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With roughly 40 percent of its land covered in forests, Canada is no stranger to annual wildfires, particularly in its western regions. However, 2023 has marked the most devastating wildfire season in recorded Canadian history, spanning east to west and causing significant air quality issues and hazy skies across Canada and the United States. Wildfires have scorched more than 133,000 square kilometers (51,351 square miles) of land, and 200,000 Canadians have had to evacuate their homes. Presently, there are more than 1,000 active fires across Canada. Amid these natural disasters, ADRA Canada has been collaborating with local churches to provide supplies and funding as needed.

On the morning of the fourth and final day of the 2023 NAD Educators' Convention, teachers who would step into classrooms that following week felt anticipation, exhilaration, and appreciation. Nicole C. Mullen set the tone through her music. Then G. Alexander Bryant, president of the NAD, rose to speak. He addressed the teachers, recognizing their oft-overlooked efforts to invest in their students and uphold the tenets of Adventist Education.

This fall the Andrews University Department of Visual Arts, Communication and Design (VACD) welcomes two new faculty members and celebrates two significant role changes.

Jolted from his sleep, it was 3 a.m. on August 8 when a phone call woke Kamil Metz, senior pastor of the Evansville Seventh-day Adventist Church. The caller was Dallas Matthew, one of his members serving this summer as a student literature evangelist on the island of Maui in Hawaii. Dallas's news was grave. He called to report that deadly wildfires had engulfed Lāhainā, the town in Maui that Metz had left the week prior.

From August 8-9, 2023, during the EDTalks segment of the North American Division’s (NAD) 2023 Educators’ Convention, 13 leaders gave their unique take on this prompt: “Leadership. It all comes down to …” In this spin on the popular TEDtalks, music leaders Laura Story and Nicole C. Mullen; education leaders Mario Acosta, Doug Reeves, Tina Boogren, and Toakase Vunileva; Adventist leaders G. Alexander Bryant, Meshach Soli, Carlton P. Byrd, Adam Wamack, David Daniels, and James Standish; and entertainer Taylor Hughes used storytelling to share their leadership lessons.

Adventist Community Services Disaster Response (ACS DR) has joined the relief and recovery efforts in Hawaii; and plans continue to take shape as organizations join hands to support those affected by the wildfires that burned through Lahaina and other parts of Maui this past week. Hawaii Conference ACS director Mark Tamalaa led local efforts by setting up a shelter in Maui, where the most damage has taken place.

Alvin Maurice Kibble, former vice president for the North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, passed to his rest on Friday evening, August 11, 2023, in Temecula, California. He was 76.

Spark Tank was held over two days during the North American Division Educators’ Convention hosted in Phoenix, Arizona. The special event provided spiritual support and necessary aid through grant funding and feedback from three expert judges. Eight schools were chosen to pitch to the judges, presenting their ideas with a brief explanation of their projects.

Walla Walla University recently received a $235,000 collaborative grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to fund undergraduate research into harmful algal blooms. Alongside researchers from the University of Portland and Willamette University, the researchers hope to better understand and more quickly detect the algal blooms, which can produce toxins harmful to people and animals.

Strains of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Skidamarink” welcomed 150 attendees to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Gathering, Appreciating, and Promoting (GAP) launch session and luncheon, held on August 8, 2023. This event marked the start of the North American Division (NAD) education team’s efforts to support and affirm those involved in educating children from birth to age five with an all-new, separate ECE track during its 2023 “Something Better” Educators’ Convention.