Redemption.

Five months ago, while we sat in church Bible study, a group of girls passed by on their way back home from getting water and looked in the door.  There was nothing unusual about this, it happens multiple times every week.  But this week was different.  This week, one of the girls set down her jerry can and told her friends something, obviously trying to convince them of something.  Soon, she walked in the door and sat down on the bench.  Her friends watched for a while and then picked up their jerry cans and moved on.  This girl stayed.  She introduced herself and sat and listened.  She had been coming to church in the past, but in recent days, our church had a shift and she and many of her friends and stopped coming so often.  Over the past five months we have seen her almost every Sunday and even many Thursdays when she doesn't have school.
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Two months ago, a man stood up in church and introduced himself as a prophet.  It soon became clear that he was a false prophet.  Many of the first things he said sounded so true, but it soon became obvious that he had done his research about the church because he started saying things that were not true at all.  At the end of the service, two of our church leaders sat down and talked with him.  They found out that he was not even a Christian.  However, after talking with him for a while he decided that he wanted to become a Christian.  Since then he has been an active member in our church and has been learning more and more about God's love for him.
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Two weeks ago, another man walked into our church and introduced himself as wanting to get saved.  He walked out with our pastor and got saved right then.  He came back in and gave testimony that he had been spending any money he got on alcohol {most of us had guessed that}, but he felt that he didn't want to live that life anymore.  He had now given his life to God and wanted God to take over his life and help him leave the old life behind.  He has come to church the last two Sundays, sober and eager to worship.
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A week ago, fourteen GSF kids asked for their name to be put on a list because they wanted to be baptized.  Each kids was matched with an adult to have a conversation with before the baptisms.  One of those kids is already a Christian, but after more conversation, it was decided that he is not ready to take this step yet.  Five of them were younger and did not yet understand everything about salvation and/or baptism.  However, they have now gotten to start this conversation with an adult and we pray that God will continue moving in their hearts as they think about the things they have been told in the past week.  We also had two other kids who are Christians, but did not sign up at first because they wanted some time to ponder it.
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Saturday, October 11th, the sun was beating down on the little blow-up pool on GSF's field.  It was baptism day for Light of the World Church.  We met at GSF because we had clean running water for baptisms.  Many people got baptized that day.  A girl who had to break away from the crowd to follow Jesus.  A former false prophet.  An ex-drunk man.  Mothers.  Grandmothers.  Young people and adults.  People who had been saved for a while or just a few days.  A few people who had rededicated their lives that week.  In total, there were 11 people from GSF and 11 others - in total 22 people.  It was such a blessing to see not only children, but also many adults taking this step to get baptized.  Rejoice with us for these lives and join us in praying for them as they continue to grow in faith.  Also, please be praying for the other kids at GSF who have begun conversations about salvation, that God would continue to move in their hearts.