Jessica's baptism

I know that I'm getting a few things out of order, because I haven't told you about ministry in Western Ukraine. But that is coming, I promise. I just wanted to tell you about something a little more current and then I'll jump back to catching you up. Hope that's fine with you. Jessica has been wanting for a long time to follow Christ's command to be baptized. She came to me one day after reading in her Bible, and asked," Mom, why can't I be baptized?" She has made her choice to follow God and wanted to show her friends and others that she was determined to do just that. We have been talking with her about the real meeaning of baptism. And she has had a lot of good questions. Two weeks ago she was baptized in a small pond just outside our village of Osikova. Here in Ukraine it is the custom to wear only white when getting baptized, as a symbol of being the bride of Christ. Here is Jessica in her white outfit. Our friend, Vita, translated for Jessica so she would understand everything. She had some of her favorite songs sung in Russian. It was truely a special day. It started out as a hot day, but later some cloud cover cooled things off a little.

Jessica thought she was going to be the only one who would be baptized, but at the last minute an old grandma stepped up and said that she wanted to be baptized as well. So it worked out the she was baptized with someone else, even though Jessica was willing to do it alone if she needed to. The old grandma was almost 90 years old.

Here Pastor Roman is Baptizing Jessica in the

Name of the

Father,

Son,

and Holy Spirit.

Jessica, your Mom and Dad are so proud of you for making the decision to follow God and take this next step with Him. God has great things planned for you if you follow closely to Him.

The wild flowers and roses were given to her to remember this special day. Then everyone in the church had a little picnic by the pond. We pray that Jessica will always remember this day, but more importantly always follow Christ.