Getting to know the Women in our church

MEET MARCELA ALEXANDER



I am originally from Brazil. My family were originally German miners who migrated to South America and lived in Chile for a while. I am married to Hebe Duarte, a Civil Engineer. Heber is a Pastor's son whom I met at an Adventist Retreat-Revival Camp when I was in college. We got married in Patterson June 16, 1991. Together we have two beautiful girls: Sofia and Sabrina.



Country of Birth: Sao Paolo, Brazil. It is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the western and southern hemisphere, and the world's eighth largest city by population. The city is ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among the five-largest metropolitan areas on the planet. São Paulo is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous Brazilian state and exerts strong regional influence in commerce and finance as well as arts and entertainment.

Favorite things to do: Spending time with my daughters.

Favorite Color: Yellow

Favorite Food: Italian food: Pasta and anything Italian

Favorite Bible Verses:

Joshua 1:9 "Remember that I commanded you to be strong and brave. Do not be afraid, because the Lord your God will be with you everywhere you go.
Romans 12:2 "Do not shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; then you will know what is good and pleasing to Him and what is perfect."

Favorite Woman in the Bible and why: Ruth

Ruth was poor, a foreigner from a despised Moabite nation, and a woman, and all this counted against her. But when her husband died, she decided to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi and faithfully followed her including her beliefs in her God. She shared loneliness, anxiety and grief with her and returned with Naomi to Bethlehem. Because of her unfaltering loyalty, God blessed her. She married a close relative of Naomi and had a son called Obed who grew up to be the grandfather of King David

As a woman of God, what do you need from your fellow women from the church or what can you do to help other women? ~ I love helping the Spanish Community as a translator. I am multi-lingual and speak Spanish, German, Portuguese and English. I am very open to any task that I am needed for the church.

Tell us a Story of your life's journey as a woman of God - My mother's family are mostly Catholics. My father was a former Lutheran. But in Brazil, to get a good education, you have to enroll at the Adventist Church School. So, I grew up with Adventists all my life. Most of my friends as a young woman were all Adventists. So it was normal for me to become an Adventist and to go to church regularly and attend all retreats and revival meetings for the youth. I attended college at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Federal University of Minas Gerais, abbreviated as UFMG). It is a public university located in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It is one of Brazil's five largest universities, being the largest federal university. Then I taught as an Agronomist, specializing in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. After meeting my husband,who is an Adventist Minister's son, it was only expected that I become a true believer on the faith. We both came to America to work in 1989, got married in June 16, 1991 At Patterson. I was meant to be a Seventh-day Adventist.

Getting to know the Women in our Church

ROSANA MARIA SANTOS

I am happily married to my husband Altamir and I am blessed to have these three boys that God gave to me: BRUNO, GABRIEL and ANDREW.

Country of Origin: BRAZIL

Favorite things to do: Play volleyball

Favorite Color: Red (also Black)

Favorite food: PASTA

Favorite Bible Verse: Psalms 23 New International Version
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness.
For His name's sake.
Even tough I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil; for You are with me.
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You annoint my head with oil, my cup oveflows.
Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Favorite Woman of the Bible: Hannah

Hannah was a good woman who loved God. But she was sad, for she had no children. Each year, her husband took her to a place called Shiloh, where they worshiped God. And each year, Hannah prayed a special prayer that God would give her a child. One year, she prayed, "Dear God, if You will only give me a son, I will give him back to You, to serve You all his days."
Hannah desperately wanted a son. She even promised that if God gave her a baby boy, she would dedicate him to doing the LORD's work. And God heard her prayer. It must have been difficult for Hannah to keep her promise, but she did by giving her son Samuel to Eli the priest.Because of a mother's great love and trust in God, her son became a great priest, prophet and leader in Israel.


As a woman of God,what do you need from your fellow women in the Church? I need your prayers, support, smiles and hugs.

Is there anything you want to do with the other women or for other women? I would really love to go out at least once a month, just to talk and have fun together to share our experiences and prayers for one another.

Life's journey as a Woman of God:

My parents were not Adventists. But my grandmother was a devout Adventist and she took me to Sabbath School as often as possible. And that is how I knew my Jesus through my grandmother. I am very happy and fortunate to find a good and wonderful husband who also love God. We both want our children to grow up in the Lord. I pray every day for God to bless my family. And for God to give me patience in dealing with Andrew's health needs. God is so good and He is with me, every step of the way. I feel helpless sometimes and I just pray to God because oftentimes I do not know what to do. But He always has a ready anser to my prayers.

