We were exhausted, hot, and thirsty. Still, we knew the trip was worth it as we sat on the sandy shore listening to our son Jonathan and other SIM missionary kids tell what Christ means in their lives, and of the commitment they have made to be his followers.

We left Jos at noon yesterday (April 6) and drove to Miango. There we joined eighteen other vehicles filled with other missionaries and friends and headed into the bush over a bumpy dirt road. The forty-five-minute drive was broken by a quick picnic lunch on a barren hill. By then, under the hot sun, we were already thinking "I wish we had brought more water!"

We parked our cars at a little village then started hiking on a footpath through the dry scrub brush and ridged plots of farmland not yet planted. What was supposed to be a thirty-minute walk stretched on and on as over one hundred of us crossed streams, climbed up and down ravines, and walked on narrow tracks on the edges of steep slopes. After an hour and a half of this we finally reached our destination, to discover that we had actually come the wrong way. The real guides had gotten so far ahead that the next people in line had not seen the right path, and had taken the rest of us on quite a roundabout course!

Sitting on the shore in the glen in the late afternoon, though, we couldn't imagine a much better place for this celebration of faith. (Well, OK, we could have used a bit less sun and heat.) Across the large pool a waterfall spilled down as we sang, prayed, and listened to the testimonies of the twelve young people. There was a common thread: although all had been raised in Christian homes, they had each discovered sooner or later that inherited faith is not enough, and had decided to make the step of personal commitment to following Christ as their risen Master. Jonathan told how he had done just that two years ago: "It was on January 1, that I finally asked Jesus to take control of my life, and he did."

As Jonathan and the others were symbolically buried and raised in baptism, we clapped and rejoiced in the joy of new life and God's love. Six of the young people were baptized by their own fathers, who are missionary pastors. We were not unobserved, either, as many villagers sat with us, or over in the shade of the cliff, and watched carefully. As we ended, one of us, Bill Foute, gave a short explanation in Hausa and called on those watching to consider for themselves the call of God.

The sun was setting as we climbed out of the glen and made our way back to the cars. This time we took the right way, what a breeze compared to that trek in! It made us remember: it doesn't matter how far and how fast you travel, if you don't have the right leader.