Saturday morning my team, myself and a few dozen members of the Neuva Vida church piled onto a schoolbus and took an hour long ride to a beach along the Pacific Ocean to baptize some members of the church. The sand stretched out to where the bus parked, about 200m from the crashing waves. A long pavillion stretched along the coast, the roof was made of thatched straw and beneath it fishnet hammocks placed between picnic tables with colourful tablecloths swayed in an ocean breeze. In the distance, to the left, the sandy coastline became almost cliff-like, but the cliffs were covered with thick and lucious, green trees. To the right, dark rocks jutted out of the water, white flecks of salty spray splahing up around them rhythmically. 

     We all placed our backpacks or bags on a few designated tables and walked down to the water together. I had a race against a little girl to see whos feet could be wet first. Then everyone gathered on the part of the beach where the water had all run back into the sea and began to sing songs, just standing there in a circle. We prayed and sang and every minute or so a wave would come rushing up from the sea and fizzle at our ankles. It was beautiful! Finally the time came for baptism and a few of the church leaders ventured with those who were being baptized into slightly deeper water. Each one of those beautiful people were baptized; an elderly lady and her daughter-in-law, one American missionary, and four passionate youth. Each time someone was about to be baptized, the pastor would have to wait for a wave to come so that they could be submerged fully. 

      Later when I swam for hours in the water it made me think. When someone is baptized, they are dying to themsleves and dedicating their lives to Jesus. I find it hard to fit the spiritual change with the dunk when baptism happend in a tank inside a church. But in the ocean it makes sense. You are wading in the water and a wave appraoches; it towers over you, it begins to curl and you know that if you were to stand there it would push you down and shake you underneath the water. But you take a breath and swim under the wave. You can hear a train pass over your head but you are not affected, you swim gently through the current. Your face comes out of the water first, your hair is slicked back hair. You can just float there for a moment before your feet touch the ground. The water was as warm as a bathtub and white foam frothed all around me, tingling on my outstreched arms. The ocean extended farther than I can imagine. I think when someone is bapized it is like that moment in the water. You've felt the relief of the grace of God when you dodged under the wave, and you've submersed yourself in a wonderful and powerful body, that is warm and comforthing. The most amazing part is that you know that you are only along the shoreline and that the Ocean and the Lord of all the nations extends farther than you can imagine. This week I have begun to learn to swim.