On 24 May, SOSylvia Osborne was baptised by immersion on confession of her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

On that occasion she was asked the following two questions which she answered in the affirmative:
Firstly, ‘Are you trusting the Lord Jesus Christ alone for your salvation?’
And secondly, ‘Do you promise, from this time forth, the Holy Spirit helping you, to strive to obey the Lord in all things?’

During the evening SO recounted the following as to how she had arrived at this decision:

Nearly five years ago my life changed completely. I had an accident and my injuries are permanent. I live on my own on the first floor. This is important as you will see later. About two years ago during Lent, I had a desire to worship the Lord our Father. So great was this desire that I knew I had to go to Church. The problem was this, I cannot walk very far. I used to look out of my window on a Sunday morning and see someone drive up to pick up a little old lady who must have been a neighbour. Feeling sure that she was being taken to Church I decided that the only option available to me was to run to the front door and ask if I could go with them. This presented me with several problems: because of the accident I could not run and going down stairs is a real problem.

• … I didn’t know what religion they were
• … would the car already be full?
• … and of course would I be welcome?

This left me with a feeling that I knew I would have to go out and find a Church for myself. Several weeks went by, then something incredible happened. Usually when my doorbell rings I do not answer it. One reason is because the stairs cause me a problem, secondly because it takes me so long that whoever is at the door gives up and goes away. However, on this very special occasion I did manage to answer the door, the visitor did wait and when I opened the door I met with EHErnie, the London City Missionary. He spoke about our Heavenly Father for a while on the doorstep but because I was beginning to feel achy and needed to sit down, I did something very stupid. I didn’t want EH to go in case he never came back again, so invited him up for a cup of coffee, but at no time did I feel threatened.

We talked for over an hour and then prayed. Before he left me he suggested that there might be a woman from the Church who could come and give me Bible Studies. I had no paper on which to write my telephone number, so I ended up writing it on a little scrap of an egg carton.

EH left, but a few weeks later I received a phone call from GEGill. Some may call it a coincidence but this was around the time of Pentecost. GE started to visit once a week, every week, and still does. Through these studies it became obvious to me that I needed a Saviour. It was during one of these visits that GE asked me if l felt ready to confess my sins and to accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. I was ready and I prayed to the Lord, asking him to forgive me for my sins and make me his own.

That was about eighteen months ago, during which time I have been able to attend the Church services. I was immediately received with great love, for which I thank everyone. I have now come to the point in my love for Christ Jesus that I feel it is right to show my commitment to the Lord by being baptised as he has commanded. It was during the baptism of TSToni Smith that I decided to take this step of obedience. Since that time I have spent the intermediate months in preparing for today.

I greatly look forward to being a valued member of this Church.

SOSylvia Linda Osborne 8 November 1952 to 5 January 2000her families: Jennings and Osborne