Doris's Testimony (Greek Orthodox)

Doris's Testimony

I was born in Jerusalem in 1963 to a Greek Orthodox family, I was the youngest of six sisters, and then a brother was born two years later. In 1969 my family moved to Amman, Jordan, where I attended a Christian missionary school. As a child, I did not attend the Orthodox church regularly. I remember going to church on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. Besides, we lived too far from the church and we did not have a car.

However, there was a Protestant church across the street from our house. I remember getting up early on Sundays to go to that church to attend Sunday School. I was the only one of the family to go. I graduated from high school in 1981, the same year that my family moved to the United States to reside in Houston, Texas. One of the first people we met in Houston was the pastor of the Arabic Evangelical Church. I started going to church because the service was in Arabic, and I thought it would be a good place to meet people. But after few months of attending, the Lord really touched my heart and I committed my life to Christ.

Having this personal relationship with Jesus have changed my whole life and the result was that my parents started attending church with me. In Dec. 1989 Emad came to church, moving from Mississippi. We met and got married in Sept. 1990. Our life together was enriched by our three children, Daniel born in 1992, Andrew born in 1995, and Nicholas born in 1997. June 1996-July 1997 was one of the most difficult and most wonderful year in our life.

My husband was working for a company who did not pay his wages for 7 months, then he was unemployed for the rest of the year, with no income and a new baby in the family we experienced God’s wonderful Love. He taught us the true meaning of Psalm 56 “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” He fulfilled all our needs and provided abundantly. Much more than we could ever do for ourselves. He put joy in our lives, and a smile on our faces that made everyone around us praise Him. But the most wonderful thing that happened to me that year was how I saw my husband grow in the Lord, how he prayed and got close to the Lord. His life was so enriched that when the Lord called upon us we were able to hear Him . We believe that the Lord brought us to Seattle, Lynnwood specifically.

The Lord opened a door for us and when we came we where strangers in this city. We knew absolutely nobody. Then we joined Meadowdale and became a part of a big loving, caring family and we started to be active there, but still I longed for an Arabic service, we looked and looked and couldn’t find any in Seattle. Then Emad looked in Vancouver and there we found a church in Surry, B.C. We made that trip; crossed the border to attend church. Meanwhile we started meeting people here and we started a small group in our apartment. We outgrew the small apartment and moved around until we settled in MBC. They sponsored us as a mission church and we have been meeting there since August 1998.