Conference Hosts First Spanish Women’s Retreat

Story by Liz Bailey

For the past 33 years, Mountain View Conference (MVC) has hosted women’s retreats at Valley Vista Adventist Center in Huttonsville, W.Va. Women from across the conference, and even neighboring conferences, have enjoyed this special fall weekend. Attendance has grown in the past few years, therefore, due to space limitations, some registrants have had to be turned away.

Noticing that the number of Hispanic attendees has increased, Yasmi Cardenas, MVC Children’s Ministries director, suggested the conference host a women’s retreat specifically for the Hispanic population. This group has always enjoyed the Englishspeaking women’s retreats, but the language barrier has been an issue. “I felt that we could welcome even more women if we added another weekend that would be in their own language,” says Cardenas.

MVC currently has one Hispanic church in Moorefield, a Hispanic company in Lewisburg, and three Hispanic church plants in Clarksburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg—all five congregations located in West Virginia.

The weekend prior to the English 2024 Women’s Retreat, the conference hosted the very first Spanish women’s retreat. Approximately 35 women attended, including speaker Norita Ramos, former Spanish teacher at Potomac Conference’s Takoma Academy, who spoke on the theme, “Transformed by Love.”

“I feel incredibly blessed to have been a part of the first Spanish Women’s Retreat of the MVC!” states Ramos. “The beautiful decorations, uplifting Christian atmosphere, inspirational music, spiritual messages and engaging learning activities truly highlighted the loving care of our incredible Jesus. His everlasting love continues to transform our lives in ways we can’t fully comprehend when we trust Him and depend on Him. What a wonderful and refreshing experience!”

Besides the spiritual feasts from Ramos, the women enjoyed delicious food all weekend, prepared by Cardenas’ father-in-law, Juan. Other activities included card-making on Sabbath afternoon, a nature scavenger hunt and Bible Bingo. Saturday evening, Megan Garcia, an artist from the Logan (W.Va.) and Williamson (W.Va.) churches, led a painting class (pictured).

Adding this extra weekend not only meant that more women could come but that the conference has found a new way to minister to Hispanic women in their territory. The second annual Spanish Women’s Retreat will be held at Valley Vista Sept. 26–28, 2025.