Sunday, December 23, 2012

 
 
 

Hola, la paz de Dios sea con usted from Tom & Dianne Wilson of Rutland, MA.

From 1993 to 2007 we attended St Andrews Episcopal Church in Edgartown, MA. We met a dear friend named Dianne Smith who asked us to be members of her mission team as she planned and , served as an Episcopal Missionary in Maseno, Kenya for 3 years.  At the same church our Rector and his wife, Bob and Deb Edmunds, also close friends, became Missionaries and served in Jerusalem, Israel for 3 years. Their actions and the experiences they shared with us opened our eyes to serving God through mission.

We eventually moved to central Massachusetts and became members of St Francis Episcopal Church of Holden, MA. The Church had recently partnered with Fundacion Cristosal (An Episcopal NGO working in El Salvador).  Through that association we were able to travel to El Salvador 3 times with fellow parishioners and by ourselves for a 2 week visit to the community of El Maizal, El Salvador.

The trips were the first time we had witnessed poverty and oppression of this magnitude. The history of the brutal civil war, Bishop Romero’s martyrdom and Liberation Theology at work in El Salvador is a fascinating history. However, what moved us emotionally and spiritually are the Salvadoran people.

The Salvadorans are very friendly, family orientated people. They value their communities are extremely hard workers and have a strong faith in God. Our friendship with them made it very easy for us to make the decision that we want to work as missionaries’ mano en mano with them for the next 3 years.

Starting in approximately March of 2013 we will start serving the people of El Maizal. Our work will be focused on Evangelizing, Education, Health and self-advocacy. Please join us in our mission by following our Blogs. We’ll have so many friends to introduce you to, experiences from different perspectives to share and incidents of God’s work with our brothers and sisters in Christ, in El Salvador.

In the words of Bishop Martin Barahona (Bishop of the Episcopal of El Salvador)

"El futuro no existe en la realidad, nosotros somos y creamos el futuro"

“The future does not exist in reality, we are and we create the future"

 We look forward to sharing our journey with you. - Esperamos poder compartir nuestro viaje con usted.

 

Su amigos

 

Tom & Dianne Wilson