Women's Conference in Luhačovice, Moravia

Luhačovice, a picturesque Moravian spa town in the valley of the Štiavnica River with several healing mineral springs, became our home for the weekend of April 22-24, 2022.
The 10th-anniversary women's conference, entitled "The Power of Gratitude," was hosted by Iveta Halešová, the Women’s Ministries Director of the Czech-Slovakian Union. It was so nice to see each other again in person after these long two years. Daniel Dobeš, the President of the Moravian Conference, also addressed the participants in a greeting.
A special guest at our conference was Dagmar Dorn, the Women’s Ministries Director at the EUD, who came from Switzerland. The conference theme was introduced on Friday evening, based on the text in Thess 5: 16. Be thankful in all things. Does this also apply in these times of war, unrest, and crisis? Can we be thankful even now? Gratitude is mentioned very often in the Bible, especially in the Psalms. Gratitude must be taught, it is also a choice. The more we think about what we can be thankful for, the more reasons we find.
Dagmar illustrated this fact with the story of Helen Berhane from Eritrea. She was imprisoned and tortured for her faith for two and a half years. Despite her terrible situation, Helen still found reason to be grateful. "Thank you for the cold nights, the hot days, the hunger, the nausea, the bugs that infest my body. Thank you, God." Hard for us to imagine.
On Sabbath morning, we joyfully gathered to worship, singing beautiful songs prepared by the women’s musical group, praising and thanking our Creator and Lord.
Katarína Kernová, a psychologist and pastor's wife led us through the first part of the service, addressing the topic "What am I and what do I want to be?" She shared from her own eventful life and spiced this with Bible texts, humor, and wise quotes.
Jerusalem has its Wailing Wall, but this weekend we built a Thanksgiving Wall, to which the participants attached their thanks written on colored slips of paper onto a string. On one wall of the conference hall, the participants attached their thanks, in the form of colored slips of paper onto a string.
In her sermon, Dagmar Dorn looked with us at the story of the ten lepers in Luke 17. Of the ten healed, only one came back to give thanks and that one was a foreigner. The take-home message of this story for us is:
1. faith obeys (even if we don't always understand)
2. God's heart grieves, when we don't appreciate the blessings he provides
3. as we praise God, we will be spiritually healed
4. gratitude brings joy to the heart of God.
In the afternoon, there was another special feature. Iveta and her team greeted us in art nouveau dresses and gave us a glimpse of the spa town at the turn of the century. The participants were then able to try on these models and be photographed. Then the psychologist Jeroným Klimeš led us through the topic of gratitude, admiration, and manipulation. A manipulator is incapable of feeling admiration and gratitude. He feels only envy and self-pity. We learned what is the cycle of manipulation and what are its indirect signs.
In the evening Katarina Kernova told us her life story with its ups and downs. Her honesty and authenticity impressed us. Using the story of Caleb in Joshua 14, she gave us an insight into how God repeatedly intervened in her life and how she and her husband mastered life with God as a third party. She has written this in a book titled "A Wonderful Shock," which each participant received as a gift.
On Sunday morning, Dagmar Dorn spoke about the role of women in the Bible and how we as women can get involved today. After that, various workshops were offered. Every day we were surprised with small gifts.
Everything has an end. This is also true for the women's conference. It was a wonderful weekend with great fellowship and wonderful and touching presentations in words and songs. We want to thank God for everything and look forward to coming together again next time!
Reported by Iveta Halešová, Women’s Ministries Director of the Czech-Slovakian Union