Some of you may remember some time ago that our helper, Kate, was immersed into Christ. She had studied with Brittney for over a year before she came to the decision to be buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. Since that time, she has told a number of people in her family about her decision. One of the people she talked with was her future son-in-law, Roche. He is a French speaker from Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon. After talking with Kate, Roche had some questions about baptism that he wanted to ask me, so we made a time and he came over.
It was somewhat challenging communicating with Roche in French. Though I speak a conversational level of French, I am not fluent in it. However, with my French Bible's help, I was able to share some key concepts with him. He had thought of baptism for some time, but had simply not been ready to change his life, and didn't want to make such a commitment if he wasn't going to follow through. After our discussion, he told me he would like for me to immerse him. I called a young man, brother Andy, who grew up in Douala and is very fluent in French, and asked if we could meet him on the way, as I wanted to be sure that Roche had truly understood the Scriptures through the language barrier.
Andy's conversing with Roche revealed that he had truly understood what we had shared. We went down to the water, a point where local taxis are washed, and I had the privilege of immersing Roche into Christ. The scriptures tell us that the angels were rejoicing indeed.
Walking in newness of life now! Please pray for Roche. He has gone back to Yaounde, but we hope to be able to maintain contact with him, and that he will remain growing in his faith, and will not grow wearing of walking in Christ. Pray that we can find ways to encourage him, and that he will find brethren who will help him to grow as well.