Leap of Faith

There is nothing quite as rewarding in life as doing something you never thought possible. I recently had the opportunity to take a leap of faith out of a plane, something I never really thought I could do. Sure, I had put it on my bucket list, and I certainly thought it was something I wanted to do before I died. But as I drove to Delaware to the skydiving site, my stomach just got more and more twisted.

More than once I thought of calling my friends and telling them I would not be able to join them. Yet, I kept driving. Something inside me kept pushing me to take this leap.

Once I arrived at the site, they had us fill out all this paperwork "in the event of an accident"...yikes, nerves came back big time!

Then it was time to meet our dive instructors. My instructor's name was Joe. He pointed me in the direction of the suits and then got started on placing the harness on me. As he tightened all the various cords to me, I began to feel my body relax.

They called our names to board the plane, my body relaxed even more. By the time we were up in the air I felt such a thrill that my nerves were completely gone. "I'm doing this", I kept thinking.

There was a "ding" in the cabin and Joe announced "three minutes till we jump". Before I realized what was happening, the door of the plane opened and out went the more experienced divers. Joe started shouting orders at me over the noise of the plane: "stand up", "walk to the door", "on your mark, set, go"...and off we went. It had all happened so fast I had no time to get nervous again before we plunged into the open air.

I always imagined that skydiving was a bit like a roller coaster. That my stomach would surge as I fell, and that the earth would be approaching me at an alarming speed. Yet, the reality was quite different. It felt like I was floating, the ground looked the same as if I were looking out of an airplane window. The view was magnificent. The Chesapeake on one side and Ocean City on the other.

Before long Joe flashed me the signal to open my parachute. It was a smooth ride down to the bottom.

A incredible sense of accomplishment flooded me as I finally hit the ground. I had done something crazy. I had taken a leap of faith.

This experience will continually remind me that taking a little risk can be incredibly rewarding if you have the right instructor on your side. "With God, all things are possible".

Getting to know the Women in our church

Meet Idaflor Gozo Cabaluna

Short Bio: I graduated from Mountain View College in 1979. Just like many Filipinos, I wanted to be a nurse so I could help lift up my family from poverty and help other family members financially so they too can have a brighter future. After taking some qualifying exams I went to work to Saudi Arabia and spent four years in Jeddah and Riyadh from 1984. After passing the CGFNS examination, I arrived in Connecticut in 1988 and then moved to New York to start a family. My goal in life has not changed. I have helped a lot of other Filipinos come to America and helped them start their new lives here. I am still supporting a lot of relatives in the Philippines, helping them reach their goals of finishing their college degrees so they too can achieve their dreams.

Now, I am so blessed to have married Tom, an Adventist whose goals are just like mine: making sure that our two children Jabriel and Krezhia love Jesus and make Him first in their lives. Jabriel is enjoying his studies in VCU while Krezhia is now in the Philippines to finish her High School and eventually follow my footsteps in pursuing a career in Nursing. It is a lot of sacrifice to send my baby, my Krezhia away at her young age, but this is what she always wanted and I can only support her with every step of the way. I am comforted with the thought that she is in an Adventist Institution, following her dreams. Tom is with her right now during her adjustment period, and both of us will do everything we can to show her that we love her and wish her only the best. It is never easy to be separated from the people that you love, but when it is for their best interest and happiness, I know my sacrifices will not be in vain. I have learned through the years that putting your complete trust in God is the blessed assurance that all will be well.

Hobbies: Sewing and crafts

Favorite color: BLUE

Favorite Bible Verse: John 14:1-3 "Don't let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in Me. There are many rooms in my Father's house; I would not tell you this if this was not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. After I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you with me, so that you may be where I am."

Favorite Woman in the Bible: RUTH. Ruth was a young foreigner who became a widow at a very young age. She could have chosen to leave her mother-in-law and got married again on her own. But instead, she was loyal and faithful to the aging Naomi and stayed with her, taking care of her and listening to her for her wisdom and advice. She had shared loneliness, anxiety and grief with Naomi, and now that the older woman was completely alone, Ruth would not abandon her. ‘But Ruth said,
“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
Where you lodge, I will lodge;
Your people shall be my people and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die
There I will be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me
And more as well
If even death parts me from you!”’

So the two women returned to Bethlehem in time for the autumn harvest of barley.Because of her faithfulness God provided for her a better life.She became the wife of Boaz, a rich and good man, and she had a son, Obed. Eventually, Ruth would be the great-grandmother of King David.

As a woman of God, what do you need from other women in the church: I just want us to be closer to each other, just like sisters, sharing our experiences as wives, moms and women.

I grew up as an Adventist and I will never depart from the doctrines and beliefs that I grew up with. I have dedicated my life and the lives of my family to God. He knows what is best for us.

