Blessings from the past, Hope for the Future

As we look forward to a New Year ahead, it’s good to take a moment and reflect on the blessings of the year past. One of the greatest blessings we experience in GC Women’s Ministries Department is the joy we receive when traveling the world, visiting our sisters in many countries, learning from them, being blessed by their testimonies, hearing about the strength, hope and courage that God gives them while going through many difficult trials.

In our office we do all we can, with God’s guidance and strength and your prayer support, to help our sisters through various WM projects and our WM Scholarship Program. What we do, we do a s a team, in our office and working with our WM sister-leaders around the world. 

We thank God for your continued support but also for all the work done by every woman who gives of herself selflessly to help someone else. As we help each other, we are truly showing God’s love and that love is one that heals and draws others to Him.

We claim a blessing for you and your families from each of us at GCWM department – “For in You, O Lord, I hope;  You will hear, O Lord my God” (Psalm 38:15).

 

With love and joy,

Heather-Dawn Small

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GC Women’s Ministries Honors Women of the Year

 
Eugenia Giordano and Donna Jackson received Women of the Year 2012 awards at the dinner for women members of the GC Executive Committee during Annual Council. Heather-Dawn Small, GC WM director, and Raquel Arrais, GC WM associate director, wrapped both women in shawls to represent the love and respect earned from people around the world.

Eugenia Giordano, M.D.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Eugenia is associate director of the Adventist AIDS International Ministry located in South Africa. Her husband, Dr. Oscar Giordano, serves as director. The couple was called as a team ten years ago by the General Conference (GC) to organize and lead this ministry.

The focus of Eugenia’s work is on Women, Youth, and Children. She has established programs in 54 cities of 25 African countries, including the Grandmothers’ Training Center in Lesotho which is sponsored by the GC Women’s Ministries (GCWM).

Prior to this Eugenia worked as physician in several countries of Africa while also holding many positions in medical administration. She was medical officer and head of the Medicine general ward at Mugonero Hospital in Rwanda making daily rounds with nursing students to 104 hospital beds, in addition to being in charge of the hospital’s outpatient clinic with 60-80 patients per day. She was head physician in an ADRA Clinic in Burundi assisting refugees from Rwanda, while also providing leadership to several community-based health care initiatives, before being called back to be in charge of Mugonero Hospital at the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda. Immediately following the Rwanda war, she and her children were evacuated to Kenya while her husband was still on duty in Burundi. Later in Madagascar, Eugenia was medical director of the Adventist Outpatient Clinic in Antananarivo, giving her opportunity to interact with a large number of patients, and also to organize medical-evangelistic outreach programs in rural areas.

Eugenia received a Doctorate in Medicine from the National University of La Plata, Argentina, and a Master of Public Health from Loma Linda University. Eugenia and Oscar met when they were 15 years old and have been inseparable since then, studying, graduating from medical school, working together as missionary doctors, and raising four daughters. She has a passion for Jesus, her family, and the medical profession.

Donna Jackson

Born in British Columbia, Canada, Donna serves as the North American Division (NAD) Ministerial Spouses Association Leader. Her husband, Pastor Dan Jackson is the president of NAD. Prior to this, she was the SDA Church in Canada Women’s Ministries Liaison Coordinator and the Family & Women’s Ministries director of the Ontario Conference.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with the help of many gifted lay people, Donna initiated several new ministries in Ontario, such as: Women in Mission, Young Women’s Ministries, Teen Pregnancy Prevention/Intervention, Singles Ministries, and Grief to Wholeness. She has worked for social services organizations, such as Suicide Prevention Services, Catholic Social Services and the government of British Columbia and in inter-denominational community projects for people at risk.

Donna was educated at Spicer Memorial College in India and at Canadian University College in Alberta. In addition to Canada, India, and the United States, she’s lived in Sri Lanka and served in short-term projects in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

Her love for music led Donna to serve as organist in various Protestant churches over the years, providing close relationships with God’s other flock. She enjoys reading, astronomy, cosmology, and hiking in nature. Donna relished being a pastor’s wife for most of the 23 years her husband was in pastoral ministry and being educated by their two daughters and one son. She has loved Jesus ever since she can remember.

Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. “Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me’” (Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, p. 143).

Focus on the News

INTER-AMERICAN DIVISION (IAD)

Following God's Call

Costa Rica government officials, Congresswoman Zamora and San Jose Mayor Barquero, participated in a WM congress held at Costa Rica Adventist University. More than 1,200 women received training, guidelines, and motivation to continue with the mission to preach the gospel in San Jose, Costa Rica. In Matagalpa and Managua, Nicaragua, 800 women were trained and inspired.

Pictured below, left to right: Gloria de Ruiz, South Central American Union WM director; Dinora Barquero, Mayor of San Jose, CR; Raquel Arrais, GC WM associate director; Mireya Zamora, Costa Rica Congresswoman; Cecilia Iglesias, Inter-American Division WM director.

 

SOUTH AMERICAN DIVISION (SAD)

Breaking the Silence Campaign Reaches Communities in Chile

Adventist Church members and pastors of Santiago participated in a city-wide Breaking the Silence campaign by preaching about No Violence, distributing magazines and flyers, and exhibiting student artwork representing abuse prevention.  Breaking the Silence seeks to prevent violence between couples, in families, and in society.  During a closing ceremony exceptional student artwork was acknowledged and government official Carolina Schmidt, Minister of the National Women’s Service of Chile, thanked the Adventist community in Santiago for their support in “this battle of violence against women.”

