By a Team Expansion worker serving in N Africa
I called Farah* and asked if we could meet soon. We tentatively agreed on a date.
She first contacted us more than 2 years ago when her spiritual search intensified. For a variety of reasons, no one could meet with her then.
She recently responded to a re-engagement campaign our tech system runs to “ping” old contacts with SMS messages to see if they are still interested.
Farah was still interested!
When teammate and I met Farah, we were overwhelmed by the Scripture
This woman had spent the last two years pouring over God’s Word and was completely convinced by the truth of it.
flowing out of her heart and memory. This woman had spent the last two years pouring over God’s Word and was completely convinced by the truth of it.
She said, “When I read the Koran, I never could know who God was. When I read the Bible, I finally came to know God.”
She hadn’t been baptized because she didn’t know how or who could do it. She planned to try to travel to Egypt to meet a pastor who she thought would be able to baptize her.
We read Acts 2 together. She was receptive when I shared that she could be baptized here, that any follower of Jesus could do it, and that she has been called to baptize others.
But how can I be Baptized?
We met for a second time a few days later. She invited us to come to her home (the Lord was already working!). We read about the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) and Lydia and the Philippian jailer (Acts 16). I was ready to go to Acts 22 and read about Paul’s baptism, but she was convinced that she was ready and wanted to be baptized.
“But how?” she asked.
I asked her, “Do you have a bathtub?”
She exclaimed, “Oh! In water?! I knew we were baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that something special happened in a church, but I didn’t know it was in water!”
She immediately went to fill the bathtub. My teammate showed her a video another baptism in a bathroom the month before, so Farah would have a picture of what was going to take place.
I shared that she could be baptized, that any follower of Jesus could do it, and that she has been called to baptize others.
Our time of prayer and worship following the baptism will remain one of the sweetest memories in this country.
During this time, she shared that the Holy Spirit told her before she met us that she would be baptized by the end of the month. She had no idea how that would happen, but trusted God.
Who was Obedient?
Her testimony immediately caused me to praise the God who brings lives together and gives us opportunities to join in His work as we obey Him. Was Farah’s baptism about her obedience to Jesus or ours? Or both? What a mighty God we serve!
We continue to meet with Farah to pray, equip her to reach out to others, and to encourage her as she makes disciples.
- Pray for her family to be open to the Gospel.
- Pray that she would find a couple of others from her family and friends who would be open to discovering the God of the Bible with her.
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*Name changed
