As a parent, I believe that seeing your child make a personal decision to follow Jesus Christ is truly an even more joyful event than seeing them be born into the world as a sweet newborn baby. We have had this privilege with Israel this past Sunday. He was baptized along with Pastor Ogawa’s two daughters, and besides being joyful for us as a family, it was a joyful event for the church, as it was the first baptisms in five years!
It was also a great opportunity to invite some of the people we have been making contacts with, as it was a very special day for us to commemorate together. And many of them came! Of course, it may be mostly curiosity at this point and not a deep soul-searching for truth, but we were thankful for the opportunity for a seed to be planted. They had many questions before and after as well, so it was a wonderful way to share very naturally why we believe what we do, etc. Please pray for these seeds to fall on fertile soil!!
We had sixteen children in Sunday school that morning! The first 6-7 weeks that we were here there were only ever 2 or 3, other than our family’s contribution, which does more than double that number. Smile.
So, the pictures of our special day follow. Joshua and Dominique did three songs during the time when those who were baptized got changed, two in English and one in Portuguese.
And afterwards we had a wonderful lunch together and celebrated smashingly. 😀 
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