Last Sunday we had the pleasure of attending a baptismal service in beautiful Orosi Valley. It's one of the prettiest places I've seen...a green valley probably a half mile across with a winding river running through it. Lush mountains rise up on all sides enclosing the valley and making it seem like a protected lost paradise. But the most beautiful thing was watching 5 new believers being baptized. The baptism didn't save them, but it remains a wonderful symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and the new life we receive in Him.
The baptism took place in a river, but a river with a quirk. At the edge of the river, cordoned by rocks, is a thermal pool. It was in this pool that the baptism took place. About 30 people went on a bus to the river and had a worship service, including the baptism, and then a picnic.
Along with this account is a story. Earlier in the month a volunteer team from the states had been in the area of Cot,in Cartago, a very strongly Catholic area.They at first attempted to go door to door passing out copies of the gospel of John, however they were not received well. People were not friendly at all and it was clear they resented them being there. (This actually is unusual in Costa Rica.) They decided to stop because they didn't want to hurt the future ministry of the church in the area. They then began talking to some children at the school, but the teachers asked them to stop, being afraid they would get into trouble.Naturally, the volunteers honored that request. They then decided to just walk/drive around the village 7 times praying, which they did.
Soon after that, there was a very bad car wreck in the village. Two people were killed and one man lost part of his leg. The pastor of the little church in the village had been befriending and witnessing to one of the men involved for a long time, so he visited him in the hospital. He accepted the Lord and so did several of his family members. They were some of the ones baptized at the river. Only God knows the course of things, but the pastor is convinced that all of this is connected and God used the prayers and the wreck to bring the people to Christ. Who can say? But He does work in mysterious ways.
