A
letter from Mona Dresbach
June 7, 2001
This month the rains started to come and within days everything has turned a beautiful green. All the birds and animals have returned to our yard.
Lent was great for Michael at Saint Christopher's. His Lenten Series was on Prayer Book Services followed by the Stations of the Cross. He started with about 40 participants and ended with about 100. We were both told that nobody has an Easter Vigil because the last time only 6 people showed up. Since Michael wanted a Vigil, he was able to get 5 baptisms for it. He expected only the families of the kids being baptized would show up, but to our surprise the church was packed. The service went very well.
Michael and Walter Smith also taught a class for Lecturers who needed to renew their licenses. It was bilingual and also well attended. I went to it just to hear the history and learn what lecturers responsibilities are. It was very interesting to see Michael and Walter work together. They make a great team.
The two of us also participated in singing the Vespers by Monteverde with director Lori Keene. Her husband is the Rev. Seth Polley who is also here as a missionary. We performed at San Francisco de Asis, a Catholic Cathedral in the old part of town last week. Then we drove to two churches in the interior for performances. Most of the musicians and vocalists are students at the University of Panama. The piece is very difficult but beautiful.
About two months ago, a cute, sweet, but skinny dog was dropped off in our area. She was hanging around the house, so Michael, feeling sorry for her, started to feed her. Then we noticed she was sick. I had the vet over and was told she had distemper. I knew nothing about distemper or sick dogs, so in my ignorance figured, OK, we can heal her, we have a vet, medication, vitamins, not a problem. Little did I know what distemper does till I went on the internet to find out because she wasn't getting better. We changed to an English speaking vet when she was loosing the ability to walk. She took up almost all of my time feeding her with a syringe and giving her medicine. But the saddest was watching her die on my living room floor. We took her to her last trip to the vet to say good-buy the week before our Monteverde performances. I can't believe how her brief stay with us touched us so much. I did everything I could to save her, but the disease is so awful that she never had a chance.
My friend Janet was the biggest help with the dog; dog-sitting when I had school and choir practice. Janet and I have gotten really close after her operation for a brain tumor at the end of last year. I started taking her to her radiation treatments because she wasn't supposed to go alone. Now we get together every Friday for errands or anything she needs. The tumor left her partially paralyzed so she needs help getting around. She's a fabulous artist and you can see a sample of her art on line at the Panama News web site at www.thepanamanews.com archives Vol. 7, issue 7. Click on Janet Levy.
It's great to have Anne back during her summer break. She's always a pleasure to have around. She arrived a couple of weeks ago and is already participating in several youth projects. She has a theater meeting on Sunday hoping to get more experience in her major.
I'll be visiting California in August for several weeks. I plan on visiting St. Mark's in Berkeley and of course St. Francis in San Jose. It will be great to see all my familly and friends there.
Please feel free to contact me. I'd love to hear from you.
En Cristo
Mona Dresbach
mldresbach@hotmail.com
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