It is my pleasure to share with you this email we received from a Christian parent who ran into a group of our youth in their way to attend the “Deacon’s retreat” in The Coptic Monastery in Perth. The actual email had the gentleman’s name but he prefers that we only use his initials.

Greetings,

My name is B.D. I was blessed to see a group of young men from your church at an “ON route” rest stop on the 401 just East of Toronto this weekend. My sons and I were headed to Eastern Ontario to visit my father and uncles and we noticed a group of young men wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with 1 Timothy 4:12 on the back. We began to converse and I learned that these young men were on their way to a retreat at a monastery near Perth.

I am writing simply to express how grateful I was to see a group of young men, unashamed of their faith, headed to work and pray together. I am especially grateful as I had my three sons — E.D., M.D. and S.D. — with me. That they were able to see young men from outside of their own church community who were neither ashamed of their faith nor their age on their way to pray, was, and indeed is, a gift from God. As a father I want them to grow in the knowledge of God. The fact that they could see others in the process of doing that very thing will, I hope, be an encouragement to them.

All of which is a rather long-winded way of saying, praise be to God, and I hope your young deacons had a retreat that will bear fruit for many years to come. Please be encouraged in your work and prayer.

God bless you all at St. George and St. Mercurius.

Sincerely,

B.D.