Hello my brothers and sisters. I guess I will participate to some degree in this make a post thing and hope to win something toward a pro membership, and make a post about how I became Orthodox, and other good stuff. First I will start at the beginning. I was raised an Episcopalian. My mother's family has always been Episcopalian since the start of the Anglican Church. I can trace my mother's family way back to the 400s with a relative that was an Archbishop of Canterbury when all the world was Orthodox. After the great schism, my mother's family, became Catholic, and then when Henry VIII started his own church, they became Church of England and when my first relatives set foot in America in the 1600s, and, later in the 1700s, we became Episcopalians, which is just the American version of the Anglican Church. I grew up in what was called broad church Episcopalianism, which means there is formality to a great degree, but nothing like the Orthodox Church. Then, while at the College of Charleston, I experience my first Anglo-Catholic (High Church Episcopal) church. Incense, beautiful vestments, chanting, and all the other beauty of a full on liturgy. I was completely captivated, and said to myself this is where I belong. However, change was afoot in the larger Episcopal church and things were happening that should not have been allowed. What I saw happening made me sick. I began to question my place in the church that I loved. I had known and studied Orthodoxy since 1992, but the only Orthodox church around was the Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Charleston, and I was not Greek so I knew I would not belong. The breaking point came in 2007, and splits of splits were starting to form in the Episcopal Church, and I knew I had to go find the True Faith. I found Holy Ascension in Mt. Pleasant SC. I said I had to go there. So I drove to Mt. Pleasant, and met with Fr. John Parker, who was the priest at that time. He is now Dean of St. Tikhon's Theological Seminary. He had been an Episcopal priest as well. The church was a small bookstore on the square in I'on. It was the first day of Lent that I met with Fr. John and it was in that small bookstore church that I decided then and there I would become Orthodox. I was made a catechumen after Pascha that year, 2007, and I was Chrismated on June 8, 2008, I think that was the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Six Ecumenical Councils. I was chrismated with the name of Herman after St. Herman of Alaska. St. Herman's repose date, 12/13, is my birthday. I was a layperson for about a year and six months. Sometime in 2009, Fr. John comes to me and asks, "Would you like to be a Reader? You have pleasant voice that is good to listen to. You speak very clearly, and you can project and people can hear you. Basically he was nicely saying you are a loud mouth and everyone can hear EVERYTHING you are saying." Humbly I accepted the call to be a Reader, and on the last Sunday of November 2009, His Beatitude JONAH, Metropolitan of All America and Canada and Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Dallas and the South came to tonsure and ordain me to the Sacred Order of Readers. I have been an Orthodox Christian for almost 16 years and a Reader for almost 15 years. Orthodoxy is for everyone. It is the One True Faith. I wish the world would convert to Orthodoxy tomorrow. The fullness of the faith is tremendous. I am the only Orthodox Christian in my family. As I watch Western Christendom fall apart and go astry, I am more and more thankful that I am not trying to hang on to something that is dissolving. Orthodoxy is my home. Orthodoxy is my LIFE! Glory to Jesus Christ! Christ is Risen!

Congrats to Macarius Monroe - you're the lucky winner of a ProMax+ LIFETIME membership. We had a random drawing tonight and had ChatGPT pick a random # corresponding to everyone who posted their story. AI said you were the winner! Thanks for participating.

