Shepherdess International News

Shepherdess International News

News from around the world.

By the Journal staff and various contributors

Euro-Africa Division

* Portuguese Union—Follow­ing consultation with the Di­vision and as proposed by the Health and Temperance De­partment of the Portuguese Union, Laura Teixeira was awarded a golden medal and diploma from the General Conference as a "missionary nurse." Laura was distin­guished as a nurse in support of others and in support of her husband's pastoral min­istry. Her lifestyle is an ex­ample of Adventist health principles. Laura is one of the first nurses in Europe to re­ceive this distinction.

* Swiss-German Union—Hanni Klenk reports that pas­toral wives from German Switzerland met for three days of meetings in May.

Euro-Asia Division

* Peggy Tompkins, Shepherd­ess coordinator for the Mid-America Union, met with Olga Stasyk, Shep­herdess coordi­nator for the West Ukraine Conference dur­ing meetings in the Ukraine.

North American Division

* General Conference—Jeanie Ryan, wife of Pastor Mike Ryan (Global Mission), was recently responsible for a booth on men and women's issues at the White House Health Fair. The health fair was sponsored by the Wellness Center of the National Naval Medical Center. Jeanie works as an adult nurse practitioner at the Military Medicine Clinic, National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Mary­land.

* Marie Spangler, co­founder of Shepherdess International, just made what she hopes is her last move until she moves into her heavenly home. She and her husband, Robert, packed their earthly belong­ings and moved to Southern California where their two daughters live. Marie and her cheerful ways will be missed here at Shepherdess Interna­tional.

* Minnesota Conference---On Sabbath, March 26, church members and friends of the Hispanic Seventh-day Ad­ventist church in South St. Paul, Minnesota, met to praise God and to celebrate the ori­gins of the Hispanic work in Minnesota. Guest speaker, Pastor Alvin Smith, had his sermon translated by his wife, Eva. A commemorative plaque was presented to the Smiths as a token of appre­ciation for their leadership and pioneer work with the group.

* Northern California—The Northern California pastoral wives enjoyed a retrea t week­end in which Yara Young was the main speaker. She pre­sented ways to gain the rich­est blessings from the Sabbath. In the words of one pastoral wife, "On this retreat week­end we were free to share with each other our joys, sor­rows, and frustrations. We knew that the words we used or the stories we shared wouldn't be used against us or to divide the church. We laughed and cried, let our hair down, and rested ... that was the real pleasure of this retreat."

* Oregon Conference—The pastoral wives of the Oregon Conference enjoyed fellow­ship and renewal at their annual re­treat held at Sil­ver Falls. 

South American Division

* Pastoral wives' meetings were conducted in several ar­eas of the South American Di­vision by Mrs. Margarida Sarli. Local Shepherdess co­ordinators reported that the pastoral wives enjoyed the spiritual meetings and being able to participate. They es­pecially appreciated the prac­tical advice Margarida shared withthemand the tremendous energy and enthusiasm she brought to her presentations.

Southern Asia Division

Mrs. Margaret Nathaniel, Shepherdess coordinator and associate director for Church Ministries, was presented the Arthur and Maud Spaulding Award for distinguished ser­vice to families by Ron and Karen Flowers from the Gen­eral Conference Church Min­istries Department. Margaret is well known through the di­vision for carrying out action plans to minister to families. Congratulations, Margaret!

* South Tamil Section—Mrs. White Antonidass, coordina­tor of the South Tamil Section Shepherdess organization, I reported that 23 pastoral wives of ordained ministers from the South Tamil Section came together for three days of meetings in Madurai.

Hepzibah Kate, South India Union Shepherdess coor­dinator, was the in­vited guest speaker. During the vespers service, eight pasto­ral wives delivered concise, three-minute messages on "The Women of the Bible." Hepzibah also spoke during the divine worship service on  "True Sabbath Keeping " The pastoral wives expressed their desire to have more fellow­ship meetings and exchange experiences.