Romans 6:3-4 Party

Today Julie* invited her friends to her Romans 6:3-4 Party.  Tightly crammed together into the small bathroom and crowded at the door looking in, we listened as she shared her testimony of accepting Christ as her Lord and Savior.  She told us of her experience, feeling like God had pursuing her for a number of years but having no one to help her learn more.  Piece by piece she began to pick up some awareness of God and the Gospel.

It was only recently through time spent with both the Dash team and the True team however, that Julie reached that point of taking a step of faith to commit her life fully to Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.  Standing in the bathtub full of water, this new creation in Christ shared a brief but beautiful testimony.

“I have let go of my old life and I am going to follow Jesus all my life as my Lord.  I believe in Him and I am going to be baptized as a symbol to show how my life has changed.”

Helping her get positioned in the bathtub so that Julie wouldn’t hit her head on the water spigot, Kate* from the True team lowered her under the water and baptized Julie as our Sister in the name of our Father, the name of Jesus the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit.  I’m confident that Julie’s friends still did not fully comprehend why she was being put under water in a bathtub while others stood around to watch.  But there was no mistaking that this was something important to Julie and that it marked a very important decision in her life.  It is a testimony that I am sure her friends will not easily forget.  After celebrating her baptistm we sang some praise songs together and then had a cake to celebrate!  Underscoring the meaning of Julie’s baptism, the cake had the inscription of Rô-ma (Romans) 6:3-4.

Julie gives a tremendous example of those who are stepping out on faith to see the peoples of Vietnam reached with the Gospel that we spoke of in our post “Always trust your . . . .”  To take the step of faith to follow Christ as Lord and Savior is not an easy one for most in Vietnam.  To go forward in obedience and be baptized is seen as even a larger break for most.  Many Vietnamese see other’s conversion to Christianity as “betraying your family.”  To take that step of faith and invite others to watch and celebrate her baptism with her was an act of boldness on the part of Julie.  Please join us in praying for Julie and others:

Please pray for Julie’s continued growth in Jesus Christ.  Having already taken this first step of obedience, please pray that she continues in faithfulness as she moves through her Christian life.

Pray for the friends of Julie who came to watch her baptism and other friends and family with whom she has already shared the Gospel.  Pray that God will use Julie’s testimony in a powerful way to speak into their hearts and cause them to also accept the salvation found only in Jesus Christ.

Please give thanks for the many friends who have heard that initial seed of the Gospel through the witness of the Dash and True teams.  Pray that God will grow those seeds, allowing others to also speak into their lives the truth of the Gospel and that they will respond in faith.

Pray for more laborers to be about the work of harvesting in the Lord’s field of Vietnam.

Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.  Romans 6:3-4

*As standard practice on reachingvietnam.com, names are changed for the sake of security.