\u201cWith the help of God\u2019s Spirit, the retreat has been the means to open and free our hearts of knots and situations that prevent us from fully being women in every sense of the word,\u201d says Gladis Vel\u00e1sqez Maldonado.<\/p>\n
Vel\u00e1sqez Maldonado is part of an emerging worldwide network of Anabaptist Women Theologians inspired at the 2003 Mennonite World Conference Assembly in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Leaders in Latin American organized MTAL Movimiento de Mujeres Anabautistas haciendo teolog\u00eda desde Am\u00e9rica Latina (MTAL Movement of Anabaptist Women doing Theology in Latin America), a continental group of women theologians.<\/p>\n
Vel\u00e1sqez Maldonado experienced this sister solidarity at the 13\u201315 August 2018 Central American MTAL meeting in Lake Yojoa, Honduras, where 36 women gathered from Mennonite churches in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Colombia and the United States.<\/p>\n
Devotionals, workshops, plenary presentations and space for interactive participation marked the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can testify to the progress that the Lord has allowed over the 15 years since the movement began,\u201d says participant and presenter Ofelia Garc\u00eda de Pedroza. \u201cWe have made changes and reoriented the original plans that we had and it has been a great lesson to see how the Spirit of God moves where it wants to and guides us towards fulfilling God\u2019s purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Due to the cultural and structural violence prevalent in many of their homelands, women experience physical, emotional and spiritual health problems that hinder them from developing their gifts and building healthy communities.<\/p>\n
The meetings allowed women to process some of this trauma in a safe environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to share things that I had never talked about to anybody before… It was freeing to feel listened to and to be able to hear suggestions and ideas from other sisters about how to face these situations,\u201d says Vel\u00e1sqez Maldonado.<\/p>\n
Meeting with other women in similar ministry situations from different countries, \u201cwe completely understood the words that were spoken from the heart. We expressed ourselves in a safe environment,\u201d says Garc\u00eda de Pedroza. \u201cTo be there was to experience God\u2019s mercy, overflowing love, limitless compassion and holistic peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
MTAL offers opportunity for women in leadership \u201cto talk about what my heart felt was a heavy burden, to allow myself to be loved and allow others to care about me, to be encouraged through hugs, in essence\u2026 to be vulnerable and to enjoy the company, the nature around us, the food that is laughter, the lake, the coffee, the rainy afternoons,\u201d says Garc\u00eda de Pedroza.<\/p>\n
\u2014Mennonite World Conference release <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWith the help of God\u2019s Spirit, the retreat has been the means to open and free our hearts of knots and situations that prevent us from fully being women in every sense of the word,\u201d says Gladis Vel\u00e1sqez Maldonado. Vel\u00e1sqez Maldonado is part of an emerging worldwide network of Anabaptist Women Theologians inspired at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":90011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"network":[],"eventcategory":[],"class_list":["post-6780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n