Missionaries Martina and Emerson Wilson minister in Nicaragua. (T-G Photo by Doug Dezotell) [Click to enlarge]

Volunteers from First Presbyterian Church in Shelbyville have made the long journey to Central America to minister with Emerson and Martina Wilson of Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship in Esteli, Nicaragua, where the Wilsons serve as missionaries. Now the Wilsons have made the trip to Shelbyville to reacquaint themselves with the friends they've made in the past.

The Wilsons have been the house guests of Gene and Betty Caffey this week on the Tennessee leg of their trek across the United States. They are here in America to visit churches that support their ministry in Nicaragua.

Emerson is a second-career missionary, having left the printing business behind 12 years ago to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the people of Nicaragua.

He first visited the country in 1995 with a team from his home-church in Winter Park, Fla., that went to Nicaragua on a short-term missions trip. While there he met Martina, who was working with the ministry of Young Life at the time.

"My pastor, Rev. Larry Cuthill in Florida, was a real inspiration to me," Wilson said. "He suggested that I go along on this missions trip in 1995. He's involved in teaching other churches how to do missions trips, and he got me interested in going."

When Wilson made his first trip to Nicaragua, not only did he feel that he was being called to go there to live and minister full-time, but he believes that God introduced him to Martina, who soon became his wife and partner in ministry.

Martina was the first national to be recruited by Young Life Nicaragua founder Rev. Jim Hornsby, and she had been actively involved with Young Life since 1985.

After the Wilsons married they went to Mexico and studied at St. Paul Theological Seminary. When they returned to Nicaragua they went to Matagalpa where the headquarters for Young Life is and worked there for two years. Emerson served as the national director of sports for Young Life.

From Matagalpa they moved to Esteli, the birthplace of the Sandinista Revolution. In Esteli their ministry exploded and they started four Young Life clubs, reaching more than 250 kids.

The Wilsons are the founders of the First National Presbyterian Church Shalom in Esteli, a church plant under the Presbyterian Church of Mexico, with the support of Presbyterian churches in the U.S.

For 10 years they have worked with a core group of Nicaraguan nationals who are Young Life Coordinators. They are called the Shalom Ministry Team. The team is made up of Emerson Wilson, founder and director of ministries; Juan Carlos Gutierrez, who is presently studying at St. Paul Theological Seminary; Richard Fuentes, director of music; Ariel Mendoza, youth director; Elizabeth Avilez, director of children's ministry; Eva Castillo, director of Shalom Chorus; and Martina Wilson, who serves as the director of Christian education.

The Wilsons will be in the U.S. for two months to visit churches and report on what is going on in Nicaragua. They will try and recruit ministry teams from American churches to come to minister in Nicaragua. The Wilsons will be in Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Ohio.

For more information on the Wilsons' ministry, call (352) 978-1312 or go to www.pefministry.org.