A Baptismal Talk

Over the weekend I was able to attend a baptism of a girl my family has helped bring the gospel to. It was such a sweet blessing to be able to see and to be able to feel the spirit that was present on that special day.

I was honored and surprised when she asked me to give the talk on baptism. I've only attended one other baptism that I can remember besides my own, and I was not paying attention to the talks in either mine or the one I attended. I had no idea what I was going to say. Obviously I have a testimony of this gospel, and I know baptism is a necessity for eternal life, but still, how do express all the knowledge you have on the subject to a sweet 10 year old? I asked my mom for some help and we started to brainstorm, we went on line and there was the idea to liken baptism to the story of Rapunzel. I decided to go with the idea and from there I wrote my talk. Afterwards I had a few requests of copies of the talk so I am putting it online so others can get the idea as well. So here it is.

"Once upon a time there was a princess who had forgotten who she really was. She was very kind and loved to read and draw. She also did lots of cleaning. Each year, she stayed up late into the night so she could gaze out her window as thousands of lights filled the sky. She couldn’t help but feel like they were for her.

This princess is Rapunzel.

 “Mikayla, we are all a lot like Rapunzel”

Like Rapunzel, we came to earth and forgot who we were. We see glimpses of our divine potential, but we don’t remember where we came from.

Later in Rapunzel’s story she finds out that she is a daughter of king.

Like Rapunzel, Mikayla you too are a daughter of a king. Your Heavenly Father loves and cares for you. He really misses you, and is glad you are making the choice to be baptized so you can live with him again.

Do you remember how I said that Rapunzel did a lot of cleaning? Today you too are doing some cleaning.

When Rapunzel cleaned her home, she dusted, mopped, and shined the windows. But the cleaning you are doing to day is much more important than the dust on the ground, today you are getting baptized. Today you are being made clean.  When you get baptized any and all of the mistakes that you have made are washed away. This is a beautiful gift from Heavenly Father.

For the past year, Mikayla you have been learning how to be a daughter of God.

You’ve been taught how to pray and read your scriptures and that this is how we communicate with our Heavenly Father.

With your choice to be baptized you are making special promises with your Heavenly Father, which are called covenants. Covenants are special because they are promises that we make with God. God cannot and will not break a promise he has made.

Today you are promising Heavenly Father that you will

-       Take Jesus Christ name upon you,

-       That you will always remember him,

-       That you will keep all of his commandments,

-       And that you will endure to the end.

Do you know what all of these mean?

To take upon you the name of Jesus Christ means that you represent Him. You are an example to those who do not know the special truths you know. When it is time for you to make decisions you need to remember and ask yourself “what would Jesus do?”

This has a lot to do with remembering him. Remember the sacrifice he made for each of us. He came to earth and lived a perfect life. He then suffered and died for each of us. He knows what trials you will go through and he has made it possible for us to over come.

We’ve been given certain commandments that we must keep in order to live with him again. A commandment is something that God has asked us to do. Like, to pray everyday, to go to church and love our families. There are a lot more commandments and as you continue to study your scriptures and go to church you will learn about them.

The last covenant you make is to endure to the end. Our Heavenly Father sent us to earth, knowing it would be hard. Things happen in life that can make it very difficult. Sometimes we make choices that end up hurting us. But Heavenly Father did not send us here to fail. He sent us here with a plan to get back home. We came to this earth to learn, and when we endure to the end we learn the lessons necessary to live with God again. Enduring to the end has everything to do with having Faith that God loves you and is aware of you and has a specific plan for you. Mikayla when life gets hard, do not give up, push on and you will be able to overcome.

Mikayla as we make these promises with God he promises us that we can always be forgiven when we repent. He gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost that will help guide you. And he promises that we can live with him again. This is our Happily Ever After.

