A Week (or so) With Wisnel

Wisnel Dejardin, the seminarian we sponsor from Haiti, visited All Saints over the Christmas break. He arrived just before Christmas, to find bitterly cold temperatures, and lots and lots of snow. He had never seen snow before and was amazed that it just went on and on. "What do people do in it?" he asked. Well, shovel it mostly, I said, but also ski in it and sled, and play. He stayed with the Miklavcic family at first, where the children taught him what THEY do in the snow.


Later, the Miklavcics also took him to Potter Park Zoo, where he delighted in seeing exotic animals up close, moving and living. He said the zoo was probably the most amazing part of his trip.

Wisnel was with us in church on Christmas Eve as a chalicist. He also attended the Sunday morning Bible Study. The Caliman family took him to dinner, and Dedria Barker took him to Ann Arbor for a day, so he could see That Other School.

Vic Rauch and Ellen deRosia were his host family for the rest of the trip. They shared some Mexican games with him, took him to the women's basketball game, and to various parties.

It was a wonderful chance for Wisnel to learn more about America beyond the confines of the seminary grounds, and to see a piece of the United States he might never have seen otherwise. It was also an opportunity for us to welcome someone we have prayed for during all these months, and whom we have helped along in his seminary studies.

Please continue to keep Wisnel in your prayers as he returns to his studies at VTS, and also as he prepares for his ordination to the diaconate in the summer.

+ Kit

Sowing Seeds of Hope ... That's All Saints!

In 2007, the vestry voted to use the entirety of the Van Auken seminarian fund to support a single seminarian ... Wisnel Dejardin, of Haiti. The money we provided was used by Virginia Theological Seminary to provide English language immersion for Wisnel last summer, prior to his entering VTS this fall.

Wisnel had to go from no English to Master's degree-level English in just a few months. He began seminary classes in August, with a jump-start in Biblical Greek. He is taking a full load this fall, including New Testament and Old Testament, in addition to pastoral training classes and that pesky Biblical Greek. All Saints' financial support of his English training has made it possible for him to even attempt this course load (with the help of a regular English tutor).

Of course, once we did this, the Van Auken fund was emptied. So one man from the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere would get a shot, but what about others?

Virginia Seminary recently announced that it has received a grant to provide similar English-language training for incoming seminarians from Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The Carpenter grant will provide in-country training as well as U.S. immersion for seminarians from these two countries.

All Saints' support for this immersion program was a first for VTS. Now with the Carpenter grant, what our one parish did one time, will transform into a long-term program that will benefit others.