Alexander's baptism (and the ward trunk-or-treat)

There's this page in the book I Spy a Nephite (which you can borrow on the Internet Archive if you, like, me only own Where Have All the Nephites Gone?—or worse! If you own none of Pat Bagley's search and find books) which I felt like we were living today! 

This particular page is of a wedding reception. There's a pile of gifts on stage (including a canoe-shaped package) beside a little chamber orchestra. There's a bouquet toss going on, a wedding line, a buffet table, streamers and bells and...a basketball game. As it turns out "somebody made a mistake in scheduling the ward cultural hall."

To be fair, scheduling our building is particularly tricky because we have three units in the building across two stakes. So putting things on the calendar is a bit of a gamble. For example, we booked the church from 9 to 2 today...but when we showed up there was a suspicious number of cars in the parking lot and the door to the church was propped open. 

We went inside and found that one of the other wards was decorating for their Fall Festival this evening. The cultural hall was all decked out in Halloween decorations. They'd even put up a big ol' display directly in front of the doors to the baptismal font. 

Andrew explained that we had a baptism today and...

The lady in charge basically told him he'd have to schedule the building like everybody else and pick a new day for his baptism. 

He said that we...weren't going to do that, that we had booked the church. 

She said that was impossible because she had booked the church. 

They both pulled out their phones to show each other that they had each booked the church. And, indeed, they had each booked the church. Further, Andrew informed her, there was to be another baptism after this one...so...

Eventually the lady decided she could give us one third of the cultural hall, that her crew would move all the decorations into the other part of the gym and...that was kind of them because it meant that they had to undo some of their work (we really couldn't have their display in front of the baptism font). 

And then I just had to kick the missionaries out of the Relief Society room (where they were having a meeting). 

And then we were able to set up for Alexander's baptism. 

It was a beautiful day, but it felt a bit frenzied pulling everything together (perhaps in part because of the cultural hall mix up and perhaps also because of other reasons) and I don't feel like we took enough pictures. So I guess we'll just have to cherish the pictures we got!

Here's Andrew and Alexander before the service:

Alexander invited some of our neighbourhood friends, in addition to friends in our ward. Two of our neighbours came and then Grandpa came and my family started popping up on Zoom...and we kind of started to wonder whether anyone else was going to come.

So I explained the concept of "Mormon Standard Time" to my neighbours. Like, it's kind of bad that that's a thing we're known for collectively and...does it have to do with how many children we have? Maybe...maybe.

So J. told us about how she grew up in a family that was always 15 minutes early and her husband grew up in a family that figured arriving half hour late was normal. They've had a doozy of a time navigating that cultural difference. 

And S. told us about how before she had her baby, she was a nanny to twins. And she was on time for everything. And the twins were always impeccably well-kempt. And she was sure motherhood was going to be a breeze. And then she had this tiny human and it was like her brain fell out of her head. And they were always running late. And they were always a mess. 

And then people started showing up!

In total we had about 30 people attend in-person and a handful more online. We had the Hansens, the Leonards, the Fitzes, all three members of the bishopric (to keep an eye on us, no doubt), the primary president, our two neighbours, our family...my mom and some of my siblings online...oh, and Rachel!—the crowd really rallied for Alexander! 

He had Miriam give a talk on baptism and Grandpa and Darla give a talk on the Holy Ghost (Grandpa was initially slated for the opening prayer, and Zoë was supposed to give a talk on the Holy Ghost, but then Zoë decided she didn't want to so Alexander said he wanted Darla to give a talk, but then he didn't want Zoë to do nothing so he asked her to conduct the music. She said she wouldn't do that, but she would give a prayer. But Phoebe wasn't budging on her prayer. So Grandpa got sandwiched in with Darla.)

Here is Miriam's talk:

Last year one of our favourite memorized scriptures was Mosiah 18:8-10, which says, 

“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?”

Now, this might have been our favourite because we made fun of our dad by reciting part of it in a squeaky voice, but I hope that you can learn to love this scripture because of the truths that are in it. These verses are so important because we learn about the baptismal covenants.

At my baptism, 8 years ago, Naanii gave me 3 bears, which represent some of the covenants we make at baptism. 1st, we BEAR the name of Christ. This means we represent Christ in all we do. Whether it be in our schoolwork, where we try the best we can, or with our families, where we try to treat everyone with kindness and respect. Baptism means that you are taking the name of Christ upon you, so it’s important that you emulate him as well.

