1st Baptism, "Salvation, and Stuff"

We just had Greater Grace of Malawi's first Baptism after a month of planning. It was full of joy and comedy. Since we are in a tropical climate, there are pools that are functioning year round. The problem is that many of these pools, whether they be in a small hotel or a restaurant don't usually want a church group of 40 people blasting into their premise and breaking the ambiance. Or if they do, they will charge quite a high premium on it. Thankfully, there was a small pool at my parents and the Sliva's compound. Unfortunately it was far past its prime which was probably in the mid 90's and hadn't probably been used since then. But as with anything, a little cleaning and hard work had it up and ready for the baptism. We had a month of announcements to invite all that wanted to be baptized to prepare. We also had a baptism class to explain what Baptism really means. Many have the misconception that Baptism saves a person. So the class dealt with many of these things.
We ended up baptizing 12 church members. It was awesome! Some were new believers, some "never got around to it". It was a great time of fellowship, singing, and snacks.

                                                                 This video just for fun...:)

"In everything give thanks for this is the will of God..."1Tess 5:18

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His Love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Am I thankful?

This is this time of the year again where friends and families come together to celebrate and as you all, we have a lot to be thankful for; our health, our children, our home, God's faithfulness to us.  I ask God to remind me of my blessings and all He's done for us throughout the years on the mission field. This year I am thankful for a team and our team members. We had such a great time of celebration with them for thanksgiving!

We are here on the foreign field where God has called us and where we have seen His faithfulness first hand, when we don't know for sure if we will have enough gas in the car or enough food for the coming week or if we'll find friends in a new foreign place; but we can say God IS Faithful and we choose to be thankful with the things that we have and not what we are lacking...

.... yes I can say this time of the year is a reminder that we are far from family and friends, we miss them, miss the cold (a little bit), miss sitting but the fire on a cold night, miss a steamy hot pumpkin spice latte from starbucks, and of course miss the snow and snowboarding in the Alps...

But I am thankful for this country here, the people, the heat, the rain and the mud, the wind and the potholes, and the dust, our house and our car and this city that cannot understand that when the sun is set, and its dark out, it is NOT the time to shut the power off to conserve energy ... but thankful to know that now we have people with us that go through the same thing as us lol...

"Let us come before His presence with Thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with Psalms." Psalm 95:2

Happy Late Thanksgiving