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FEBRUARY 2001 Women's Ministries on Health, Poverty & Abuse Book Review: The Fruit of the Spirit VIEW ORIGINAL LAYOUT OF THE NEWSLETTER USING ACROBAT.PDF News from the World of Women's Ministries is published monthly by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Department of Women's Ministries for the purpose of communicating news and information about Women's Ministries. Director & Editor: Ardis Stenbakken Asst. Editor & Layout: Iris Stovall
You may contact the editor by writing: General
Conference Department of Women's Ministries Phone:
(301) 680-6608
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GENERAL
CONFERENCE DEPARTMENT OF WOMEN'S MINISTRIES
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A
Celebration of Women Around the World
Memory Boxes One of the issues facing Women's Ministries in many areas of the world is how to minister to the families of HIV/AIDS victims or victims of other terminal diseases. When Agnes Nyamayarwo's son, Peter, was four he discovered from other children that his mother was HIV positive. Peter was shunned by the other children. "I felt very bad that he heard it from school. We think we are protecting them [by not telling them about our HIV status] but somehow they get to know." Agnes joined an organization in Uganda making memory books and boxes for their children. These are treasure chests of family information such as family trees, family values and traditions, and records about the child such as when they first walked, first words—information the parent knows but will not be available to share. Sometimes people find it hard to disclose their HIV status but find it "easy to write, talk or draw about it." Photographs, drawings, and favorite items are also put into the boxes. These are family records vital to a child, providing insight into the parents they never got to fully know. The memory books "empower parents to communicate with their children" and help the children to understand where they came from. Many ministry variations could be adapted for using memory boxes, meeting very real needs. In areas of high HIV/AIDS incidence, or in hospitals, making memory boxes could be a great community outreach. All it would take is some donated notebooks or maybe some shoe boxes. Someone could start a small enterprise project of making small wooden boxes for a small fee. —Information from Kerry Cullinan, Health-e News Service, Sept. 29, 2000. Why is Women's Ministries concerned about issues such as health, poverty, abuse, and illiteracy? One of the reasons might be found in this provocative dialogue: "Sometimes I would like to ask God why He allows poverty, famine, and injustice when He could do something about it." "Well, why don't you ask Him?" "Because I'm afraid God might ask me the same question!" —Quoted from Ann Landers in Chris Blake's, Searching for a God to Love, page 97
For more information,
see also About WM: 6 Critical
Issues Book
Review The Fruit of the Spirit, George W. Brown, Author. Stanborough Press, England (Autumn House). Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. How do you get and keep these attributes of the Holy Spirit? How do you become a loving and lovable Christian who can practice what she preaches in any situation? George W. Brown grouped the fruit of the Spirit into the Christian's personal relationship with God; relationship to others; and personal life and character. He brought out that the fruit "is a natural, unrehearsed expression of what we really are." An internationally known preacher and author, Brown helped me to understand more fully what the fruit really is and how to embrace its virtues rather than feel compelled to have them to be an "acceptable" Christian. This book is one that can be read time and time again as a refresher as we grow daily into the likeness of Christ. A Few Useful Websites for Leaders GC
Women's Ministries Adventist
news and other resources Pacific
Press Review
and Herald North
American Division Women's Ministries Information
source for NAD General
Conference website God
is love, and all who live in love live in God and God lives in them.
And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. (1
John 4:16, 17) |
