Meet Dilcia. I just met her about three months ago when she first visited our services with Nuris Reyes. (You may remember reading about Nuris’ conversion here: https://thecolleyhouse.org/crazy-happy.) Dilcia attended, first, on a Wednesday night with Nuris, with Nuris’ kids and with her own three children, ages 1-4. Her children loved their classes and Dilcia was surrounded quickly by Christians who welcomed her. Thankfully, one of them, Kendra, was a Spanish teacher, so she was translating for us all. That very night, Dilcia agreed to study the Bible with me. What a great privilege for me! Kendra agreed to translate and, within a week, Nathan and Ellen invited Dilcia’s sweet family into their home for a meal. (I know that was a fun time with seven children playing together in two languages.) Dilcia attended faithfully and our studies progressed.
On May 26th, as we were studying the cleansing of baptism, I asked Dilcia if she would like to be baptized to access the blood of Jesus. She read, among lots of other verses, from her Spanish Bible from Romans 6: “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ, were baptized into his death?” We’d spent two weeks on repentance. We’d spent some time delving into Acts and examples of conversion prior to this question. I’ll never forget Dilcia’s answer when asked if she wanted to be baptized.
“I sat in my car the other day and just prayed, ‘Please help me God, to know how I can be forgiven for all the shameful sins that I have done….Yes. I want to be baptized.’”
We talked a bit more about how different the church of Jesus is from her background of Catholicism. She got it. She understood how that babies do not have the ability to believe and repent prior to baptism as the Bible directs. She understood the egregious departure from Scripture of the entire papal system. Dilcia wanted to be just a Christian.
It is with DIlcia’s permission that I tell of her rejoicing with you. She came from those waters rejoicing. That afternoon, after her baptism, I took Dilcia to the home of Nathan and Ellen again for lunch and to spend the afternoon with some Spanish-speaking brethren from a nearby church. A few days later, another precious family helped Dilcia to get the transportation she needed. We have a wonderful family in Him.
Dilcia’s daughter, Christina and Brianna, Kendra’s daughter
I know there are some of you who’d like to encourage Dilcia. She has expressed to me how very encouraged she is when she receives mail from her new family. You can reach her here:
Dilcia Benhumea
℅ West Huntsville church
1509 Monrovia Road NW
Huntsville, AL 35806
Sometimes there’s something you can’t wait to write down. This is one of those times.
Every now and then, I receive word that someone has decided to become a part of the kingdom of Christ, having been baptized to wash away her sins, as a result of having been a part of a Digging Deep group and learning the gospel there. If I only had heard this once in all my years of Digging, it would be a hundred-fold worth every bit of time and effort that all diggers have expended in Digging Deep…and so much more. One soul is worth more than the whole world (Mark 8:36).
And God made sure she watched the first person she had personally taught on that field be immersed into Christ before we came home. Her name was Princess and she became one that day, She was one of those living at the top of a “rabbit trail” with those eight people in a tiny space. Princess’ grandmother was out in the yard grinding spices to sell for their meager existence. We will never forget.
Family Bible Week at West Huntsville is this week! The Gospel Railroad. It’s at 6:30 through Wednesday night. Dr. Bible is there and there’s a candy bandit. (Right now, the candy jar has been stolen and we have NO idea where that bandit has stashed it!) The kids made FBW photos last night and frames for the fridge. They watched lively re-enactments of conversion examples. They sang their hearts out and they learned songs about what it takes to be saved. They entered contests and they rode a real train through the halls of the building. I heard the conductor asking them questions about the Bible as they rode along and waved at spectators in the hall. They watched a puppet show about forgiveness. This is what spiritually focused memories are made of.
On Sundays, for FBW month, the pulpit has been focused on these four examples of conversion that are the focus of this week. The children fill out sheets during the lessons in our worship that help them listen, too. The examples of obedience to the gospel that are the focus this month are the Ethiopian, the Philippian jailer, Cornelius and Saul. Did you know they all did exactly the same thing to get into Christ? There was a recognizable moment in each of these accounts from Acts when sins were washed away. The moment is described for Saul in Acts 22:16. The jailer went out, at the risk of his life in Acts 16, in the middle of the night, to accomplish this washing. The Ethiopian saw water and said “Why are we waiting? Here is water.” And Cornelius was a good man—a really good man—but still had to have the washing before he could be saved. (Notice verses 1-3 of Acts 10 and then look at verse 14 of chapter 11). While the whole world says baptism has nothing to do with salvation, we have to keep telling the whole world what Jesus said “Go into all the world and teach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.”