January 18, 2002
Letter to Diocesan Convention

To the Right Reverend Richard L. Shimpfky, Clergy, Delegates, and Guests of the Diocese of El Camino Real in Convention:

Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, from your missionary family
in Panamá.

We thank God daily for the opportunity to serve our Lord here in the Diocese of Panamá. We see the Holy Spirit at work in the parishes here, as well as with the Youth of the Diocese, with our Girls Home, el Hogar de las Niñas, and our four schools.

Michael has been working with the Youth of the Diocese as Chaplain at Summer Camp, and by serving as presider for several Eucharists specifically for the Youth of the Diocese and at Instituto Episcopal San Cristóbal, the school associated with our parish. Luz de Mañana, the Youth group at our parish, Iglesia San Cristóbal (St. Christopher´s) has been growing, as well as attendance at la  Misa, our Spanish-language service which is attended predominantly by young people. Michael has been working with the youth leaders in developing Bible studies. He also teaches guitar and enjoys playing bass with the band at Youth Events. Mona has been working with the girls at the Hogar de las Niñas, as a Camp Counselor, and with the youth group at San Cristóbal. Mona will be teaching swimming to the girls at the Hogar this Summer.  Anne is attending Emerson College in Boston, studying Lighting Design for Theater, but when she is in Panamá she spends time at the Hogar and teaches Christian ethics and morality at the local school here in Paraíso. She also serves as a Camp Counselor and works at the office of Pastoral Juvenil, the Youth Office of the Diocese of Panamá.

We have had several outreach programs at San Cristóbal, our parish. We are the Episcopal Church in the neighborhoods of Río Abájo and Parque Lefevre, two poor neighborhoods here in Panama City. We hold classes at our multi-purpose center to teach people of the community various skills to increase their chances of employment; the Beautician course was particularly well-attended this year. Our "Love Basket" program at Christmas provided food for fifty families in the area. We have music classes for the children and are holding Vacation Bible School for the next two weeks, which will be led by the Youth of our parish and students from our school.

In addition to parish and diocesan duties, Michael works with the Panama Project, a project of the Episcopal Seminaries of the United States. Seminarians come to Panamá for a period of three weeks and learn of the historical and cultural context of the Anglican Church in Panamá. They also do Field Work with the missions in the Interiór (the countryside). We were very pleased to have Betsey Hawley, a seminarian from El Camino Real with us last year.

We thank all of you for your prayers and financial support. We are very grateful for and extend special greetings to the Rev. Jan Meikle and the people of St. Stevens-in-the-Fields for handling our Missionary Fund for so long and to the Rev. Christopher Creed and the people of our home parish, St. Francis, who now handle our Missionary Fund. Your contributions to the fund help us live here in Panamá and also help many missionary activities. We were able to send several children to Summer Camp last year and this year, and we sent Ms. Yarany Espinoza, a leader of Luz de Mañana to Guatemala to attend an Interdenominational Conference of Christian Youth Leaders. We also contribute to the Hogar de las Niñas and were able to help purchase materials in Spanish for the Diocesan Alpha Course through our Missionary Fund. We are also thankful to St. Francis for posting photos of our work and Mona´s newsletters on their website. Thank you also to the Santa Clara Servant Community for their contributions to our fund. Special greetings to our friends at St. Philip´s in San José, and St. Mathais in
Seaside.

We extend the greetings and prayers of the Rt. Rev. Julio E. Murray, bishop of the Diocese of Panamá and the Rt. Rev. Clarence W. Hayes, retired bishop of the Diocese of Panamá. Please keep the Diocese of Panamá in your prayers as they meet in Convention January 30 through February 3, 2002.

Continue to pray for us and the Church here in Panamá and Central America as we deal with the continuing economic difficulties in the area. Please know that you are always in our prayers.

In Christ's service,
Michael, Mona, and Anne Dresbach,
Your Missionaries in Panamá

mgdbach@hotmail.com -Michael
mldresbach@hotmail.com -Mona
akdbach@hotmail.com - Anne

If you would like to make donations or a pledge to our mission, please contact St. Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Ave., San Jose, CA 95125, 408-292-7090.  Please feel free to check St. Francis' website at www.stfrancisepiscopalchurch.org which includes an archive of our letters and pictures or our mission.