St. Augustine, FL - The first Native Alaskan long-term OCMC Missionary, Krystal Evgenia Merculief, arrived at the Hogar Rafael Ayau Orphanage in Guatemala following her Commissioning Service at the Orthodox Christian Mission Center in St. Augustine, FL.
The staff of the Mission Center all gathered around Krystal to pray the Service of Commissioning a Missionary including scripture readings and the Troparions of Ss. Cyril and Methodios, and of Pentecost. She was blessed by Fr. Martin Ritsi, the Executive Director of OCMC during part of the Service. Krystal spent two days at the Mission Center for orientation and training before going into the mission field.
Krystal belongs to the Aleut community of St. Paul Island, AK, where almost all of its 700 residents are Orthodox Christians. The Island is part of the isolated Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, approximately 500 miles west of the Alaska mainland. The most common form of transportation on and off the Island is by bush plane.
Krystal's great love of children, the importance of the Orthodox faith in her life, and her missionary spirit, all led her to want to serve in far-away Guatemala. "I loved playing Mom to my younger sisters and was dubbed "Little Mama" by family and friends. I dreamed of someday working with orphaned children, but was never sure how."
In 2003, she participated in an Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) Real Break trip to the Orthodox orphanage and her dream came true. "I felt fulfilled there - like I had found my place and was called to return immediately upon leaving. I felt completely and spiritually alive while at the Hogar and, with much prayer, knew I had to return to share God's love with the children. I was born into the Orthodox Church and grew up within the Church, so the Hogar seemed the ideal place for me to put my two loves together."
To learn more about Krystal Merculief and how to support her in the mission field please go to Krystal Merculief on www.ocmc.org. Checks for her support can be sent to the Orthodox Christian Mission Center at PO Box 4319, St. Augustine, FL, 32085-4319. Please note "Merculief" in the memo section. To contact the Mission Center call 1-877-GO-FORTH (463-6784) or (904) 829-5132 or e-mail at [email protected].
The Orthodox Christian Mission Center: Helping Orthodox Christians respond to Christ's call to preach, teach, baptize, minister to the poor and make disciples of all nations as the official international mission agency of SCOBA.