A cold, brutal Missouri winter greeted Beatrice Phangaphanga, foreshadowing the future she faced as her new life began in a foreign country. Moving continents was not something she had planned, especially not with a three-month-old baby in tow.  Beatrice grew up in Malawi with a Presbyterian-based life. She had a humble start growing up, and one lesson her family taught her from an early age was the importance of family and community. She got married in Malawi and was working an administrative job when her husband, Enoch Ng’oma, got an amazing opportunity. He received a scholarship at a university in Missouri, and the next thing she knew, she was moving with him and their newborn baby, named David Ng’oma.  As she faced this incredibly hard time in her life, Beatrice felt lonely and pressured trying to raise a baby while struggling to adapt to the vast cultural differences. Yet God worked in mysterious ways, and she learned that God will send help in His timing. One day during this tumultuous time of trying to adapt while raising a baby, a neighbor knocked on her door and asked if she needed any help. She had never spoken to this woman before, but somehow she was right there when Beatrice needed her.  Through this woman, Beatrice was introduced to the nearby church, and it was a blessing to not only learn the Word of God, but also join a community again. The church was a huge help during those days, as they had Bible studies, childcare and transportation available. This chosen family, based on faith, was exactly what Beatrice was looking for. Journey forward The couple added another child, Zachary Ng’oma, to their family, and as time went on, Beatrice was still not feeling fulfilled in her relationship with God. She loved the community and people, but she felt as though she was not learning everything she needed to. Then she remembered an Adventist church she drove past every day as she took her children to school. The church was giving toys out to the children, and Beatrice, who always tries to make her children happy, decided to take them there. When she sat through the Bible study for the   , she finally felt like she had found what she was looking for all this time.  Throughout her hardships, however, Beatrice had questions and uncertainties. She questioned if she was raising her kids the right way and if they were learning everything they were supposed to. “The Christian journey is not a simple journey—it’s not an easy journey,”she says. Her daily practice of reading the Bible helped her navigate through fears and grow stronger in her faith.  She wants to continue another generation of people who value community and family and who also have a strong faith in God. “African families are about unity and oneness,” she explained, describing how all the children are raised together. “You don’t have to separate like cousins. You can just grow up together and not try to differentiate each other. We grow up knowing that we are one. Everyone is family.” The culture Beatrice came from is rooted in Leviticus 19:18: “Love thy neighbor.” Now she has found a faith she thinks can help implement those values in her children’s lives.  God has led Beatrice halfway around the world to bring her closer to Him and to strengthen her faith. No matter the hardships, she has stayed faithful to God and will continue to build that relationship. She says, “You have to fight for your faith to keep going.”    Bio: Aleina Melo is a senior at Union Adventist University studying international relations. She grew up in California, but her parents are from Mexico, and she is a first-generation student. She dreams of one day having a family and supporting them through her career in law.   Life Tip: The view looks better with someone you love. Life is too short not to book the trip!  

During a period of about a month—from December of 2025 through January of 2026—six current students, one former student, and two students’ parents at the Cortez Adventist Christian School in Cortez, Colorado, were baptized or joined in membership the Cortez Seventh-day Adventist Church by profession of faith.  “Last spring, we had a Week of Prayer with Go Therefore Ministries* that really touched the school,” remarked DeeDee Franklin, the Cortez School principal. “Several students requested Bible studies and baptismal classes.” As a result of the event, two students, Ayden and Grayson G., were baptized on Dec. 20 at the Cortez Church. On Jan. 17, two students, Snow and Kennedy B., were baptized and their sister, Creedence W., along with their parents, Danny and Katrina Davis, who joined the church by profession of faith. Alice H. was baptized, and her sister Angela, a former student, joined by profession of faith also on Jan. 17. There is also one other parent currently doing Bible studies with the pastor. All three families involved were formerly non-Adventist. God is good! * Go Therefore Ministries is not affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church or the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Information supplied by Deirdre (Deedee) Franklin, principal and teacher at the Cortez Adventist Christian School in Colorado.

For the third year, AdventHealth Ottawa and AdventHealth Ottawa Foundation partnered with the national nonprofit organization Shoes That Fit to provide a brand-new pair of name-brand athletic shoes and two pairs of socks to every student across seven elementary schools in Franklin County, Kansas, totaling more than 1,100 pairs of shoes and more than 2,400 pairs of socks.  During the kickoff distribution event that took place at Garfield Elementary School, more than 290 students were provided with shoes, socks and breakfast, courtesy of volunteers and community leaders and sponsors.  “The heart behind this event is to ensure that every child in Franklin County who qualifies for free or reduced lunch—nearly half of the district—receives a new, well‑fitting pair of shoes. For the past three years, this initiative has grown stronger and each year we see an even greater impact,” said Brendan Johnson, president and chief executive officer of AdventHealth Ottawa. “Our mission calls us to help our community feel whole, and this effort is one beautiful way we can support some of our youngest neighbors. Thanks to generous donations, we’re able to provide shoes and socks so these students can enjoy the same experience as their peers, bringing joy to them and their families.”  In the United States, one in three kids live in low-income families and one of the most visible signs of poverty is shoes. Millions of children miss school, refrain from participating in sports and face teasing and bullying due to worn-out shoes.  “By providing children with new shoes and socks, their self-esteem is boosted, attendance improves and participation in physical activities increases,” said Ryan Henningsen, board chair of AdventHealth Ottawa Foundation. “This initiative helps ensure elementary school children in need in Franklin County can walk into school proud and ready to learn.”  “We were thrilled to partner with Shoes That Fit, AdventHealth Ottawa and the AdventHealth Ottawa Foundation to provide every student at Garfield Elementary with a brand-new pair of athletic shoes,” said Bilee Grable, principal of Garfield Elementary School. “Seeing our students’ excitement during the unboxing event was truly heartwarming. This initiative not only met a basic need but also helped our students with their confidence, and we’re so happy to see them enjoying physical activities with their new shoes.”  For more information about AdventHealth Ottawa and Shoes That Fit, visit Donate to Shoes That Fit at Give-OTT.AdventHealth.com/Campaign/651117/Donate. 

