New Life, New Family, New Start

Last weekend we took 65 students to the west side of the island for our Fall Getaway 2013, our annual retreat to give students the opportunity to "getaway" from school and enjoy community, fellowship and God. We had a ton of new students, including Lini, a girl who stopped by our table the first week of school to ask for directions to a class- I didn't know where her class was, but I invited her to Cru instead and she ended up coming to my small group even though she wasn't a Christian. Saturday night of Fall Getaway, we had a really awesome time of worship where the Lord strongly put on my heart to pray for her, so strongly that my heart physically hurt. I prayed that the Lord would reach out and grab her heart and reveal Himself to her in a tangible way. One of the girls I'm discipling, Ashley, also felt a strong urge to pray for Lini, and sat next to her and prayed for her- during that time, Lini started crying. Later I also came to sit by Lini and prayed for her, and then we both stood up to worship. During worship, I noticed Lini was really into it and had her hands clutched in front of her. 

After the session, she came up to me and said that during worship, she was holding up her hands and felt Someone's hands on hers- "They were warm," she said. "And I felt that there was a Presence in front of me holding me and I just felt so loved in that moment." "Dude," I said to her. "That was GOD." I then asked her if anyone had ever told her how to have a relationship with God. "No," she replied. "Well...do you want to know?" I asked. "Yes, please!" she exclaimed. 

An hour later, Lini prayed to receive Christ into her heart and said that she felt like she was in a dream. I asked her if she had any questions, and the first thing she said was "When can I get baptized?" "Uhhh..." I stuttered. "What about tomorrow???" she asked. "Uhhh...sure?" I responded. After she'd gone to bed, I called one of my pastors from my home church (about 3 am my time) "Hey so uhh this girl just accepted Christ and wants to be baptized so apparently I'm baptizing her tomorrow WHAT DO I DO??!?!"  Thankfully, Jay is used to me freaking out because he's known me since I was little, and he walked me through how to baptize someone. He also affirmed that I was capable and equipped to baptize someone, which I appreciated because not gonna lie I was kind of doubting myself after growing up in a Presbyterian church where only pastors do that sort of thing. 

The next day after we'd packed up the camp, we all piled into cars and drove down to the beach, where in the bright blue ocean of Waialae, I performed my first baptism. As Lini was sharing her story with everyone who came to watch, she said, "I am so ready to get baptized. This is a new start, this is my new family, this is my new life." 

The next day I took her to Logos, a Christian bookstore, and bought her first Bible and a devotional for her to begin her new walk with Christ. Since then, she's been texting me every day to hang out and read the Bible. 

Praise God for Lini for her new passion for God! May it never fade away!