A Call to Cloister?

I re-read today the parting message I addressed to readers of The Continuum nearly 10 years ago, announcing that I was preparing to receive instruction in the Orthodox faith with the goal of being received into the Church of Cyprus. I promised to keep in touch, but have done a very bad job of doing so. It is now nearly nine years since I became Orthodox, with the aim of being nothing more than a common foot soldier in the army of Christ. That is the course that I have followed. And since I retired to my home in the mountains of southern Spain nearly three years ago, I have been gradually withdrawing from the world and dedicating a greater amount of my time to prayer, spiritual reading and meditation. I am writing now to tell you that I am giving serious thought to joining a new regiment, by entering a monastic community. I will spend the first two weeks of November as a guest at St Tikhon of Zadonsk monastery in Pennsylvania, after which I hope to finally come to a decision about whether a life is community is for me. I will also, obviously, be examining whether St Tikhon's might be the right place for me, and giving them a chance to think about whether they would like me to join them. I ask your prayers that the Holy Spirit make manifest to me and all those concerned what His will is for us. Yours in Christ, Albion (Ilias) Land