Baptismal Service

Praise the Lord! We had a good, and I mean GOOD, service today!

We left the house a bit earlier than usual. Once we got to the building it was the mad rush to get things ready for church. Mischa and Hugo already had the chairs and tables set up. It’s such a blessing to have some faithful workers that we can count on!!! Dad unloaded the van--praise God for a van! We had it packed full with several boxes of food, tea thermoses, my piano and stand and chair, Dad’s briefcase, Josiah’s laptop bag, and a big box of the baptismal robes, not to mention 5 adult-sized bodies… Let’s see, I think that was all. (laughing) We’ve got a pretty nifty van!


As I was saying, Dad unloaded the van. Josiah immediately started unwinding the spaghetti, otherwise know as cables (poor him!), and getting the sound system up. Lydia took care of the nursery and then joined Mom and me in the kitchen. Mom is great! She supplied lunch for 70 people--which is about how many turned out for the special baptismal service today. She planned to have hot dogs, coleslaw, chips, little yogurts, cold and hot drinks, and cookies. Together we quickly got the lunch stuff set up, so I was free to practice the songs with Mischa.

It was such a blessing to see so many people turn out for the service! One of the men getting baptized invited 40 people to come to his baptism! Not all of them showed, but about 20 did, and then other people getting baptized brought their extended families along. More and more people kept arriving, and more and more stools had to be set up. What a nice problem to have! =)


I was feeling sorta nervous during this past week about playing. It’s always harder for me to play when there are strangers in the crowd…yes, I’m weird. What can I say? But, the Lord gave me grace. I think the song service went well. Dad preached from Ephesians 4:5--“One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Excellent message!!! The plan of salvation was clearly represented, and there were several times when you could’ve heard a pin drop it was so quiet. God was working! Dad preached hard, which is good, because that is possibly the only time in some of these people’s lives that they will ever hear the gospel. My dad is one of the few preachers in this country who preaches the truth--hard as it is to hear sometimes.

There were quite a few “amens” from our guys during the preaching. I like that. At times Dad has joked that he needs to get a ping-pong paddle with the words “AMEN” on it so people know when to say it. I say “amen” quietly, but I’m a girl and it’s not very ladylike to shout it out…even though there are times when I’d sure like to. (chuckle)

Oh, did I mention that the man, Dennis is his name, who got saved on Thursday afternoon was at church? That was neat. Also, Nathalie, a lamb who left the fold of our church several years ago was there because her little son was getting baptized. I was SO happy to see her! Please pray she comes back to church again. I really love her!!! Sometimes…no, many times I’ve wished that I could make people do right. Imagine putting a gun to a person’s head and saying “Do right…or else.” (chuckle) Somehow I don’t think that would go over too well. Besides, if it doesn’t come from the heart there’s no point anyway…

Dad preached for almost an hour, but it didn’t feel like that long at all, but then, I wasn’t getting my toes stepped on, so it’s possible others don’t share that thought. After the preaching Mom, Lydia, and I served the food up. Lydia was in charge of the buns, Mom the hotdogs, and me the coleslaw. It’s nice to have visitors, but as our own church members passed by in the food line, well...my heart just felt really glad to see their dear familiar faces. I’m so thankful for them. I’m so thankful that my family and I have the privilege of serving these precious people. I was thinking this afternoon as we unloaded the van that there’s nothing better than a family serving the Lord together. I think that must be very special to God!

Everyone hung around for a while as they ate and talked. The three of us girls were quite busy serving and helping people and then cleaning up. Mom made Dad a plate of food, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have eaten, and I found him and the rest of my family in the back room off the kitchen “hiding.” Ha! I’m partly teasing and partly not. People tend to bombard Dad with questions after the service, and he needed a breather before we had to pack up and head for the pool place.

You see, we rent a school, which means we don’t have any water to baptize in. So, we rent a local pool for baptisms. We usually have a baptismal service once a year. Getting baptized (the right way, which is adult baptism by emersion) is quite a big deal here in Holland. Some families disown family members who choose to be baptized, so when Christians do decide to get baptized it’s really something to be respected!

We all managed to get to the pool place without any problems; Mischa drove with us in our van. It was kinda strange, because once we got there we were sorta on our own. The people who work at the pool weren’t there to show us around or anything, so we did what we had to do without their aid. Those getting baptized got changed, while visitors and church family stood around the pool. Eventually they all made their way to the pool in their angelically white robes. (Praise God they got here from the States in time for the baptism--a miracle!)



The baptism was a blessing! We had 7 people decide to be baptized. It’s so neat to see Christians giving their lives over to the Lord like that. I pray they will grow in Him more and more!!! Please pray for them; the devil is mad, and we expect to see him working overtime in the weeks ahead. Isn’t it fun making the devil mad? I love it!!! I think we should start taking pleasure in getting the devil mad instead of giving him the pleasure of seeing us sin, which eventually makes us mad--as in the word insane. Christians need to outsmart the devil instead of letting him outsmart them.


After the service ended, Mischa and Hugo drove back to the church with us, and we cleaned up the remainder of our stuff. I’m so thankful for these guys and the sacrifices they make for the Lord. Mischa and Hugo are our partners in the ministry. As we’ve seen two men in their positions fall away, I’ve come to appreciate them more and more. May God keep them from falling!!! PLEASE pray for these guys if you think to! It’s a miracle that any Christian can survive in this country. Only by God’s great mercy do we prevail, as this sea of wickedness claims lives that were once on fire for Him. You can tell the coming of the Lord is drawing nearer as Satan works harder than ever to destroy God’s people. Oh, that we may be found FAITHFUL!!!

I love this song, which we sometimes sing in our hymnal:

Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
May the fire of our devotion light their way
May the footprints that we leave, Lead them to believe
And the lives we live inspire them to obey
Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful

If we can live holy and respectable and clean lives on this earth, what a relief it will be when we hear the Saviour say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” May we be found faithful!

Well, I think that’s about all I wanted to talk about. Would you believe that we got home at almost 4 PM? That means we were at church for 7 hours! Wow! We’re all tired and looking forward to next week when we’ll get a well-earned repose!

God bless!!!

P.S. You know how I love post scripts…ha! My dad almost drowned me when he baptized me!!! My hair wasn’t all the way under--which he was sure I would want--so he kept leaving me down there, and by the time I came up I was choking. Ha! The whole rest of the day I coughed up water. I didn’t tell this to the 7 people getting baptized, but in case you ever get baptized by my dad, and you happen to have a lot of hair, be sure and put it in a braid so you don’t drown simply because you’re hair didn’t get baptized with the rest of you. (laughing)

Pictures-- (double-click to see larger images)

1. Only a few of the 70 people who came to the church service!!!
2. Dad preaching. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get a picture of him because he’s always in motion, which makes for a blurry picture. It’s very possible that he couldn’t talk without his hands; we all think he must have some Italian blood. (chuckle)
3. The “hiding place”! Enjoying a short break!
4. Josiah, my handsome brother, and me. Don’t you like his new glasses?
5. The “victims” talking. Ha!
6. Our 7 obedient brothers and sister in the Lord! Praise God!