Headlines for Mar 2000

What has persuaded over two million Adventist women to leave their homes and families for a weekend, sometimes travel long distances, occasionally stay in primitive surroundings, and pay for the privilege, too? Women's Ministries retreats or congresses!

Retreats/congresses are held in a variety of venues -- some designed for a weekend of pampering at a hotel or resort, and some stark and simple. Carole Ferch-Johnson reports on a retreat in Vanuatu where over 400 women camped by the river. "We slept in tents,		Sabbath morning choir at the Ontario Conference, Canada (NAD) leadership retreat
cooked our food on open fires and swam (wrapped in a sarong) in the river in the absence of any showers or bathrooms. I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed the three days."

But retreats all have one purpose -- to help women in their spiritual growth. The plenary speakers and seminars are carefully chosen with these goals in mind: how to help a woman find her gifts; discover her value; find support from other women; learn how to face the stresses and traumas of modern living; and to have a personal walk with Jesus Christ. Cheryl Judd from Albury, New South Wales, Australia, said at the end of a retreat, "The fellowship with other Christian women, learning from their experiences, and the opportunity to share and pray together were what I appreciated most about the retreat." In another comment from the South Pacific, Susanna Weber, Victorian Conference WM director, says attitudes are changing. Many think a retreat is "just for older women...and that we sit around and discuss feminist issues." She says that a group of young women from Avondale college attended the Sydney retreat to provide the music and "went away thrilled with what they'd seen and shared."

Dorothy Eaton Watts giving women an opportunity to share friendship at one of the four retreats held by the Florida Conference each year.		Since Women's Ministries began keeping statistics in 1992, 42,095 congresses and retreats have been held. The 2,183,609 Adventist women (and sometimes men) attending have brought 223,089 non-Adventist friends and family with them. Not only have women rededicated their lives to the Lord, but there have been baptisms. At the Kansas-Nebraska
retreat they plan for baptisms and women have waited until retreat time to be baptized there.

Although usually held over a weekend and for a conference or a union, sometimes the retreat is for women of local area churches. Some retreats are for one day, usually a Sabbath or Sunday. Some run from Sabbath afternoon to Sunday afternoon so that women can be involved in their local church Sabbath morning, as the women in Houston, Texas, (NAD) recently did. Some events include women from many countries as the North and South Asia Pacific Divisions had in Thailand in 1998. Sometimes the retreat is for a particular language or ethnic group such as Spanish retreats in North America. The Arizona Conference has had a retreat each of the last ten years. This past year women came from six states and Mexico.

Whether big or small, there are almost guaranteed to be tears. Sometimes it is because old friends don't want to part again; other times it is new friends, or it may be because a woman has finally discovered that she is worthy of love, that Jesus loves her,		Two women comparing notes during a retreat in Frankfurt, Germany
and that there are solutions to the problems she faces daily.

There is also laughter. At a retreat in England a few years ago some of the women returned to their dormitory to discover that it was locked for the night. They had to crawl in through a window -- they were laughing so hard they almost couldn't make it. But friendships grow. Viola Hughes, from the Potomac Conference (NAD) reports on a single church women's retreat: "We laughed till our sides ached." But she also says that Friday night "I surveyed the ladies around me and concluded that they were all 'acquaintances' I saw every week at church but I knew them not." By the end of the weekend, she knew each one much better.

Treat, anyone? A young woman passes out special feminine treats to the 2000 women at a congress in Brazil

Each retreat seems to have a little something that makes it unique -- in Bangalore, India, the women broke into discussion groups on topics of challenge to them. In North Dakota (NAD) the "Woman-to-Woman" project was launched: to place the Desire of Ages in the hands of every woman in the prisons of North and South Dakota. They also had a Sabbath afternoon tea of praise. In Nevada-Utah they have a money raising event to provide scholarships for women unable to afford the cost of the retreat. Saturday night was the scene of a beautiful banquet for 600 women who attended the Allegheny East and West conferences "Family Reunion."

