 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. So just repeat after me. I'll do the Arabic and then the English. I'll do the Arabic three times and then the English. I testify that there is no deity except Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest is the greatest is the greatest Allah is the greatest Allah is the greatest is the greatest Allah is Alhamdulillah, all praise be to God Almighty, you are like the day you were born without any sin and so this is the this is the most beautiful day of your life and we are so honored to be here with you and so remember us in your prayers pray for us and if you have any anything we can do to serve you inshaAllah the community we're here to serve you any questions any support we can provide Alhamdulillah sorry okay yeah bismillah well yeah I mean guess I'll tell so yeah it's been it's it's been a journey coming into Islam I didn't grow up religious but I was always into spirituality in high school I dabbled in Catholicism and Christianity just didn't resonate too much with me as I carried on to college I did psychology and took a bunch of world religions classes and philosophy classes just dabbling more like getting into Eastern philosophies you know dabbling to Taoism and Hinduism Unitarianism I feel like I like deliberately like skip the class on Islam because of the whole Islamophobia and everything stuff for a law as I carried on I ended up going to grad school and getting my master's in holistic marriage and family therapy with an emphasis on Buddhist psychology so it was just like really into like the Eastern stuff that was in 2015 in 2017 I was just randomly in another city then I lived and I walked into a bank and this guy greeted me and he was like super nice and respectful and I would I was just thinking to myself like why is this guy so respectful like so nice and he just kept looking at me he was like I know you from somewhere and so he kept asking questions and then he was like we finally figured it out we were best friends in elementary school this was 20 years later that we're reunited he's a he was a poor Muslim so we like just embraced right there in the bank and like hugged and like got each other's numbers and that's when kind of like my journey to Islam began and I know it's just been on stages so 2017 I just you know started learning about it like researching it at first it was like trying to like prove it wrong and like see what's wrong with it but it backfired a little bit in the best way possible right so it just it just turned around I just fell in love with they was like it was like all the stuff that I loved about all the other face that I had dabbled into it was like Islam had all of it put into one right it was like the balance of all the other face combined so I you know and it just I it just everything made sense it answered all the questions that I had about things and so it's it had been like a you know a journey so in 2019 I participated in Ramadan for the first time I read a bunch of pamphlets I fasted and I like read a bunch of pamphlets that I had like randomly received in Europe on a trip that like I come across as like Islamic booth and like he gave me all this stuff and then 2020 Ramadan I fasted I I read the Quran in English and and prayed every day but not always five times and then 2020 I took my my first Shahada was at Eid of 2020 but you see it was like it's a journey so it was like I I didn't fully like rid myself of all the vices right so there's still like stuff that I was you know participate like I was I knew the faith I had read so much and like I learned about it but I wasn't applying everything right so this this past Ramadan is when I I really like cut loose all the the prior vices and really like started applying the pit the faith fully praying every day you know and just do it like trying to live by it by the Prophet's ways peace be upon him and and and then it was just like life just kind of like change like drastically like exponentially right like so once once started applying in and just thinking of you know a loss upon a what's all I just like just you know health got better family got better you know work got better I started attracting like amazing people into my life like may they be rewarded for for the goodness that they brought and like the catalyst for you know just enhancing my you know Iman and I know that it's a journey like it's not like you know it's not always easy not just because I join this faith that now everything is all you know butterflies the rainbows like it's it's it's a challenge and it's you know ongoing and like it's a I know it's a lifelong journey but it's like anything is just better as we're closer to Allah like it just makes everything better everything more easy like just knowing that you know we have this like support that's always there no matter where you are and you don't need anybody to talk to him you can talk to him whenever and so that's that's where I'm at I just feel like I'm just much more grounded in the faith and just say it was time to get make it make it more thank you thank you thank you for sharing welcome to our community I know all of them will be greeting you know All right so we'll get COVID friendly hugs and kiss pumps to brother Chad inshallah and then in the conference room inshallah we have another shahada so after Suna let's go there inshallah