February 7, 2004

Dear friends,

This is the time of year when everything goes full board.   It’s summer, the kids are out of school and there are lots of activities available to participate in.

On December 12, Michael flew to Changuinola in the Province of Bocas del Toro to be with  Deacon Glenda McQueen, see how she was doing, and bless the elements for Sunday services.  He also helped her at a funeral in Almirante.  He was requested to take his guitar to help teach a group of teenagers Christmas Carols.  He said it was a challenge because they don’t like to listen very well.  Michael and Glenda took the water taxi to the island for a service at St. Mary’s, then returned to Almirante where Glenda led the service while Michael went to Changuinola to hold service. Then they worked
together at the funeral; it was a busy Sunday!

Michael and Deacon Luis Cáceres held a special Eucharist for the students from Instituto Episcopal San Cristóbal as they prepared to start their Servicio Sociál. There were about 150 people in attendance. The High School students are all required to do this community work before they can graduate. Some went to work with people in the Interiór, some led Vacation Bible School at different inner-city churches, and some helped with a Summer Camp for handicapped children.    Vacation Bible School was from January 19 through January 30.  He had to be at the church early for the daily morning
chapel service.  Our youth group and several adult volunteers were teaching and working with the kids.  There were about 55 kids in our bible school this year.  Michael and Bernie Murray, our organist at the Spanish service, supplied the music every day.  On the final Friday, the kids came to the Paraíso Pool for a swim, then had lunch at our house. They brought all the food and prepared it, so I didn’t have to do anything. Michael was in Bocas del Toro again, helping plan the Diocesan Convention.

Anne went to Bocas del Toro in the beginning of January to teach the kids and young adults from the ages of about 11 to 25 how to be thurifers.  She’s had over 11 years experience and was the most requested Thurifer in Berkeley.  She wrote up a packet in Spanish based on one she got at a workshop at CDSP. From the moment the Rev. Glenda McQueen picked her up from the airport she was busy teaching, starting with three sessions in Guabito. She also trained the youth from Transfiguración in Changuinola, St. George in Almirante and St. Mary’s on the Island.   She helped with the pageant for the Epiphany Service which she said was crazy but fun.  On her last day, Glenda took her to Changuinola for the Vacation Bible School teachers training. Within the first 5 minute of the meeting, one of the girls received a phone call and found out her house was on fire. The meeting quickly ended as everyone ran to her house to see what was going on. They spent the entire afternoon helping remove everything from her house and sorting it into the trash or to be saved. When Anne left Friday morning, all the youth were going back to Changuinola to help with the finishing repairs on the rectory of the church there so the family who lost their house to the fire could move in until their home was fixed. Anne said it was tragic to see all that they lost, but wonderful to see the community in action helping out.

Both Michael and I worked at Campamento de Verano (Summer Camp) for the Jr. High age.  Michael served as Chaplain as he does every year.  The theme this year was " Who is God?"   Each day had its own topic that was discussed with various activities during the day: Dios Amigo (God as Friend), Omnipresente (Omnipresent), Omniciente (Omniscient), Perdonador (Forgiver) and  Todopodoroso y Omnipotente (All powerful and omnipotent).  Creating the Bible Study this year was more difficult for Michael because he said that each topic is a deep theological subject which took several classes in Seminary and it was a challenge to simplify the concept to fit on a single-sheet Bible Study.  The camp leaders are young adults who did a very good job planning the topics and activities. I was the driver for anyone who needed to go to the nearest town to buy food for the kitchen or medicine for the nurse.  I also helped serve food during meals and participated in a game they played.  We stayed in the cabin with the nurse, Jane McCarron from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Chicago, who was with us last year.  She donated ceiling fans for every cabin which made life easier for all of us.   Thank you, Jane!

I started teaching swimming two days a week to the girls from the Hogar de las Niñas again.  We use the pool in Paraíso which is down the street from my house.  This year like last year, missioner Sue Williams and I divided the girls into 5 groups of 4 to 5 girls per group.  Our first lesson was great.  All the girls have been cooperative and a joy to work with.  The main goal is water safely: being able to dive into the pool and swim to the other side, tread water and learn various swimming styles. We have a couple of new girls that don’t know how to swim at all.   This year I can explain things better to them, so there is improvement in my language skills.  Mrs. Olga Kelly (my neighbor and fellow St. Christopher’s member) agreed to help me with translation and discipline like she did last year.  It’s a real blessing to have her help.

The Clergy Spouses group started working on the TAP (Teens for AIDS Prevention) equivalent in Panama.  We’re at the beginning stages of the project and hope to get everything rolling after convention in February were we plan to present it to the diocese.  I’ve been checking on line for TAP information on the Teen Advocacy web site and it’s really been wonderful.  This is such an important program for us.  Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) and teen pregnancy are a huge problem and we hope to reach as many teens and young adults as possible, in and out of the Diocese.  We were told that many of the patients the medical missionaries treat have some form of STI.  If anyone who is reading this has been through this program or connected to it, we would appreciate any information, suggestions, pamphlets or anything you can donate to us.  We really want to learn everything we can to implement this successfully.

We are off to Bocas del Toro for the Diocesan Convention the week of Feb. 9 through Feb. 15. This is the first time the convention has been held outside of Panama City. Michael just sent fourteen young people from San Christopher’s to the Youth Convention in Tortí, in the Darien, this week. As we said, summer time is a very active time in Panama!

We use this newsletter as a way of keeping in contact with you all and letting you know what we are doing,. However, we would like to make a request for funds. Our daughter, Anne, will be graduating from Emerson College in Boston this May, and we would like to attend the Commencement. So we are requesting donations to our Missionary Fund at St. Francis Episcopal Church so that we can afford the air fare. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

Your missionaries in Panamá,
Mona and Michael Dresbach
mgdbach@hotmail.com -Michael
mldresbach@hotmail.com -Mona

If you would like to make donations or a monthly 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' web site at
www.stfrancisepiscopalchurch.org, which includes an archive of our letters
and pictures of our mission.