Alice is baptized
April 28, 2024
Dear Alice,
I’m so excited that you are turning eightyears old this year because that means that you are old enough to choose to bebaptized. I’m so happy you have made that choice.
I remember when I was baptized. I was baptizedon my eight-year-old birthday on a Saturday night in a little white churchacross the street from my house in Union, Utah. My congregation had all thechildren being baptized sit on small wooden chairs and talked to us for awhile. I don’t remember what they said, but I do remember what I felt.
I felt excited and a little scared before Iwas baptized. Maybe you are also. When I was baptized, the water was warm and Ifelt clean and happy when I came out of the water. Then I put my dry clothesback on, walked out of the church and into the cold January winter air. Iremember looking up and seeing lacy white flakes of snow falling all around me.Even though it was cold outside, I felt warm inside. I knew God loved me andwas pleased I wanted to come home to heaven someday.
I also knew that Jesus was my best friend andthat if I tried to live like Him that I would be happy. When I was your age,they waited until Sunday to confirm me at church and give me the gift of theHoly Ghost. I felt protected when the men with the priesthood made a circlearound me and put their hands on my head as my father confirmed me.
What I didn't know was that theman I was going to marry someday was being baptized on the very same day,January 6th (my birthday) in a little town called Spanish Fork,Utah. He was a little scared and excited too.
Because we both wanted to be like Jesus, wefound each other many years later. We recognized that we had the same dreamsand plans for life.
When he got back from hismission to Samoa, we were married in the SLC temple and made special promisesto God. We were sealed for time and eternity. Pretty soon your mother was born.Then she grew up and married your daddy in the same SLC temple and then prettysoon, you were born.
Being baptized is such a special time becausewe are able to participate in our first saving ordinance and make our HeavenlyFather our first official promise.
You are a daughter of God, Alice, and yourHeavenly parents love you very much. They want you to be happy so they havemade a plan of happiness for you to follow so you can return to themsomeday.
Up until now, you have been a child who islearning, growing and maturing. You have made some mistakes; everybody makesmistakes. That is how we learn and grow. Now that you are eight, God thinks youare wise enough to know the difference between right and wrong choices.Heavenly Father knows that some of the choices we make will not be wise.Because He loves us, He wants us to know how to change so we will not betrapped by our mistakes and bad choices. So He invites us to make a promise toHim and then He makes a promise right back to us. When we make a specialpromise to God and He makes one right back to us, it is called a covenant.Heavenly Father never breaks a promise.
The promise you make to God is that you willremember Jesus, follow Him and keep His commandments. Heavenly Father promisesyou that He will forgive you if you make a mistake then you feel sorry andrepent. He also promises you eternal life. He also gives you the gift of theHoly Ghost to help, guide, protect, warn and comfort you.
When you choose to be baptized you tellHeavenly Father that:
*You want to be a follower of Jesus Christ
*You will serve your fellowmen
*You will stand as a witness of God all the time
*You will obey the commandments of God
Godpromises you that:
*You are accepted as a member of Christ’s church
*You can be forgiven of your sin when yourepent
*You can have the gift of the Holy Ghost
*You can live in the kingdom of God
Didyou know that you can be re-baptized every week? Everybody makesmistakes after they are baptized so Heavenly Father gave us the sacrament everyweek on Sunday. That is when we remember the covenant we made when we were baptized.We think about our week and decide how to be better during the coming week. Wethink about our Savior Jesus Christ and how He atoned for all our sins, pains,disappointment and grief. We also think about Christ’s resurrection and that wecan be resurrected too someday. Taking the sacrament with a humble heart isjust like being baptized again.
I hope you will write about how you feel inyour journal when you are baptized. Never forget that you are a child of Godand that you can inherit the eternal life God has planned for you. And neverforget that your grandma loves you with all her heart.
Love,
Grandma Baadsgaard.
