Baptism Weekend

I wanted to write about this weekend before I forgot everything about it. It really was one of the best weekends I’ve ever had.

 

I made this sign and got it laminated. We displayed it on the easel with a picture of Christ next to the baptismal font.

Thursday: We left around 4 PM, right after I got out of class. The traffic was pretty bad getting out of Nashville but cleared up eventually. Somehow we missed the traffic in Chattanooga! Matt was waiting for a banking phone call and put off stopping for dinner for what felt like hours. My stomach was eating itself! We ended up stopping at a Panda Express, and I threw any healthy eating to the wind and ordered orange chicken with fried rice. Why is that so darn good? We got to Atlanta around 9:30 PM, having lost an hour due to the time change. When we got there we just sat around and talked for a while. It is always so good to be home! Even just having space to move freely. I love my little dorm, but there is just something about being in your own bed. We went to bed not long after we got home.

Friday: On Friday morning, I had to go to renew my passport. Matt had the foresight to make an appointment at the passport place, even though the website said, “walk-ins only”. I was grateful for the appointment when we got there and saw upwards of 50 people lined up outside! Before it even opened! We were in and out of there pretty fast. Overall a better experience than it could have been. Then we went home to change, then off to tennis at the club. My mom had her first day back since the surgery and got Matt and I a court while she had her FIT group. It was a little chilly, but lots of fun! I hit a few good shots, Matt hit a lot of good shots, and then on one of the last shots of our time, he broke his racket! Hit a ball too high on the face and the strings just gave out! Luckily, we were able to take it to the Pro shop, and they said they’d fix it up quickly. Emily made lunch—vegetable and tofu curry—which I was worried Matt would hate. To everyone’s surprise, he gobbled it up! He even had seconds! Probably the biggest surprise of the weekend. Matt and I worked on homework for a few hours that afternoon, and we went to dinner at 10˚ South with the rest of my family. We ordered a bunch of delicious appetizers, and Matt and my dad both loved their bison. That night we did something unusual- we saw a movie that started at 10 PM! My sisters and I had been dying to see the new Beauty and the Beast, so the girls + my mom went to Phipps and enjoyed some candy and the movie. It was so good! My dad and Matt stayed behind and watched an action movie. They missed out!

I spent way too long making these programs, but it was way more fun than homework!

Bon Glaze for baptism morning! 

