Our own little miracle.......the new font.

Sunday was the first baptism in our new font. As you may recall, we already had a baptismal font built near our chapel on the second story of the building. If you remember, the font leaked water, lots of it, into the business positioned right below. It really did some damage and then when the workers thought that it was fixed, it leaked again. So our landlord said, "No more. This cannot be repeated. You will have to come up with another alternative." The first font is still there but we cannot use it.Elder Frogley began to brainstorm with the Landlord. She was wonderful and really wanted to help us. There was formerly a little dress shop in this large room and the owner talked the proprieter into moving to another space, so this baptismal font could be built close to the chapel. This was the beginning of our little miracle. This new font is located in the same building complex on the ground level but kitty corner from the chapel. It is a room that will soon have four dressing stalls and a closet for the baptismal clothing and towels, etc. When a baptism occurs, the plan is to hold the service in the chapel, walk to this font room, have the baptisms, and then return for the conclusion of the meeting.

This photo was taken right before the first baptism in this font. This is Frere Philbert who was baptised by Frere Methode. It was a miracle that this even happened here and now on the day it was suppose to. We have been planning and waiting for the completion of this new font for over three months. We were so excited to finally be able to use it.

The night before the baptism, the Evansons and we went to check out the font because the workers had said it would be ready for use on Sunday. When we got there and unlocked the door, the room and font looked wonderful. Because of the height of the font, the ceiling had been raised for functionality and repainted. The tile work was wonderful. The workers had cleaned up the room and also put up nice draperies. As we looked closer at the font, there was no faucet! "NO FAUCET??".... and no other way to put water into it. There was also no drain. "WHAT?" We were all in shock. We just could not believe that it had not been built into it and just laughed so we wouldn't cry. All the hardware stores were closed....so we could not buy a hose. So we prayed for a little miracle. Craig called the missionaries to confirm the baptism and warn them that it might be at the pool again. They asked if it was possible to use the font. He responded that unless there were some kind of miracle, it would be at the hotel pool.

So Sunday morning, Craig and I left very early to see if he could gerimander a hose that we had seen outside in the breezeway that had the ends cut off of it and feed it through a window early enough to get the font filled in time. The other option would be to go to the Source de Nil Hotel again and have the baptism there, which we had been doing for three months. As we arrived, there was a hose already fed through the window and as we entered....the font was full!!!! The workers had kept their word and we would be able to baptize.

As we remembered how it all started, we felt deep gratitude for the miracle that the first branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Bujumbura had it's first font for personal and meaningful baptisms. We also found out from the workers that the faucet and drain will be put into the font this week after cutting a hole through the outside wall for the plumbing. Did having a font really matter that much???

"Except a man be born of water....he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;"

(John 3:5)