Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
Happy Easter!
I know I’m a day or two late in sending that greeting but I was blessed to spend Easter away from “civilization”, i.e. internet service, with my precious extended church family here in Gambia. The church held its annual Easter camp this past weekend and we were blessed to witness the baptism of 18 young believers that have pledged their love for Christ and have completed a series of baptism classes so that they understand what it means to be baptized into the body of Christ. I was touched by the experience and wish I had understood better when I was baptized. The candidates stood on the bank until their name was called. They were then led by the hand by a church leader to the 2 church elders that would baptize them with the words we are so familiar with, “Upon the confession of your faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I now baptize you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Tears came to my eyes as I watched them be “buried” in the water and come up a new person. They were then led out by the same church leader to where another elder was standing with his arms open on the bank to welcome them officially into the body. After they were embraced by the elder, the mentor or an influential person in their Christian walk would come with a towel and another embrace. As each name was called and they walked into the water, a song of praise was sung each one’s language. I watched this happen for each of the 18 candidates and my heart rejoiced each time. What a beautiful image of how Jesus responds when we enter into his family! He rejoices over us in a way only our heart truly hears!
I want to explain more of the beauty of this picture. This young boy is from the village I live in. He has been in some of my Sunday School classes. His father divorced his mother when she became a Christian. This church elder is one of the pastors of our church. He is the best example of a father that this boy has. He is not only a spiritual father, but also a literal father in many ways. I love that I was able to capture this short moment and share it with you all.
The church is growing here. God is moving in people’s lives and I can’t wait to see what He does in the lives of all that got baptized this past weekend. Continue to pray for our church here, Satan does not want us to gain more followers so we face fierce spiritual opposition every day.
I also want to ask for prayer for our Sending Organization team, specifically the team in Sibanor. We are in need of doctors, nurses, and compound hosts. We have a series of doctors coming in the next year for one year or less and we really need at least one more long term doctor and short term doctors to spend at least one year with us. When I leave in October/November, I will leave with 2 other nurses and at this point there is no one coming to replace us. Please pray for at least one long term nurse and 2 more short term nurses for at least one year. Since February of last year I and another long termer have been acting as compound hosts but she will leave in May of this year and there is no one coming to replace her. Our team is dwindling but we know God has people in mind to fill these gaps. Please help us pray that they will be open to God’s leading. We praise God that he provided for our clinic financially last year when we didn’t know where the money would come from but many of those gifts were one off gifts to help us get out of the minus. Please also pray that we would get more consistent financial support for the work happening at the clinic. We are so thankful that we now employ 4 open national believers as nurses and we have 2 clinic chaplains that come and preach to the patients waiting for treatment in the morning and share the Jesus film in the evenings with patients and escorts on the ward. We are seeing the fruits of their labor and rejoice with them.
I thank you all again for your faithful support in prayers and finances. I wouldn’t be here without you and I thank God for you. Keep in touch! I love hearing news from home. :)
Until we meet again,
In Him who loves and lives in us,
Bekah