Along the way to this Happily Ever After you will make mistakes. We all make mistakes; it is part of the learning process. Right after you are baptized you will be clean, with no mistakes, but you will maybe make a mistake very soon after, does this mean that you need to be baptized again? No it does not. Heavenly Father knows we will mess up, so he allows us to repent. When we take the sacrament we will be as you are today. Clean. When you take the sacrament you re-promise the promises you are making today.

Mikayla I’d like to leave you with my testimony. I asked you yesterday if you are nervous and you said you were. I want you to really know that you have nothing to be worried about nothing to be nervous for but you have everything to be excited for. Heavenly Father loves you. He is cheering you on. (Bare the rest of your testimony)"

Mikayla and Brian (Big-B)

He is our Savior and we can know through a simple prayer

The words are so simple

And there is no better way

To know the truth of his love

Then to listen and obey

Heavenly Father are you really there?

Do you hear and answer every child's Prayer?

Some say that heaven is far away,

but I feel it all around me as I pray.

I know that our Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, he wants us to return to him. He sent his only begotten son so that it would be possible for us to return again. There is nothing you have done that you cannot repent of. Christ lived and died for you and for me, how silly would it be to throw that gift away.

Once Upon A Time...

(I know this is probably the most cliche blog post ever)

But... here we go

When you were little did you ever start off your journal entries with "Once Upon A Time..."? For example "Once upon a time cheyenne went to the duck pond to feed some ducks... She was a princess that liked to eat ice-cream, and she had the best life... The end."

I know a few of mine ended up something like that. When I was little I didn't understand the reason to keep a journal, I thought it was just to write down stories. I also kind of understood that it was for the purpose of future generations to read, but I still lacked understanding. 

Now as a 19 year old I still lack understanding but as far as my journal is involved I believe I am keeping it to the best of my abilities. Do I  still start off with "Once upon a time..." yes of course I do, not with every entry but on occasion when I need to think about my future rather then my past I start off with "once upon a time"

Dieter F. Uchdorf gave a talk once on the comparison of our life to a fairy-tails. He says, 

"Heavenly Father's love for you is so great that He has granted you this earthly life as a precious gift of “once upon a time,” complete with your own true story of adventure, trial, and opportunities for greatness, nobility, courage, and love. And, most glorious of all, He offers you a gift beyond price and comprehension. Heavenly Father offers to you the greatest gift of all—eternal life—and the opportunity and infinite blessing of your own “happily ever after.” 

The promise of a "happily ever after" is more then just a dream it is a reality. We start our life with "once upon a time" and expect to make it through to our happily ever after. We have trials that we will face and sorrows that we will have to withstand but if we can over come our adversity and hold true to the truth we know we are promised a "happily ever after" in the form of Eternal Life. 

As Dieter F. Uchdorf says, 

"Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your 'once upon a time is now."

I am so happy to know that I am a daughter of God. Who loves me and wants me to return to him again someday. We must face our adversity but we can move on.

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2010/05/your-happily-ever-after

 (This is a link to Dieter F. Uchdorf's talk "Your Happily Ever After")

Nephi, a prophet of God

 Today as I was reading my scriptures, I was finishing up Nephi's account.

 2 Nephi chapter 33

This chapter testifies of the truth. It is Nephi's final testimony. He testifies that words he has written are the truth & not only are they true but they are the words of Christ.

He tells us to judge his words for ourselves. If we believe in Christ we will know that he speaks the words of Christ. He also warns us, if we judge his words to not be the words of christ, we will be judged of that as we stand before god, face to face with Nephi as Christ Testifies that those words are words of truth. We must make the decision for ourselves. 

2 Nephi 33: 10 & 11

"... Hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good.

 11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, not withstanding my weakness."

Describing My Object

 My Object is my CTR ring

Its small and round

Fits perfectly around my ring finger on my right hand

Its symbolic and a memory

Symbolic of the life I want/strive to have

In memory of the life I’ve left behind

C: Choose

T: The

R: Right

Such a simple phrase, but so much meaning with in the lines

It’s silver and thin

Not bulky at all.