Saturday- Woke up to lots of rain on Saturday morning. I was so nervous! I wanted everything to go well. Once Matt woke up, we drove to Bon Glaze, which I had never tried before. I was not disappointed! They were delicious. We brought home a dozen for the family to have before the baptism started. I then spent a lot of time getting ready, especially given that my hair was going to get wet anyway. Matt, Emily, and I left for the church building around 10:25, and the rest of the family was not far behind. Jared and Holly, as well as President and Sister Johnson, were already there. It was so good to see some familiar faces. I also met a member of the Stake Presidency as well as the Bishopric. I was grateful that anyone had come! When my family got there, we took a bunch of pictures, even though my mom’s nice camera wasn’t working, which was a bummer. I then got changed into my white dress, and Matt changed into his all-white ensemble. He looked like Mr. Clean. We took a few more pictures, and then it was time for it to start! Luckily Jared had gotten to the building early and did an overhaul on the whole room. He changed the set up of the chairs and made sure there was a picture of Christ on an easel in the front of the room. We started by singing Our Savior’s Love, with a really sweet sister missionary playing the piano. Holly gave a beautiful opening prayer. Jared gave a wonderful talk on baptism and the Holy Ghost, and the Spirit was so strong. Once he was done, I went through the door in the bathroom to get to the font! It looked inviting. However, when Matt and I first stepped in, we exchanged a panicked look because the water was SO HOT. I thought I was going to get scalded! Luckily, the water became more bearable after a few seconds, and I wasn’t about to let something get in the way. Matt performed the baptism, and when I came up, I felt so happy, but I didn’t know what to say as I looked out at my family’s faces sitting right there in the front row. So, for whatever reason, I said “surprise!” and did a little pose. Pretty embarrassing. I then trudged out of the font, my wet dress feeling really heavy. I wanted to change as fast as possible, but I was just soaked! I had brought a towel from home, but even getting off all of my wet clothes was a struggle. I pulled on my dry clothes and tried to brush out my wet hair, but it was sticking to my head and didn’t want to cooperate. Luckily, my makeup had stayed pretty intact, so that was one less thing to worry about! Oh, and I was also kind of freaking out because I had to speak as soon as I got back out there. I tried several times in the days leading up to the baptism to prepare something, but I couldn’t find the right things to say. I finally made my way out there, my hair in a sad braid and still dripping. President Johnson introduced me, and then it was my turn to speak! I was overcome with emotion. A year ago, I NEVER would have believed that my family would be sitting where they were, not just enduring the service but with smiles on their faces. My mom told me before the service that she was going to cry when I spoke. Standing there, looking at my family, at Jared and Holly, and at Matt, I felt such exquisite love. They were the reason I wanted to get baptized. The reason I needed to get baptized. “I need to be with those people forever”, is the thought that kept going through my head. I don’t remember everything I said, and I know that I was guided by the Holy Ghost. Both of my parents were teary as I bore my testimony of the restored gospel, and of Heavenly Father’s love for His children. I spoke of the Atonement and Christlike attributes I see in each member of my family. I am so glad I spoke, and I hope that it made an impact on anyone who heard it. President Johnson shared some thoughts after that and did a wonderful job. His mastery of the scriptures is amazing. I can’t wait until I get to the point where scriptures run through my mind and I can always think of a scripture for the situation at hand. We finished by singing the song Redeemer of Israel, and Sister Johnson offered a beautiful prayer. I chose the songs that I did because of my younger sisters. When I was in high school, I didn’t attend church. I learned about the church when I was 14, read the Book of Mormon, knew it was true, but my parents didn’t want me to attend church or make any major decisions until I was at least 18. Even when I was 18, it took over a year and a half of going to church every week, praying, and talking with them to get to the point where I could get baptized. Anyways, in high school, I would listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir all of the time. I played in on the drive to school for my sisters, who dubbed it “MoTab Monday”. It quickly became a tradition, and when it came time to pick my baptism hymns, I tried to pick some of their (and my) favorites. They were pretty excited when they saw the hymns on the program!! After it was over, we spent almost 30 minutes mingling with the people who were there. My sisters thought one of the missionaries was cute, and I saw them chatting him up. Amanda also kindly braided my hair, fixing the mess I had made when I was hastily changing. She is amazing at braiding hair and whipped out a waterfall, twist, Dutch braid type thing in about 10 minutes. It looked MUCH better than the mess I had made! We mingled for a while after the baptism was over. It was good to talk to everyone who had come. I was starting to get pretty hungry, and I was excited for a nice big lunch. When we all finally made our way outside, we had a powwow about the next step. It was decided that we would go to the country club and eat lunch there. We took our three separate cars, and despite a little wrong turn at the beginning, we made it there in about 10 minutes. The club was practically deserted. They were setting up for some big event that night, and I was able to show Matt where my graduation party was held back in 2015. We were the only people eating in the casual dining room, which was so nice. My dad picked Jared’s brain about the military, and I think he really enjoyed having another male at the table (besides Matt…since he sees him all the time). We enjoyed a leisurely lunch, and even ordered some dessert! Jared and Holly gave me the most beautiful picture of Christ that I will cherish forever. By the time we left the club, the weather had turned really beautiful. Emily was due at the airport in a few hours, but we made the decision to play more tennis and make her take an Uber to the airport (sorry Em!). Matt and Madeline played on a team “The Manatees” vs. me and my mom who called ourselves “The Dream Team”. We each won a set! It was really fun and slightly competitive. Matt and my mom were definitely the two better players, and their rallies would last forever. Madeline and I were there to make things more even, clearly. After tennis, we went home and showered/changed for dinner. We went to Verasono’s, and ate delicious thin crust pizza and penne a la vodka. Everything was delicious!! It is one of our favorite places to go, and the pizza really tastes like it's from Italy. When we went home, we watched Arrival in the movie room. We loved it! We spent a while discussing it after the movie. I thought it was really well done. It was thought-provoking and suspenseful without being scary or gory. Highly recommend. All in all, Saturday was one of the best days of my entire life. I couldn’t stop smiling all day. Being surrounded by the people I love the most, doing something I’d wanted for almost 5 years!!

I love them I love them I love them.

My best friends in the whole world. 

Matt was mostly excited my dad lent him a Thomas Pink tie. 

My hair after Amanda rescued it :) 

Sunday: Matt and I went to 9 am sacrament meeting, but deuced out after that. We wanted to spend as much time with my family as possible before we had to head back to school. At home, I made blondies and we worked on some homework on the porch. We ate my mom’s delicious spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and then made the journey home. On the way home, we talked to Matt’s sister Emily on the phone for a while, and then to his parents for over an hour. I was so happy that they were going to drive to Nashville the next weekend for my confirmation. The whole drive home Matt and I kept saying how it was the best weekend ever, and how much we were dreading the week ahead. I had forgotten all about tests and exams and school stress.

The only picture I have from my confirmation... 

My first temple recommend! Notice my Chinese history work underneath... had a huge exam the next day.

Sunday 3/26: I don’t have many pictures from this day, which I’m pretty bummed about. Matt’s wonderful parents + Jared and Holly drove down to Nashville for my confirmation. We also had a special musical sacrament meeting, which was awesome. Matt gave the most amazing blessing, and I felt such an overwhelming sense of peace when he gave me the gift of the Holy Ghost. Even President Watson, our stake president, came to stand in the circle. He told Elder Klebingat (of the First Quorum of the Seventy) that I was baptized, and his first response was “get her to the temple!” When I met him in December, he told me he wanted a picture of me all in white, so we emailed him some pictures from the big day. I also had an interview for my limited-use temple recommend on Sunday—I wanted to be able to go ASAP! As luck would have it, we had a ward baptism night that Tuesday and I was able to go! It was an amazing and spiritual experience, and I can’t wait to go again. I am so grateful for the Gospel, my amazing family, Matt and his family, and everyone else who inspired and supported me on my journey to becoming a member of Christ’s church.