New Life

During our last full day in Manila, we got to attend the first ever baptism service of the young church in Botocan. What an honor. The church has been around for about a year now. They started off with only a sunday school for the kids until they launched their full service a little over a year ago. The church now has a sunday service, a youth service, a boys and girls fellowship, and small groups. The congregation is still very young, but so vibrant! On baptism Sunday, 6 young men (13-23 years old) stepped up to share their testimony. While my Tagalog is not quite up to speed enough to understand what they were saying, it was clear through their expressions and emotions that Jesus has really transformed their lives. Almost all of the young men cried through their testimony... which of course made me tear up and praise God for their new life! It's clear that God is raising up some incredible young leaders in the church and I am so excited to see how they will transform their community!

After the testimonies at the church we all gathered up with our pool supplies and walked about 30 minutes to a private pool in a nearby neighborhood that the church had rented for the day. The six young men were invited into the water and Pastor Aaron baptized each of them as an outward display of their decision to follow Christ and leave their old lives behind. Praise God! (I'm sure it was a really emotional and exciting baptism... unfortunately, I happened to be in the bathroom when all of the baptisms were done. I came out right when everyone was applauding and cheering. Oops... )

We spent the rest of the day eating delicious food and playing in the pool! So many of the youth were there and it was so fun to play with everyone! Toward the end of the day, one of the youth leaders, Cherice, gathered everyone up at one end of the pool and all of the kids proceeded to dedicate and sing a song to all of us Americans. It was really beautiful and a moment that I won't soon forget. She then asked for Filipinos and Americans to share what this experience has meant to them. Some really nice words and lots of tears were shared. I really will miss the community there in Botocan. They received us with so much love and really taught us what it means to accept and encourage each other and really live with passion for the gospel. I am confident that God with work in and through each of them to bring amazing redemption to their small community. We love you, Botocan Bible Christian Fellowship!