Maynard-Reids' 2024 Annual Letter

 

January 1, 2025,                                                                                     397 SE Highland Park Dr

                College Place, WA 99324

Dear Friends and Family

 

Here is the latest edition of our annual highlights of the previous year in the Maynard-Reids’ lives:

 

January:

The year began as usual with Pedrito teaching Cross-Cultural Worship to graduate students at the Robert Webber Institute for Worship Studies. A highlight of the week in Jacksonville, Florida, was finding the Caribbean restaurant (Temptress) and introducing his students to Jamaican cuisine.

 

Natasha was granted sabbatical/professional development leave for the University of Florida Spring semester. The Maynard-Pemba/Pembas adopted a dog, with much reluctance from Evans and Natasha!  And Natasha visited Evans’ brother and his family in Pennsylvania.

 

 

 

Lorraine came up to Walla Walla to celebrate a late Christmas the second week in January; and the third week saw Pedrito down in Riverside, California for the Pastoral Evangelism Leadership Council planning meetings, and taking the opportunity to visit with his sister Audrey in Long Beach.

 

Margaret began a year of traveling, teaching, and presentations at Google Developer Content Creator Summit in Singapore.

Leo turned 20. He continues his studies as a Computer Science and Mathematics major at the University of Washington.

 

 

 

February:

 During the first months of the year Dalitso actively raced for the Gainesville Area Rowing team.

 

 

 

March:

This year the annual meeting of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) was held in Seattle. Significant was the start of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the organization. This trip gave Pedrito the opportunity to spend some time with Pedrito II and family.

 

Margaret taught a generative AI class at the University of Washington Foster School of Business MSIS program.

 

 

Natasha went to visit her dear friends in Texas and had a wonderfully restorative time.  Vie spent some quality time in Florida with the Maynard-Reids’ grandchildren.

 

Natasha traveled to California with Vie and the grandkids for Natasha’s Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Center (APPIC) board meetings.  Vie, Mayamiko, and Dalitso went sightseeing, and had a fun spring break.  They also visited Natasha’s friend from grad school and her family.

 

April:

Pedrito was one of the keynote speakers for a Cultivate Peace Conference at the Walla Walla Community College sponsored by Walla Walla Rotary. His talk was titled “Peace: Impossible Possibility.”

 

 

It was a great honor for Pedrito to be invited to give a workshop on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to the administration, faculty and staff via zoom at Antillean University in Puerto Rico, as part of their preparation for a national accreditation visit.

 

Pedrito II was honored as one of Walla Walla University’s Alumni of the Year during Alumni Homecoming Weekend.

 

 

 

Margaret presented at Google Cloud Next conference.

 

 

 

Natasha got to spend time with her friend since high school, Heather, when she came to Florida for a visit.

 

 

May:

We lease a new Toyota Tacoma every three years. This year we got a brand-new bright orange edition straight from the factory. 

 

 

 

 

Vie participated in the annual Spring Fling in College Place, where she
promoted her Real Time Pain Relief (https://vies-pain-relief.square.site).

 

 

 

June:

Evans opened up a satellite audiology office in the Villages, FL for his Ocala Hears practice.

Pedrito II and the Indigenous Students CS Study coalition presented at the 4 Corners Computer Science Convening held at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. They presented on their ongoing research on Indigenous students’ interest in and access to Computer Science education and career pathways.

The annual summit for the Senior Diversity officers in higher education in the North American Division was held in Keene, Texas, at Southwestern Adventist University. Pedrito is especially blessed to rub shoulders with colleagues who face the same challenges in times like these.

 

 

The June session for the Institute of Worship Studies was unique for Pedrito. He only had one student in the class. A Canadian student from Iran. He taught the class as if there were 20 sitting before him, and yet unique enough for the one.

 

 

Pedrito, along with some other Rotary colleagues, received the Walla Walla Noon Rotary Board Award for the initiative to build and furnish a medical clinic in Nigeria. He chairs the International Service Committee that oversees the project.

July:

Natasha took interns to Jamaica on their annual cultural immersion trip from the end of June to the beginning of July.  Then raced to the north coast away from the eye of the hurricane Beryl with her brother and Jasper, his eldest child and…survived.  Then they attended a family reunion.

This family reunion in Jamaica, which was overrun by Hurricane Beryl, was epic. The storm arrived on July 3, when most of the about 80 people were to travel to the island. Vie and Pedrito got there three days later. Natasha, Pedrito II and Jasper were already there in Mandeville when the hurricane arrived. But they bunkered in place at the Bahai Principe resort in Runaway Bay. Just about 30 of the 90 expected persons were able to make it; and even fewer made it to Northern Caribbean

University for the Sabbath celebration, at which Pedrito preached. It was great that Lorraine was able to make it. She took some great photos. The highlight was the connections the next generation of cousins were able to make.

 

 

Pedrito II co-presented with his colleague Garrett Dorfman at Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) Annual Conference in Las Vegas; they gave a presentation about the programming and research Amazon Future Engineer is doing to support pathways to computer science education and careers of the future for all students.

Jasper launched their blog where they post their fiction and personal essays.

It was a big month for the Maynard-Pemba/Pembas: Mayamiko got her driver’s license!

August:

So was August, another big and busy month: Natasha started working with her 16th cohort of psychology doctoral interns in their final year of graduate school. She also traveled to Seattle for APPIC board meetings and American Psychological Association (APA) committee duties.  And Mayamiko started the International Baccalaureate program in her Junior year of high school.

