I know it has been several weeks since
I posted. Please forgive me, it has been super-busy around here! We
went to a weekend retreat meeting, we had an well-known Russian Choir
Master give a Master Class for the seminary choir and we had the
annual pre-lenten Dinner party which was, this year, a Dinner in
honor of His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon. Veronika and I cooked for
the class and the Dinner Party, but got a weekend off when we
travelled to Johnsontown, PA for OISM (see explanation below).
About OISM
From February 22-24, Seminarians
gathered for fellowship at Camp Nazareth in Mercer, PA for the
bi-annual OISM meeting. They came from St. Tikhon's, St. Vlad's, St.
Sophia's, Holy Trinity, Holy Cross , and Christ the Saviour
Seminaries. OISM stands for Orthodox Inter-Seminary Movement. The
weekend meeting ran from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. It
was a time in which I got to see some familiar faces and also meet
other seminarians. The highlight for me, beyond fellowship, was that
His Grace, Bishop Gregory, Ruling Hierarch for the American
Carpatho-Rusyn Diocese was present the whole weekend. He sat in on
our meetings and took meals with us. He shared his thoughts about
OISM with us. He impart his Pastoral wisdom to us. He listened,
joked, and encouraged us. He spoke to us in a way that was both
sobering and inspirational.
His Grace, being from the South, has several loving parishioners that miss him. They have sent him a couple of King cakes. To our delight, he brought one to share with us! Here is a video of him explaining the King Cake tradition:
Here is the amazing King Cake in question:
Yes, it was delicious. The absolute comical thing is that the Seminarian who is from Louisiana got the baby.
Here's a few pictures of the OISM gathering:
Father Michael Ellis, who is the North American OCF Office announces the recent appointment of Fr. North American Chaplain of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship was a speaker. He presented on establishing an OCF chapter on College campuses and the importance of priestly ministry to Orthodox college students.
We had some free time Saturday afternoon, so I rounded a few guys and hopped into the car. I wanted to visit downtown Mercer--I'm a real get to expreience the local culture kind of guy. So, we travelled to the town square. Needless to say, the lack of pictures of this location indicates exactly our experience with the town square. Long story short, we ended up driving outside of town into the country for a little bit and then:
Yes, that is an Amish buggy. We got purposely lost trying to follow a sign that said "Fresh Baked Good--three miles." We ended up, to my delight, in Amish country! Better yet, we stumbled upon this delightful spot:
See the sign? It reads "Baked Goods in the Basement." Okay, so I don't look so happy and it's not because I was subjected myself to Amish Basement Pie. Quite the contrary. That look is the "hey we are in Amish country and I am irritated that you are taking photos in a place where it is rude/forbidden to take pictures." Okay, so I was secretly also delighted that this photo was taken. What about the Pie, you say? It. Was. A. Mazing! I was loan a few bucks by one of my fellow seminarians and picked up a handmade lard infused Crust Pecan Pie. It was awesome. So back to the rest of the weekend. Here's some shots of the Chapel on the grounds of Camp Nazareth:
OISM is not merely about hanging out with other seminarians from the other seminaries. It is not just about a few days away. It's not just an opportunity to see the other seminary schools. Though it includes these things, it is really about forging bonds. We meet and fellowship at these meetings and know that these bonds we make now with our fellow brother seminarians will extend out into our lives when we are finished with seminary. We are forging strong bonds based on fellowship in Christ—bonds that we take with us when we graduate seminary.
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| A shot of us all who participated in OISM |
I'll have to make another post soon about the Master Class and the Pre-Lenten Dinner, so check back in for that. Please remember to keep us in your prayers and also, contact us with any prayer requests you have. We will remember them in our daily prayers.
In Christ,
The Baldwins
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