April - May 2007
Baptisms!
Soon after Alex was saved in January, he was reading his Bible, and he noticed
that saved people get baptized. I was going to speak to him about baptism, but
he asked me first! He asked if he had to wait until summer to get baptized in
the river. I told him, “Some people get baptized in the river and some people
get baptized in a pool. It’s not the place that matters, as long as it's done in
deep water." Alex said, "Then let's do it right away! I think I prefer a pool.
That seems more civilized!"
We found a very nice private pool in a bath house a few blocks from our church.
After the Sunday morning service, we all walked over there and went into a
private suite of rooms. I told everybody how Alex had been saved, and how he
wanted to show his Salvation testimony by getting baptized, according to the
instructions in the Bible. Then we got into the pool and everybody watched as we
had our first baptism in Russia! When Alex came up out of the water, he had a
look of sheer happiness on his face.
After the baptism, we had a fellowship time in the bath house with tea and
cookies. Alex asked if he could read us his favorite scripture, Psalm 8. What a
blessing to see him grow to love the Lord and His Word.
His wife Pollina told me, “I guess it will be my turn to get baptized next!” I
told her we would have to talk about that. The following Thursday, after the
English Bible lesson, I very carefully went over the plan of Salvation with her
again. She said she would seriously think about it. The next Sunday morning, she
came beaming into church and told us, “I did it! I trusted Christ as my Savior!”
We were so happy!
A few weeks later we went back to the bath house for another baptism. Pollina
says she feels like a new person. She says she even thinks differently since she
got saved. We thank you so much for your prayers and support that make it
possible for us to bring the Gospel to people like Alex and Pollina.
We have paid $19,800 for our church building, which is about 38% of the loan.
You may want to help by sending a gift to: BIMI, P.O. Box 9215, Chattanooga, TN
37412. Designate it for “Ossewaarde - Project Russian Church Building”.
In the service of the King,
Don Ossewaarde