Getting to know the Women in our church

Carla Azenet Gutierrez

Short Bio: I'm originally from a city called Barquisimeto, Venezuela which is the state capital of the Sate of Lara. It's a city with around 1,500,000 people. I have been here in the Unted States for about 12 years.
I work in a Sprinkler Company, in the National Accounts Department, which means I take care of the big accounts from receiving a call to dispatching and follow up and invoicing and collecting. I'm blessed to be a Mother of 2 beautiful kids who means the whole world to me. They are my life. My mom Myriam Gutierrez is very important in my life and my brother is the most quiet person you will ever meet, but the one that worries about me the most, and it feels great to be loved like that!

Favorite Color: Earth tones

Favorite food: Chicken.

Hobbies: Love movies and taking pictures.

Favorite Memory Verse (s): Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Favorite Woman in the Bible and Why: (explain) Miriam, Moses' sister. As the older sister of Moses, she was given the special task of taking care of him when he was put in the basket in the river to escape from death. She took her job seriously and creatively made it possible for Moses to be saved from the clutches of death and be adopted instead to royalty, becoming one of the best leaders in history. My mom who is named Myriam is doing exactly the same thing to me and my family. She has always taken care of me and my brother and a lot more other people who came to her life........ She's an angel.

What do you want to happen with our Women's Group or what you expect from other women in the group. - be a part of their activities.

Your spiritual journey: Born and raised in the church, I never knew any other way of life. Coming from a predominantly Catholic country our friends and other family members are not Adventists, so I always felt I was the outcast, the odd and abnormal one. I still feel the same way. I'm different and I wish I wasn't but now I'm finally comfortable with my beliefs, enough to talk about it and not be scared of being different........ and if I am, I'm okay with that.

Getting to know the Women in our church

Shari Pottinger Osborn

Short Bio:
I was born in Honduras on October 15, 1981. My father was a pastor there, but he registered both my brother and I as Costa Ricans since that is where he is from. When I was about 4 years old we moved to Costa Rica. For the next 12 years Costa Rica was my home. It was such a blessing to live in such a beautiful place. In 1998 my father was once again called to be a missionary, but now to the United States. We moved to New Jersey that year. My father still works as a conference official in New Jersey.

I graduated from Columbia Union College and married my college sweetheart! We then moved to Michigan where we both got graduate degrees, his in Divinity and mine in business. Now we live in Richmond and love being a part of this church community.

Favorite things to do:
I love shopping, watching TV, making cards and playing games. Lately, I have been spending a lot of my time taking long walks while pushing Luke in the stroller!

Favorite Color: Red/Burgundy and Turquoise

Favorite Food: I love Central American foods, such as tostones, rice and beans, tamales, pupusas and pickled cabbage salad…(made myself hungry just thinking about it).

Favorite Verse in the Bible: Job 19:23-27
“Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
25 I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
26 And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
27 I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!


Favorite Woman in the Bible and Why:
I really like the story of Tamar. She was a victim of horrible circumstances with her first husband being such a bad person that God struck him down, and then her second husband also being struck down. Then her father-in-law, Judah, tries to cheat her of her right to marry his third son, but she would have none of it. She takes matters into her own hands to level the score and ensure a safe life for herself. She pretends to be a prostitute and gets Judah to spend the night with her. She is smart enough to get proof that he is the one who has fathered her child, and therefore, he cannot deny her a place in his house.

I think her braveness is one of the reasons she is one of the 5 women mentioned in the lineage of Jesus. She could have just meekly went back to her father’s house and lived out her days as a widow with no one to protect her, but she took her place in history by choosing to demand a place in society and not just take what seem to be given to her.

What do you need from your fellow women from church:
The last couple months have been very interesting because I have been pregnant, and then in February I had my baby boy, Luke. Many of the women at church would come up to me and tell me stories about their children and their pregnancies and it was nice to learn new things about them through their stories. I love learning more about people because I think we all have great stories to tell and wonderful adventures to share.

Story of faith:
As a pastor’s child I have been in the church all my life. Church is just something I did, but God was not really that important to me. I felt like He was there, and that eventually it would all “click”, but in the mean time I just lived my life. I never did anything bad, but I had no purpose or spirituality in my life.

My Junior year in college I went on a mission trip and met this great guy. His name was Brian Han. He was the chaperone for a high-school group that joined us on the trip. I found out that he had left a promising career in medicine to become a Youth Pastor. He was so passionate about God, and had the kids sing “Make me a Servant” every evening at vespers. He wanted them to remember that they were on earth to serve others.