I don’t like the big Godey rings, I think they are silly and cheap

They sit there trying to represent riches but instead represent pride

Not my CTR ring

Although to me there is pride for my religion

But that’s not the right way to say it.

It is more of a love for my church, for the gospel, for my Christ

C: Choose

T: The

R: Right

Its written in cursive, it looks classy to me

Again symbolic of the life I want to have.  

It states what I stand for

It is who I am

An LDS daughter of God

Memories

This is a poem I wrote awhile back. It wasn't exactly written for anyone in particular... Really probably more for me then anyone else. Pay attention its my favorite poem I have ever written. Its a great reminder to myself of what I want out of life.

*-------------------------*

Memories

What shall you say to me on this very day?

As we stand hand in hand by the big blue sea.

Will you want a reply? Yes I will say

As you stand by the big blue sea with me

What will you say, when you see in my soul?

What will it reveal to you in your heart?

Will you see it bright or a little dull

Will I begin to fall, oh, when will it start?

How can it be? That we’re here on this day?

Laughing, and smiling, and singing our names

From this day to that day, how far away?

As we laugh and sing, we play in our games.

While we climb up up up, it isn’t so dull

As you look in my eyes down into my soul.

*-------------------------*

       I know it really isn't anything special but it is special to me.

 Here is some food for thought from the oh so lovely PINTEREST

My Cousin Katrina

This is my cousin's Family aren't they adorable!

Family of 7 now 8 

This is baby Jett Li

this is Koa

This is Dax

this is Maya

This is Te

This is Big Brother Kai

Katrina, what to say about Katrina.
Well She was a Daughter, a Sister, a Friend, a Cousin, a Wife, a Mother, and she was absolutely wonderful!
She was the type of lady that will be remembered for years! She was so sweet and kind to everyone that she met. Her family always came first and nothing was more important!

She was the mother of 5 and expecting baby Jet and in the last couple weeks of her pregnancy she started to have complications. She was on bed rest from there on out. The night before she was due to have a c-section she started to bleed, so they took her in to an emergency c-section. She kept bleeding and it was too much to handle. Her heart stopped, and the doctors couldn't fix it. They were able to get baby Jet, he was still early so he needed a lot of help. He was in the hospital being looked after for the next couple weeks. He is now a healthy very loved baby!

It has taken me soo long to write this blog post. I've been wanting to for awhile but I had no words to explain this strange tragedy. The day I found out I was sitting in US Government and I got a text from my dad, explaining that Katrina had experienced complications, I knew she wasn't doing well but I never knew how serious it was until well after it was too late. By the time I got home the news was official. She had passed away, leaving 6 beautiful children and a loving husband behind. It was so hard to wrap my head around the fact that she wasn't there anymore. How thankful I am that she was in our lives for the time she was. She was such a huge example to everyone that met her. It is now our job to carry on her lasting legacy. She was an amazing women, loved everyone she met, cared and remembered everyone, and always made you feel special no matter how bad she felt. In honor of Katrina I write this post. 

I am so very thankful for the gospel, it like Katrina has been a blessing in my life. It is easier to prepare for the storm when you can see the rain clouds coming, It doesn't always make it easier though. Through the gospel I know that someday I will see Katrina again. Although her family doesn't have her here on earth, they will always have her in Heaven. They have been sealed for time and all eternity. Her job was done here on earth and our Heavenly Father needed her on the other side. I know she is helping so many feel loved and accepted where ever she is and who ever she helps. The gospel of Jesus Christ has brought me soo much comfort in my life. I regret so badly the times I took it for granted. If you aren't LDS look in to it, read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, and see how you feel. I promise it is a feeling you will never forget.

aren't the LDS temples so beautiful? I sure love them! I can't wait to be married there someday, and have my family, not just be family here on earth, but for ever and always in my heart and in heaven.