Preach My Gospel Chapter 12: Baptism and Confirmation

My first thought reading this was the issue isn't so much about preparing them to be baptized as it is preparing them to be members. I was thinking about last week, and how many people stop keeping their commitments, and everything that goes wrong with that.

However, I started flashing back to different baptisms that I witnessed on my mission. I remembered the joy, and the relief for some who had waited a long time, and some of the participation by others and the good things from that.

I remember on teenager who took a long time to get parental permission, but he was so committed, and an excellent singer who was unable to complete her song at his baptism, because the emotions were so strong and her voice cracked. And she was embarrassed, but we all understood.

With the one who struggled with tithing, I remember his joy and relief when he was baptized. It had been a struggle within himself, and so it was a relief to realize that he could do it and had done it.

It's pretty common for Lao refugees to have three names. There is a formal Lao name, which would be the equivalent of the birth certificate name, and then usually a Lao nickname, and then especially with the younger ones, and American nickname, and that's mostly what they go by. (A lot of the children born here just get American names, so you can kind of look at the children and know what year they entered the country.)

Anyway, we were teaching one young man (he was about 20), and we always called him Tom, but his Lao nickname was Noy, which means "little". We had a family of stake missionaries that we worked with closely, and the father baptized Tom, but as they were talking, Tom gave his name as Noy and the father always called him that and referred to him as that after. I just remembered realizing that Tom, who was kind of alone in the world, felt drawn to this kind, fatherly man, and he felt protective in return, and it wasn't anything that was talked about, just felt.

It's not that what happens afterward isn't important; the value of covenants and ordinances comes as you keep them.  However, those moments and milestones matter too, and they are important opportunities to let people serve and love each other.

I'm glad to take some time to remember that.