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Home Noticias Adventista Inter-America launches new VBS program for greater community outreach
Inter-America launches new VBS program for greater community outreach
Children and Adolescent Ministry leaders from across Inter-America stand on stage as the opening of the two-day Vacation Bible School program workshop began on Jan. 31, in Miami, Florida, United States. [Photo Credit: by Libna Stevens/IAD]
The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Inter-America continued on the heels of its recently launched Year of the Child and Adolescent with the unveiling of its new Vacation Bible School program last week.
More than 160 children's and adolescent ministries directors from across the Inter-American Division (IAD) territory gathered for a two-day workshop in Miami, Florida, on Jan. 31 to Feb. 1, to reaffirm their commitment to one of its strongest outreach programs of the year.
"We are here to double our efforts in leading children to the feet of Jesus," said Dinorah Rivera, children's and adolescent ministries director for the church in Inter-America and main organizer of the event. "Your passion for this ministry calls for humility and surrender so that God can use you to touch the lives of the greatest resource we have in our churches and communities."
That passion will have to be translated into efforts leaders will transmit to the more than 300,000 children and adolescents who will take part in this year's vacation bible schools featured at thousands of local churches and small groups throughout Inter-America.
"We want to once again ignite this ministry of VBS through this training workshop because we want our union and local field leaders to grasp the importance of this concept of VBS and transmit the same to the countless men and women who volunteer at our local churches every summer," explained Rivera. Interacting among leaders from different regional territory is also an important part of the gathering, she added.
The workshop focused on ensuring more inclusiveness across churches by also catering to children with special needs, practical solutions for child safety, and transitioning children in the life of the church after VBS.
Delegates rotated through the different stations they will have to feature the VBS program each day at home to include character building values, how to conserve natural resources and the environment, hands on craft activities, outdoor team-building game activities, healthy eating habits, taking pictures and video reporting, and more.
"Every decoration that we used to highlight the theme this year was made with recycled items and materials that can be easily obtained and very affordable in their local territory," explained Rivera, who created the VBS program.
The program, which will be available in English, Spanish and French, also includes theme songs and music for every day of the week.
Gabriela Barrutia, children's and adolescent ministries leader at the Baja California Conference in North Mexico, said taking part in the workshop will help inspire and motivate the 420 teachers who will be taking part in a VBS and Sabbath School workshop next month in preparation for the children's outreach back home.
"I'm excited to transmit the theme which will teach children that the Bible is an adventure that leads us to learn how God loves us even with our differences," said Barrutia. Barrutia said 129 of the Adventist church congregations in the conference could see more than 3,000 children this summer. "Some churches can have 20 children in the VBS program, others more than 100, and so forth, so connecting, listening and loving children is such a delight and an important responsibility we have," she added.
Barrutia is one of 15 delegates from the North Mexican Union, the largest delegation at the VBS program this year and one of the strongest VBS outreach programs across the IAD, said Rivera.
Norma Villegas, children's and adolescent ministries director in North Mexico, reported that last year's VBS program reached 45,000 non-Adventist children and adolescents. The previous year reached 37,000, and this summer teachers are expecting over 70,000.=
"We know by experience that these children want to stay and our duty lies beyond the VBS program," said Villegas. It's another phase of the program to retain children, continue the connection with them with more activities and teachings to transition into the life of the church in Sabbath School, Adventurer Club and so on, explained Villegas.
Villegas led with the team of union directors who presented this year's Inter-American Friendship Club program, a club that invites children to take part in weekly learning activities after the VBS program has completed.
The eight-week themed program to be featured at the Friendship Club will focus on the special value God places in each child as well as eight historical persons who have made a significant impact in the world, said Rivera who oversees the yearly programs for children and adolescents. Once the club completes its program, additional bible study programs continue in the Sabbath school every Sabbath, Rivera added.
For Debra Henry, children and adolescent ministries director for the church in the Caribbean Union, being at the event meant a step closer to motivating local churches across the dozens of islands in the English Caribbean region. She brought eight of her conference/mission leaders to the workshop so they can see, feel, and be inspired to motivate local church leaders to organize a VBS program this summer.
In the past, many churches pick VBS programs they find online and feature it for the summer, said Henry.
"There has been a decline of our VBS programs across some of our islands, she added. "In one case, one island that has 32 churches held only five VBS programs last year. This cannot be," said Henry. She has been working for the past two years to change that and said now is a great opportunity to reemphasize the importance of this evangelism tool to reach out into the community.
"Our group has seen and felt it, and we are committed to ensuring local churches in the Caribbean region hold one VBS program," said Henry. "Our goal is for every church to reach out with this program, seeking out those with special needs and prepare them to learn more about the Bible and of Jesus love."
That's the ultimate goal to draw children and adolescents to Jesus and teach them to share Him wherever they go, Rivera said.
To learn more about Inter-America's Year of the Child and Adolescent, and information about this year's VBS Program, visit their Facebook Page HERE.
View a photo gallery of this event HERE
https://news.adventist.org/fileadmin/_processed_/csm__4_VBS-stage-flagsCroppedforPosting_e0c1f5e0b3.jpg
Interamérica
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Q: How to send data from Arduino Xbee and receive it from C# I have an Arduino XBee shield and I have a Sparkfun XBee USB explorer. I would like to send data (temperature sensor) that comes from the Ardunio XBee and receive it in my C# programme.
For now, let's say I want to send 45, 100 to my C# programme.
I don't receive any data that comes from the XBee shield. Am I missing anything with the code?
The below code is the sender from the Arduino XBee shield:
SoftwareSerial mySerial(4,5);
void setup()
{
    mySerial.begin(9600);
}

void loop()
{
    if (mySerial.available() > 0)
    {
        mySerial.write(45);
        mySerial.write(',');
        mySerial.write(100);
        mySerial.write('\n');
    }
}

