We had water baptism on Saturday. We have a tradition of going to the lake with the church and have a time of celebration afterwards. This time out of ten candidates for baptism only two, Vasyl and Dema, felt they were ready. Others decided to take more time to test their own hearts.
Vasyl
Vasyl came to our church through the Rafting Camp we did in 2008. God has been working in his heart even prior to meting us and he felt that he found a spiritual family right away. By now Vasyl has become a very fruitful in ministry, even fulfilling some leadership roles in our youth outreach.
Dema
Dema is 18. He is an orphan. He has had a difficult life. His criminal “friends” were his only family for quite a while. Dema told me that he got him a new phone number, and threw the old one away because now he has a new family. But knowing Dema, it will not be long before he will start contacting his old friends himself, to hare his new hope he has found in Jesus.
By the way, he is the same Dema, I was writing about in “A 30 km Hike in the Mountains”
A Prairie Home Companion dvd Code Name: The Cleaner movie
Nastya
As we finished baptizing Vasyl and Dema, one of those who hesitated, Nastya, said that she can not wait to another baptismal service and wants to be baptized right now. As we found out later the reason for her hesitancy was the fear of going under the water. It was brave of her to step over her fear in order to fulfill Christ’s command.
Galya
Out of sudden, Galya, a guest that came with one of our church members, asked us to baptize her as well. After a short interview to make sure she wanted to do it out of right reasons, we baptized Galya. Our regular encouragement for people to bring their friends to church events gave its fruit. Praise God for continuing building His Church!!!
