The Sunday morning service of Houlgate Evangelical Church on August 27th included the baptism of two ladies in the sea. The church was full for the service, for which we were joined by a French choir of Madagscan origin, who sang several lively songs during the service. After the "indoors" part of the service was finished, the congregation moved outside, first of all to the area at the front of the church, where the Madagascan choir sang another song, before we all went down to the water's edge on the beach just outside the church.

The weather was not as pleasant as we would have liked, with a strong wind off the sea, and dark, cloudy skies, but there was a good number of people who came down to the sea to witness the two ladies being baptised. Everyone sang the French translation of the song "I have decided to follow Jesus" before the baptisms began, to make sure everyone knew it, and then it was sung as each lady came out of the water. The pastor, Tom Fohner, performed the baptisms. He was helped by Philip Loose, who went into the water with him to make sure the same number of ladies came out of the water as went under it! Given the state of the waves, this was not a certainty!

We give thanks to the Lord for those who were ready to give testimony to their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has done for them in such a public way. Most of their families are not believers, so we pray that their testimony will speak especially to the hearts of their family. There are others in the church at Houlgate who want to be baptised too, and we give thanks to the Lord for the way he is working in the church at Houlgate.