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Generally
I can compare our women's work to sowing. In II Corinthians
(9:6b) Apostle Paul said: "the one who sows many seeds will have
a large crop". Let me share with you a very interesting story
which I have heard some time ago: "The owner of a large estate
gave his gardener some red roses to take home to the employee’s
wife, but she never received them. On the bus during the travel back to
his home he met a widow who spoke about her loneliness. He gave the
roses to the widow and hoped his wife would understand him. But the
widow didn't get them home either. She met a girl in tears
because her mother had been very ill. She gave these flowers to the
girl, to pass to her mother and promised to pray for her. Her mother
was very happy but she didn’t keep them. When her minister
visited her the next day, she gave the flowers to the church. The
pastor took them and put in the sanctuary, where they were appreciated
by his congregation. After the service the minister gave one rose to
one of the church members who celebrated her birthday and she enjoyed
it very much."
So the love expressed by the first man became the chain which connected
more needy people and in this way multiplied the gift. This is the same
in the women’s ministry, every good work, good word, every
kindness, every thoughtful action, every prayer embraces more and more
needy people and "will have a large crop", but this is also
a way of blessing the giver. I could see it very clearly, when I
visited the different countries during last a few months. In November
last year together with Olga Mocan, we lead the women’s
conference in Azerbaijan. There are two different groups of Baptist
believers: Azerbaijanians and Russians speaking adequate Azerbaijanese
and Russian languages. It was the first official contact of the EBWU
with the Azerbaijanian sisters and this conference has been mainly for
them but there was also group of Russian sisters. The theme of the
meeting was the same as in Chisinau, Moldova "Trust in the Lord
and do good". For all of the participants it has been an
inspiration for the ministry. Some of them very openly expressed their
gratitude for our coming. There were big numbers of young sisters. Some
of them were involved in the program with leading of the worship,
others took part in the drama and special dance to glorify God. They
shared very moving testimonies about their way to Jesus Christ.
Azerbaijan is a strong Muslim country where it is not easy to be a
Christian, but in spite of that brothers and sisters do a lot to bring
others to Christ. They have paid a big prize very often for their faith
in the Lord. The leader of the Azerbaijanian group, Tarana Merzoyva
travels a lot through the country in order to help different groups of
women to grow up to be witnesses of Christ in the neighborhood. Ludmila
Federenko works with Russian women. During this visit we had the
opportunity to share a young woman’s evening before her wedding.
It was a very interesting meeting of the young girls and older women.
They prepared a good meal and enjoyed very much the time together. In
the second part of the evening they used henna to prepare the future
bride for the weeding ceremony. We could see also the marriage portion
prepared by her parents. There was everything for the future family:
equipment for the kitchen together with the refrigerator, equipment for
the bedroom, also gold jewelry for her and many smaller gifts from
friends and beloved ones. The size of the dowry depends on how rich the
parents are. The wedding ceremony usually takes a few days, sometimes
even one week. If a poor girl marries the friends or the church support
her. But the most important thing is to be a virgin for the girl and
maybe therefore in Azerbaijan divorces happen very seldom. |
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At
the beginning of February 2008 I was in Russia and participated at two
women’s conferences in Moscow and St.Petersburg and at an
additional meeting with the leaders. At the conference in Moscow with
the theme based on Galatians 6:10 over 200 women took part. We could
hear very moving testimonies concerning God’s work in personal
and family lives and in the ministry. |
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In
St.Petersburg it was a different meeting with a smaller group of women
because the conference on Wednesday was held in the afternoon and
evening and most women work at this time. At the meeting a few women
from the Orthodox and Adventist church participated and they were
grateful for an invitation. Generally at the conference more younger
women participated. There were also additional meetings with the
leaders of the women’s ministry in the city and St. Petersburg
area. They do a lot: prepare materials for Bible Studies, work with
children, orphans and widows. Some of them are involved in
Gideon’s ministry. The president of the women’s ministry
Diana Kondratieva travels a lot in order to help women who are
struggling with different difficulties and encourage them to pray for
children, family, church, and other needs regarding women. The travel
to Russia I consider as a special opportunity to know this huge country
better. I was greatly impressed during this visit and also the short
meeting with the president of the Union of Evangelical
Christians-Baptists of Russia, brother Yuri Sipko what great mission
work our Russian brothers and sisters do in their own country.
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My
last visit to Spain took place at the end of February and beginning of
March. It was a women’s training seminar for leaders and the
celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the women’s ministry. At
this meeting about 200 women and the presidents of France, Italy and
Portugal participated. The gathering was held in the nice Catholic
Centre Guadarama. It was a special meeting, as the Spanish sisters
could look back on the history of the women’s work. In the period
of 1948-2008 (60 years) 15 presidents of the women’s ministry
served the Lord. Six of them were present at the meeting. Their
reflections and some thoughts showed how God worked through
women’s generations in Spain. Some of them God had brought to
this ministry in a special way for example Rosmary Simarro who had
started at the age of 11 to help her mother, when she worked as the
secretary of the Women´s Union. These first experiences with the
papers and correspondence to women had been inspiring to her. So God
has His own way and plan for each of woman. It has been interesting to
watch a CD with the short history of the women’s ministry and to
hear about some mission projects like the project in Guinea. Spanish
sisters worked with the edition of the Bible in Braille’s
language, so blind people can read God’s Word now. In the last
word addressed to the participants the president of the Mission Baptist
Women’s Union in Spain said that this ministry would be
continued.
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Dear
sisters before us is the great event, the EBWU conference in May 15-18
2008 in the nice Christian Conference Centre in Dalfsen, the
Netherlands. We expect about 200 women from all over Europe, some
Central Asian countries and from the Middle East. So it will be a
special time of fellowship, to get to know each other better, and just
see what it means to be members of God´s big family. More
information about the program of the conference, workshops, leaders,
and about the place of the meeting you can find on our website:
www.ebwu.org. I want to add, that during this conference will be the
election of the new the EBWU committee and its president. There has
already been done a lot of work with the preparations of this
international meeting but much work is still before us. Please pray for
the Dutch work group who has involved in the work regarding the
conference also for the EBWU committee and for the Nominating
committee´s work and election. Please pray that this conference
will become a source of inspiration to the women to be closer to Jesus,
to remain in Him and to continue the women’s ministry in their
own countries, as its theme says: "Jesus, our source of inspiration".
In His grace humbly submitted,
Ewa Gutkowska
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