On Baptism

This is a very rough translation from the original manuscript written in old French on the History of the Vaudois Churches in the Piemont mountains. I read this section on Baptism (which I found is a lot easier to just read than to actually translate!) and I found that some of the things sounded strangely like the "new" Federal Vision stuff...

We are pretty certain that the Vaudoises are our ancestors, specifically Henri Arnaud, a Vaudois Huguenot pastor who led an army of Huguenots back into the Piemont Valley in 1690 (?). This book was given to my father by his father, and tells of the persecutions of the Huguenots during this time period.

On Baptism

The first [sacrament] is called baptism, that is to say in our language, washing by water or from a river, or from a fountain. It must be administered in the Name of the Father, Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to those who, first of all, by the grace of God the Father, looking to his Son, and by participation of [in?] Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us, and by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, who imprints living Faith in our hearts, the sins of those baptized are forgiven, and they are received in grace : and after having persevered [in grace], they are saved in Jesus Christ.

The Baptism with which we are baptized, and that with which our Lord himself wanted to be baptized, in order to accomplish all justice, just as he wanted to be circumcised, is [the baptism] which he commanded his Apostles to baptize with.

Moreover, this baptism is visible and material; [the baptism] does not make a person either good or bad, as we learn in the Scripture of Simon Magus, and of St. Paul. And the reason that the baptism is administered in the midst of the congregation of the faithful is so that he who is received is reputed and held by all for a Brother and Christian, and so that all might pray for him, that he be Christian of the heart, just as he is externally considered to be a Christian. And it is for this reason that we present the Children to Baptism. Those who the children touch the closest ought to do this, just as their parents do, and those to whom God has given this charity.


Jean Leger, L'Histoire Generale Des Eglises Evangeliques Des Vallees De Piemont ou Vaudoises, (France, Leyde: Jean le Carpentier, 1669), 67.

David's Birthday + Lompnieu

We went to Lompnieu on David's birthday. There was lots of snow! The four-wheeler had trouble getting up the path, as you can see from the pictures. We tried several times, and kept getting stuck! We finally made it through (but barely) by cutting across a field. I also tried snow shoeing. I think this was my first time, unless I tried it back in Quebec. It was great! The sun was shining and the snow was fresh! It was absolutely beautiful!
David spend a good bit of time in his lab. He is trying to make bio diesel. He is lacking Methanol, and is trying to make do with ethanol, but that makes it a lot harder. Anyway, that's what I gleaned from what he said:) chemistry is not my thing! (I like balancing equations, but that's about it!)
We also had a spectacular snow fight! We made two teams, Daddy and Val, agaist Deborah and me. (David was busy in his lab) Each team built a snow fort! It was a lot of fun, the only problem with this kind of thing is that both sides claim victory:) When we left, Flicka "took" our fort:)

New Years!

We spent New Years in Lompnieu, and had Alex and Suzanne over for the "révillon". As you can see, we had snow! it was beautiful, especially when we went up into the forest!

Lompnieu!

Four-wheeling and Mud!

We went to Lompnieu this weekend. Lompnieu is a small town between Lyon and Geneva where we have a stone farm house that has been in the family for several generations. We have been fixing it up over the past 2 ½ years. The house was built in 1820, and like many houses of that region, has a barn attached to the house. We mainly heat the living part from the fireplace that has a pumping system that distributes the hot air to all the upstairs rooms. We would like to someday fix up the barn into a livable part of the house, but for now we mostly use it for storing stuff, David's lab, and a toolshed, but there is lots of possibilities for expansion. We have already built "Wintz Hall," a large floor on the first level. (Mr. Wintz is the one who designed and built the floor last summer, with the help of Mr. Nance, my dad, David, and I. Click Here for pictures of the construction last June.) Anyway, we had a really fun four-wheeler ride! Redneck (that's what we call the big one-360 c.c. 4WD with front-end differential control-a real monster) got stuck for the first time in the mud. Ladybug (that's the smaller four-wheeler) did manage to get through, but only by going around some of the mud! Click Here to see the Video, or save file by right click Here. Those who know me know I don't go anywhere without my camera :) Hopefully the camera will be fine inspite of the mud that got on it! The view was gorgeous on the ride up as well!