Crossing Over

Reaching Out in Moldova

The General Conference Women's Ministries is overjoyed to launch a second set of Bible The Euro-Asia Division (ESD): Prison Ministry is a challenge for our sisters in Moldova, but they are doing a special and loving service for prison inmates. In this small country there are ten penitentiaries, including women's prisons. Many inmates have received life sentences. Almost all of them are abandoned by their relatives and friends, even by their mothers.

The women visit faithfully every week. They bring not only hope, love, and words of encouragement, but also basic needs. Our sisters prepare food, collect warm clothes, buy stationery, prepare programs, and visit these isolated, often outcast and abandoned people. Those in prison express their gratitude to the women of the Moldova Prison Ministries by calling them "Mother."

The Prison Ministries leader is a lovely woman who sells electric lamps in the market to make her living. In her heart there is no room for keeping things for herself. Whatever she receives, she shares.

Another example of these women's commitment is Plemadyale Anastasiya Il'inichna. An 80-year-old woman, she knitted 300 pairs of socks for the prisoners. She is one of those making a difference in the lives of the people who are without hope.

There are many heartbreaking stories. One woman told a church member that her 10-year-old son was in prison. Desperate and trying to find answers and a way out, she met God, accepted Jesus as her Savior, and was baptized. Now she is not only helping her son, but she is also encouraging more women to reach out as she shares her own story.

Through the work of our sisters, especially the woman whose son is in prison, ten precious souls have been baptized.

Today the prison ministry in Moldova is alive and active. The women are providing physical and spiritual support to many whose lives are often a struggle for survival. These women are following Jesus' example and injunction: "I was in prison and you came to visit me."

 

The women visit faithfully every week.  They bring not only hope, love, and words of encouragement but also basic needs.

Statistics:

The Republic of Moldova comprises the Northern Moldova and Southern Moldova conferences.

Churches: 153
Membership: 11,438
Population: 3,9991

 

Focus On the News

East-Central Africa Division

Empower Women Leaders in Tanzania

March 16-20, 2009 was a special time for the women in leadership in Tanzania. Tanzania has five conferences and one field. Each of these entities has a full-time departmental Women's Ministries leader. The Union Women Ministries director Mary Kajura was able to bring all six women leaders together for the leadership certification program.

In the five days of training the group was able to complete the ten modules in level two of the certification program, discuss the next plan of action, and critically analyze the Six Critical Challenges that women face and what has been done to address them in the different conferences. According to the women leaders, women's service is accepted, and sixty percent of women are actively serving in the church, and they are a great force to the growth of the church in Tanzania.

"The women leaders were greatly inspired by the content in the certification program and they vowed to make an impact in their conferences using the knowledge they had gained at this important training."

--ECD WM

Northern-Asia Pacific Division

 Korean Women Reaffirming Existence, Role, and Mission

The Department of Women's Ministries led by Lee Seon Mi, Korean Union Conference WM director, held the 5th National Women's Convention and the 5th Women's Association General Meeting at Madalpy Sahmyook Training Center February, 16-18. About 260 earnest women from all over the country attended.

This convention was intended to share ideas for effective mission support and to motivate women for self-improvement. These women work as a central axis in church mission work. The participants in these meetings reaffirmed the existence, role, and mission of women, and promised their devotion.

--NSD WM

Inter-American Division

Venezuela Empowers Women

Seventh- day Adventist women from Venezuela came together for a weekend congress in Caracas February 27-28. More than 1,200 women renewed their commitment to go into their communities and tell about Jesus. The program was organized by Beny Paez de Rodriguez (Venezuela South Union Mission WM Director) who thought about every detail to make this program a blessing to each woman. For the closing there was a Leadership Certification Ceremony when the leaders received their charge from Raquel Arrais (GC WM Associate Director), Gloria Trotman (IAD WM Director), and Dinorah Rivera (IAD Associate Director). "We are leaving this meeting refreshed, renewed, willing, and ready for the mission we have ahead of us," said Beny Rodriguez in her closing words.

--IAD WM

Southern Asia-Pacific Division

 

Meeting - Teaching - Training

On February 25 Vietnamese Adventist women were pleased to meet two visitors who come from the Philippines: Helen Gulfan, the WM's division director, and Esther Daquila, the WM's director of the North Philippine Union Mission. On February 26 all the WM's directors of the Vietnam Mission came to the mission to start the three day training class to cover the Leadership Certification, Level 4.

