Women's Conference, Malenovice

Beautiful sunny weather welcomed us in Malenovice, Czechia to the 8th Women’s Conference called “True – Fateful Meeting”. This time we chose as a theme the story of Samaritan woman meeting Jesus. Our guest speakers were Denise Hochstrasser (Women Ministries Director, Inter-European Division EUD) and Dagmar Dorn (Women Ministries team member in Switzerland and WM Director elect at the EUD). The inspiration for this conference came from my meeting with these two women in Friedensau at the WM Congress. Many times in life we experience a meeting with somebody who inspires us, motivates us, gives us hope and opens our eyes. How does it shape us?
We opened the conference on Friday with dinner. Later on we gathered to sing songs and with 100 women it was like a heavenly chorus. Denise Hochstrasser chose for the evening devotion the verses in John 4:7 – 11. The Samaritan woman had her issues a she didn’t want to meet anyone else so she went to fetch water at a very uncommon time – at midday. At that time everyone was resting and she was likely to walk unnoticed. How often do we walk to the well to meet the God? Denise spoke of her personal times when she met ‚Jesus at the well‘.
One of the decorations in the hall was an imitation well. Denise asked the women to write down their personal story with Jesus and encouraged them to go and tell their personal stories to others.
After her meeting with Jesus the Samaritan woman’s status changed. A woman, despised by many, brought to the city a new hope. And the inhabitants of the city of Sychar confessed: „thanks to her words we believe in Him“ [John 4,39].
The Sabbath sermon by Denise Hochstrasser was about self-acceptance, which is a requirement for being able to accept and love others, just like the woman at the well saw herself differently after her encounter with Jesus. Elen Gomolova told us her story about the adoption of children. It was a moving story about a married couple who devoted their lives fully to God.
We wanted to express to all women how important they are – like daughters of a King.
In the evening we enjoyed a violin concert and a presentation by a photographer who takes pictures of women in natural beauty with the best decoration – their smile.
On Sunday we were blessed by Dagmar with the story of the woman suffering from bleeding [Mark 5,28]. She told us about healing through the touch of faith. We used our imitation well in the hall into which the women could throw notes with their burdens and injuries. The fountain is deep, and the women were encouraged to leave their burdens behind, and not to take them back home again. This sermon was followed by a special prayer by Denise.
The whole weekend we were thinking about the importance of coming again and again to the Living Water. We felt God’s grace, love, and gratitude for the time we spent together. God bless you all!
Based on a report by Iveta Halešová, WM leader Czecho-Slowakian Union.