Sunday on Kodiak

Hello everyone! This morning we got to sleep in a bit. Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was at 9:00. Both Metropolitan Jonah and Bishop Benjamin con-celebrated. The choir was amazing! The St. Innocent Academy boys and girls help made a full choir there at Holy Resurrection Cathedral. After Liturgy we hopped onto buses that took us to a parochial school gymnasium they used as a hall for the banquet dinner. The halibut was delicious and we also got a piece of salmon, green beans and rice with cake for dessert. Fr. Innocent from Holy Resurrection as well as Bishop Benjamin called St. Mark teen group and adults up front to recognize us for all the work we got accomplished this week and to thank us by giving a card and icon of St. Herman. Buses took us back to the seminary and off we went to Hazel and Ben's island. Yes, remember, they are friends of Fr. Gregory who own the furniture store in town and another one somewhere and yes, they literally own an island. It's just too beautiful for words, so I got plenty of pictures of their house, the view, the log cabin, the chapel, the banya, etc. Can u imagine having your own island and having a view of water and mountains on all sides?? I made a funny and asked to do a "house exchange" for vacation. They are an extremely nice couple who invited us all out to an Italian Restaurant for dinner. After dinner was done and we all got back, the church and academy put on a "block party" on the property right next to church. There was ethnic music and dancing, drinks and popcorn. Our St. Mark teens were having a blast. Yes, I too got up to do one group dance at least. Kodiak people know how to work hard and play hard! They were going to open the bookstore down town so some of our teens went there to buy things. Tomorrow is our last day here, actually our flight is at 4:30 or so. It will take us 24 hours to get home including lay overs and time changes. We will be back on Tuesday at 4:30. Pray for our safe travels back to the "lower 48" as the Kodiak people say! Goodnight.

Christina