{"id":11110,"date":"2022-07-05T16:42:39","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T16:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/?p=11110"},"modified":"2022-07-13T07:06:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-13T07:06:45","slug":"gods-kindness-shines-through-in-guatemala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/gods-kindness-shines-through-in-guatemala\/","title":{"rendered":"God\u2019s Kindness Shines Through in Guatemala"},"content":{"rendered":"

05 July 2022, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala [ted<\/em>NEWS]<\/p>\n

Women started arriving at 8:30 am. Some had travelled up to seven hours by bus, through the winding roads of Guatemala\u2019s western highlands, just to be there. Undaunted, and wearing radiant smiles and beautiful traditional clothes \u2013 long skirts and colourful, embroidered blouses- they took their place at the Adventist Auditorium in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. For the first time since the outbreak of the Covid19 pandemic, over 1,500 Chap\u00edn\u00b9<\/em> women gathered to enjoy the annual Women\u2019s Ministry Congress.<\/p>\n

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Women proudly wearing their Women’s Ministries uniforms, in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The whole-day event, which took place on Saturday 25 June, was organised by Sara de Calderon, Women\u2019s Ministry director for the West Guatemala Conference<\/a> (WGC). \u201cThe greatest capital at the WGC is human. We have many humble and hard-working women who are fully committed to serving God. They inspire us to organise events like this,\u201d said Calderon. The theme for the congress \u201cRescatadas y Sin Cadenas<\/em>\u201d [Rescued and Unchained] was chosen to \u201cprovide women with emotional tools to connect with God and each other in a deeper and more meaningful way\u201d and to help them \u201cfind freedom from fears and regrets.\u201d Calderon and her impressive team planned the event months in advance, thoughtfully and lovingly considering every detail: from the welcome bags filled with goodies, to the music and the butterfly-themed d\u00e9cor (which included a box of live butterflies, more on that later). The result was a moving, tender celebration of faith, freedom, and sisterhood in Christ.<\/p>\n

The speaker was Vanesa Pizzuto, Associate Communication director for the Trans-European Division (TED). As the author of this year\u2019s women devotional, No Fears, No Chains<\/em><\/a>, she was no stranger to the women attending the congress. But the connection grew stronger when she greeted the ladies in Quich\u00e9 and Mam, two of the Mayan languages of Guatemala. \u201cSaqarik achalal\u201d <\/em>[Good morning sisters] said Pizzuto, before diving into an honest and vulnerable conversation on overcoming perfectionism and learning to tune it to the voice of God. \u201cSometimes we speak to ourselves in ways we would never speak to a friend, and we expect God to bully us in a similar way,\u201d Pizzuto reflected, \u201cbut I suspect God is a Guatemalan\u00b2, because He is too kind to do that.\u201d In her presentations Pizzuto inspired the attendees to find freedom from the inner critic through the grace and kindness of God and to embrace their identity as cherished daughters.<\/p>\n

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Sara de Calderon and Vanesa Pizzuto (left to right) with a Monarch butterfly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Butterflies were the symbol of the congress because \u201cthey represent our life with Christ, and the freedom and transformation we can find in Him,\u201d said Sara de Calderon. To further illustrate this point, Coty de Calderon released a dozen butterflies at the end of the programme. As the butterflies flew away or posed on some of the ladies, \u201cthey showed us that this is not permanent. This struggle, this trial will not last forever. Transformation and freedom are coming,\u201d commented Coty de Calderon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy heart is bursting at the seams from all the love I received in Guatemala, and my bags from all the presents. I am taking back far more than I have given,\u201d Pizzuto said reflecting on the event. \u201cI am very grateful to Sara and pastor Irving Calderon for organising the congress, and to every woman who attended. I cannot wait to come back to Guatemala!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were inspired by the enthusiasm and faith of these courageous women,\u201d commented Sara de Calderon. \u201cWGC is a multicultural conference in the heart of the Mayan world. Women came to the Congress from Huehuetenango, San Marcos and Quetzaltenango. It is inspiring to see that in the heart of the Maya\/Quich\u00e9 culture, women are also preparing to meet the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u00b9People from Guatemala often call themselves \u201cChap\u00ednes\u201d rather than \u201cGuatemalans\u201d.
\n\u00b2 Guatemalans are known for their kindness and generosity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TED Associate Communication director ministers in Inter America – West Guatemala Conference<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1577],"tags":[426,803,1139,1140,1141,1112,255],"class_list":["post-11110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-organisational-updates","tag-congress","tag-devotional","tag-guatemala","tag-no-fears-no-chains","tag-sara-calderon","tag-vanesa-pizzuto","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11110"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11178,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11110\/revisions\/11178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}