NEWS ABOUT THE NORTH AMERICAN DIVISION
SABBATH, JULY 8

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NEWS Mayor Lastman Says Goodbye To Adventists Flamboyant "Flag Ceremony" Concludes Adventist World Session Union Paper Articles EXHIBITS Overview of Other Divisions' Exhibition Booths

Mayor Lastman Says Goodbye To Adventists

Larger-than-life Mayor Mel Lastman of Toronto said goodbye in his inimitable style to Seventh-day Adventists attending the World Session tonight (July 8).
    "You came as delegates came, you leave as friends," he told the appreciative audience. "I wish the Blue Jays who play in this stadium had been here to see what a big crowd really looks like. Ten days ago, I presented keys to the city to presidents Paulsen and Parchment. This is our highest honor—you have also bestowed your highest honor on our great city."
    He congratulated all involved in the Session, "this great event, the largest in Toronto's history. We wanted to provide a warm welcome and a home away from home. This has been a perfect convention. Despite its size, there have been no problems of any kind. This is impossible, it cannot happen, even in Toronto, with a convention this large. Such an event is a logistical nightmare."
    "You amazed our city, you were perfect guests," Lastman commented. "You have a great sense of humor. We want to host all your conventions and all your meetings. Yours is a church with a drug-free, tobacco-free, alcohol-free lifestyle. Your family values above and beyond any I have ever seen. Children never get into trouble with police, your youth respect their parents and uphold your values. The 20,000 Adventists in Toronto set a great example to our city and our country. Please come back soon."

    The Mayor received a standing ovation and accepted a check for $3,564 from pastor Jan Paulsen from the CN Tower ($1 for every Adventist tour visitor) to be given to Toronto's Daily Bread Food Bank.

—Jonathan Gallagher, Adventist News Network
http://www.adventist.org/news/

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Flamboyant "Flag Ceremony" Concludes Adventist World Session

The much-awaited "Parade of Nations"—complete with national flags, video commentary and music—concluded the Adventist World Session in Toronto today (July 8). The colorful spectacle highlighted the 205 countries in which Seventh-day Adventists operate, celebrating achievements and recognizing challenges.
    The applause and cheers for the different countries indicated a wide range of nationalities attending the Session, with the loudest being for Jamaica, the U.S., and the host country Canada.
    The ceremony is illustrative of the multi-national nature of the Church who are united in a faith that transcends national boundaries and cultures.

—Jonathan Gallagher, Adventist News Network
http://www.adventist.org/news/

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Union Paper Articles

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Overview of Other Divisions' Exhibition Booths

	Africa-Indian Ocean Division. Phone: (225) 44-00-97 Territory: Benin, British Indian Ocean Territories, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoro Islands, Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kerguelen Islands, Liberia, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, and Togo; comprising the Central African, East African, and West Congo Union Missions and Burundi Mission.
Photo: Sandra Blackmer	Eastern Africa Division. Phone: 263 (4) 776-786 Territory: Botswana, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe; comprising the Simbabwe Union Conference, the East African, Ethiopian, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia Union Missions, the Eritrea Mission Field, and the North Botswana and South Botswana Fields.
	Euro-Africa Division. Phone: 41 (31) 359-15-15 Territory: Afghanistan, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Holy See, Iran, Italy, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, and Western Sahara; comprising the Czecho-Slovakian, Franco-Belgian, North German, Romanian, South German, and Swiss Union Conferences, the Angola and Mozambique Union Missions, the Austrian, Bulgarian, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish Union of Churches and the Trans-Mediterranean Territories.
Photo: Sandra Blackmer	Euro-Asia Division. Phone: 7 (095) 468-6500 Territory: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan; comprising the Moldova, Southern, Ukrainian, and West Russian Union Conferences, the East Russian Union Mission, the Belarus Conference, and the Trans-Caucasus Mission.
	Inter-American Division. Phone: 305-443-7471 Web: http://www.interamerica.org/ Territory: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas,Barbados, Belize, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States Virgin Islands, and Venezuela; comprising the Caribbean, Central American, Colombian, Cuban, North Mexican, Puerto Rican, South Mexican, and West Indies Union Conferences and the Dominican, French Antilles-Guiana, Haitian, and Venezuela-Antilles Union Missions.
	Northern Asia-Pacific Division. Phone: 82 (344) 910-1500 Web: http://www.sdansd.org/ Territory: Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Japan, Macao, Mongolia, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea, and Taiwan; comprising the Chinese, Japan and Korean Union Conferences, and the Mongolian Field.
	South American Division. Phone: 55 (61) 345-1818 Web: http://www.adventista.org.br/ Territory: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Falkland Islands, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, with adjacent islands in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; comprising the Austral, Central Brazil,l East Brazil, and South Brazil Union Conferences, the Bolivia, Chile, North Brazil, Northeast Brazil, and Peru Union Missions, and the North Ecuador and South Ecuador Missions.
	South Pacific Division. Phone: 61 (2) 9847 3333 Web: http://www.adventist.org.au/ Territory: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and the islands of the Pacific lying south of the Equator between Longitude 140 East and Longitude 120 West, and Kiribati north of the Equator; comprising the Trans-Australian and Trans-Tasman Union Conferences, and the Central Pacific, Papua New Guinea, and Western Pacific Union Missions. Samoa, Cook Islands, Figi, French Polynesia, Isle of Pine, Loyalty Islands, New Caldenoia, Niue, Pitcairn, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Malaita, Vanuatu.
No photo	Southern Asia Division. Phone: 91 (4344) 22170 Territory: Bhutan, India, Maldives, and Nepal; comprising the Central India, Northeast India, Northern India, and South India Union Sections and the Andaman and Nicobar Island and Himalayan Regions.
	South Asia-Pacific Division. Phone: (63) (46) 414-4000 Web: http://www.ssd.org/ Territory: Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and islands of the Pacific, namely United States, territories of Guam and Wake Island, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Belau, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands, comprising the Central Philippine, East Indonesia, and South Philippine Union Conferences, Bangladesh, Myanmar, North Philippine, Southeast Asia, and West Indonesia Union Missions and the Guam-Micronesia Mission of SDA and The SDA Church in Sri Lanka.
	Trans-European Division. Phone: 44 (1727) 860331 Web: http://www.ted-adventist.org/ Territory: Albania, Bahrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Channel Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands, Sweden, Syria, the former Yugoslave Republic of Macedonia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Yemen, and Yugoslavia; comprising the Adriatic, Baltic, British, Finland, Hungarian, Netherlands, Norwegian, Polish, South- East European, and Swedish Union Conferences, the Middle East Union Mission, the Pakistan Union Section, the Danish Union of Churches, the Iceland Conference, the Greek Mission, and the Israel Field.

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SESSION SNAPSHOTS

Sections:

PEOPLE:

"What has been your most memorable moment this past week at the General Conference Session?"

PLACES:

BEHIND THE SCENES: