DES MOINES, IOWA: On Saturday, January 21 at the peninsula on the northern side of Gray’s Lake in Des Moines, St. George Greek Orthodox Church, St. John the Wonderworker Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and St. Demetrius Serbian Orthodox Church, all of Des Moines, held their annual service blessing Gray’s Lake. The service ended with local priests Father Basil Hickman of St George, Father Lev Smith of St John and Father Zoran Milinkovic of St Demetrius tossing into, and retrieving from, Gray’s Lake a blessed cross, symbolic of Christ’s baptism in the River Jordan.