Five Southern Tepehuans baptized
Missionary Andrew Ferguson baptized Placido and his four wives this week.
How could you baptize a man with four wives? “The same way,” wrote Andrew’s co-worker, Barry Wingo, “I could baptize someone who got saved but has been addicted to heroin, porn, a glutton ….”
“Andrew was convinced of their understanding of the gospel and of their repentance and trust in Christ, and so he baptized them,” Barry wrote.
Many Southern Tepehuans have more than one wife, and Placido married all four of these women before hearing a single Bible lesson. He has children by each of them.
Placido helped Andrew and Barry learn his language, and then he helped Andrew prepare chronological Bible lessons.
“Placido would go home in the early days to his wives and share what he was learning from the Bible,” Barry wrote, “and his wives asked that Andrew himself come and teach them. So Placido was not only helping translate the lessons into his language, but also would hear Andrew teach his wives and enter into the discussion for a period of around a year.”
“Through the Holy Spirit working through Andrew as he patiently taught the Word, Placido and his wives were convinced of the truth and trusted Christ,” Barry wrote.
The occasion was even more special for Andrew and his wife, Anne Marie, because they had the opportunity to baptize the five before they left their ministry in Mexico.
The only real obstacle was the location. The river they planned to use “turned out to be a small stagnant lake,” Barry wrote. “But we're glad to say it all turned out well and the Lord was glorified.”
The challenge now is to help Placido and his wives “learn to read, grow, and become strong disciples.” There is no Tepehuan church in the city where Placido lives, and Barry and his wife, Candy, alternate between spending two weeks in the city and then four weeks in a Southern Tepehuan village. In fact, at this time they are in the village.
“But we rejoice in what God is doing and trust Him for helping us see Christ formed in these new believers,” Barry wrote.