Leisava is the daughter of Harry Archy, one of only two Christians in Paunangisu Village, and we were introduced to her and her husband through him. One day while I was working out in the yard, Harry came by and said that Patrick and Leisava wanted me to come and talk to them. That afternoon, Shawnda and I went to their house here in Vila. They had recently had a baby girl and wanted to talk to us about "blessing" her.

The false doctrine of infant baptism was brought to the country by the Presbyterians back in the late 1800s. As time passed most denominations realized the error of this teaching, but still felt the need to have a religious ceremony. Thus, they invented the "blessing of children." Unfortunately, the custom in Vanuatu is that mothers and fathers are not allowed to attend a church function until the baby has been so "blessed" (sometimes weeks pass before this done). Patrick and Leisava were concerned because the pastor of their denomination (NTM, Neil Thomas Ministries) was unwilling to bless their baby because of some sins he (erroneously) thought they were involved in. They were concerned because they were afraid that their baby was in a lost condition without this blessing, and didn't know what to do since their pastor refused.

I began by talking about the fact that children are clean in God's eyes - they are incapable of sinning, and unable to inherit the sins of their parents (Ezek 18:20). I assured them that, biblically, they had nothing to worry about as their daughter was indeed clean in God's sight...they were relieved. We also spent a few minutes talking about the NTM pastor's objection. I told them that if they would come to our worship services the next day, the congregation would pray for their new daughter, that God would protect her and use her to glorify him. As a result, we began studying together each Tuesday evening. Patrick and Leisava also came with us to the Gospel Meeting in Epau for two nights. Following one of those Tuesday night studies, they stated their desire to be baptized.

Patrick and Leisava are VERY excited about their new lives in Christ, and show great potential in serving their Master together. They have one of the greatest characteristics a person can have: a sincere thirst for knowledge of God's word, and a desire to put it into practice. Please be praying for them as they begin this new journey of faith.

EB