Alex Safchuk's Segment: Day 6

My pilgrimage experience from today is going to sound a little different than the others you will read here. This is because the North American Saints project that my mom puts so much time and effort into. I went on the pilgrimage about 5 years ago and that is where I actually got the full pilgrim experience. This time, because of the NAS project, I had the distinct pleasure of being with the metropolitan and following him like a hawk the entire day with a videographer trying to gather good footage of metropolitan Jonah's first pilgrimage to spruce island ever. You would be suprised how quick this man can move from place to place. The job had its perks though. I got to travel in the boat that took the metropolitan which was by far the nicest of the fleet. This was a stark contrast to the refurbished WWII landing craft I went in last time. I also got to personally interview both Bishop Benjamin and Metropolitan Jonah for the project. Unfortunately to get all this done I had to wake up at the crack of dawn. One thing I did discover is that Metropolitan Jonah is so very personable. When talking to him, you can tell everything he says is genuine and he loves all of us. He is really the epitome of what a monastic should be as he has dedicated his life to the church. He is a great leader for the North American Church as a whole. After a long day of services and blessings and prayers, we made our way back to mainland. Here we went to another service. I wouldnt expect any less church. We are on a pilgrimage after all. After the service I had the honor to help move the relics back to their location on the church. This is the problem with having muscles...I always get volunteered to help people move haha. But i dont mind. If I got them I might as well put them to good use. After church, peter, gabe, and I royally schooled a bunch of 7 year olds at football money in the middle. They put up a good fight but we were just better in the end. We ate delicious Orthodox pizza for dinner...i hear thats the best kind. I then spent the rest of the eveing just hanging out and bonding with the other kids on the trip. We invited Fr. Innocents daughter Shelby to hang out. Shes kooler than kool and is now one of my new best friends...regardless of what abby says. Dont listen to abby, shelbz likes me better. Now it is getting late and I am delirious. Its been a long day and we have to be up for more church tomorrow.
Continue praying for us.
-Alex Safchuk