Baptisms are always my favorite services, because in baptisms, discipleship comes into focus, and both conversion and commitment are highlighted. This past Sunday, three teenagers were baptized; Emiliano (13), Daniel (16) and Paola (18). We drove our vans and cars, 9 in all, about an hour outside of Mexico City to a beautiful park, complete with a clean stream and water park with a number of swimming pools and water rides. What a wonderful day!
Our time started setting up at small auditorium, made primarily of volcanic rock, which served as a perfect place to sing Christmas carols, listen to a sermon from Colossians 3:1-14, and hear testimonies of how three young people came to faith in Christ. One constant among the testimonies was the influence of going to Word of Life Bible Institute Mexico summer camp, where all three of the kids were confronted with their need for Jesus. During that week of camp they heard many, many testimonies of counselors and students of how they came to Christ, and this was an encouragement to our kids.
After our service, those of us who were going to be baptized or help in the baptism changed our clothes, and we met 20 minutes later in a clear, clean and COLD creek, at a place where a brook came into the creek, creating a waterfall. It was a super place to do baptisms! I’m sure we’ll return to this park in the future.
After the baptisms and lots of rejoicing, we headed back to our place of meeting for a cookout, complete with costilla (rib meat), cecina (a salty beef) and longaniza (in this case, Argentina style sausage), all on the grill. And of course lots of other great stuff, like spring onions, corn tortillas, nopales (cactus), avocado, salsa and more. Sooo good! Is your mouth watering yet? We enjoyed the water park until 4:30 p.m., then headed back to Mexico City. God is good! Thank you to those who were praying for this activity.
Thanks, David G., for the photos and video!