Josh and I met at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. I grew up attending the Church of Christ my entire life, the same church in fact, every Sunday and every Wednesday night, faithfully. Josh "came to the Lord" through Young Life. He attended a Presbyterian church throughout High School. Once he learned he could get a degree to work in a church with teens, he was hooked!
Since he was older than I was, he started his career in Youth Ministry while I was still in College. He worked for a Church of Christ for a little over two years while I finished up getting my education degree. He then moved back to Arkansas so that we could get married.
Once I graduated he got a Youth Ministry job in West Monroe, Louisiana. We were both pumped to work as a team with the teenagers there. Unfortunately, that position only lasted a few years. Josh was faced with a cross roads in his career and decided it was time for a change, you can't be a Youth Minister forever and he had no ambitions to become a preacher. So, with an 10 month old baby girl and being 37 weeks pregnant with the next, we packed up and moved to North Carolina to live with my family while Josh went to nursing school at UNC.
It was a very stressful time. We ended up moving out of my parents house after 10 months and in to what we like to call "The Brown Apartments." Little did we know how that move would change our lives FOREVER!
Soon after we moved in, a cute looking young couple moved in diagonally from us. After a failed attempt at getting them to cook out, we eventually got to hang out and became instant friends. Our dogs are still best friends. Missy, the wife, is a fellow teacher, and Erik, is a fellow nerd with Josh (I say that with all the love I can muster in my heart, they are good nerds, cool nerds....) At the time, they attended an Evangelical church meeting in a movie theater.
After living there for a couple of years, we both decided to buy our own houses and moved out of the apartments. Now we were 30 minutes apart, which hindered our getting together a bit, but we were still able to maintain our friendship.
One day Erik introduced Josh to Orthodoxy. They were playing their nerdy games together and I'm sure he shared some book for Josh to read. Josh LOVES history and church, so he gladly obliged. They began reading and discussing Orthodoxy through e-mails and time together. We learned eventually that Erik has started going to an Orthodox church. "Poor Missy" was all I could think. Her husband has completely lost it! I must comfort her, were my thoughts! When we would get together I would try to make sure she was doing ok and handling this crazy "phase" of her husband. Little did I know that slowly, but surely, she was beginning to enjoy the Orthodox church. I noticed one day that when we were debating with Erik at how silly this whole Orthodox business was, she was defending it....what was happening?
I also noticed that my husband was reading more and more. Was he merely just trying to please his friend, or was he getting interested too? That is just silliness! After repeated invitations, we finally gave in and visited the church as a family. I was COMPLETELY blown away by the service. I was in my first trimester with our 5th daughter. The incense was overwhelming and heightened my nausea. There was absolutely no child care whatsoever, so we had to handle all 4 of our young girls during the seemingly endless service, all while standing! There were candles, chanting, processions, Icons...so many strange things. None of this made any sense. Both Josh and I left the service thinking how impossible Orthodoxy was for our quickly growing family, not to mention all the crazy stuff that was done in service. I was glad to finally shut that door...or so I thought.
Josh kept reading...
and reading...
and reading...
Then he had me start listening to podcasts.
Then he wanted to visit again. He was slowly becoming convinced that Orthodoxy went back to the beginning, right back to the Apostles. There was a Ladies Retreat to the beach coming up at my church. It could not have come too soon! I was so stressed out by my husband. What was he thinking? Was he going to tear our family apart? Were we going to have to start going to two different churches? Where would the children go? I discussed all of the questions with women who I considered mentors in the church. The most ironic part of the whole weekend was Friday night. We did a beautiful reading, prayer and singing time where we were invited to light a candle as a symbol of our prayers...how...Orthodox! So, I lit a candle for my husband.
Easter was about to hit in the Orthodox church, which means an all night service. We decided to wait until after that to start visiting. I grudgingly came along. I attempted to fumble through the liturgy, examining every word to find some sort of problem. We listened to podcasts constantly at home. I can't remember how, but somehow I stumbled across Facing East by Frederica Matthews-Green. It's a simple read of how a preachers wife made the transition to Orthodoxy. It takes you through a Liturgical year through her eyes. It was just what I needed. She explained things in a way that I could understand. I connected with Frederica. I hit a turning point.
From that point on I was studying to understand, not just to disprove. There were many times I would call my friend Missy (now a full Orthodox convert) in frustration as I was trying to make sense of this new knowledge.
Sometime in the summer we became Catachumens and began studying to convert. It was thrilling and scary at the same time. I remember we witness and Chrismation service shortly after that and had some doubts. She looked so happy joining the church. I wasn't ready yet. The more we studied the more I realized that the Orthodox church was truth. It came directly from Jesus through the Apostles and the Church Fathers. There is a preserved church that I can trust the doctrine. We all believe the same thing. We all believe the Bible and Jesus Christ.
With great excitement, August 15th, 2012, our whole family joined the Orthodox Church. Our daughters were baptized and Josh and I were Chrismated. It felt so good and so right to finally be a part of the Orthodox.

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My journey has not been one to Orthodoxy as much as within.

My journey to was very short. I was born in Singapore and after a little over a year, my family came back to the U.S. and I was baptised (you never saw a bigger cake for a 1 year old boy; I had many many relatives who came over who were definitely of cake-eating age).

But my journey within has been strange, very strange, as it's been a life of the marginal variety (a la Jonathan Pageau). See, growing up in a ghetto by the sea two+ hours from the nearest church showed me life from two distinct perspectives. Life within the Church and life without. My home town was rife with sex, drugs and alcohol and little else. There wasn't a lot of the "good" part of town. I had to choose my friends very carefully. Life within the Church presented something completely and distinctly other, pointing me in what was clearly the right direction and it's There I made my closest friends.

Growing up, I did the usual things. Video games, movies, TV, some reading and ballroom dancing, etc. College was much better. Went to church every weekend for the first time in my life, instead of every other weekend (thank you, gas prices, housing bubble, etc.), ballroom danced about two or three times a week and played Halo and CoD with my friends since we were living farther apart than before.

It was after college that things got really interesting. My folks had moved to a town closer to church. The one hitch (I only recently found out) was that it was in a vale with an orchard nearby. The reason I say that was a hitch is because of all the toxins (pesticides/herbicides) in the air that never really left, by virtue of being in a vale. This caused me health problems which turned into an ER visit which turned into an antibiotic giving me more health problems than I ever thought you could have at once. I had to stay Orthodox while in terrible circumstances. Not something I'd ever encountered before.

But it's here I had to relearn how to be Orthodox, what it all meant, my purpose in life, how to be a man, etc. I began to read the Bible more (and other books in general; I have a distinctly Japanese section of my little library now), the lives of the saints, praying. What does life mean amidst suffering? What's the point of it all, exactly? What's important? How do you live?

And then, not only had I to re-invent myself internally, but I learned a lot about medicine. Specifically the holistic, naturopathic approaches. I've been to general naturopaths, Chinese doctors, acupuncturists, liver specialists, gastros, regular medical doctors, physical therapists, everyone. I almost feel I have a minor in medicine after my experiences. I've learned a great deal, some of which helped family and friends a lot.

Then, there's the reading. Lots of reading. Tolkien, Yoshikawa, Homer, nautical fiction/memoirs, military memoirs, etc., etc.

8.5 years later and I can say it's been a lot. A lot a lot. Five years after the initial trouble began, I was able to find some relief and help from a couple doctors. It was at this five year mark that I moved to Texas and began a new life as a teacher, continuing my journey. I'm a data analyst now and I found a brilliant doctor, something in the rank order of genius, I say, and I'm getting better. The best I've felt in a long time. And with many new friends in the great state of Texas, the journey continues. Much reading, much working, with a career track that's been as instructive as it has been eventful.