Riana had the opportunity, for the first time ever, to
participate in baptisms for the dead.
(In our church, we believe that we have the opportunity to be baptized
for those who have died and that in heaven, those people will have the choice
whether they want to accept this baptism.)
I love the special spirit which exists in the baptismal font area of the
temple. I remember going for the first
time and just being filled with peace.
All my outside cares left me and I just felt the peace of the temple…
that is when I learned to love going to the temple. I was so thankful for the opportunity I had
to go experience this with Riana.
I want to tell a funny experience I had, before I get into
the special moments. When we were
getting our special white clothes to wear in the temple, there were two
lines—one for adults and the other for youth.
I was standing in the adult line, of course, when a Sister who was
helping the adults came over to make sure I was in the right line. I said, “Yes.” And she said that I looked really young for
an adult. I told her that I was the
mother of 6 and she was very impressed!
My friend, Jenny, and I had a good laugh about it. She told me it was wonderful to look so young
after having 6 kids. I agree… it was a
compliment. I used to get that all the
time in my 20’s. I just thought I was
past that because it has been a couple of years since I have gotten a comment
like that. LOL! Pretty funny!
Well, after we were all dressed, first, Riana went in and
was confirmed for about 10 people. Then
she waited a bit and then had the opportunity to be baptized. I had the chance to be in the font area when
Riana was baptized and she was even baptized by a guy I grew up with,
Glen. (He later commented how weird it
was for him to realize that we now had children that old.) It was really special to be able to watch
Riana be baptized for these people. Then
a recent convert from our ward, Kayla, who is a sweet, tender spirit, was able
to be baptized for a few people. It made
me emotional to see her so excited to participate in temple work. After she was done, a lady who was not from
our ward, who was also a recent convert, who looked like she may have ancestors
from India, was baptized for several of her loved ones who have passed
away. That was really special! The spirit was even stronger and she was very
emotional as they read each name and she had the chance to be baptized for each
one. I was overcome with the spirit of
this special work and it brought tears to my eyes too, even though I didn’t
know her. I felt lucky that I was there
to partake of this special spirit.
Later, I watched as our good friends were able to share a
special moment with their son, who was also there for the first time. Lee was able to baptize Cayden and then Jenny
helped him out of the font. That was
sweet too! (Lee is pretty small in
stature, but obviously much stronger than he looks because he baptized all the
boys, even the huge ones, with no problem whatsoever!! It was pretty impressive!)
My friend, Wendy, also shared with me that she had a very
special moment at the temple as well.
She was there with her daughter, Amanda, for Amanda’s first time. She felt that her family was once again
together… very special.
I was so thankful to be able to be there and be a part of so
many special moments. It was a really
neat experience.
Afterwards, we all went out for dinner at a Teriyaki
restaurant below the temple. Grant
swears that he started that tradition.
LOL! Anyway, the ward paid for
everyone, which was really sweet. It was
super yummy food and huge portion sizes for the price. Then we all walked over to the church
bookstore. I could spend a million
dollars and several days in that store.
I love it!
It was a great morning!
PS- Speaking of temples, look at this cute drawing of a
temple I found in one of Riana’s drawing books.
“If this is not your castle, you are not my prince!!” (I have seen that quote before but it was fun
seeing it in her book!) I love it!! J
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