Women With Purpose

By Nilda E. Diep

Since the fall of 2021, I have had the honor of serving as the Women’s Ministries | Spanish coordinator for the Texas Conference. God has blessed our opportunities to fellowship through spiritual breakfasts, dedicated prayer days and annual spiritual retreats.

Starting in February of 2022, we hosted Sunday morning breakfasts all over the Texas Conference territory to encourage, teach and spiritually enrich our Hispanic female church members. This initiative reached six key areas of Texas: McAllen, Fort Worth/Keene, San Antonio, Austin, East Texas and Houston. The events, which provided a time of fellowship and enrichment, served 100-260 women in each area. Avelina Diaz, a medical internist, joined us to speak on women’s health issues. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists sets the annual International Women’s Day of Prayer for early March. To celebrate this special day, we invite women to speak for the main worship service. Also, during intercessory prayer time our churches display a prepared video that communicates the importance of prayer in a woman’s life and the impact it can have for individual families and churches.

We held our first in-person annual retreat since the pandemic on Sept. 23-25, 2022, at Camp Hoblitzelle in Midlothian, Texas. The theme for this weekend was “Mujer con Propósito” (Women with Purpose). In the past, these spiritual weekends have been held in hotels and convention centers, but we wanted to give our ladies a different experience— in nature, with no distractions. Approximately 550 participants represented more than 71 Spanish churches. The ladies received information about their spiritual, physical and mental health. We also had a special program for young girls, ages 13-19, featuring purposeful and enriching topics

NILDA E. DIEP Coordinator

catered to their stage of life. In addition to the main programs, we enjoyed a prayer experience, a prayer walk and a social night. Before the Sabbath ended, we celebrated four spontaneous baptisms.

Between these events, we provided to all new local women’s ministries directors the women’s ministries manual, along with mentorship through Zoom meetings. We also created group chats on WhatsApp so participants can communicate on a regular basis.

The Lord has blessed us greatly, and we look forward to continuing His work of enriching the lives of Hispanic women in the Texas Conference.