It’s already Sunday! I think I (Phil) lost a few days holed up in my room dealing with some mystery “bug.” Much better now! However, other team members are struggling with various ailments, too, so please continue to pray for us.

Today, we went back down by the riverside for a baptism. Two baptisms, actually – two young women, 17 and 18, chose to be baptized, in spite of some cultural obstacles. So, we gathered in prayer and song on a hot, sultry day (pics below), they both shared their personal testimonies and professed their faith in Jesus Christ, and we all walked to the river where they were baptized. It was a rare and blessed experience.

I found it interesting, prophetic really, that just as we were preparing to celebrate these two baptisms we could hear some local shepherds in the distance, calling to their bleating sheep as they moved from one location to another. So, also, our Good Shepherd guides his baptized children through the variables of this world to his eternal kingdom. Baptismal grace, indeed.