June 5, 2016

Joy and frustration.  This morning after our service we had a wonderful event.  After the invitation Ana said she wanted to be baptized.  She is the wife of Raul, we met them many months ago and have had many studies at their home.  They live near sister Regina.  Raul was baptized several years ago in Apaneca but when he moved to Juayua there was not congregation here so he just quit attending anywhere.  He then met Ana who was from a Catholic background.  They have two children, Cesi and Josue, who are 8 and 5.   All the way back in April of last year we went over to their house and met them.  At that time Bro. Osvaldo was still coming here on Wednesdays.  We were already to the point of Charlotte having tearful studies with Ana about the steps she needed to take to become a Christian.  Even Lucky sat in on one of the studies. We were so grateful and excited that Ana was ready to put on our Lord in baptism.  The frustration part came in when we tried to follow through with the baptism.  Our very first baptism here last summer of Bro. Jose Manuel was in a large fountain behind the expensive house he is caretaker of.  However, the family who owns it was there this weekend and he did not want to have the baptism with them home.  We have had lots of rain the last several days and apparently this causes water problems for the city system.  We did not have any water for most of the day Saturday but water at our house started back late in the day.  There was still no water where the church meets so the only option was our house.  We had bought a small round pool last summer when we were hoping that Navidad would be baptized at her home.  We used it for Jose and Kelly at our home and then Kiki and Carolina at the building but Bro. Osvaldo had asked to borrow it because his son David wanted to be baptized on his birthday and we had not gotten it back yet.  Last Thursday when Mario and Sara were baptized I had run over and borrowed the pool that Salcoatitan had bought to use there.  However, it is considerably larger than the one we had bought and requires about twice as much water to be deep enough for a baptism.  Added to this our water was on but our flow level was very weak.  We had announced after the service that Ana’s baptism would be at 2 and we started filling the pool as soon as we got home but we still had to wait until 3 before we could have the baptism.  Even then, Cesar had to test the depth several times and even test with Ana a few times and then Clifton volunteered to get in the pool to displace some water and I and three brothers held empty plastic bottles under the water to displace more water.  The water was cold and Clifton was shaking like crazy so I am sure Cesar and Ana were cold also.  The hold process put a damper on an otherwise joyous event.  After the baptism we had to get on over to Salcoatitan for the 4:00 service.  Charlotte and Clifton took a load from Sister Ana’s house, the one with arthritis, and I rode with Cesar and some other folks.  We had a joyful but strange day.

Baptism of Ana Felicita Lopez

Clifton with Ana's daughter, Gloria and granddaughter, Carolina