On Monday, April 6th at 6:00 pm, Charlotte was
baptized and confirmed a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
at a 10-person service in our church building.
It was one of the BEST baptisms I have ever been to.
It was simple and the spirit was strong as we celebrated Lottie's
decision to be like the Savior and to be baptized.
We have been planning Lottie's baptism for some time
and had already invited friends to come so when the COVID-19
social distancing 10-person rule was initiated,
we were presented with a decision.
Do we wait until the rule lifts and we can invite people
to Lottie's baptism not knowing when that will be?
Or do we baptize Lottie now as planned?
Lottie ultimately made the decision, and she wanted to go forward with it.
So we revised the original baptism program and
made some changes.
Lottie picked siblings to cover the whole program with our Bishop
presiding, and the sister missionaries in attendance too.
On Monday evening our family pulled up to an empty parking lot
to our church building.
I printed off simple programs and brought a bouquet of roses.
It certainly was unlike any baptism I've attended,
we set up chairs in a semi-circle which made
it peaceful, quiet, intimate.
Jane conducted the meeting,
Gigs gave the opening prayer,
Claire gave a talk on baptism,
Christian baptized Lottie with the sister missonaries as the witnesses,
Jane played a beautiful solo of the song "Beautiful Savior" on her violin,
(which was previously a duet with a pianist),
Oliver gave a talk on the Holy Ghost,
Christian and the Bishop confirmed Lottie as a member
of the Church, and Lottie received the Holy Ghost.
The Bishop said a few closing words,
and I gave the closing prayer.
When we walked outside the sky was dark and windy
then it began to rain.
We hopped in the car headed to our favorite creamery
for ice cream to celebrate. On the way, the rain clouds stopped
just long enough for a gorgeous rainbow to appear.
One of the songs we sang at the baptism was
"I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain
And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.
I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to be the best I can and live with God again.
I know when I am baptized my wrongs are washed away,
And I can be forgiven and improve myself each day."
I told Lottie the rainbow was a sign that God was
proud of her decision to be baptized.
She will always remember the rainbow, I'm sure of it!
We picked up dinner and took it to a lovely spot
on Duke campus and ate it together.
At home, (in my nightie) Christian and I presented Lottie
with her own set of leather scriptures with her name engraved on them.
She was so thrilled-it was adorable.
"I have a family here on earth, they are so good to me
I want to share my life with them through all eternity"
those words have never been more true.
Spiritual Enlightenment: Recieve the Holy Ghost
"I pray we will sincerely desire and appropriately invite the
Holy Ghost into our daily lives. I also pray each of us will faithfully
obey God’s commandments and in reality receive the Holy Ghost."
* * * * * * * * * * *
A very BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful mother!
