My Baptism

I grew up in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, where my parents and their parents were Lutheran. I loved being a Lutheran. My mother sang in a choir.

My dad was an elder in the church.

We went to church every Sunday.

After moving to the United States in the late 1990s, I met and married my husband, John. He was an Adventist, but I kept going to the Lutheran church.

We agreed that when we had children, we would raise them as Adventists. After our first child was born, I was committed to attending church every Sabbath. But nothing changed in my spiritual life. Our pastor at the time tried to talk to me about the importance of following Jesus’ example and being baptized, but I brushed him off, telling myself that I was already baptized when I was a baby, so that was enough.

However, the thought never left me.

It kept bothering me, but I did nothing.

As my boys grew, I found myself getting frustrated and angry most of the time. I continued to search for answers to my parenting issues and started praying with other mothers. The devotions we read each morning were very helpful to me.

I learned a lot, but the question of baptism began to bother me again.

I wanted my children to obey and follow Jesus, but was I? I considered baptism when my youngest son and his friends were baptized but again put it off.

When you know the right thing to do but don’t do it —that’s disobedience. I realized that the best thing I could do for my children was give my whole heart to Jesus. So I gathered my courage and emailed our pastor, telling him that I wanted to be baptized. On January 15, 2021, I was baptized. I didn’t think people would be able to attend because of the pandemic, but I received so much support! My mother-in-law watched from Kenya with my sister-in-law and her children. My brothers-in-law tuned in.

My mom, sisters, and brother also tuned in to watch.

Women from my prayer group drove from so far to come witness.

It was a blessed day! My sister’s children watched with a lot of curiosity. I pray that I will get to tell them one day why I was baptized the way I was so that they, too, can learn about the true baptism.

Judith Mmari