The day started similar to Wednesday. We got up, got some eggs, and got over to the training center. We studied God's Word with the men and answered as many questions as we could.
As mid-day came, we headed to the river to baptize the man who had been saved the day before, Ka. Bubba was excited. Not only were we baptizing Ka, but Ji as well. Ji was a man that had been saved some time before, but had not been faithful in his participation in the church. Recently, he had been much more connected and had been present for all of the teaching times. He was very excited to making his public profession of faith.
We all went down by the river to watch. Henry started singing and we all joined in. Bubba was in the water with Ka and Ji. Both men were baptized by Bubba and we all celebrated by clapping and shouting praise to God.
Interestingly, there was a man there by the river that was washing his clothes. After the second man came out of the water, he announced to the group that he too wanted to be baptized. I immediately had concerns. Who was this guy? Did he know the Gospel? Did he know what baptism was? Were these men ready to investigate his faith claims?
All of my concerns were quickly removed. Ibra, one of the elders of the church, explained that he had been witnessing to this man, Mega, for several months and that he had accepted Christ about a month ago. Mega had just gotten back into town and wanted to be a part of the church and was ready to be baptized. He gave a profession of his faith that was clear and without prompting. So he was baptized too.
Three baptisms in one day!
After the baptisms, we gathered for prayer. We prayed for them. They prayed for us. Then we all prayed for the missionaries. It was a touching moment.
They walked us to the bus station and ligered for a while and then we said our last good-byes.
Thiry minutes after the time we were supposed to leave, we began loading up on the bus. It was really hot that day and about 2 pm in the afternoon, when we got to our seats. We were asked to get on first since we would be the last stop. We didn't want to have to get off the bus everytime someone had a stop so we got in the very back of the bus. Our knees pressed into the seat in front of us. We road with the windows down with sand flying all around us and sweat pouring from our bodies for 3 and a half ours. I hope they washed those seats:D
When we got off, we must have been a sight to see. I don't think any of us used the restroom in our pants, but it certainly looked like and felt like we did. We had literally sweated through our clothes. It was glorious. Never had we been nastier and happier. We were just glad to be standing on our feet and out of the back of that bus.
We got back to the baptist mission house and got cleaned up. After an ice-cold coke, we all had a smile. A little dinner later and a call or two back home put our minds and bodies at ease.
We slept good Thursday night. We'd seen God's hand at work through the teaching and the baptisms. We'd had an unforgetable ride through Niger. We celebrated God's grace and goodness and said goodnight.
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