I was originally baptized into the Roman Catholic Church when I was in the second grade with my aunt and uncle. I then moved in with my grandparents and was raised in a Protestant 
church. While attending the Protestant church I always used to ask questions to my grandparents about my salvation because I felt like there was always a piece missing that I wasn’t understanding. As an adult I watched my uncle get baptized in the Eastern Orthodox Church but at the time I wasn’t ready to do too much research on it. However, my grandpa was extremely interested and would do a lot of research and then share with me what he was learning and that’s what really perked my interest.
When I moved to Beaverton, I was still looking for a Protestant church but never settled on one because I was starting to research Eastern Orthodoxy. I attended a few Protestant churches, and I always had the thought in the back of my head, “How do I know that they know enough truth to teach it to me?” And that’s when the light bulb was finally lit for me to start looking at Eastern Orthodox churches. I found St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church. I was too afraid to show up to services on my own. So for two years, I just kept looking up the website. I wanted to come but was afraid. I then stopped by Erin Maria’s house for the first time in about the 4th year for an unrelated reason and found out very quickly that she was Orthodox and that she attended St. John’s, which then opened the door for me to finally feel confident enough to come. Glory to God!
My youngest daughter was baptized first, then myself and then my oldest daughter was baptized a few months after. My son is now also baptized! Glory to God! Lord have mercy on me!
