Beach Rescue
(Reprinted with permission from
the Thousand Oaks
News Chronicle)
A Bellflower mother, on a pic-
nic with her church group in
Sycamore Canyon last Sunday,
received an unusual Mother’s Day
gift before the day was over.
Both her teen-age sons became
heroes when they helped save the
life of a man who was helpless in
the Pacific surf.
‘““‘Petra Rodriguez received a
wonderful gift,”” said Pastor
Pedro Arano, minister of the Sev-
enth-day Adventist Church in
Bellflower. Arano, who organized
the picnic to honor the mothers in
his church, had chosen Sycamore
Canyon at Point Mugu State Park
adjacent to the beach for the
event.
Quick Action
He gives this account:
Fidencio Bretado, 37, of Los
Angeles, who was also at the pic-
nic, decided to go swimming
about 5 p.m. Somehow, he ran in-
to difficulty and began struggling
against the surf.
From the beach, Adrian Rodri-
guez, 17, a Bellflower High
School senior, saw that the older
FLORENCE MANGOLD was
presented with a certificate of ap-
preciation for her 10 years of loyal
and dedicated service as Lan
caster church clerk. The presenta-
tion was made by Elder Edmund
Jones and Betty Mills, who suc-
ceeded Florence as clerk.
Makes Teen-age Boys Heroes
man was in trouble and rushed in
to help.
Rodriguez reached Bretado, but
the man, who is six feet tall, was
too much for him and Adrian had
to call for more help.
Fourteen-year-old Marcos Ro-
driguez heard his brother’s cries,
and he went in also. Together, the
teen-agers tried to push Bretado
toward shore, but they soon real-
ized that ‘‘they were unable to do
the job,” Arano said.
Prayed for Strength
“They prayed to God for
help,’’ the pastor said. And they
found the strength to keep the
man from going under. They also
kept calling until, finally, other
people on the beach realized what
was happening and summoned the
lifeguards.
Bretado was flown by helicop-
ter to Westlake Community Hos-
pital where he was treated and
hospitalized. He was transferred
to Ross-Loos Hospital in Tampa
on Thursday, a hospital spokes-
woman said.
““Thank Jesus, I’m okay,’’ Bre-
tado said Friday. “I'm still
coughing but I feel better and I
think the doctors are going to let
me go home today.”
Bretado, the father of two small
children, said he had been swim-
ming for awhile when he devel-
oped cramps in his legs.
Temperance Pays
““I couldn’t swim after that. All
I can remember is these two boys
helping me. I didn’t even see who
they were. But I am going to call
them to thank them.”
“These two young fellows say
they are happy they don’t smoke
or drink,’”’ Arano said, ‘‘because
it helped them to have the stamina
they needed for the five or six
minutes they were struggling in
the water.”
— Nettie Bredstrand
News Chronicle
Faith For Today
can now be seen in
the Conejo Valley on
Storer Cable, Channel 8
Tuesdays, 5:30 p.m.
Churches Hold “Voice of Youth” Evangelism
The ‘Voice of Youth’ program
(La Voz de la Juventud) is one of
the ways the Southern California
Conference youth ministries de-
partment 1s promoting youth
evangelism in the churches.
Glendale Spanish Church Pas-
tor Juan Hernandez said about
the program, which drew 80
visitors, ‘‘Our young people are
cooperating very well and the
young preachers are enthusiastic
about it. It is an opportunity for
them to learn and get experience
in preaching at our church.”
Hollywood Spanish Church
Pastor Jose L. Argumedo
reported 115 visitors to their pro-
gram. He said, ‘‘For the first time
we had the interest of more than
45 youth from our church. They
not only preached the Word, but
they also presented plays about
Jesus’ last few days leading to His
death. They made an impact on
the rest of the youth as well as
younger kids.”’
Seven churches are currently in-
volved in the program, and five
more are making plans to have
one in the near future.
SIGN LANGUAGE (above), LEARNING COMPUTERS (right), AND
at Pomona Adventist Junior Academy brought many smiles to residents
of a local convalescent home as they came bringing May baskets.
Southern News Notes |
*Tent meetings with Evangelist
George Rainey opened in Comp-
ton at the corner of Rosecrans and
Central Avenue on June 30 and
will continue nightly except
Thursday at 7:30 through August.
About 1,100 persons attended the
opening-night meeting.
*The Spanish-American Church,
whose motto is ‘‘Every Month a
Baptism,’’ is right on target to
reach its 1984 goal of 150 bap-
tisms, with 87 newly baptized
believers having already joined the
Church this year. Evangelistic
meetings are planned for the fall.
The Central Spanish Church,
also with a 150-baptism goal, has
already baptized 73 persons in
1984. The Mid-City Spanish
Group, a daughter congregation
of the Central Spanish Church,
was organized as a company on
July 21 at 1030 E. Jefferson Boul-
evard.
Fifty persons were baptized into
the Van Nuys Spanish Church on
July 7. This brings total baptisms
for the year to 65.
*Joyce Morse, associate super-
intendent of schools, is involved
UPDATE... from the President
The Conference Executive Committee has authorized the following
pastoral assignments:
—Mark Papendick to Pasadena from associate at Van Nuys
—Jim Zackrison to Temple City from Pasadena
—Dan Smith to Newbury Park from Grants Pass, Oregon
—Ed Harms to Newhall from Bellflower-Lakewood
— Antonio Cabrera to Carson Spanish from San Fernando Spanish
— Cruz Castro to Glassell Park Spanish from study at Andrews Uni-
versity
— Miguel Cerna to Norwalk Spanish from Van Nuys Spanish
—Panayotis Coutsoumpos to associate at Central Spanish from
Glassell Park Spanish
— Gerald Fuentes to study at Andrews University from associate at
Central Spanish
—Haroldo Guizar to study at Andrews University from associate at
Spanish-American
— Victor Lee to Huntington Park Spanish from San Pedro Spanish
—Julio Peverini to Van Nuys Spanish from Norwalk Spanish
— Chester Robinson to Montebello Spanish from Huntington Park
Spanish
—Walter Solis to San Fernando Spanish from Carson Spanish
— Alberto Valenzuela to San Pedro Spanish from study leave at Loma
Linda University
6
HORSEMANSHIP SKILLS (below) are just three of the opportunities
awaiting summer campers this season at Cedar Falls, a camp whose en-
thusiastic staff is committed to helping youngsters build a vital relation-
ship to Jesus Christ.
Just $75 buys a week full of nature exploration, campfire programs,
swimming, canoeing, and all the things that make summer camp ex-
citing. Bus transportation is available for $10 round trip from six loca-
tions. Space is still available for junior, ‘tween, and teen-age camps. Call
this summer in preparing new Bi-
ble textbooks for grades 5, 6 in
small schools division-wide. She is
heading a working group meeting
at Monterey Bay Academy.
*Juan Lopez has joined the
conference office staff as press-
man. He replaces Michael Lamb,
who accepted a position with a
printing firm in La Crescenta.
*Michael Dowell is a new ac-
countant in the department of
legal affairs. A Michigan native,
Michael is a 1983 graduate of
Southern College.
*Media relations efforts of
Paramount Spanish Pastor Pedro
Arano resulted in extensive pub-
licity in connection with the Five-
Day Plan to Stop Smoking held at
the church. Spanish-language sta-
tion KALI aired six free public-
service spots each day for five
days and broadcast an hour-long
interview, KWKW radio aired a
28-minute interview, and KMEX—
Channel 34 aired an eight-minute
interview. A total of about 30 per-
sons attended the stop-smoking
plan.
PACIFIC UNION RECORDER / AUGUST 6, 1984