On our last Sunday in town we were blessed to witness the baptism of some of our newest brothers and sisters in the Lord. We learned some interesting things about Russian Baptists. In my experience, a baptism in an American church, while celebrated, is not taken very seriously and often is scheduled and performed without any testimony by either the believer or witnesses. In Russia, they have a proper understanding of baptism (that it is merely a symbol of our salvation not a part of it), but they treat it with great care. When a sinner professes to have repented and believed, the church watches his life for a year or two to see if it is any different before bringing them forward to be baptized. With so few believers, they can hardly afford to have a professing, baptized member of their church walking around living in sin. So on that Sunday they brought the new believers forward, had them share their testimonies, and then asked them to go into another room so the church as a whole could discuss them and bring forth any objections to their being baptized and becoming a full member of the church based on their observations and interactions over the last year or so. All 16 candidates were approved by the church body and we all caught busses out to the Tom River to witness their baptism. This being Siberia, it was of course a cold and windy day, even in the summer. I was cold and I didn’t even have to get in the water :)
The second picture is of our friend and one of our translators named Alya. She is from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and was the last of the 16 to be baptized. I’ve never met a happier person on this Earth (although our friend Heather Grice might be able to give her a run for her money). In her former life she was miserable and drank often. With the change Christ has worked in her you could never imagine her as anything but joyful. We have an awesome God who is at work in the former Soviet Union, a place that just 16 years ago was closed to the Gospel. Continue to pray for the work that needs to be done in Russia and for the missionaries and Russian Christians there shouldering the load.
On our last Sunday in town we were blessed to witness the baptism of some of our newest brothers and sisters in the Lord. We learned some interesting things about Russian Baptists. In my experience, a baptism in an American church, while celebrated, is not taken very seriously and often is scheduled and performed without any testimony by either the believer or witnesses. In Russia, they have a proper understanding of baptism (that it is merely a symbol of our salvation not a part of it), but they treat it with great care. When a sinner professes to have repented and believed, the church watches his life for a year or two to see if it is any different before bringing them forward to be baptized. With so few believers, they can hardly afford to have a professing, baptized member of their church walking around living in sin. So on that Sunday they brought the new believers forward, had them share their testimonies, and then asked them to go into another room so the church as a whole could discuss them and bring forth any objections to their being baptized and becoming a full member of the church based on their observations and interactions over the last year or so. All 16 candidates were approved by the church body and we all caught busses out to the Tom River to witness their baptism. This being Siberia, it was of course a cold and windy day, even in the summer. I was cold and I didn’t even have to get in the water :) 
The second picture is of our friend and one of our translators named Alya. She is from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and was the last of the 16 to be baptized. I’ve never met a happier person on this Earth (although our friend Heather Grice might be able to give her a run for her money). In her former life she was miserable and drank often. With the change Christ has worked in her you could never imagine her as anything but joyful. We have an awesome God who is at work in the former Soviet Union, a place that just 16 years ago was closed to the Gospel. Continue to pray for the work that needs to be done in Russia and for the missionaries and Russian Christians there shouldering the load. 
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