We were so grateful this day to be able to participate in Kristin's baptism. We were introduced to her in May and met with her weekly for the last two months to prepare her for her baptism day. Kristin's husband is a member of the church, but Kristin was raised in the Episcopalian faith. She wanted to learn more about the church before choosing which church to raise their son in. After the first lesson, Kristin told us that she would commit to be baptized but was not sure when. She would have to work things out with her family first. It was a difficult thing for her to do because her parents are very devoted to their religion and she was afraid of how they would react. Her mother was the first one that she told, and she seemed disappointed but said "well, if you think that is a good fit..." This gave her courage to talk to her father and brothers and sister. After a few lessons she knew she wanted to be baptized in spite of the differences that her family may have. The next question was when. She could not commit to a specific date because they were planning on a friend of John's from Kansas baptizing her and they didn't know when he would be coming to Maryland. I expected that it could be months, but a week or two later she announced that she had picked the date of July 12th. We were so happy.
The day went fairly smoothly with only a couple of hiccups. The ward mission leader thought that the font would already be filled since there was a baptism scheduled for earlier in the day. What he didn't know was that the previous baptism was changed to Friday evening, and they drained the font when they finished. So we had to start fresh Saturday afternoon when Bro. Amoah and the Elders arrived to print the program. They found out that they could fill the font sufficiently for a baptism in only 1 1/2 hours. We told them that it might not be wise to count on that every time. It was just a blessing today that we were able to have it fill in that short a time. Rob, who performed the baptism, forgot his towel so I had to run home and grab one of my towels for him. By the time I returned they were about ready to begin the service, so I was not able to get a picture with Kristin as I had hoped. Her friend, Steve, took some pictures afterwards with us. I hope I will get a copy of the pictures.
Immediately following the baptism, Kristin was confirmed and then their baby, Gavin, was blessed. It was a special blessing from the Lord that Sister Moraga and I had this opportunity to teach Kristin and be a part of her special day. When I contemplated a mission, I knew that senior missionaries do not proselyte, so I came here with the understanding that I would not have the opportunity (or should I say the responsibility) of "proclaiming the gospel" in this manner. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ and telling others about Him. It was a challenging experience for me to help teach the discussions, but I am grateful for the opportunity.
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