2009 Russian Festival - Friday

It rained and Kennedy Krieger was closed to students. This combination makes for a really bad day financially. But not all was lost. We still had a steady flow of visitors

My job for the day was to be in the temple to greet visitors and give church tours. Periodically Fr. John relieved me so that I could get some food, etc. That time also became a time for ministry and meeting new people.

I greeted two women and said "Thank you for coming to our Festival"and they responded "Thank you for having it.

I talked with one gentleman who has a relative who used to come to this church. I hope that he will come back some Sunday and after the Liturgy we can talk at length and possibly do an oral history.

I had an opportunity to have conversations with two of my former altar servers and both conversations were really uplifting for me. It is always good to watch the children in the parish grow up and to hear them talk with real maturity.

Maria came into the temple and I immediately knew that she was from the former Soviet Union. She did not have to say a word for me to know this. She came up to me and paid the respect that they give to deacons in Serbia. This respect is very similiar to what we give to priests in this country.

She told me that she came here for a baptism but she originally did not want to come to the United States, but now she is very happy that she did and she wants to return. She is also considering going to the seminary and learning iconography.

Marija and I have now become friends and we keep in touch through e-mail. We are learning about each other's culture and I love it. A question came up at church and I sent her an e-mail and she responded immediately. We both also love diversity.

As usually Natalie did a great job of photographing the opening ceremony and procession. In fact, this might be the best that she has done. I think that having the external flash on my camera also helped. It puts out considerably more light than the internal flash. It also does not use up the battery in the camera.