Upcoming Baptisms!

I was surprised to learn in Church yesterday that there would be three baptisms on Nomura Sensei's last Sunday before he moves to Fukushima to pastor a church there. I knew that a young woman who had been coming for a little while and attended the weekly seekers class was to be baptized, but I didn't know who the other two people were; but I should have guessed and when I heard Nomura Sensei announce that one of the people to be baptized was a boy, I immediately suspected that it was a kind new friend I'd made and her son.

About two months ago, this woman's son began attending a kids English class at the church. He had attended a christian kindergarten a few years back, and it was there that he learned to pray before meals and began to learn about a loving God, and his Son Jesus who was sent into the world to die for our sins. His mother shared with me that she had received a Bible as a gift from the teachers of the kindergarten, and that's when her interest in Christianity began. She told me one day over a curry lunch that her son (who is quite energetic for his age) used to be so much worse, especially following a rough time in both of their lives just after her divorce. She had had a lot of stresses in her life at that time, and a friend of a friend who was Christian offered to pray for her. She was so moved by the power of that prayer! She felt peace, and knew that there was something to prayer and to this God that they had just prayed to!

So when she enrolled her son in the English school at the church, she asked about coming to worship as well. She has been at every service since then, with her son, and two weeks ago started bringing her sister as well. She has been so open about her curiosity and desire to learn about the Bible, who Jesus is, and prayer. When Haidee's internship Supervisor Phil was here last week from Concordia St. Paul, she even shared with an entire room of Christians freely about how God had thus far touched her life, even though she stated she wasn't a christian yet. A church member who sometimes hosts the Saturday prayer group, after hearing her desire to learn more about prayer, invited her to the next gathering, which was this last Saturday. She came, and it was there that she shared that her son told her he wanted to become a Christian- her prayer request that day was for guidance in what to do. So we prayed- and sure enough, that night, she decided they would both be baptized together! What a blessing it has been to see this woman's journey of faith lived out so publicly in front of other students who are seeking. I pray that she'll be able to be bold in sharing her faith after she is baptized as it continues to grow, and that God will use her and her story to draw many others to himself through the loving community of the church I feel so blessed to serve with here!