My name is TJ Ono and I am grateful to serve as Restoration’s Curate. As with all of our stories, my story and my life did not begin the day I was born. Our stories are woven into the lineage of the men and women who come before us. My story with Jesus is especially this way. My grandmother – Michiko Yee – came to know Christ in an American-Japanese Internment Camp. Executive Order 9066 overhauled the life of Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast, including my grandmother’s family. Japanese Christians did not want the trauma of the camps to define the lives of the incarcerated children. So these Christians played and laughed with the kids and told them stories about Jesus. In high school, my grandmother began to reflect upon the type of life she wanted to live. She immediately thought back to those Japanese Christians. She wanted to live like them. She wanted to be like them. She wanted Christ.

I feel a lot like the Apostle Paul’s prodigy, Timothy. Timothy’s faith came from his grandma and his mom (2 Tim 1:5). That is my story. My grandmother and mother have oriented their life believing that Christ has changed everything. So soon after I was born into the world, my parents (Gary and Grace) baptized me. Through the faith of those who have gone before me, God gave me a mysterious means of grace that has shaped my life.

I was born in California, raised in Texas, and educated in New England. Each of these places holds a special place in my heart. And I suspect Northern Virginia will become a place I hold dear to my heart because of the memories we make together. Let’s hang!