SOUTH PACIFIC DIVISION (SPD)

France Honors French Polynesia WM Director

Vasthi Liloux received the prestigious la Medaille de la Legion d’honneur in May 2012. France awards only a few persons each year for faithfully serving their country, and for 18 years while serving as WM director in French Polynesia, Vashti empowered women for service. In 2011 SPD WM Director Erna Johnson gave her a certificate of outstanding service which Vashti displays on her piano.

 

SOUTHERN-AFRICA INDIAN OCEAN DIVISION (SID)

enditnow Campaign Linked to the Government of the Seychelles

Caroline Chola, SID WM director, is raising awareness for enditnow with government officials in the Seychelles. At a meeting organized by GC Health Ministries and the International Commission for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (ICPA), representatives from government agencies and NGOs worked with facilitator Caroline Chola on strategies that were later recommended to the Seychelles Minister of Social Affairs, Community Development and Sports, His Excellency, Vincent Meriton.

The Minister agreed to partner with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Seychelles to conduct a survey and raise awareness in the community. He expressed appreciation to Caroline Chola for the way the Adventist Church addresses the issue of abuse and drug dependency. 

In a meeting with the area churches, members showed their support for Women’s Ministries and Health Ministries by affixing enditnow stickers to their faces.

 

 

“Pray without ceasing, and watch by working in accordance with your prayers. As you pray, believe, trust in God. It is the time of the latter rain, when the Lord will give largely of his Spirit. Be fervent in prayer, and watch in the Spirit.” {TM 512:1}

Inspiration for You

Improving Your Spiritual Communication

For a few hardy prayer warriors, talking with God is as easy as breathing; it happens almost effortlessly. When you ask them how they do it, they simply shrug and reply, "I just pray." But many of us need help to improve our way of talking with God. With that in mind, here are some practical guidelines that might make your time with the Lord more fruitful.

1. Choose a specific place to pray away from distractions so you can concentrate.
2. Pray at the same time every day, if at all possible. Make it part of your regular routine and it will become habit.
3. Pray out loud. Many people can pray under their breath or in their minds for long periods and still maintain intensity, but for most of us this method is a quick ticket to dreamland. When we pray out loud, we have to form intelligent sentences. We have to concentrate more on what we're praying about.
4. Keep a note pad handy so you can jot down ideas that come to mind while you're before the Lord.
5. Make a list to keep track of your prayer needs.
6. Redeem time for praying out of unused corners of your schedule.
7. Change the pace during your prayer time. Include praise, thanksgiving and singing as well as petition. Spend some of your time reflecting on the Scripture, meditating on it and digesting its meaning.
8. Keep a prayer journal. Here are two variations of this idea. The first is to keep track of what you prayed for and when you prayed for it. The second variation is to write an entire prayer in your journal. Make it a personal letter to the Lord on a daily basis.
9. Pray with someone else. Though some prayers can be said only in solitude, there will be times when you'll want to join hearts with another person in prayer.
10. Pray one-sentence prayers. If the thought of laboring over a topic wears you out, pray short, sincere prayers instead.

 

Prayer for the Year

“Let your prayer be, ‘Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.’ This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ” (Steps to Christ, p. 66).

 

New Year 2013

• Spend time with God • Pray more • Help someone • Be a Bible reader • Invest in your health • Exercises your brain • Do your best • Love and forgive 

 

INTER-EUROPEAN DIVISION (EUD)

Euro-Africa Division becomes Inter-European Division

The Annual Council of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist Church voted October 2012 to change the name of the division because of the 2011 reorganization which placed the Muslim countries into the Greater Middle East Union now attached to the General Conference. The name Inter-European Division more accurately depicts the territory of the division. The acronym will remain EUD.

 

Women, Poverty & Economics

Facts and Figures

• In some regions, women provide 70 percent of agricultural labor, produce more than 90 percent of the food, and yet are nowhere represented in budget deliberations
• In Mexico, women in paid employment devote an additional 33 hours to domestic chores per week, while men’s weekly contribution six hours.
• If the average distance to the moon is 394,400 km, South African women together walk the equivalent of a trip to the moon and back 16 times a day to supply their households with water.
• In Arab states, only 28 percent of women participate in the workforce.

Source: http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_poverty_economics/facts_figures.html

 

Wall of Women of Distinguished Service

A wall in the new location of the GC Women’s Ministries features Women of Distinguished Service. Although the wall of portraits has been a stop on the GC tour in the former location, the display now boasts new signage and 14 portraits of women currently serving in each of the 13 divisions and one in the GC. A new brochure featuring the biographies of each woman represented on the wall has been published.

 

 

 

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Prayer Corner

• 10 Days of Prayer
• Peace and Healing for Women
• EVANGELISM IN THE BIG CITIES
• Revival and Reformation

 

Calendar : 2013 Important dates

February 1
Statistical Reports due in GCWM office

March 2
Women’s International Day of Prayer

June 8
WM Emphasis Day

August 17
enditnow Day

October 1
Devotional Book deadline for submissions