A total of 42 women attended the certification. The purpose of this training was not only teaching and learning, but also an opportunity for the leaders to grow culturally and spiritually. "We thank God for the connection felt between all of us: the hostess and visitors, teachers, and students," says Pham Thi Lie, Women‘s Ministries Director, Vietnam Mission.

--SSD WM

 

Inspiration for You

Heart Call

Heart Call is a North American Division ministry to reach out to women who are no longer attending church and let them know we miss them and want them back. It involves training the women of the church how to reach out to these women in a loving, non-judgmental way and befriend them.

1. Make a list of the missing women in your church with contact information.
2. Pray over this list in groups.
3. Share your dreams of renewing friendships and reclaiming these missing members with your pastor.
4. Together introduce this program to your church board and then to the church body.
5. Choose a spiritual mentor for each woman on your list. The mentor's job is to establish a friendship with the woman and to simply love her and interact with her in a non-judgmental way.
6. The church Women's Ministries Department should begin planning events to invite these women to. Perhaps the first one should be held away from the church. Later events could be held at the church. Suggestions are included in the Heart Call kit.
7. It would be a good idea to form small Bible study or prayer groups that meet in members' homes to invite these women to. They might not feel comfortable going back to church at first but would go to a woman's home where they could study, pray, and form friendships with other women from the church.
8. Mentors should reach out to their friend on a regular basis. Invite her to events that have been planned by Women's Ministries and offer to pick her up.

 

Form a Heart Call ministry team. The team should include:

• A leader-a woman with a vision for the ministry who possesses the leadership gifts to pull the team together and oversee the project to fruition
• A Bible study leader-a woman with teaching gifts who can effectively lead a small group through the Bible study materials
• An event coordinator-a woman with hospitality and organizational gifts to coordinate social gatherings and/or seminars-events designed to invite the women you hope to reclaim to attend
• A mentor for each woman to be reclaimed

More Information about The Heart Call kit material go to: AdventSource, phone 800-328-0525; web site www.adventsource.org. The cost is $14.95 and it is available in English and Spanish.

---

Biblical Guidelines for Communication

Be Slow to Speak
Proverbs 15:1- A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Be Ready to Listen
Proverbs 18:13 - If one gives answer before hearing, it is folly and shame.

Give Always a Gentle Answer
Proverbs 25:15- Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone.

Talk Truth with Love
Ephesians 4:15 -Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

Avoid Quarrels
Proverbs 17:14 - Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam; so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.

Be a Forgiver
Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

 

A Final Thought:

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9, NLT

GLOBAL Statistics on ABUSE

Trafficking

In a 2008 report on human trafficking, the U.S. State Department listed Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as destination countries with widespread trafficking abuses, particularly forced laborers trafficked from Asia and Africa who are subject to restrictions on movement, withholding of passports, threats, and physical and sexual abuse.  http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/16/un.trafficking/

 

Equal Opportunity

As affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "everyone has the right to education." UNESCO's Convention against Discrimination in Education underlines the need to promote equal opportunity and treatment. Education is a means of ensuring that girls and boys have an equal opportunity. Most of the 100 million children deprived of access to primary education are girls. Most live in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia and the Arab States.  http://portal.unesco.org/en/

Violence

Over two-thirds of violent victimizations against women were committed by someone known to them: 31% of female victims reported that the offender was a stranger. Approximately 28% were intimates such as husbands or boyfriends, 35% were acquaintances, and the remaining 5% were other relatives.  http://www.aardvarc.org/dv/statistics.shtml

STATS

• 70% of girls do not finish primary school in rural Africa.
•  Women account for 64% of the adults worldwide who cannot read and write with understanding.
•  Only 88 adult women are considered literate for every 100 literate adult men.

 

---

Prayer Corner

• Heather-Dawn Small Travel to TED and NSD
• Women with depression
• Women facing cancer
• Women who serve in difficult countries

 

---

Calendar

• May 15: International Day of Families
• May: Drug Awareness Month (USA)
• May: Women's Health Care Month (USA)