Rice Grains

Saturday we had an exciting event--Pon got baptized! Pon is a friend of Dan and Raul, who have been meeting for Bible study with him for quite some time now.

One of my friends, Poom, wanted to come with me; I was happy for her to come along. (Poom is the younger sister of Tawan, who took my fish).

We all ate a meal together, then had a time of worship in song, led by Colleen, Joelle and Eder (to the right of the picture:).

Pon, Utai, and Wana. Utai and Wana have been believers for several years now. They originally lived in the northeast, where EMM has an outreach.

After the singing time Tom, along with Wana and Uthai, explained the meaning of baptism. We also had Communion, using sticky rice for bread and a common Thai drink called, literally, "red water" as the elements.

Then we headed out to a canal on the edges of a Buddhist wat for Pon's baptism.

The canal was in front of us, and the wat was behind us. Feels symbolic, somehow.

After the baptism, which truly was a joyous occasion, we headed back to the house for one final activity: string tying as a symbol of welcome to the family of God. Each of us went up individually to give our blessing/words of encouragement as we tied a string on Pon's wrist.

Our baptism event lasted about 5 hours! But it was a good time, a celebratory time. It is exciting to see Pon so excited about following Jesus. Pray that God will work in many more lives to give His freedom.