No matter the theme, the speaker, or the venue, when Christian women get together, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, spiritual blessings follow. I have yet to meet a woman who has attended one who didn't want to go again. Please encourage every Women's Ministries director to plan a retreat or congress and encourage every woman you know to attend -- all will be blessed.

Information on the General Conference Session Ministry Meetings sponsored by Women's Ministries is available on the General Conference Session web site at: http://www.adventist.org/gc2000.

As more information is available, it will be released in this newsletter, on the web site, and in the Session 2000 News distributed by the Communication Department. You can obtain this by e-mail at gcsession@gc.adventist.org or by requesting a hard copy from the GC Communication Department. (back to headlines)

Priscille Metonou, WM Director for the Africa-Indian Division, reports that supporters of Women's Ministries in Ghana wear stylish blue uniforms that have Bible texts on the sleeves. "Texts," Metonou says, are "our way of saying, 'we believe'...The texts point to the principles of our faith. We're happy to have a 'dress of texts.'"

At the inaugural service for the newly-formed Ghana Union Conference, President Jan Paulsen noted, with interest and appreciation, the uniformed WM participants who sang enthusiastically.

Metonou further explains that "the uniform gives a sense of unity and belonging. We are united for one purpose. We can identify with one another."

(Reported by Jonathan Gallagher, Associate Director, G.C. Communications) (back to headlines)

I was browsing around one of my favorite Christian bookstores and a haphazard stack of colorful fabric squares caught my eye. I wandered over to investigate. As I examined the product trying to discern its use, the card attached offered the explanation I was seeking.

"This is a Prayer Pocket," it said. "Inside you may keep a list of those prayer requests that are dear to your heart."

"What a great idea!" I thought to myself. "I could easily do that myself...only I would change this...." So, I mentally filed the idea away for future use.

As WM leader for our church, I was in charge of planning our Christmas tea and wanted to create a gift for each attendant to take home. Out of my "file" I pulled the Prayer Pocket. So, my project began. They were so well received that our conference WM leader asked me to make one for each of the ladies who would attend our fall retreat 285! Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I enlisted the help of several other ladies in our church and the pockets were finished and distributed that fall. These make great gifts and for those of you who sew, are wonderful ways to use up all those fabric scraps that you tend to accumulate. What a nice way to say to a friend, hostess, or Secret Sister, "You are special!" Have fun!

The Prayer Pockets are easy to make for anyone with a basic knowledge of sewing and access to a sewing machine. Decorative stitches are an asset, but not necessary. You will come up with additional ideas to embellish your creation if you put your mind to it. Here are the basics.

First, you will need two coordinating fabrics, one quilted if possible. It just gives more body to the finished pocket. Next, you will need a ruler or tape measure, thread in the appropriate color, scissors, and a hard working surface.

For each Prayer Pocket cut a rectangle of each fabric 7 1/4 inches by 12 inches. Put the two right sides together and sew theedges with a 1/4 inch seam, leaving a 2 - 3 inch opening at the top to turn the pocket. After sewing, trim the corners and turn it right side out. Press. Now you have a finished rectangle.

Fold the bottom of the rectangle up 4 inches, matching the sides. Be sure that the opening you left to turn the pocket is at the top and is part of the "flap" edge. Using a decorate stitch if available on your machine or a zigzag stitch, beginning at thebottom edge of one side, stitch up the side, across the top edge and down the remaining side. Now you have an "envelope" that is finished on all sides. You can decorate the flap with a satin bow, fold it down and you're finished!

All that remains is to fill the pocket. I used 3" x 5" plain index cards and embellished them using a rubber stamp with a floral design. Whatever you want to do to make them pretty and feminine will increase the chance of their use.

"We cannot expect in the immediate future that all women who seek it will achieve full equality of opportunity. But if women are to start moving towards that goal, we must believe in ourselves; we must match our aspirations with the competence, courage and determination to succeed.

In the past, few women have tried and even fewer
have succeeded. "

Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, 1921 American medical physicist, Nobel Prize winner