It was a Friday morning in mid-February. The day was bright but cool as the dry, dusty Harmattan wind blew off the Sahara. Our lay worker Rigobert and I were discussing preparations for the upcoming baptism the following morning. About 20 baptismal candidates and their relatives from Sonsoro, a Baribar village about 12 miles east of Kandi, needed transportation to Kandi and then to the baptism site 5 miles out of town. We were analyzing possible options when Rigobert’s cell phone rang. It was a disturbing call from Sonsoro, asking Rigobert to come right away—something to do with the baptism. We stopped our conversation, and Rigobert drove his motorcycle to Sonsoro.

A few hours later, Rigobert returned from Sonsoro looking confused and heartbroken. “Sixteen baptismal candidates have changed their minds about tomorrow’s baptism,” he told me.

“Why? What happened?” I exclaimed. Rigobert explained to me that Felix’s 16 relatives were scared to death because Felix told them they would be transformed into fish when they were baptized.

It was my turn to feel devastated. In my seven years as a pastor before joining AFM and in my six years in the field as a frontier missionary, I have seen many people change their minds about baptism. I have heard people give many different reasons for backtracking, but the rumors in Sonsoro were the most fallacious and hurting I had never heard.

In the all Islam-dominated northern region where our project is located, there is no Adventist presence for 125 miles in any direction. Among these animist-background people who believe that humans can be transformed into animals by witchcraft, a rumor such as this would spread like wildfire and be a strong headwind to people’s spiritual journey through baptism.

I remember when I decided to join the Adventist Church at the age of 19, and some people in my former church tried to discourage me by planting doubts. “Adventists don’t read the Bible,” they told me. “And they don’t pray to God, either.” However, because I had attended an Adventist primary school for three years, I knew they were lying.

Just a year ago when Rigobert and three others became our first baptized members in Kandi, Rigobert’s friends at his former church told him that we would lock him in a room, pretend to go to heaven and abandon him. Sadly, perpetuating rumors is a technique commonly used here to dissuade people from changing their faith or denomination. However, though such practices have had their effects, they have not prevented the truth from prevailing and our Adventist church from growing.

Please keep praying for the wavering believers in Sonsoro. Only a few months ago, Felix was excited about the Three Angels’ Messages and the truth about the Sabbath, and he invited Rigobert to preach to his relatives and parents. Now Felix is spreading this rumor. Felix is in his early twenties and is the first of his family ever to study at a university. He is the first son of his father, who has three wives and more than 30 children. His father’s two brothers also live in the same family courtyard with their wives, children and widowed sisters. All of them make up a big family of more than 50 members. When Felix left for the university in Parakou early last year, he asked for the address of the Adventist church there. But the church was far from campus, so he began attending an evangelical church nearby. His new pastor discouraged him from letting his relatives be baptized into the Adventist Church. Since Felix had been the one who introduced his relatives to Adventism, he was able to convince them that he had new, disturbing information about the Adventist Church, and it would be a great mistake to get baptized.

But Felix couldn’t dissuade two of his cousins, 17-year-old Romaric and his 15-year-old sister Hyvette, and their friends Sunday and Francois. These four stayed the course and joined with seven believers from Kandi in joyfully and publicly committing their lives to their Lord and Savior through baptism. Though we are sad for the 16 who turned away, we praise God for the 11 who brought joy to heaven and to Kandi.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Please remember Sonsoro in our prayers.

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