Receiver code for the USB XBee explorer in C#:
SerialPort port = new SerialPort();

public Form1()
{
    try
        {
            port.PortName = "COM8";
            port.BaudRate = 9600;
            port.DataBits = 8;
            port.Parity = Parity.None;
            port.StopBits = StopBits.One;
            port.Open();
            Console.WriteLine("Opened");
        }
        catch(Exception ex)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Sorry! " + ex);
        }

        // Handler for receiving data
        port.DataReceived += serialPort1_DataReceived;
    }

    private void serialPort1_DataReceived(object sender, System.IO.Ports.SerialDataReceivedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (port.IsOpen == true)
        {
            string RxString = port.ReadLine();
            Console.WriteLine(RxString);
        }
    }

The XBee configuration:

*

*One XBee is: Coordinator AT mode -- connected to USB Sparkfun Explorer

*Another XBee is: Router AT mode -- Connected to Arduino shield

As tomlogic answered my question in Stack Overflow question XBee two-way communication (sender and receiver) at the same time.

A: I  got it working. The problem was from my void loop() method. The mySerial should be like
mySerial.println(temperature);

*

*However, you must check mySerial Rx,Tx pin that they are right one

A: Your XBee shield uses pins 0 and 1 on the Arduino. Softwareserial is not needed, just use:
Serial.begin(9600); // In void setup() routine

To send the temperature, use this in function loop:
Serial.print(temperature); // Need a variable 'temperature' of course...

Test the Arduino code with the built-in terminal in the Arduino IDE to see if the port actually can receive and send (remove the XBee shield first). After that works, test out the XBee  communication.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Westlake Village-based First California Financial Group reported profits of $23.4 million in 2011, a company earnings record.
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First California's shares had climbed 1.9 percent to $4.25 in late afternoon trading following the earnings release.


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Home » Audio/Visual » Cinema » Our Only Hope For an Obi-Wan Movie May Be Realized
Our Only Hope For an Obi-Wan Movie May Be Realized
Posted on August 18, 2017 by Doug T. in Cinema // 0 Comments
Take heed, Star Wars fans!
We all know that there's a Han Solo film in the works, and we have a basic idea of some of the cast. In addition to that, however, it was recently revealed by The Hollywood Reporter that The Hours and Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry is being talked to about possibly directing a stand-alone film about the well-loved Jedi, Obi-Wan (aka "old Ben") Kenobi! Daldry is also being looked at to contribute his talent to the screenwriting and initial creative process for the film.
There's obviously a large gap in the events of Obi-Wan's life between what happened Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. That span of time would be rife with information about what led the Jedi master to become a hermit, and give fans more insight into what made the old man tick. Interestingly enough, it appears as though actor Ewan McGregor has also talked about exploring what happened to Obi-Wan after that fight with Anakin Skywalker on Mustafar, as well as putting on the Jedi robes to play the part of Kenobi again. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, the Scottish actor stated:
There's no official offer, and I haven't met them about it or anything, but I've always said that I'd be happy to do it if they wanted to do it. It would be a good segue between the last episode of the prequels and the new episodes. I think they've got films to make until the 2020s, so I don't think it's going to happen soon if it happens at all.
While MacGregor's statement doesn't instill any "new hope" in us, it's still fun to think of how many directions the filmmakers could take this kind of project. One also wonders how (and if) the spinoff would tie into the current trilogy. There has, of course, been theories of Rey being a Kenobi, so maybe there's a link there?
Now, the script for this project has not yet been written, and there's been no information about who will actually take that task on. However, there's been some talk about this spinoff being an origin story, possibly informing fans about how young Ben Kenobi came to be part of the Jedi order.
It would also seem that Lucasfilm could really take almost all the time they need to mull this one over. Remember, dear readers, there has also been talk of spinoff movies featuring bounty hunter (and fan favorite) Boba Fett, as well as everyone's favorite sideways-talking miniature bad-ass, Master Yoda. Therefore, another standalone film about one of our favorite characters wouldn't be too far out of the realm of believe-ability. It would be quite interesting to see all of these films tied together somehow, and a great director like 3-time Oscar nominee Stephen Daldry could definitely give fans a good show.
Let us know what you think about a potential Obi-Wan film, dear readers! Leave us a message in the comments below!
About Doug T. (475 Articles)
A lifelong gamer, disabilities advocate, avowed geek, and serious foodie. Doug was born in South America, currently resides in Northern VA, and spends the majority of his time indulging in his current passions of gaming & food, while making sure not to take life or himself too seriously.