Before we even found a place to hold baptisms we had three people ready and eager to be baptized. We searched all over the city for a site. We even went down to Lake Tanganyika to see if there was a private spot where we could do baptisms.
We had our choice of marshy areas or public beaches without much privacy,
and both places would take some wading to get to deep enough water. Just no luck!
The elders looked in stores for pools to buy that would be large enough for a baptism. No luck there either!
Then one of our members, Brother Willes, an embassy worker from Idaho, suggested the pool at his hotel. It just fit our needs and the management was kind enough to let us use it.
It was an exciting day for our little group as we gathered for our first baptisms.
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Our first three new membersl-Alain and Alice Malabi and Freddy Suguru.
It was even more special to know who these people are. Alice and Alain Malabi are the children of Veronique and Kyubi Malabi. The parents joined the church in the Ivory Coast while in school and then moved to Tanzania, where he served as branch president and Sister Malabi served as Primary president. Work took them to Burundi and for four years they taught Sunday school in their home, had no sacrament because they were not authorized to do so, saved their tithing in the bank so that someday they could pay it and waited for the baptism of their children. Alice is now 10 and Alain is 13. The baptism of the children was something that their family had looked forward to with great anticipation.
The young man who was baptized is Fleury Suguru. His family was among the first members baptized in 1992 when the church was organized. All of his family was baptized but Fleury, who was too young at the time. During the war Fleury's older brother and more than 140 other children were locked in a school and told that they were to be killed. Fleury's brother, who was 14 at the time, prayed with the other children, but in the end the school master locked the doors and set the school on fire to please the right people in th conflict and and all the children and several teachers perished. When Elder Holland dedicated the land last week he spoke of angels who died for their country during the terrible wars and now shouted for joy to see this land dedicated to the preaching of the gospel. We couldn't help but think of Freddy's brother when Elder Holland spoke of angels watching. Sunday Fleury joined his family in membership in the church.
It seemed so fitting that the next generation of these faithful saints would be the first baptisms in this new time. We look forward to many more baptisms in the weeks to come. Many are ready and waiting for their turn to become members of the Church. God is blessing Burundi.
2 comments:
That is really wonderful. It is really happening. For me, it is a dream comes true. And it is a great joy to see those baptisms. I am so proud of them, it is humbling to hear the good example of the Malabi's family, the undying desire that Freddy kept precious in his heart to be baptized in the Lord's Church someday. I can just imagine how challenging it might had been living without the Church for that long. But Heavenly Father loves His children and He gets ways to gather his children. In Matthiew 16, it says from verse 18-19: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." It was just a matter of having patience. I pray for many more people to open their hearts and turn their lives to our Savior Jesus Christ because He is the way that will lead us back to our Father in Heaven. I love you all. God bless your hearts.
Appolonie
what a marvelous event. Thanks for posting this. I was looking at the missionary who baptized Freddy--was it Elder Kirongozi?? Who are the missionaries that you have there with you?? Are any old enough in the mission that I would have known them?? We pray for you continually and think of you often. We are so grateful for your service and great example! !
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