After half a century
This was a spiritual treat for all of us. Rebeka, one of our girls from our teenage group has asked me if she could be baptized publicly somewhere in a river when her mother comes to see her from America. I have asked the church elder board and they jump at the idea.
It was like traveling back in time... For the first time in the last 50 years, this past August, we've had a baptism out in the open. There were 10 persons who asked to be baptized, 8 of them young people. It looks like this is the trend lately. Between 80 % and 90 % of the people we are baptizing are young ones. And this is a blessing. It is God's way to encourage us in the ministry. We are so thankful.
At 40 km out of Cluj we have made all the preparations, like blocking the water to make a pool, cleaning and grubbing the riverbank, fixing a sound system, cooking some sarmale (stuffed cabbage rolls) and inviting the guests to join us. We were thinking we'll be having like maximum 100 people coming to the event. That Saturday morning, wow, 74 vehicles showed up... one bus, 5 vans and 68 cars, which totaled close to 400 people. My message for the candidates was about the benefits of being adopted in God's family and after that, in very cold mountain water, we baptized the people. It was an overwhelming experience. I haven't felt the cold at all until I got out of the water after 40 minutes. Only at that moment I realized I don't feel my legs and I'm like floating over the crowd.
The celebration continued with a picnic time, grilled meats that everybody brought with them. Excellent fellowship time, something our church have not experienced for half a century. God is good with us when He is interspersing this kind of experiences in His family. Everybody went home in the evening with a strong sense of spiritual freshness. You can watch a video clip on our website if you'd like, or you can browse the photos album here .
