Baptism

This last Sunday we had baptisms again. It was great to gather at the river together. It is always a blessing to see people excited. We all sang together after the baptisms

Martha one the first to baptized. It was a blessing to get to baptize her. She has returned after a long absence. She had been in the north and not attending for more than six months. It was so encouraging to see her return and make a lot of effort to attend. The new area that she lives in is very far from our Bible studies, it takes her about a hour and a half each Sunday to attend services.

Rosemary was the second to get baptized. She is a younger lady that has attended for a long time. Her parents are not saved, and her grandmother is a owner and runner of bar. Though her family background is anything but Christian, she is trying to attend services and follow the Lord.

Easter Baptisms

On the 4th of April, Easter Sunday, our Bible study had the privilege of baptizing five more converts. It took a little effort this year to get everything and everybody ready for the event, but it was worth it.


The Bible study has baptisms every three months. This allows our converts to pass through a five to six week baptism class before they are baptized. This group of baptism happened to fall on Easter Sunday. Not only was it during our Easter time, it also happened to be during the peek of our dry season. Last year the Lord provided a heavy rain the night before, so the river was very full. But despite a rain two nights before the river was very low. (Some Chinese road construction companies have been pumping the water off the river, so the water level is much lower than it has ever been before).

Since the river was low, Andrew and I decided that maybe we should dig out an area for the people to be baptized in. (see top picture) But after about ten minutes of trying to dig through rock and sediment, we decided that we just need to find another spot on the river. So, the search began down river. Most times when there are baptisms, it is nice to be located close to the road. This allows the people the opportunity to watch without walking far. But this time that was not an option.
Andrew and I decided to pass underneath the road culvert and head up river. (Top picture- Andrew and Fred are trying to clear a path through the tall grass with machetes). After some time it was decided that the baptisms would be held up river near the water pumps that the Chinese were using. They had made a larger pool around the equipment and the metal pulls to hold all the water pumps would provide a good way for people to get into the river.

(Matilda about to be baptized)

Easter Sunday came, our five converts were ready. After about a five minute drive up the dirt road to the river everything was set. It was such a blessing to get to see these five people baptized. Two northerners Kasin-Nankana (Matilda ad Peter), one Wala (Mary), one Ewe (Mensah), one Nzema (Vironica) where all baptized.

Peter being baptized (Top)

Mary getting baptized.

Baptisms

On the 6th of December the Bible Study had its fourth baptism. There were three adult men that where baptized. The first was a man named Dennis. He has been attending meeting off and on for almost two years. In the last year he has become very faithful and attends almost every Sunday morning. About ten months ago he came to the realization that his old church was not teaching correct doctrine. After finishing his "Way of Peace' Bible study he accepted Christ. Then quickly told us that he wanted to be baptized. Pray for him to grow in Christ, and find a good wife to marry.

The second to baptized was Bismark. Bismark attends meetings with his wife and son. They are very faithful. Bismark was raised Catholic, but after arriving in Kumasi he quite attending. After Dora invited his wife, they began to attending services. After God worked greatly in his life, including healing his son that was at deaths door, Bismark became very serious about the things of God. After finishing our "Way of Peace" Bible Study, he trusted Christ. He made a hard decision to be baptized, since the Catholic churches here are very rich, but he did not flinch when he felt it was God's will. Please pray for his wife. She attends, and my wife is studying with her. Please pray that her religious background will not harden her to the gospel.

The last to be baptized was Nat. He is a young community college man, that chose to join our church. He has attended a church called, "Deeper Life", which is a form of old holiness church. After many months of talking with Nat, Pastor Andrew felt that he was truly saved, but had not been baptized. Nat has been born again for about five years. He knew he should be baptized, but had not official joined the Deeper Church. Please pray for his growth and victory over sins in his life. He is desirous to grow, but has confessed to some besetting sins.

Also pray for the new groups of believers that will start baptismal class in the new year. Pray that some that have finished classes already will make the decision to join our group.

Patty visitation partner, Gifty, has traveled. Currently she is seeking a replacement. We are praying that maybe Dora, the lady pictured, or another lady from the studies will join my wife to spread the good news.

Baptisms

Yesterday at the Bible Study we where able to baptize our first three converts. It was a long saga, that I will not take the time to cover, but lets just say that finally after waiting for three weeks for the public water to flow in the pipes, we decided that we just needed to find a local river that we could use.



The Lord provided a great location, and we all had a wonderful time. Our first person baptized was a young man named Inusha. Inusha used to be a Muslim (one of his jobs in the mosque was to call out the prayer calls to gather people to daily prayers). He was very eager to be baptized, and rushed out to be the first person.



Our second person was Maybel. Maybel is a young single mother, that Patty led to Christ, and has been disciplining. She is Asante, and has never been in water over her knees. We explained everything to her, but still when I baptized her, she got sacred. But everything went well, and overall her baptism went well.





The last to get baptized yesterday was Joe. Joe is a young teenage guy that I led to Christ. He lives very close to the church and is very faithful to the Sunday services.



It was very exciting to see these people baptized, and publicly display that they have put their faith in Christ! Please continue to pray for each one of them, that they will grow, make good decisions, and become committed to Christ!

Just a few pictures of the areas that we visit in our Salvation Bible Studies: