A New Year's Reception in Stralsund, Germany

The New Year's reception on January 10, 2026, was a good opportunity for a slightly different women's breakfast, and we were delighted to see how many women accepted the invitation.
The Women's Ministry (WM) team of the Adventist churches in Bergen and Stralsund invited women to a New Year's reception with Nancy Duske, WM director for the Hanse Conference. The invitations reached women not only through announcements during church services, but also personally and via social media. And God answered our prayers for guests.
When a woman asked me while shopping whether I was shopping for the church again, I immediately invited her to the New Year's reception and wrote the date on her shopping list. And in the Strelepark mall, a lady literally ran into my arms, spoke to me, and was delighted to receive the invitation I put in her mailbox. In addition to phone calls and other experiences, it was obvious that this ministry is important—even if it sometimes comes with challenges.
On January 9, Nancy faced a journey full of challenges with cold weather, snow, and storms, turning the trip from Hamburg to Stralsund into a 10-hour odyssey. But with God's help, she finally arrived safely. On January 10, she spoke about gratitude in her sermon during the church service.
In the afternoon, our Stralsund congregation was also filled to capacity, and 35 people joined Nancy for the New Year's reception. Women from Bergen, Stralsund, and Greifswald accepted the invitation. They enjoyed a wonderful program with spiritual input, a choir song, a poem, a skit, and singing together, as well as another message from Nancy.
We were also richly blessed in other ways on this day: the working group had made some crafts, a sister from the Bergen congregation had brought the book “Health is no coincidence” as a gift for everyone, and Nancy also brought craft instructions as a souvenir, so everyone was able to make a magnetic tag with a personal Bible verse.
A coffee break rounded off the lovely afternoon.
According to a report by Brigitte T., Women’s Ministries, Stralsund, Hanse Conference