I have been debating typing this blog. I grew up in a conservative church which has made me debate writing this blog. When I was a few months old, I was baptized into my church. The reason for infant baptism in my church is a commitment on the parents to raise their child on the values and beliefs of God. I will say that my parents did an excellent job of this. I know this to be true or else I wouldn’t be on this race. I have been reading in Acts lately. I started when we arrived in Mozambique and have been going through it ever since. When I arrived in Acts 2:38, which Peter tells the new believers to repent and be baptized, I felt God calling me to do be rebaptized. I went through a debate in my head. I had been baptized as an infant and so I wouldn’t need to be baptized again. I asked several teamates what their opinion on baptism was. I got many answers and kept thinking about it. I kept praying about it and asking God what he wanted me to do. I was fasting at the time. My fast consisted of me not eating from sunrise to sundown. I knew that God told me that I would not be baptized while I was fasting. I was still thinking through the decision. My fast ended on the 13th of March. I was still thinking about baptism, but was distracted by being at our homestead in Nsoko. When we got back from Nsoko, I finally had a debrief with Gary Black. I had been wanting to meet with him since I left for Mozambique. I told him about how I grew up and the things that I was struggling with. I asked him about baptism and he told me that he would have one the next day because his children needed to be baptized. He told me that I could do it then if I wanted. When I woke up on the 21st of March, I knew that I had a choice to make. I knew what I needed to do, but was still thinking it over. When we got to Gary’s house, we had a session taught by Andrew Sherman. I am not sure how much I got out of it because I was still thinking about the baptism. I was wondering if I should go through with it. After Andrew spoke, we prayed for some people and then it was time for the baptism. I know that baptism is a public thing, but I really didn’t want to talk to other people about it. I wanted it to truly be a personal Now you may ask, “Are you any different?” I am wondering that myself. I do know that God has shown me what true prayer is. He is working in this part of my life. When I see people, I want to pray for them. I want to pray silently. God has shown me people to pray for and I do. I may have had this ability before, but I feel that it has been sharpened since the baptism. I am not saying everyone has to be baptized, but God does call some of us to it. It is a personal decision to be made. It may not make sense to a lot of people why I got rebaptized, but I know that God called me to it. My decision is between God and myself. I just have learned about obeying God in everything this year even if it does not make sense to me at the time.
decision. I did decide to get baptized in the end.