In 2026 I will be exploring early Sabbatarian Adventists in the states that now comprise the Mid-America Union. There is no way to know who the first Millerite or Adventist was in each state. Instead, I will feature the first people to write to the Advent Review and Sabbath Herald (forerunner of the Adventist Review) from the territories or states in what is now the Mid-America Union. Olatha, Nebraska, truly is a ghost town. So thoroughly wiped from map and memory, some people confuse it with Olathe, Kansas. In 1858 there really was a town named Olatha, Nebraska, near present-day Roca, south of Lincoln (The First Settlers in Lancaster County).* The first seventh-day Sabbath-observing Adventists in Nebraska Territory (and also among the first settlers of Lancaster County, Nebraska) were Joseph Van Rensselaer Weeks and his wife, Imogene Cookson Weeks. Joseph was born in New York State, probably near Sheridan in the western part of the state, in 1821. His father, Russell Weeks, was a strict minister. Joseph described his childhood as: Reared amid strong sectarian prejudices, taught to believe in and practice the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath, I regarded Commandment-keepers as rabid sectarians, willfully adhering to a Jewish institution, merely for the sake of notoriety… (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald) Imogene Cookson was also born in New York State in 1821. Joseph and Imogene married in 1842. Two children were born to them in New York, George Russell (1843-1844) and Mary Josephine (1845-1880). By the time of Francelia (Celia) Georgiana’s birth in 1848 (died 1939), the family had moved to Trenton, Dodge County, Wisconsin, where they settled on a farm. Their son Edwin later claimed the family lived in Fairfield (Washington County, so they may have moved within Wisconsin). Three more children were born in Wisconsin: Ella Evalina (1850-1927), Leslie Albert (1852-1856), and Edwin Ruthven (1855-1938). The youngest child, Raymond (1863-1954) was born in Iowa after their short Nebraska sojourn. The Free-Soiler Weeks family moved to Olatha, Nebraska, in 1856 or 1857, soon after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. There is no indication of when or where Imogene encountered Adventist publications. She began keeping the Sabbath in mid-1857. Her husband was more resistant and did not accept the seventh-day Sabbath until January 1858. When he finally did so, he was most fervent. …but thanks to God, the mists of Popish darkness are breaking away and light bursts in bringing peace, joy, patience, self-denial, love unbounded, an earnest longing for immortality and the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald) It was a lonely faith with no other Adventist believers near them, and their neighbors disagreeing with their peculiar belief. We are the only family in this region that regard the fourth command as not being Jewish, but of universal application, binding on man wherever he may be; yet we have reason to believe that the truth is beginning to find its way through every refuge of lies, and would soon be potent to the pulling down of the strong holds of Satan, could we have the Review, accompanied by some standard Sabbath and Advent publications, to aid in its propagation and more general diffusion. (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald) The Review and Herald Publishing Association sent Weeks a quantity of books valued at 50 cents (about $20 in 2026). Evidently the Weeks’ found farming in Nebraska no more satisfying than Wisconsin. By 1860, they had moved again, this time to Benton Township in Fremont County, Iowa, about sixty miles east of Olatha, Nebraska. Or perhaps they had another reason for moving. Joseph took up masonry work, apparently in the new village of Civil Bend as Advent Review and Sabbath Herald readers heard from him in August with a letter posted from Civil Bend. Four years later, he again wrote to the Review, this time from Tabor, Iowa, just a few miles east of Civil Bend. This is where the story gleaned from the Review ends. An Alternate Narrative The obituaries of Joseph’s children tell a somewhat different story. First of all, readers need to know something about Civil Bend that provides insight as to why Joseph Weeks would have wanted to move there. First settled by abolitionist in 1847 and perched on the flood plain next to the Missouri River, Civil Bend was not destined to survive. However, by 1857 the village was acknowledged as the western terminus of the Underground Railroad (although Nebraska City and Falls City on the western side of the Missouri River also played a role). Freedom seekers from Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska as well as points further south, found their way to Civil Bend, from which they were transported up the bluffs to Tabor (founded in 1852 on tableland above the flood plain) and then to Chicago and beyond. (See Iowa Freedom Trail Project and Tabor Historical Society) According to his son Edwin’s obituary (Kansas City Times, August 18, 1938), Joseph’s Iowa farm (was masonry a temporary job or in addition to farming?) was an Underground Railroad station. Contemporary evidence is circumstantial. Edwin was five years old when his family moved to Iowa. He was an infant when they moved to Nebraska. The stories told about his father in newspaper articles in the 1920s and 1930s contain enough discrepancies to make one cautious. Edwin’s obituary also claims that his parents’ ultimate goal when they left New York had been to settle in Kansas. This seems unlikely. New Yorkers heading west in the 1840s were looking for cheap land and space to expand. Kansas was not yet an organized territory, while Wisconsin offered both inexpensive land and an established community on the cusp of statehood. Much more attractive for a young family. In 1856-1857 Kansas was bloodied by fighting between proslavery “border ruffians” from Missouri and anti-slavery free-state settlers. Joseph may have wished to support the bid to keep Kansas free of slavery, but Nebraska may have appeared safer for his <a class="cat-post-excerpt-more" href="https://www.outlookmag.org/sabbatarian-adventists-in-a-nebraska-ghost-town/" title="Continue reading Sabbatarian Adventists in a Nebraska Ghost Town Joseph Van Rensselaer and Imogene Cookson Weeks“>Read more…