A delegation of 10 members from our Diocese are headed to El Salvador to attend the consecration and installation of the Rev. David Alvarado who will become the second resident bishop in the history of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador on Saturday, January 31. Prior to the episcopacy of retiring bishop Martin Barahona the church was a member of Province 9 of the Episcopal Church and had either a missionary bishop or a bishop-in-charge. Your prayers are asked for the delegation as they travel; for retiring bishop, Martin Barahona; and for the new bishop and the people of El Salvador. The delegation will be posting to Facebook (Diocese of El Salvador Diocese of Olympia Companerismo) and on its El Salvador Journey blog.
The delegation, organized by the El Salvador Companionship Committee of the Diocese of Olympia and the Cristosal Foundation, will visit Episcopal congregations and communities, including the sites of an MDG (Millennium Development Grant) grant for rural women, which the committee solicited for the parishes in El Salvador. The delegation will deliver sewing supplies for the women’s sewing classes donated by several of our local congregations.
For the consecration liturgy, The Rev. Mark Blindheim, deacon, Emmanuel, Mercer Island, will read the Gospel in English. The Rev. Canon Lance Ousley, diocesan Canon for Stewardship and Development, will represent Bishop Rickel at the event. Other members of the delegation are the Rev. Berto Gándara, Aaron Bennett and Jennifer Fralick from Emmanuel, Orcas Island; the Rev. Jo Beecher and Mary McConnaughey from St. Aidan, Camano Island; Val and Laura Brustad from St. James, Kent; and Sharon Wilson from St. Andrew, Seattle.
