When "Operation Iraqi Freedom" started in March 2003, many young men and women in various branches of the U.S. military left to defend freedom. Most recently, the Pasadena church saw three of its young men leave with their fellow soldiers for Iraq. Previously, two others had served there. Though many of these young soldiers did not know exactly what awaited them, they all had one thing in common: they were leaving the comforts and familiarity of home and loved ones.
With this in mind, the church decided to reach out to its young men and women in the services. The plan was to put together care packages with necessities and Christian literature.
Pasadena member Sgt. Christopher R. Villanueva and his 2nd Battalion 5th Marines were the first recipients of the church's care packages. "When we received the packages, the marines were really ecstatic," emailed Chris, "it was like Christmas all over again. The Christian literature stirred up some conversation about God with a fellow marine, who wanted to know more about the Adventist religion and my church. Eventually, we had some Bible studies together."
Readers who wish to join with Pasadena members for this project can obtain details for package contents and shipping instructions by emailing pasadenasda@yahoo.com.
The Net, a Temple City church young adult ministry, has an ongoing ministry to U.S. soldiers in Iraq, according to Pastor Brett Poynter. "We are doing this through the Soldiers' Angels project (soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php)," he said. "This is an outreach effort whereby The Net worshippers obtained the contact information of seven soldiers in Iraq who don't receive mail from home very often.
"Our group pledged to send weekly letters and monthly care packages to each soldier. To date, more than 140 pounds of items, dozens of letters of encouragement and rich resources of Adventist reading material and Bible studies have been shipped.
"Readers who participate through this site address letters to ‘Dear American Hero' or ‘Dear Soldier' or something similar," Poynter explained, "then e-mail the letters from the above site's 'Contact' page. Or they can bring the letters to The Net's 11 a.m. worship service in the Temple City chapel. We need to send at least eight letters each week, so help is appreciated."
Other SCC churches with care package ministries include Northridge, Rolling Hills (which sends 250 packages every Christmas and Easter) and Vallejo Drive. The Hawthorne church is initiating a package ministry as well, volunteering through the operationgratitude.com site. Readers who wish to participate with Hawthorne members should contact Leonor Gomez, 310-544-7594.
