NEW BEGINNINGS WOMEN LEADERS' RETREAT & SEMINAR

Participants from across the country came together to not only experience a beautiful retreat in San Antonio, Texas, but to also come up with action steps for the next year including plans for the national conference in October.

"The new type of leadership is by showing love through service and example. It's not about positions and leadership, " President of WFWP USA Angelika Selle said. "If we bring back the past, we'll destroy what we already built.

In the New Jersey chapter, led by Denneze Nelson, she shared how doing local projects contributed to their success. But also believed that there needs to be more programs geared to educating /raising young women leaders.

Nelson also shared the importance of working with a team, and thanked Marguerite Johannsen-Dabis and Joy Lascarifor the teamwork that they were able to create for the chapter.

Alexa Ward stopped by the retreat to not only share about her new position as Vice President of Family Federation USA, but to also remind the participants how important this time is.

"When I was on the plane with True Mother, I can remember her saying '...please make this worth it for me.' She didn't cry when she said it, but I felt the weight... And I was able to connect with her even more that day, the burden she now has to carry... We need to support True Mother, in any way we can."

And that meant taking Women's Federation for World Peace to the next level. And every participant felt more determined to help lift that weight.

At the end of the retreat, the participants got together to come up with a theme for this year's conference. And the group came up with the title, "The New Woman Leader in Action." The title is not official, but the conference is planned to have a day of action where attendees can participate in a community project.

So for 2013 the women of WFWP want to create more programs geared towards young women, mentoring and enrichment programs for high school students, and start a WFWP College Chapter initiative to get more young women involved in the organization.

SAN ANTONIO
A POEM

The beauty I cannot capture
It brings my heart to rapture
The atmosphere of God's creation
Must soon fill the whole nation
A walk by the river, San Antonio
With flowers and colors that glow
With a gentle breeze, cooling the warm night
Raises all through me a sparkling light
The grandeur of the cypress and the oaks
Sends messages of peace: Remove your cloaks!
Enjoy the splendor before you
Drink it in, and right through
Mother Earth can teach us much
When we reach for her touch
Absorb her heart and remain
There is more than we know to gain

-Chairwoman Fran Krefft Mackay