (and waitlisted for two more). He decided to pursue Electrical Engineering at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB).

Walla Walla University posted a really fun Instagram video of Pedrito’s Vitamin P “energy” pills .  View it here.

April:

Vie spent a week in Florida with Natasha and family. This gave Natasha and Evans a chance to have a weekend get-away to Georgia.

Pedrito II and family took a trip to California centered around a visit to UC Santa Barbara, which Leo decided was his college of choice!

 

 

 Towards the end of the month, Pedrito II and Lorraine came from Seattle and Portland for WWU Alumni weekend—a great opportunity to have a Jamaican breakfast spread.

 

And we had a repeat a week later when our dear friends, Larry and Ellie Veverka, spent some days w
ith us.

 May:

Pedrito was invited to be the guest preacher and worship leader at the Walla Walla First Congregational Church. It is one of the oldest churches in the valley. In the early days it was the church for Whitman College (an Ivy League college of the West).

Vie was delighted to join the Walla Walla Spring Fling at Pioneer Park earlier in the month. Later in the month, she had the opportunity

to attend the big Women’s International Convention in Orlando. So many persons testified to the power of her pain relief products. Natasha and family surprised her on the last day when they drove down from Gainesville to help her pack up and have some fun.

 

 

It was also a delight to have a return to in-person North Pacific Union Conference Regional Convocation (Black Camp Meeting). Pedrito taught the Sabbath School Lesson and was MC for the evening concert. He was honored with a plaque for service in the NPUC. The Walla Walla University Black Gospel Choir were guest artists for the weekend. They knocked it out of the park!

The following week we were down in Southern Oregon, at Milo Academy, where Pedrito represented
the university in giving out hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to prospective university students.

This month we were delighted to learn that the Archeology and Cultural Background Study Bible, published by Safeliz (Spain) was finally in circulation after many years in production. Pedrito is one of the contributors/writers.

June:

Pedrito II participated in Reboot Representation Coalition Spring Summit in Burbank, CA. In the tech sector, companies are looking for ways to build inclusive teams. They strive to help tech companies close the gender gap and increase BIPOC representation.

Pedrito II and Margaret’s firstborn, Jasper (aka Jazz) completed their Junior year at University of Washington. And between June and August completed their first internship with West Monroe Consulting in Seattle as a Data Engineering and Analytics intern.

Leo graduated from Issaquah High School. Now on to university!

Natasha took her psychology interns to Jamaica for the 3^rd year to complete their consultation work there.

 

 

Vie was blessed to have a booth at the first annual Juneteenth Jubilee celebration in Walla Walla at Pioneer Park.

 

 

The senior diversity and inclusion officers at SDA colleges and universities held their first summit at Loma Linda University. It was rewarding and a pleasure for Pedrito to meet some of these colleagues face-to-face for the first time.

Pedrito spent a wonderful 1.5 hours on Zoom with the Brinklow SDA Church Sabbath School looking at the book of Genesis through Afrocentric lenses. You can view it here. Think of it as “Decolonizing Genesis.”

The Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies, where Pedrito is Professor for Cross Cultural Studies, got full accreditation from the Association of Theological Schools. Pedrito was the Opening Convocation speaker. While in Florida, he was able to spend a little time with his dear friends, Dolly and Pugsley Moncrieffe (and her luscious garden!). And, a day with the Maynard-Pemba grands (while Natasha was in Jamaica), was re-energizing.

 

July:

Vie was back at Pioneer Park for the Fourth of July Celebration, with her Real Time Pain Relief
products.

 

 

It was a major milestone for Pedrito to arrive at three quarters of a century! Pedrito II and Natasha and their families; Audrey and daughters, Ruth-Anne and Leondra (and her full family); and Lorraine, came to Walla Wall to celebrate. And did we celebrate! – even though a couple of persons came down with COVID.

Later in the month our home was blessed with more visitors: First, Sylvia Edwards-Cotton, our friend from way back in the early West Indies College days came for her first visit to the Northwest. Then came Pedrito’s cousin, Joy Bryan. And finally, Zander and Grace Pemba (remember Pedrito officiated at their wedding a year ago?). What a blast with all of these special friends and relatives!

 

 

 

 

Leo started summer school at UCSB. So Pedrito II and Margaret officially joined the ranks of “empty nesters.” The kids have flown the coop! We don’t know if these two things are related, but a month ago Pedrito II joined the rest of us in the family as wearers of eye glasses! He also hit his 10^th anniversary (total) of working at Amazon.

Pedrito II participated in Computer Science Teacher Association (CSTA) conference in Chicago, IL, where he co-presented a talk on Amazon Future Engineer (AFE) Scholarship/Internship and research programs. He also joined the board of Washington STEM, his first board membership.

 

In the Maynard-Pemba household, Dalitso started the 5^th grade and became a safety patrol officer. Evans' niece, Tariro, visited from the UK and they had a glorious time visiting Savannah, Georgia, Disney World and Universal Studios.