2nd, we BEAR one another’s burdens, that they may be light. The scripture lists a lot of things we are supposed to help with, but they all fall in a broader category of burdensome. When we get baptized, we are supposed to comfort those who need it, mourn with those who need it, and help those who need it. It can sometimes be hard to tell when people need these things, but if we keep the first bear in mind, we should approach every situation with love.

Lastly, we BEAR testimony of Jesus Christ. This means that we start making the gospel personal. The first bear focuses on Christ-like actions, but this “bear” focuses on spiritual knowledge we gain from baptism. We do actually gain more spiritual knowledge because of baptism! We make baptismal covenants, which are two way promises between us and God. This means that if we keep our side, God will bless us with the things described in Mosiah 18:9. The only one we really have access to in this life is His spirit being poured out upon us. That’s the gift of the Holy Ghost, and that’s how we gain more spiritual knowledge. It’s important to share this knowledge and bear your testimony of Jesus Christ, because then it will grow, and multiply. 

I hope you keep these three bears in mind always, because I know they will help us all grow into more loving, more Christ-like people. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I will explain how and why we made fun of Andrew for this. It's simple, really. He was taking a turn reading the scriptures and he said, "And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon," in a normal voice. 

And then he put his hands up like parentheses on either side of his face and said in a squeaky voice, "(for thus were they called)..."

I don't know why he did it. He doesn't know why he did it. But he did it. And the kids thought it was hilarious. 

This was one of our memorized scriptures last year so every time we'd say it, everyone would raise their curled hands beside their faces and squeak out "for thus they were called."

And that's it. That's the joke. 

The baptism went off without a hitch. Andrew was a little worried when Alexander's feet flew up (if a part of the person being baptized comes out of the water then we have to redo the ordinance, which is fine...but Alexander was completely under before his feet flew up, so he was good to go). 

Then Grandpa and Darla spoke. They split the topic of Holy Ghost between the two of them, joking that Darla would talk about the "holy" part and Grandpa would talk about the "ghost" part. Darla went first and gave a lovely talk about how to know you're feeling the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and how to recognize good and true things. She talked about knowing that Grandpa would be a good guy to marry. She talked about how Alexander likes to go exploring and how having a flashlight can help to guide him, like the holy ghost. She talked about how he likes math, and that the Holy Ghost can even help him to recognize universal truths like 3+3.

(At one point Alexander said, "Because math is all around us. It makes up everything in the world!" And Darla said, "Yes! The world is filled with math—everything is made up of circles and squares..." And Phoebe piped up, "AND TRIANGLES!")

She said that he likes swimming and brought out a bag of lifesaver mints, telling Alexander that the Holy Ghost can be a rescuer. 

Then she pulled out a beautiful quilt that she'd made (when?! how?!) for him using lots of squares so he can remember the truths that the Holy Ghost teaches us (like math...and the scriptures...and being kind). She talked about how the Holy Ghost is a comforter. 

Alexander was so excited to wrap up in his new quilt when he went to bed this evening, which I suppose is precisely another lesson Darla mentioned in her talk—that when the gift of the Holy Ghost is given, we are told to receive the Holy Ghost, which is an action on our part. If Darla had given him the quilt and he never used it, didn't make it a part of his life, would have truly received her gift? It takes work to receive a gift—admittedly that work is often pleasant (but it is still work).

True to his word, Grandpa talked about ghosts. He talked about how he wasn't so sure about getting the gift of the Holy Ghost when he was little because he only knew about Casper the friendly ghost, on the rather silly end of the spectrum, and the super spooky gruesome kind of ghost on the creepy end of the spectrum. And he wasn't sure if he wanted either of those ghosts as a constant companion. But the Holy Ghost is neither of those things—and altogether much more desirable company. 

When he got the gift of the Holy Ghost the men in the circle were: Daddy, Grandpa, Bishop Dallin, Brother Krause, Brother Greenburg, Brother Fitz...and am I missing anyone else?

We sang my Grandma's song, 'Baptism, A New Birth' and at the last minute I thought to stop and grab this statue of Jesus knocking on a door. Grandma painted it years ago. And it...represents our willingness to allow the Lord into our lives. And I just...I guess I wanted a small part of Karen to be there on Alexander's special day as well because she's also part of his legacy of faith. Alexander is so lucky to come from such good people, to be surrounded by so many good people. 

(The temple is the Mount Timpanogos Temple, where Andrew and I got married, and it was a gift from Burt and Kathy Conrad. Burt was my mom's cousin...and Burt and Kathy lived in Andrew's ward while he was growing up! I didn't bring the temple specifically to remember Burt or anything...just to kind of balance out the statue of Jesus, but I thought I'd share the origin story of the temple anyway).

