Personal Testimony

What have I done to show my generosity to others? I pray for each student in my every class every day, no matter he or she is a Christian or not. I listen whatever my students want to share with me about their lives patiently and give them my advice from the Bible guiding them in the way they can see the grace from God. I spent a whole week with some youth using reusable materials to finish decoration for VBS event. I spent two months talking to my parents via international calls every midnight, prayed for them, and wanted to let them know how much love they have been receiving from Jesus Christ.

I have sought encouragement from them and the wisdom they have instilled in me will remain with me for a lifetime. Another crucial facet of the growing of my faith has been the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization, or FCA for short. I was introduced to FCA my freshman year of high school because my older sister wa... ... middle of paper ... ...uly does care. It may seem like a simple story now, but it was the moment that turned my life around for the better. After camp, I decided to make a change for Christ and have been persistently seeking His kingdom.

Many factors in the past have influenced my relationship with God and continue to do so daily. I first learned to be a Christian from my parents. They took me to Sunday School and “preaching” on Sunday mornings when I was young. They made sure I was involved in the youth group and children’s and youth choirs while growing up. They taught me to say a blessing before every meal, and they laugh when I still occasionally break into our traditional “God is great, God is good .

“For I know the plans I have for you declares the lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 from the bible) Since day one of my life, my faith is what gets me through each day. I centered my graduation project on something I care most about because I was involved with my church since I was born. Through activities like a spaghetti dinner in February, Easter fellowship the Saturday of Easter, vacation bible school during the summer, youth babysitting during Christmas, and Christmas caroling these are just a few things I participate in at my church. The first thing I used in my graduation project was the annual spaghetti dinner the path youth does in February around valentines. I help do things the day before the actual dinner by setting tables up, getting the gymnasium decorated, help prepare food, make the directional sign for where people should go and park, etc… Then the day of I help set the salad out on the salad tables, finish decorating, wrap silverware in napkins, and serve the people when the dinner starts.

I was a Catechumen at St. Antony's in Tulsa, preparing to be received into the Orthodox Church through Chrismation on Holy Saturday (the Saturday before Pascha/Easter). I had been attending the parish for a while, loved Orthodoxy and knew I wanted to be a part of the Church. But the beauty of the liturgical year was still something fresh and new to me. My friend Dennis had a connection to Lazarus Saturday (though I can't quite remember what that connection was), and got Christmated as Gregory that day. So I got up early and went to the, it was a Saturday morning and I was in college so it probably wasn't that early - maybe 9:00 am.

This affected me deeply. I still had the idea that there was no chance I would be done with life soon. His death really brought me into the realization that my time to see Jesus could be anytime and almost to the year anniversary of his death I was baptized. My best friend had come to visit us for Easter and she stayed up and talked with me until very late at night and stayed near me until that Sunday at church. It was very encouraging to me having most of my loved ones there and my dad baptized me that Easter Sunday.

The following Sunday after mass at my church in Wynne, we spoke with Father Sammy, our priest, to inform him on my plans, so he could make arrangements so I could start my classes soon. Within a week I met Louise Hess, who is the coordinator for the religious classes at St.Peter’s Catholic Church. I purchased the required book and my teacher was our deacon, Deacon Carlos. In Wynne and surrounding areas the Hispanic community is smaller in comparison to Jonesboro and its surrounding areas; therefore, my church community was smaller, and my class for confirmation was only me and Aimme. My journey of getting closer to God and receiving the Holy Spirit had

My Dad found a different church as well.His church was near Atlanta, Georgia and it was named Berean Christian Church. So, once my dad founded a home church, I was going to church with my Dad every single Sunday. Faith played a huge part in my parents forgiveness of each other. The weeks I’m with my Dad, he cooked more. Talked to more to my sister and I more and he became a better listener.It was like he was becoming a better father.

My family and teachers explained the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. As a child, I knew all these things, these wonderful things about my God and my religion, but it was not until my early teens that I began to thirst for more. At my church, one had to be in seventh grade to attend our youth group service. I could not wait to going into junior high so I could hang out with the teenagers and talk about actual teen issues and how The Bible tells us to handle them. The summer before seventh grade our church had new

Sunday school really impacted my life by showing me what I was missing out on and that you can always learn new things. Around my freshman year in high school, I decided to get baptized and confirmed into the church which was a big step in my spiritual life. Being baptized and confirmed into the church was scary because you have this sense that you have to be better and always succeed. At the age of 15, I decided to take God into my life and continue to learn what he has to offer. Confirmation classes went for about a year as we studied the bibles and certain scriptures to prepare us for our test.