WIRED Baptism

 On January 4th, we had the wonderful honor of seeing 4 of our youth be baptized. This is a huge honor for us in many ways.  A little over 2 years ago, Seth and I came to Burkina on a short term "vision" trip. Our short 7 day journey crossed with the youth group's baptism, and we got to go! So a WIRED baptism was the first event we ever came to for the youth group. Even cooler, several of our current youth were baptized that day, and we got to be there! How neat! Two of the girls, Esmirie and Lydia (above picture on the right), were baptized that day. It is so neat to meet with these girls and see how they have grown in two years. One of the greatest blessings of the day was seeing the older youth encourage the girls getting baptized by sharing their testimonies and praying over them.

Reading over their testimonies before sharing

 Growing up in a small Baptist church, baptism was always part of a greater church service. Ya know, it fits in between the greeting and first worship song or between worship and the offering. It is almost like a transition time during the service. I'm fine with that, and I was baptized that way. Doesn't take anything away from my salvation experience. Here in Ouaga, however, our girls attend different churches but are part of the same youth group. The baptism takes place separately from a church service. By doing this, it gets to be a deep, personal time for the students to share about their faith.

 During the service, each student chooses a song that he or she feels describes his or her walk with Christ. Sometimes, multiple students choose the same song. Apparently one year, all four students who were baptized wanted to sing "Amazing Grace". At least it's a good one! Haha. Our students choose "I Will Follow" (2x), "Still, My Soul Be Still", and "I Am Free".

 After the girl's song was sang (thanks to our friend Ben for leading in worship), the girls got up individually and shared their testimonies. As much as these girls love to talk, it was so funny to see how nervous they were. It was neat to see their stories relate and see how God has grown them in their walks with Him.

After sharing their testimonies, the girls each selected someone to come up to speak for them. This "someone" was to be an encourager in their walk with Christ and someone they look up to. Two of their girls had their moms share (who did NOT cry), one had her dad share (who DID cry...and so did I), and one had her Llama leader (like a student leader in the youth group) share. The words said about these girls are perfect examples of their commitments to being baptized. One of the girls, Erinn, asked her dad to speak. A truly wonderful man and loving dad, he got a little choked up at one point and Erinn turned around to me and said "Can you believe my dad is crying?". About that time, a huge crocodile tear fell down my cheek. Embarrassed, I turned around to Seth and saw him crying a little as well. That's what happens when your youth are this awesome. One of the moms, Bonnie, led her daughter Abby in the prayer of salvation when Abby was 4 years old. On that night, Bonnie wrote on an index card the date, the prayer, and had Abby sign it in her best 4 year old handwriting. It was the sweetest thing.

 Another thing that made this day so cool (for me) is that all four of the girls have been coming to middle school Bible study every week for the past year. I have had the delight of leading them in studies about what it means to be a child of God, studying the book of John (a challenge with 7th graders, but they're keeping up!), and freedom in Christ. It has been a blessing to watch them grow and become more serious about their faith. The greatest part is that they are all such close friends and will always have this memory. It was neat to hear in their testimonies the role that the other girls played in their spiritual growth.

After the girls were encouraged, they dipped into the cold water to be baptized. January in Burkina is possible the coldest month (ya know 90-95 by day, 70s at night), and everyone considers it "too cold" to go swimming. It was a bit chilly. All of the girls have been raised in West Africa, so they are not use to cold temperatures...like at all. Their faces of shock and surprise upon getting in the water were priceless!

A family of musical talent: the Van Dingenens have 4 beautiful daughters and all are musically gifted. They sang as family before Jiska was baptized. It was absolutely beautiful.

All of the girls' dads are missionaries, and they all took part in baptizing their daughters. That was very special. They prayed for the girls after they were baptized. 

                                   

  Before being baptized, the girls committed to coming to a specific Bible study that Seth and I led about the meaning of baptism. Wanting to be sure of this commitment, we discussed why baptism is important in the life of a believer and what is symbolizes. Each of the girls expressed clear understanding in what they were committing to do.

Matt and Mireya Durkee, our next door neighbors. Matt fearlessly led the youth group for many years. Now, he is our neighbor and comes over to drink our coffee a lot.  It is all ok as long as he brings his cute baby (and his beautiful wife who was probably paying attention to the service, thus not pictured).

Mothers and sisters of the girls being baptized (all of the dads were sitting on the other side to baptize)

Me, Abby (7th grade), Deborah (8th), Jiska (7th), Erinn (7th), and Seth

We love our girls and are so proud of their decision! So excited to see how God is going to use you for His kingdom!