Saturday morning dawned. Carlos and Roberta’s farm was a hive of activity with the decorators putting up tables, chairs and decorating everything. Carlos’ sister and brother-in-law, along with some neighbours were cutting the meat. Roberta was helping them. Carlos was in the jungle cutting down motacu leaves to make a barrier around the ‘room’ that would be used for the reception. Only one problem. They were supposed to be at church for their baptism. It took some urging and some organization to get them to the church. Roberta, being shy, was also uncomfortable with all the attention of the day. The pressure was building and she needed help and encouragement. Although there was some help, more was needed to help with the cooking and the preparations. While Marg persuaded Carlos and Roberta that they had to come to the church, Jake and Dionicio went the school to get water. Pastor Juan was giving a message on baptism but the two who were to be baptised were not there! They finally arrived and it seemed like things were proceeding once 
again. Until the thunder started. Until it started to rain. There had been very little rain for the past four months and although everyone wanted rain, no one really wanted it on this day. But rain it did. Rain pelted down. Everything was soaked. The plan was to drive 11 kilometers to the river in La Pista for the baptism but it was raining. Instead the congregation settled for a visit in the church to wait it out. Ten minutes, and 10 centimeters of rain, later the sun was shining and everyone piled into the two remaining trucks and headed out. The school was less than ten minutes away but there was no rain there. Thankfully, Patricio and Marioly were th
ere with their truck and the grossly overloaded trucks were relieved of some of their cargo. The drivers were assured that they could drive right down to the river but that was a Bolivian truth. Instead everyone parked about 100 meters away and the people walked down, only to quickly return to the vehicles as the rain poured from the skies. Only the very faithful stayed for the baptism ceremony. Roberta and Carlos were properly baptised – immersed and sprinkled at the same time.
again. Until the thunder started. Until it started to rain. There had been very little rain for the past four months and although everyone wanted rain, no one really wanted it on this day. But rain it did. Rain pelted down. Everything was soaked. The plan was to drive 11 kilometers to the river in La Pista for the baptism but it was raining. Instead the congregation settled for a visit in the church to wait it out. Ten minutes, and 10 centimeters of rain, later the sun was shining and everyone piled into the two remaining trucks and headed out. The school was less than ten minutes away but there was no rain there. Thankfully, Patricio and Marioly were th
ere with their truck and the grossly overloaded trucks were relieved of some of their cargo. The drivers were assured that they could drive right down to the river but that was a Bolivian truth. Instead everyone parked about 100 meters away and the people walked down, only to quickly return to the vehicles as the rain poured from the skies. Only the very faithful stayed for the baptism ceremony. Roberta and Carlos were properly baptised – immersed and sprinkled at the same time. 
1 comment:
You will certainly be rewarded for your perseverance. So much of the Christian life is about continuing to spread the good news no matter what obstacles we have to overcome on the way. Thank you for sharing this day with us.
Post a Comment