Baptism of Natayla and Joanne
Hello everybody!
Well
I definitely had a humbling experience at the very beginning of the
week. On Monday night, we had a baptismal interview with Joanne and
Natayla, and I was honestly pretty worried. I think I really forgot that
the Lord is the one who prepares people for baptism, not me and Sister
Leasi. And she had had a pretty miraculous experience the day before
that confirmed to her that this was all true, and that she was heading
in the right direction. It was really a testimony to me just how in
charge God is. He knows what He is doing, and I shouldn't try and
interfere with that. It definitely put me in my place! But it was very
exciting to be a part of their journey to the waters of baptism. They
had a death in the family just a day after the interview, I think the
Adversary was really trying to test their faith, but they pulled through
the hard time and made it to the gate called baptism.
They
had asked me to speak on baptism and S. Leasi to speak on the gift of
the Holy Ghost. A few hours before the baptism on Saturday, Sister Leasi
and I are driving around going to our usual Saturday morning
correlation meetings when we suddenly receive a text message. It was
from President Brinkerhoff. "Sisters, what time and where will your
baptism take place this afternoon?" My heart stopped. Oh man.
President and Sister Brinkerhoff were coming to our baptism. We texted
him back the time and place of the baptism (a little reluctantly, I hate
to say). We arrived at the baptism early to make preparations and
such, and our nerves were quite on edge. But when the baptism started,
we looked around, and no President or Sister Brinkerhoff. *Whew!* I
don't know why it feels so nerve-wracking to have the President come to
your baptism, but it just is. You want to make sure everything goes
perfectly. And sometimes at a baptism, not everything goes totally
smooth.
Anyway, I got up and began my talk on
baptism. I based a large part of my talk on Elder Bednar's talk "Ye
Must Be Born Again" where he compares conversion to the process by which
a cucumber becomes a pickle. Everyone was quite puzzled when I brought
out a giant pickle jar and a cucumber, but it made a lot more sense
once I started comparing it to baptism and life-long conversion. About
halfway through my talk, guess who snuck in through the back? Yep. The
President and his wife. Well I finished my talk and all went well.
Both Natayla and Joanne were baptized and everything went as planned.
The President and his wife talk to us afterwards, congratulated us, gave
us a few suggestions on the baptismal service, etc. It was a good
day.
DawnRae is preparing for baptism this
Easter Sunday! What a great way to celebrate the Resurrection of the
Savior--with a baptism! :D She is still going strong with the quitting
and is getting excited for the big day. We are making plans and such
and everyone is really excited. Can't wait for this week and all that
it will bring!
Love you all so much!
God Bless,
Sister Moreland
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