 

August:

As soon as summer intensives were done, Pedrito flew down to Los Angeles to spend time with Audrey, his sister, and with Beth Lyndon Taylor and her family. Beth and her sister Margaret have been his “adopted white daughters” for the past 50 years. One evening we had

a dinner party with friends from Fuller Theological Seminary, and the next we attend a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, where her husband, Lyndon, is the principal second violinist. The time with Audrey is always high-energy exciting.

Vie and Pedrito next headed to the University’s marine station at Rosario for the Walla Walla University President’s Cabinet Retreat. We worked hard and strategically, but had lots of fun and time for self-care.

 

 

Mayamiko started high school and was accepted into the competitive International Baccalaureate program.

 

 

 

 

Pedrito II took his annual motorcycle trip, this time exploring Oregon (including a side trip to Nevada to visit friends Covahgin and Joya).

Vie tries to get in as many county fairs as possible during the summer. Back-to-back, she was able to do the Benton County fair and the Walla Walla County fair.

Because of COVID, our annual Thailand Mission and Cultural Trip was on hold for the previous couple years. Our Thai friends were so happy to see us return this year. Our team of 14 continued our work on the farm with the disabled farmer (Uncle Prasarn) and his wife (Auntie Nang); taught English at the Public School; participated in community nursing; and spent a few days at Bamboo School – an orphanage operated by the famous Moma Cat. Of course, we did all the other fun cultural things and trips. While the rest of the team

returned home, Pedrito flew to Chiang Mai to audit the International Service projects that the Rotary Club of Walla Walla sponsors in partnership with a club in Chiang Mai. You can see all our photos here. The sad part of the trip was that Pedrito picked up a bug that affected him for months.  But, thankfully, he is fine now.

September:

This Fall, Pedrito travelled to Portland every Monday to teach at the School of Nursing. He has been doing this for 30 years (on and off) and loves it. He feels like a part of the Nursing faculty.

Pedrito II helped clean up the Garfield Playfield in Seattle as part of Amazon’s Global Month of Volunteering. Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, happened to be volunteering at the same event—Pedrito II’s new claim to fame is that Amazon’s CEO shoveled mulch into HIS wheelbarrow.

Pedrito II also participated in CS Education Conference (CSEdCon) in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Jasper took out the Fall quarter from the University of Washington and joined the study abroad program in Toulouse, France. Margaret took some time to visit them there. They had a fabulous time enjoying the French culture.

 

The last major event of the year that Vie had an opportunity to share her Real Time Pain Relief, was at the Women’s Expo in Tri-Cities.

October:

Pedrito II participated in an Amazon Future Engineer Team Summit in Washington, DC, including visiting the National Museum of African American History and Culture for the first time.

 

He also participated in the Reboot Representation Coalition Fall Summit in Philadelphia, PA.

 

Margaret visited Bangkok, Thailand for a conference; she enjoyed the sights and sounds of that packed city.

 

 

 

 

November:

The gardens, both flowers and vegetables, did extremely well this year (you can see it all here). And because summer ran so late, we were able to reap a batch of sorrel this year. We were also able to do the annual apple juicing in November rather than in October. We missed having the Maynard-Zhangs this year. However, faithful

friend and “family” member, Lorraine, helped us get it done, as she has been doing for 30 years.

 

 

 

 

Pedrito was invited back to Milo Academy to be the guest speaker for Family Weekend. What a great community of students, faculty/staff, and parents.

 

 

 

 

 

This year the religion scholars conference was held in Denver, Colorado. The papers, discussions, renewal of friendships, and fellowship were all stimulating.

 

 

December:

At the annual Pastoral Evangelistic Leadership Council (PELC), Pedrito presented a Super Seminar on “Conspiracy Theories and End-time Preaching.” The two Theology majors he took were Aurora Gault and Lynelle Bathan. It was a power-packed extended weekend of worship, learning, and fellowship.

 

Pedrito received a “Lifetime Musical Excellence and Influence” Award from his Alma Mater (Northern
Caribbean University, formerly West Indies College) during their annual “Feast of Lights.” He was delighted to have Natasha introduce him. You can view the video clip here.

 

 

Pedrito II co-led an AFE Callisto Space Tour Hour of Code for ~50 excited Black boys in the Kingmakers program at Denny International Middle School. The fun experience got covered in the local press.

 

He also did an interview with his cousin Maya Byfield titled “How to Become a Software Developer Engineer” on her Phenomenal STEMist podcast.

 

The year ended with a trip with Natasha and family to Zimbabwe, the home country of her husband, Evans. This was a first for any of us to this part of the motherland. And what a delight for Natasha and the girls to meet in person so many from that side of the family. The hospitality was sumptuous; the fun was exhilarating; all the events and trips were memorable: trip to family in Harare and Bulawayo; trip to Victoria Falls (a bucket list for Pedrito from when he was a child in Kingston, Jamaica); safaris; visit to Evans’ father’s gravesite, and all the cultural things that surround that event; etc. For Pedrito and Vie, it was worth the 30+ hours of traveling from Walla Walla to Zimbabwe.

 

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