Helena and Zaida

“Excuse me.  Could I speak with you after the service?”  I didn’t know the young woman who approached me at church four years ago, but I knew what Africans generally want from me:  money and jobs.  Happily, Helena’s case was different.  Introducing herself with apologies for occupying my time, she requested Biblical advice on recuperating emotionally from a breakup.  Her openness with me and her desire to please God were remarkable, as was her gratefulness several months later when she returned to report that my counsel had resolved her problem.

After two years of infrequent contact during her visits to our church, Helena once again asked me for help, this time in gaining victory over sin.  I explained to her the Bible’s teaching on that topic and recommended steps towards freedom.  The concerns she expressed testified to a genuine faith in Christ sprouting in her heart, needing to be nurtured.  But she subsequently moved away for a job and wasn’t always responsive to my periodic inquiries about her spiritual well-being.

The latest request for me to counsel Helena came in March from our church’s leadership:  conflicts with her mother were keeping her from baptism.  I had already wondered about Helena’s delay in publically professing her faith that shined once again as we discussed her mom’s situation.  I helped her analyze the circumstances Biblically and prayed that she would overcome her obstacles to baptism.

Zaida, another young Christian, entered my life last November when Zarito and Sérgio, mature believers in our congregation, introduced her to me.  Acquainted with them through growing up in the same village, she had sought their spiritual help in her anguish after her sister’s sudden death.  They led her to Christ, where she found abundant rest for her soul.  Then, recognizing the importance of women discipling women, they entrusted her to my spiritual care.

Since then, Zaida has faithfully attended our church, youth meetings, and my girls’ Bible study.  She is zealous in her surrender to the Lord.  Through her diligent reading of the Bible and Christian literature, the Holy Spirit is rapidly illuminating her doctrinal understanding.  She rejoiced when her baptism was scheduled for April 27, and requested prayer that it would represent a genuine faith in her heart that would persevere to the end.

When the baptism day arrived, I was heartened to discover that Zaida wasn’t the only candidate for baptism.  Helena was being baptized too!  The two of them are pictured here during the pre-baptism prayer, Zaida in the striped dress and Helena in the white T-shirt.  We sang “Nothing but the Blood” as each entered the water, listened as she proclaimed her faith, and watched as our leader baptized her in the name of the Trinity.  Then Calton charged both young women to be faithful in Bible reading, prayer, praise to God, fellowship with other Christians, and evangelism.

Would you pray that Helena and Zaida would indeed be diligent to pursue these means that God has provided for their sanctification and spiritual growth?  And that He would confirm a genuine, perseverant faith in each of their hearts?  Pray too for wisdom and faithfulness for me as I continue to minister to them and to all the other souls God sends my way.  What a joy it is to participate in His divine work in African hearts!