Last Sunday (9 December 2007) Patricia was baptized!!! We decided to have the baptismal service before church at noon, so that she could be confirmed on the same day. She leaves for Brazil on Saturday, so she wanted be baptized and confirmed before she left for the holidays. She was so excited to be baptized last week. I skipped my morning meetings, so that Patricia and I could go to church together. It turns out that I needed every bit of the morning to get ready. On my mission I was always nervous before baptisms but not like I was for this baptism. I wanted make sure that everything was ready. I called the missionaries several times to make sure that the font was filling properly. Meanwhile I was trying to finish everything including my talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I had already looked up some scriptures on the talk, but I had not yet prepared what I was going to say. The fact that it was Sunday morning and I had not finished my talk disturbed me along with the fact that I was bumbling everything else. I spilled something on my white shirt, which required washing. I did not have time to dry it, so I used the iron to dry it more quickly. Then I got my pants dirty. Then I made a mess of an ironing job that Patricia fixed. The entire time Patricia was calm and laughing at me for being so anxious. Finally we showed up at the church 15 minutes before the service started, which was just enough time to dress in our whites and start the meeting.
The missionaries and members had prepared everything. About 30-35 people were there, which is very good considering that it was an hour before church. The 2nd counselor in the Elder's Quorum presidency conducted. He was only a member for 5 months before he was called be part of the EQP 7 months ago. He was so excited to conduct. The talk on baptism was given by Jorge Oliveira, a fellow Brazilian and new member. He was quite emotional when talking about his baptism and the importance of the ordinance. I gave the talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost. I told them some experiences that Patricia had. For example, when she told me that she wanted to be baptized, I asked her why. She said that she had felt the Spirit of God too many times during this year to deny that God has actively guided her to the church. She then said that Spirit that she has felt at times, she wants to have with her always. I just thought that you could not get a better answer than that for why you should be baptized. Of course, I got emotional during my talk. After the baptism the Relief Society welcomed Patricia to the Relief Society and told her to get ready because she would receive a calling as soon as she returns from Brazil.
My branch president (President Beck) welcomed her to the branch. He, too, was rather emotional, which was unexpected because he is not a real emotional person. He gave a really special message. He first had her stand next to him and asked all the members who were converts to raise their hand. About 50% of the audience raised their hands. He then told her that she was not alone and 50% of the church entered the church like she did. He told that in the church we take little children and teach them how to feel and recognize the Spirit. We take youth and help them recognize and obey the promptings of the Spirit. We help those who felt the Spirit once but due to sin and neglect do not feel it anymore and help them feel it again. We take those that have never felt the Spirit, help them feel it in their lives. He said that that was the purpose of the church. I thought that was a succinct example of what we do in the church. Without the Spirit everything we work for in the church is in vain. He then said that he was so happy at this baptism because she was dating me. The branch president and I have worked closely together because I am the clerk for the past 2 years. He told Patricia that I was very special to him and had a great help to him as branch president. He said that he was so happy that she was in my life. I was quite touched.
Instead of a closing hymn, we had a special number. I was not aware that the program had changed to add a special musical number. Several branch members and 2 nonmember brothers of a member sang a hymn in Portuguese. They did an excellent job, especially the two nonmembers. I later found out that the two nonmembers were Brazilian musicians. They saw the music for the first time a few minutes before singing it. It was a very special baptism.
Immediately afterwards in sacrament meeting I confirmed her. Then President Beck asked her to bear her testimony. She did an excellent job, and afterward she told that she felt so much peace that she was not even nervous. I was shocked that she accepted. She had asked me several times during the week if she was going to have to speak. She was scared to death that she would have to speak during the service. I told her that it was not necessary, but she could if she wanted to. She also asked me if she would have to pray in church, and I said that most definitely she would be asked to pray at some point. In Relief Society they asked her to pray. After church she remarked that she did not expect that she would be asked to speak and pray so quickly. Well welcome to the church.
In the end every man that had a part in the program was emotional, and none of the women were. That was rather strange.
After church we had a Christmas dinner and then a musical presentation of the Living Christ document. The branch did a really good job. They were not the best singers in the world, but you could feel their testimony in what they sang. People sang in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, and Korean. Then the two nonmember Brazilian brothers got up and one sang while the other played the piano. They preformed "I heard him come" by Afterglow. They practiced it for the first time 1 hour before. The brother who sang knows some English, but the other brother does not. They had never heard how the song was usually sung, so they performed it like they wanted to. I turned out really nice. I do not understand how they could practice a brand new song in a foreign language for little over an hour and perform so well. Also they arrived from Brazil Saturday night at 11pm and stay up talking to their sister all night. I guess that is the definition of talent. It was such a good day that they are now very interested in the church.
Everyone is so friendly to Patricia, and she already has several friends including a good friend name Patricia!
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