 

 

 

 

Pedrito II’s motorcycle trip this year took him to Glacier National Park in Montana, USA, and Banff and Jasper National Parks in Alberta, Canada.

 

 

Margaret and Leo visited Guiyang, Chengdu and Shanghai in China.

The annual trip to Thailand was a great success with a superb team of volunteers. This was Deanna
Ludwig-Bos’ fourth trip, Keziah Perez’s third, and ShelleyB’s second. Keziah stayed on at Bamboo School for another four months. There were 14 people on the team.

September:

Vie was busy from the end of August through September with her Real Time Pain Relief business. First was the Walla Walla County Fair and then the Women’s Expo in Tri-Cities.

 

 

As soon as Pedrito returned from Thailand he was off to Austin, Texas for a speaking appointment at Alpha Church; and Vie and Lorraine were off to Alberta, Canada to spend a week of vacation in the Canadian Rockies. It was amazing! They visited Emerald Lake; Johnston Canyon (where they accidentally hiked 10 miles (round trip) to see the ink pots); Peyto Lake (shaped like a fox), where they hiked several miles UPHILL; Takkakaw Falls (one of Canada’s highest waterfalls); and the stunning Moraine Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.

Pedrito II attended a second convening of the year in Albuquerque with the Indigenous Students CS Study coalition. They had the opportunity to participate in the Pueblo of Laguna’s Feast Day.

 

September brought another Hurricane to Florida, but there was minimal damage in Central Florida. Natasha traveled to her favorite conference, ACCTA, in Philadelphia, and spent an afternoon with Evans’ bother and family. 

 

 

 

 

October:

Jasper turned 23 at the end of September, and a few days later finished and self-published their first novel, Mirror, Mirror, a queer romantasy.

 

 

 

Yet another hurricane  in Florida on the heels of Natasha’s golden birthday, which was celebrated by travelling with her mother by train to NYC for a very quick round of Broadway shows (bucket list) and a joyous lucky meet-up with close friends.  It was an amazing time!

 

 

 

 

Pedrito is on Sabbatical this academic term from his teaching responsibilities. During the first two weeks
of October he continued his research on Asian worship in Indonesia and Malaysia, visiting both countries for the first time. In Indonesia he had the most wonderful host, his former IWS student, Alice Setiawan. A highlight was visiting Papua, Indonesia, especially meeting Jim Yost and witnessing his ministry there. He has been there for 46 years! Just as

wonderful was his time in Malaysia, both in Kuala Lumpur and Miri, with host Leon Lim. And then a 24-hour stop in Singapore where he had some memorable time with Daphne Lau. You can find interesting details of the trip (and others) in the journals, “Blessing From Pedrito” mentioned below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third Saturday night in October is usually our annual apple-juicing fest. Pedrito’s Bajan cousin, Joy Bryan, came all the way from Tanzania (where she is stationed as a US diplomat) for this event. Pedrito II and family, and Lorraine also came.

 

 

 

 

 

 

November:

Pedrito II visited India for the first time as part of a work trip. A highlight of the trip was a visit to the Taj
Mahal.

 

 

 

Margaret presented at DevFest Google Developer Group NYC.

 

 

 

Jasper began a yearlong writing class and started working on their second book, Call Me by Your Deadname, and completed a 40,000-word draft of it during National Novel Writing Month.

Vie and Pedrito both travelled to San Diego for the annual Society of Biblical Literature and Adventist Society for Religious Studies conferences. We had a wonderful time staying with Larry and Ellie Veverka, and dining with Leanne and Nathan. Another highlight was seeing Pedrito’s academic doctor-father, Abraham Terian. It has been a few years since we last saw each other. For Thanksgiving we went to Long Beach to celebrate with Pedrito’s sister, Audrey. We visited and

toured Catalina Island and LA (especially Hollywood and Santa Monica) and had a delicious Thanksgiving meal with Audrey’s daughters and families.

 

 

 

December:

The first week in December saw us at the annual Pastoral Evangelistic Leadership Council conference at Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama. Vie, along with her friend Juliet Knight, had a booth for their Real Time Pain Relief. There were 5 in all from Walla Walla (student, David Sierra-Marin; Darold Bigger; Prakash Ramoutar). It was great

having meals at Standley and Norma Gellineau’s, Dave and Juliet Knight’s, and the Jamaican Restaurant, Jerk Island. The conference was exceptionally inspiring with great preaching, music, and audience response.

 

 

 

 

Dalitso attended her first Thespians competition for districts.  She received top honors (the highest level) and critic’s choice for her monologue and for her small group performance!

Jasper finished their first quarter as a guest lecturer at the University of Washington, redeveloping and teaching an interactive information visualization course. They accepted an offer to continue teaching this class through the end of the 2024-2025 school year.

 

Vie and Pedrito were invited to be lectors at the Lessons and Carols Christmas Concert, an ecumenical event held at the Pioneer United Methodist Church in Walla Walla.

 

 

The year ended with one of the most memorable Christmas family celebrations at the Walla Walla homestead ever. Pedrito II and Natasha and their children, Evans’ niece, and Lorraine were all here. The food was divine. Every important Jamaican dish was served. No snow in WW; but 30 minutes into the Blue Mountains it was in abundance for great sledding and a White Christmas.

Well, that’s it for life at the Maynard-Reid’s (and Maynard-Zhang’s and Maynard-Pemba’s/Pemba’s) for the past 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 and other social media platforms.

 

Blessings,

Vie and Pedrito and family