It’s always a great encouragement for a church family to see new Christians obey our Lord's command by publicly declaring their faith in Christ through believer's baptism (Matthew 28:19). On Sunday, February 22, 2009, Claude and Mercedes, husband and wife, were baptized at Église Baptiste de l'Espoir des Milles-Îles in Sainte-Thérèse, Quebec. What a joy to hear their testimonies of how the Lord saved them and led them to take that step of obedience.

Claude and Mercedes have had tough times in their lives, and both have experienced the pain of a broken marriage. Yet, even in their most difficult days, they still prayed and asked God for His help. Claude first heard the Gospel through a Billy Graham program and prayed a prayer of repentance, alone in his basement. For a time, Claude was not able to find a church where he could grow in his faith, but he said, “I always felt God's presence with me. I knew He was there.”

Mercedes saw the impact of the Gospel in the changed lives of two of her friends while she was living in Alberta from 1979 to 1987. After attending church with them, Mercedes invited the Lord to come into her life in 1982. Claude and Mercedes met in 1997. In their own way, both had the desire to marry someone who would seek to honour God.

In the fall of 2005, Claude met John Francis who was then one of the pastors at the new Milles-Îles church. Claude and Mercedes started attending in January 2006 and were married in June of that year by John. Since then, Claude and Mercedes have been a faithful part of the church family.

John and Lise Francis are presently serving as Fellowship French missionaries at Chibougamau in Northern Quebec. However, when Pastor Daniel Marcoux learned that they would be in the Montreal area in February, he asked John to baptize Claude and Mercedes because of his longstanding relationship with them. Their baptismal service was a great encouragement to the whole church.