I took some pictures of people eating food. But I forgot to take a picture of the food table, which is a shame because Miriam set out the cookies in a beautiful pinwheel pattern and the three tureens of soup looked beautiful and autumnal—tomato, butternut squash, broccoli cheddar.

Oh, well. It was a good little lunch. 

And then we cleaned up and headed home...after having a friend snap a few pictures of us all together:

And, then I ended up leaving Benjamin and Zoë behind so they could (a) play with my friend's kids and (b) attend the second baptism of the day. My sweet friend dropped them back at home after. 

We went home, took care of the food, plugged the little kids into K-Pop Demon Hunters and took a well-deserved nap. We'd stayed up until about 3:00 in the morning finishing our last bits of preparation (were we overly ambitious to do all this cooking on Halloween night, of all nights? Perhaps). And then poor Andrew ended up sleeping on Phoebe's floor from about 4 to 7, before crawling back in bed for a brief snooze on a real mattress. 

And then we got ready to go to our ward's Fall Festival (which was not at the church). I brought my leftover cookies...and they still didn't all get eaten so I guess we'll have to eat them ourselves! They're supposed to be bats and pumpkins (Alexander specially requested them and helped make them). And I also made the pumpkin bread and molasses crinkles.

Andrew took Miriam and her friends to a multi-stake dance after making an appearance at the ward party, so I was left to manage the party on my own, and I've got to say...having a (nearly) four-year-old as the youngest is...pretty awesome. 

I stopped my friend's baby from (1) eating a rock and (2) wandering off into the deep, dark woods by herself during trunk-or-treating (kind of, I mean, she had toddled off towards the woods before disappearing, so my friend ran panicked with a flashlight to the tree line and I got up to look for her as well, and found her on the other side of my van—she had essentially walked around my van, which was parked beside her own—so I picked her up, she gave me a little Snickers bar, and I called out to my friend that I had her right here. I gave both baby and Snickers bar back to the relieved mother and all was well. 

And I'm just so glad that I've reached the stage where my youngest will tell me, "I'm just going to go to the bouncy house!" and then will...go there. 

She walked the line of trunk-or-treating all by herself and then came back to me and stood there saying, "I can trick-or-treat here as long as I want, right? Trick-or-treat, Mommy!" And she'd reach her hand into my bowl and pick out a candy (she is particularly fond of lollipops/suckers, much to my...delight). Then, "Trick-or-treat, Mommy!" And she'd choose another treat. "Trick-or-treat..."

Please bless my patience...

Anyway, this wasn't meant to be a post about the trunk-or-treat, but I suppose it turned into one (it's been a busy couple of days!) so I guess I'll keep going.

Benjamin turned into just a plain ol' park ranger (fewer costume pieces to keep track of) and Zoë decided to pull a Rumi look.

She was not alone (these are the sisters to the wandering baby and they both wanted to dress up as Rumi as well).

Phoebe dreamed up her monster costume. She invented drain monsters, she imagined they were pink and sparkly, she alone decided they had horns. Her costume was pretty spectacular (or sparkle-tacular).

BUT...Miriam's friend Andie also made up a monster costume that she alone imagined. She couldn't wear it to the party because she was planning on going to the dance after...and no (costume) masks were allowed at the dance so she had to wear a mask-less costume. So her dad put on the costume to walk around and...it was something to behold.

He stalked around the pool, terrifying the children (but then opening the mouth of the creature to peek through and assure them that he's not scary at all). 

Andie handcrafted this entire thing! She told me it took her about 400 hours to complete. She used foam for a lot of it—the staff is foam, the skull is foam

The spine coming out the back...just incredible workmanship.

She would like to go into set design and costume creation...and I think she has a real knack for it!

And I drove home from the party all by myself, even though it was a long, windy drive on unfamiliar roads. Please clap. 

When we got home we talked with Rachel and I helped Zoë and Alexander finish writing their parts for the primary program (which is next week). Zoë had a good draft ready, which we polished up. 

Alexander was assigned to talk about his baptism, so if you thought he had procrastinated writing his talk, think again! He couldn't write his talk any earlier than today (and was very stressed out about getting in enough practice sessions to earn his prize for practicing four times). But, he got it written. It's printed out and in my bag so we'll be sure to have it for our practice tomorrow. 

My project (due Monday) sits at approximately 11,000 very unpolished words so, uh, we'll be hitting that hard over the next 48 hours.