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Mile High Academy hosted it’s first annual Walk-A-Thon on Friday, October 4. Students raised more than $20,000!

The day started with a special chapel on the Mile High Academy Soccer Field led by Mrs. Rebecca Berg. Students and faculty were encouraged to obtain sponsorships either per lap or a flat donation.  More than 30 volunteers and parents helped with the event. Depending on the number of laps completed around the field, students were treated to popcorn, Mile High Academy swag, and popsicles. Volunteers counted approximately 4,700 laps that were completed by PK – 12^th graders. Students were encouraged to not only see who could get the most sponsorships but also see who completed the most laps.

“To have such an overwhelming response for this first Walk-A-Thon speaks volumes about our Mile High Academy family,” says Jocelyn Aalborg, VP of Finance and Development. “We appreciate all the support given so all students have an opportunity to attend Mile High Academy and receive a Christ-centered education.”

—Karrie Meyers; photos supplied

On Friday, October 11, Mile High Academy participated in one of its favorite events of the year – Service Day. A huge thank you to organizer, Upper School Teacher and Chaplain Rebecca Berg and for Centura Health for sponsoring another special event, where the Mile High Academy students have an opportunity to make a difference in the local community.

This year students received a custom-designed, navy blue Service Day t-shirt, designed by MHA Senior CeCe Manning. Encouraging students to “Keep Calm and Service On,” the shirt design included the world held between two hands. The back of the shirt featured the Centura Health logo and the service-encouraging verse, “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms (1 Peter 4:10).”

All groups met in the gym for Chapel, where students were encouraged to go out into the community and to “Keep Calm and Service on.” The groups were then given last minute instruction and divided up to provide service for the following organizations:

UPPER SCHOOL

Porter Place Visit

Students started the day making cards and wrapping flowers. They later went to Porter Place, handing out the gifts and spending time with the residents.

Food Bank of the Rockies

Another group of students organized and packed meals for the Food Bank of the Rockies distribution. The team organized more than 345 boxes, 10,350lbs of food and 8,626 meals.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Meals on Wheels

Students went to two different King Soopers locations, asking for food donations. Once they collected their goods, they went to Meals on Wheels to help unpack and sort.

Zuma Rescue Ranch

Zuma Rescue Ranch is a new location this year. An equine education center, students helped clean stalls and learned general care for several rescue horses as well as other farm animals.

Sweet Dreams in a Bag

Middle School  plus 5^th Grade

Students worked together to organize bedding packages. These packages will later be distributed to children in the Foster Care system.

LOWER SCHOOL

Project Angel Heart

Preschool – 4^th Grade:

The Lower School students remained on campus and decorated bags for Project Angel Heart, an organization that prepares and delivers medically tailored meals to people living with life-threatening illnesses. They also wrote cards for our local church pastors.

“When we go out of our way to serve others, we are practicing the very thing Jesus did every day for us. In a way, it brings us closer to the heart of Jesus and who He really is,” said Berg. “When we take time out of our school calendar to make service a priority, we are demonstrating the love that Jesus gives us outward to our community, something we as staff and teachers hope will become a lifelong desire for our students.”

—Karrie Meyers; photos supplied

There is no end to creativity in the Rocky Mountain Conference youth department. Kiefer Dooley, RMC director of youth ministry, introduced their new initiative, an eNewsletter Youth Nuggets. A quick scan of the first edition of Youth Nuggets provides a glimpse into a mosaic of the leadership team’s interest in informing church members about initiatives, providing news about youth activities, upcoming events for club ministries and programs, as well as issues which are a part of youth ministry.

“Thank you for signing up to receive communication from the youth department about the various young-people-related projects, goings on, and happenings within the Rocky Mountain Conference,” he commented.

Frequency of the newsletter was also announced. Kiefer said that at least one issue of Youth Nuggets will be sent out to subscribers per quarter, and no more than one per month. No more, no less, Kiefer states.

“We’re looking forward to sharing the things that we’re doing, the ways that you can be involved, and how we can impact our communities in the lives of young people together. Now, get reading!” Kiefer announced.

The subscription block is at the very bottom of every one of our web pages at rmcyouth.org. For instance, it can be found at the bottom of the following Web  pages: rmcyouth.org and rmcyouth.org/camp and rmcyouth.org/greater-summit and rmcyouth.org/calendar.

—RMCNews; selfies supplied

A training weekend, October 11-13, organized in Denver by the Rocky Mountain Conference Women’s Ministry Department, kicked off with “Give God Your Empty,” by Dr. Heather Thompson Day. Some 50 women from around the RMC attended a program packed weekend.

Congregations in RMC “are blessed to have a godly and talented team including a licensed counselor, the former General Conference director of women’s ministries, a development director who has orchestrated multiple events and raised millions of dollars, a former paramedic who now inspects ambulances, a nurse, an analyst, teachers, and more,“ said DeeAnn Bragaw, RMC women’s ministry director.

On Sabbath the Rocky Mountain Adventist women leadership team provided practical workshops designed to empower women of all ages with tools to grow in their leadership in the local church and beyond. Various workshop such as “Called to Lead a Team,” “Called to Counsel a Friend,” “Called to Speak,” “Called to Lead a Group Bible Study,” “Called to Plan an Event,” and more, were presented.

“This gifted group of women poured into, and prayed over, all the women in attendance,” said DeeAnn.