The final day of our trip we went to the beach. A tidal wave came to shore and caught a bunch of people from our group in it. Pastor Han went in to the ocean to try to save some of the students, but he was not a strong swimmer. By the time they pulled him out of the water it was too late. They tried everything to bring him back, but he was gone. As the paramedics pulled a towel over his body, I crumbled to the ground. I felt like his death was my fault. That God was trying to get my attention and now an innocent man was dead. After much prayer I realized that God did not “make” Pastor Han die to get my attention, but that his death left a vacuum that in God’s work that needed to be filled. I realized that the best way to honor Pastor Han’s life was to become a better friend of God the way he had been. In this way I would be able to carry on the good work he was doing in my own way.

This experience was the beginning of my new life with Christ. I started to seek His guidance and will for my life in a new and earnest way.

Getting to know the Women in our church

Author & Writer Ruth Senter once said, "When you are truly joined in spirit, another woman's good is your good too. Your work for the good of each other."
As sisters in Christ, it is good to get to know the women in our church in a more personal and intimate way. So we will be featuring a woman/girl each week so we will truly get to know each other.

For this week, meet:

Raylene Ann Rodrigo-Baumgart

Short Bio: Born in the Philippines in 1956. Arrived in New York, USA in 1982 as a Registered Nurse and then got married to Helmut Andreas Baumgart, a physicist from Germany who is now a professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. Together we have three daughters: Katharina (Katie), Kristina (Kristi) and Alexa.

Katie will finish her studies this summer from VCU majoring in Film and Cinema; Kristi just finished her first year at UVA-Charlottesville while Alexa is in her 10th year in Grafton High School at Yorktown.

Favorite things to do: Gardening, Traveling, playing tennis, exploring Botanical gardens and collecting orchids

Favorite color: Red

Favorite food: Salads(fried fish and rice as a Filipino)

Favorite Verses in the Bible: Proverbs 25:11 “The right word spoken at the right time is as beautiful as gold apples in a silver bowl” (New Century Version).

"He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps." Psalms 40:2

Favorite Woman in the Bible and why: Queen Esther

She was just an orphan during the Persian Empire at the time when the Jews were spread throughout the vast empire and beyond. There was no central Jewish identity nor was there a central homeland, Adopted by her older cousin Mordecai, she had a very humble beginning. Beautiful and regal, she was chosen among other women through a very unusual circumstance and became the Queen of Persia, the largest empire of the world at that time. Now, she was in a position of direct influence over the king. Yet, she was also subjected to the whims and impulses of the king as everyone else was. Mordecai asked her to hide their Jewish ancestry for good reason and she obeyed as a child would to a parent.

But when she was faced with a challenge, she put aside her fears and faced the King even if it could have meant her life. Although afraid, she learned to rely not on her new found status of queen, but on the everlasting promise of God to faithfully guide those who seek Him. With prayers, she demonstrated her humility and reverence to her God. She could have claimed more honors and favor in the king’s eyes by forgetting her past and her heritage but she did not forget her humble beginning and her people and her God.
Queen Esther was an example to all who has to face injustice, bigotry and prejudice. Her story is an example of how God delivers His people in mysteriously unique ways. Her story demonstrated God’s plan of deliverance through the trembling faith of a young queen’s petition.

As a woman of God what do you need from your fellow women from the church? Personally, I would really like to get to know the women better. And I would suggest a regular "get-to-know-each-other" meeting where we can just be ourselves doing things together whether it be a wreath-making event, or just a simple devotional, or session about our kids, husbands and what we love to do.

Tell us a short story of your life’s journey as a woman of God: Born to Adventist parents, I was brought up in the Adventist doctrines and beliefs and schooled in our own Adventist schools. But as a young adult, I became an unwed mother. Frowned upon and unacceptable by the Filipino culture and our Adventist standards, I left home and the church and sought refuge with the nuns of the Good Shepherd convent way up in a secluded monastery. The nuns were the ones who accepted my plight and loved me unconditionally. My mother adopted my child and encouraged me to live a new life away from home to escape prejudice. I left for New York City, tried to enjoy my first taste of independence, living a life of worldly pleasures and even married a non-believer. But when Katie was born, I realized, I could not be a mother without God in my life. I knew that I need Him back in my life. Although I did wander away from the fold during my young adult life, I was re-baptized and have re-dedicated my life to Him. Due to my husband's job and a very unstable economy, we had the privilege of being relocated several times, but I have always considered it as a blessing in disguise because the experience have made me grow emotionally and spirituality and I have found so may beautiful friendships along the way. Now, as an adult woman, I realized that God loves me, no matter what my past was. He loves me unconditionally and it is my ultimate goal to have Him as a partner in all the decisions that I make every day of my life.It is my responsibility to make my life a vessel of hope for others.
Somebody once said, "You can't do much about the length of your life, but you can do a lot about its depth and width."