Brooklyn's Baptism

I'm honored to have been asked to talk at Brooklyn's baptism on her special day, Aug. 6, 2011. I didn't write anything down, so here's my best recollection of what I said.

Well, Brooklyn, Grandpa Dan and I just finished spending a wonderful week with you and some of your cousins. The fun started last week at Riverside Park in La Grande, OR, at a birthday picnic for your Mom and Zaid, where we picked you up and brought you home with us for a few days. I think you found out that Grandma can do lots of things, but that I need to call on others for help sometimes, too. For instance, remember when I was making rolls, or actually pigs in blankets? After I oiled the cookie sheets, I couldn't find the lid to the bottle of olivve oil. You were playing a computer game with Tori and Juli and Christian, but I needed help, so I called you to come find it for me. I certainly didn't want to spill that big bottle of oil all over the place! I needed your keen eyesight again when I was making cupcakes. Two bottles, one for almond extract and the other of red food coloring, felt exactly alike. Ah sure, I would've sniffed them to tell which was which if no one had been around, but then I might have tinted the end of my nose red, and that wouldn't have been too cool. So I asked you (or was it Tori?) and I used each of them at the proper time in my recipe.

Over the years, I've made a few rules to help make it easier for me to try and keep my house safe and clean. You know that I always remind people to eat in the kitchen, or in the dining room, or outside on the patio. Someone forgot that rule, and Uncle Greg had to vacuum up a crumbled up granola bar he found in the fairy room when he was helping me get ready for my Primary class's cupcake party.

Another rule I want everybody to follow is for people to drink all of whatever's in their cup. Too often I've been clearing or wiping the table or the counter, and suddenly, kerplunk, there's a bump and a splash, and somebody's leftover juice is spilling all over my hand, onto the table, and down onto to the floor. Oh no! If we just follow a few simple rules, things stay much cleaner!

Heavenly Father has given us a few rules, or commandments, too, that will help us keep our lives safe and clean so that we can live with Him again someday. I think He misses us and wants us with Him, pretty much like Grandpa and I miss you. Baptism is the gateway into His kingdom. We make promises to Him when we're baptized, and He makes promises to us. I have to ask your Dad to read some verses from the Book of Mormon for me, because even though I grabbed this big volume of the book of Mormon to read, (which is only 1 of 6 volumes) the page I need is missing. So Ethan, will you please read Mosiah 18 : 8 through 10?

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

Did you hear the promises we make? We'll help other people, and keep the commandments. And what does He promise to us? That He will pour out His Spirit upon us even more than before, which your Grandma Vickkie will talk about, and that we'll come forth in the first resurrection. That's really really good. When the people Alma was teaching heard this, they clapped their hands for joy! That's how I felt when I heard you wanted to be baptized, too!

Now, as we've established, Grandma Bonnie can't see well at all, so I often need to ask for help. But our Father in Heaven can see everything. He can see the past, the present, the future. He can see into our hearts and into our minds, while we can only see one another's face. He is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful. When you need help with anything, anything at all, you can call to Him for help, Brooklyn, just the way I called to you for help last week. I pray that you will keep His commandments, that we will all keep them. But because He is all-wise, He knows that sometimes we might make mistakes, or be tricked or tempted into getting off the straight and narrow path that leads to true happiness. He's given us repentance so that we can get back on track if we lose our way. Through His love for us, and the Savior's atonement, obedience, and repentance, we can be safe, clean, and happy forever. I love you, Brooklyn, and I am so happy that you are being baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints today. I was baptized when I was about your age. The gospel has helped me have a happy life. I know its true, and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.