In addition to training presentations, women brought items to fill a bassinet for Jude’s Bassinet, (see: www.judesbassinet.com), a ministry to help new moms in need. “A lot of pink filled the room as we also took time to focus briefly on breast cancer awareness month,” DeeAnn added. She is inviting interested women to a Dr. Shaunna Siler Nketop’s upcoming breast cancer seminar, October 19, at 2 p.m. at Denver South church.

Women who attended the entire weekend event received level 2 certification of the General Conference Women’s Ministries Leadership Training. Many women expressed interest in another training early next year, and expressed much appreciation for the weekend.

—DeeAnn Bragaw; text and photos

In the second Lay Pastoral Training, October 11-13, thirty-three local church activists gathered in Grand Junction for what will be known as the Grand Junction cohort. The participating group came mainly from the Western Slope. What was significant about this training was that roughly a half of participants were women.

The content was similar to the Denver cohort, as reported in NewsNuggets. “They are very excited, encouraged, and motivated to enter or get more involved in this wonderful work,” said Nate Skaife, pastor of Grand Junction Church, and main lecturer.

Comments about the training express what the weekend provided. Rick Pitt from the Wind River Fellowship congregation said that the event helped him “more clearly how important it is to take responsibility to serve and participate.”

“I am so grateful for this experience to grow in my knowledge of Scripture and to learn to bring others to know Jesus,” commented Jan Watson from Grand Junction. Similarly,

Marti Hartnell also from Grand Junction said that the training “is full of important tools to use.”

For Don Kaner from Alamosa, the training event was “generally, a good experience,” but “we tried to put too much material into the weekend – hence too few personal interactions and not enough prayer.”

The subjects for the next training events will be the topic of the state of the dead belief and biblical preaching, as well as Bible study for depth in the January 31-February 2, 2020 in Denver, and February 7-9, 2020 in Grand Junction

—Rajmund Dabrowski with Nate Skaife; photos by Ron Carrick and Mickey Mallory

Simone Salen was a small child at the time and her father, Israel Goldhirsch put her and her mother into hiding until they could ultimately reach England, where she and her mother were hidden and protected from the Nazi regime.

Simone told her story to an audience of 52 people who assembled at the Cody Seventh-day Adventist Church to hear Holocaust survivor tell the story of her and her family’s desperate attempts, and ultimate success by God’s grace, to escape Vienna, Austria, during the Holocaust of World War II.

Simone’s father, Israel Goldhirsch, did not escape without multiple failed attempts, beatings and near-death experiences. His compelling story is now published in the book, My Father’s Lost Diary.

“Simone has felt called to share her family’s story with all ages in order to continue to educate the public about the horrors of the Holocaust and the anti-Semitism that is still taking place today all over the world, including the United States, and even here in Wyoming,” said Samantah Nelson, who organized Simone Salen’s visit to Cody.

Prior to speaking at the Cody Church Monday evening, Simone spoke at the Cody High School assembly on Friday to a group of 200 students, and again Monday afternoon to the students at SonShine Academy in Worland.

“We are greatly indebted to Simone and other Holocaust survivors for bravely sharing their stories so the past will not be forgotten—or repeated,” commented Samantha Nelson.

—Samantha Nelson; text and photos

Wyoming’s three elementary schools, Laura E. Mason Academy (Cheyenne), SonShine Academy (Worland) and Mountain Road Christian Academy (Casper), along with the Pederson family from Wheatland, headed up to Mill Springs Ranch on Casper Mountain, September 16, for four days of outdoor learning.

The activities of the week included hiking, shelter building, finding and making plaster casts of animal tracks, fire building, cooking over a fire, wilderness safety, camping skills, butterflies, stars and archery. The many crafts and outdoor activities provided a fun way to learn practical and character-building skills and to bond with other students. Each morning started with student-led worship and each evening concluded with a campfire program that incorporated spiritual lessons and fun for everyone.

Evelyn Hulgiun a 7^th grader said it was the “most fun I’ve had in years.” Annelise Jagitsch and Hope Webber, both 8^th graders enjoyed the bonding time with other students.

The best part was “the campfire with the marshmallows. I liked making new friends. I liked staying in a cabin. I liked learning how to build fires,” commented Lacy, a 5^th grader. For Robert, from grade 3, archery was most enjoyable. “I think the archery was very good! I have never shot a bow and arrow in my life! I also liked to make crafts. I hope I can go again next year. I learned so much,” he said.

At the end of the week, everyone headed home tired but full of happy memories and lessons learned in nature, God’s second book. It was unanimously determined that students and teachers are looking forward to heading to Outdoor Education again next year.

—Cara Jagitsch; photos by Nancy Arias

This past Sunday, the entire student body divided into groups to volunteer for four hours on various community projects. “We do a community service day to let our students experience the joy and satisfaction of serving others,” explained Chaplain Wendy Eickmann. “We also aim to positively impact our community.”

A few groups stayed on the Campion campus and helped out with the building project at Campion Church, cleaned-up at HMS Elementary School, prepared the fields for winter in the agriculture department, and worked on various other projects in grounds and the cafeteria. Other groups dispersed to do yard work and clean-up at several community members homes who needed some extra help, as well as at the Estes Park Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Lon Hagler Reservoir. Two groups picked up trash along the five-mile section of highway 60 where Campion has been part of the Adopt-a-Highway program and on the trails at Lon Hagler Reservoir.

“We picked up around seven big bags of trash that we found around the lake and the trails,” commented Lindsey Smith. “It felt good that we did it even though it was hot and tiring.”

—Jill Harlow; photos supplied