Christ is Risen!
I am a young man named SriGunarjo and I was born to Mr. Yoso Sumarto and Mrs. Sutini on May 8, 1961. I have 8 siblings, all of whom are Muslims, including my father and mother.
When I was an adult, I got sick with a lip disease and had to stay in hospital for 1 month. The doctor said that it would be very difficult for me to recover and that I had no hope of survival. God, however, had other plans.
I prayed to Him and promised that if I recovered, I would study Theology. Thank God, He heard my prayer and I was truly healed. Because of that, as I had promised, I continued to study at the Indonesian Evangelical College. It is because of Him that I turned to Orthodoxy.
After I was catechized, my parents asked me to convert to Orthodox Christianity, so I was baptized and given the name CHARALAMBOS YOSO SUMARTO. My mother’s name is ELISABETH SUTINI.
I was ordained a priest on December 4, 1996 by His Grace Bishop Euthymios of South Korea. I currently serve 4 parish communities in Java: the one of St. Catherine, that of Sts. Cyril and Methodius, St. Fanourios parish, and last, the parish of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. In these 4 parish communities, there are 350 faithful who have already been baptized and 50 catechumens. There are also another 4 parishes that do not yet have church buildings.
God bless the readers.
Fr. Methodius SriGunarjo Missionary of Indonesia and Central Java.
