Baptisms

I have C's girlfriend here with us for a week.  We get along great and she is so easy to get along with.  (And for those of you that might feel like I put a lot of pressure on her....I don't.  We had that conversation just after he left on his mission.)  Anyway, I suggested we go to the temple together this morning.  I called the temple to see how to do Baptisms without going with a group.  I was told that I needed to bring my own names.  I wondered how in the world we would pull this off with me not having any names sitting around.  I quickly called a couple people in my ward that are Family History Specialists.   A sweet lady in my ward named Miho, said that she had some family names.  I told her that I couldn't use her family names and that she had done the work and would want to do them herself.  She told me that I could have one name.  I humbly accepted her offer and raced over to pick up the name in about half an hour.  When I got there, she was ready with one of her grandparent's sister's name.  She told me how to pronounce the name with it being Japanese and I was off.

As we pulled up to the temple, I pointed out to AP my favorite parking spot and how I like to just sit there some times looking up at Angel Moroni.  We walked in and were led to the Baptistry.  As we approached the font I was overcome with emotion at the beauty and feelings I had there in the temple.  After changing my clothes, I sat in my little locker stall so grateful for the opportunity to be there.  Grateful for AP and the kind of woman that she is and that she had a recommend, so humbled and grateful for Miho and how she trusted me with one of her family names, grateful for the ordinance of baptism and what it must mean to people who have experienced that later in their years, grateful for my son C who is currently serving an LDS mission, grateful for the Atonement and what I've learned in the last few months, so grateful.  Then I plead with the Lord to be with Miho as she had trusted me with her family name and that she would be at peace, praying that that dear sister would embrace her work being done today and that she would fully embrace Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer in her life.  I thought of my own son just having taught and then baptized Jorge and his wife Erendira down in Mexico and the changes he had seen in their lives by having the gospel and the Atonement. I prayed for them that they might continue to progress in the gospel and never take their baptisms for granted.  I wept and wept as my heart was so full.  

I wiped my face clean and then we went to do our baptisms.  It was beautiful in every way.  I thought about how it was different this time.  How I am gaining a true understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Humbled to be there and how I can teach my children to not ever take their baptismal covenants for granted.  

I left so happy and so grateful.  It was neat sharing such a neat and intimate experience with AP.  Afterwards I took her to a Mexican grocery store that I love so that she could get a little taste of Mexico.  We walked out of there with lots of produce, freshly made tortillas, tortilla chips, salsa, all the fixings for Pork tacos, Horchata and Piña water.  

Such a good day with a good friend, my favorite place in the world, and one perfect name.