Baptism on the Beach

Sunday, we spent much of the day at the beach with the members of Carlsen Field Mennonite Church. In addition to enjoying some time with the sand and the waves, we were there to celebrate the baptism of two new members. We headed out first thing this morning in a caravan of several vehicles. The plan had been to stop at a river for the baptism service. But after a few stops that proved to be unsatisfactory, we ended up at Salybia Beach on the Atlantic Ocean--about an hour and a half drive from our place. It was our first visit to the eastern shore of the island. We had our worship service right there on the beach. The climax of the service came when Pastor Ramesh and one of the elders went out into the ocean with the two young women who were being baptized and performed the baptisms. Afterwards, we all shared a meal together in celebration, then spent several hours swimming, kayaking and "liming" on the beach.
~Richard

Earlier this week Roxy said, "I'm really glad we'll be at the beach on Sunday because otherwise I'd be feeling sad about missing the fundraiser." I think she summed it up for us all. For those of you reading this who are not from Manhattan, this was our church's big weekend when we serve a soup lunch to between 550-600 people. It is a lot of hard work, but also one of everyone's favorite times. We all work together. So, we have been especially thinking about our friends in Manhattan this weekend. However, if one can't be there, the beach is a pretty good alternative. This was only our second time at the beach since we've arrived. One might assume we would go more often, but it is still a drive and most of our days just roll past with the things of ordinary life. Today was special, though. It was the first time for our children to witness an immersion baptism. That seemed fitting for an island church. It was also our first time in a kayak, our first time having a picnic centered around pelau and our first time witnessing a Spiritual Baptist group. This group is a local religious group with no connection to what we in the US would think of as Baptists. I still don't know much about it, but it seems to incorporate African tribal religions and pieces of Christianity. Their group was gathered in one area of the beach while ours was in another.
~Barb

I thought I'd mention also that two of the people getting baptized decided not to get baptized the night before, so they changed the location of the baptism. But, they didn't exactly decide where it was going to be until we got there. It was really nice to have the church service on the beach, facing the ocean, and we had the beach almost completely to ourselves. It was so pretty and peaceful. Although there were some vultures that were on the beach too, which I thought was a little creepy. After the baptism and everything, Roxy and I took quick showers and headed off to youth group at Hope Mennonite Church. We've been going there pretty regularly lately. And they're working on their Christmas program now, so we've been involved in that.
~Olivia

Like Olivia mentioned, the beach was really pretty. Actually, it was almost like a sandbar at a point. The waves of the ocean crashed against one shore of the beach, while on the other side a calm river flowed. Depending on how high the tide was, there was sometimes a small passage between the two. We played in the river for a while before we decided to try the ocean. We quickly chose to return to the river! The ocean (although being very blue and pretty) was very rocky, had sudden drop-offs that you could not see under the water, had an extremely big undertow, and washed lots of black gunk up on us! Another advantage of the river was that the group rented a 2-person kayak for a portion of the afternoon and all of our family got a turn on it at some point in the afternoon (although not all at the same time)! None of us having been on a kayak before, it was really fun to try! We were glad for the life jackets, though. Although the day started out calm and peaceful on the beach like Olivia said, by about 2:00 in the afternoon, there were party buses and it was starting to smell like alcohol and, in some places, smoking. That's about the time our group decided to leave!
~Roxy