I wasn’t exactly sure what to call this post…it is kind of several things put together. Final tally on the team from First Baptist Church of Perryton, Texas: shared the gospel with 1030+, trained 106 to share their faith, encouraged and prayed for 15 pastors/potential pastors, planted countless seeds, watered others, saw several commit their lives to Christ, and encouraged 19 new believers as they witnessed the baptism of those new believers. Pretty impressive week of work for the Glory of God! I must admit that baptism here is just a little different…

- Baptismal waters…yes, those are frogs and tadpoles!
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have baptized in rivers and lakes, complete with fish, frogs, tadpoles, and snakes…but the Basotho are really very afraid of all of these, not to mention the water itself. I had to get in the water a long time before them, so they could see that the frogs are not “poison” and the tadpoles were not going to “eat” me. I have baptized lots of people in my days, but I have never had to wrestle someone to get them under the water until I came to Lesotho. Typical baptisms go something like this: First of all, most of the Basotho cannot swim, so they are afraid of the water. Most of them have never had their heads under the water, or even anywhere close to water deep enough to get their heads under. Before I start, I place both of their hands on my right arm…more on that later. About the time I start saying, “…in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit…” and my hand moves toward their face, they start to breathe really fast. I mean like hyperventilating fast. When I am about to clamp off their nose they take a really deep breath. As I begin to lower them toward the water they begin to let their breath out in little short spurts. As their shoulders get near the water they begin to breathe back in very fast. This is when I begin to try to calculate their intake/exhaling of air with their heads’ entrance into the water…go in on the exhale, not the inhale!! As their head gets near the water, the wrestling starts. They are determined to be baptized without their face getting wet. They grab for anything they can reach…which happens to be me. Remember I said before we started I place both of their hands on my right arm? As soon as they go under, their hands come off my arm, seaching for anything to grab. One lady grabbed me around the waist before I put her under the water…that got a big laugh from everybody watching. I know this is kind of funny, but all this adds up to one thing: when a Mosotho commits to being baptized, it is a real commitment. They literally fear for their lives. In their way of thinking, it is really a possiblity to die with Christ in baptism…and I baptized 19 this past Sunday!

This picture was taken just before she let go of my arm. I hope to post more pictures of the baptism tomorrow.
On another note, I go to pick up our Hands-On Missionaries, Laura and Emily, on Thursday. They will be with us until the end of May…I am sure I will have many blogs to do on what they are doing and accomplishing for the Kindgom of God in the near future. “Hands-On” is a missions experience for college students that lasts for one full semester. Our missionaries have just finished their orientation in Botswana and will be flying into Maseru tomorrow, where they will be greeted and welcomed to Lesotho by the Melvins, who will keep them until I get there on Thursday (pastor training tomorrow).n Pray for Emily and Laura as they experience missions here in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho.
Until ALL have heard, Jim