WSB

(Baptized in June 2008 in Utah, USA)

WSB II wanted to be baptized on his birthday. He also wanted to be baptized in Lake Mary, in Brighton, Utah, which was named by his namesake. It's an alpine lake, but with a birthday in June, we thought it should be doable.

So we gathered the family and made the hike.

Lake Mary 6/15/08.
The ice on the lake was two feet thick, and this little bit at the edge was the only unfrozen part

W contemplates

Opening remarks from dad

Dad and Uncle J make plans--Dad will climb in and J will lift W out to him to reduce W's time in the freezing water.

W is too cold

We remind him that Jesus was baptized outside in a river.
Alma and Joseph Smith were baptized outside.
We tell him this is the coolest baptism ever.
Mom points out that WSB I was baptized outside in Scotland in February, and that was surely colder than Utah in June!

Second (and third) tries: Dad freezes, W won't go in past his toes
So we go home

The not-freezing alternative: Aunt S's hot tub back home

Little brother looks on
(and tests out the water for himself...hmm, 99 vs 39 degrees)

A freshly baptized (and much happier) W

Baptism can happen anywhere, so long as the right authority is present.

Uncle RKP

(verbatim from uncle RKP, baptized in 1992 in Indiana, USA)

What I remember the best from my baptism is the talk that my Grandpa gave about the Holy Ghost. He held up a sign that said something like, "The gift of the Holy Ghost - $1,000", and he emphasized the fact that the Holy Ghost cannot be purchased and is priceless.

We have to be baptized and worthy and then we can have the priceless gift of the Holy Ghost.

Aunt KBP

(verbatim from Aunt KBP, baptized February 2, 1991, Sumner Washington, USA)


When we got to the church building someone had already filled the font. I snuck in and down the stairs and felt the water with my finger. I thought it felt freezing, but I thought “what do I know? I’m just a kid” so I didn’t say anything. There were three other kids getting baptized the same night as I—two girls and a boy. A few minutes after I had tested the water, the boy’s mom also went down and felt the water. “It’s freezing!” she exclaimed to the other moms in the bathroom. I guess I was right. But it was too late to drain it and start again!

Mommy made a beautiful baptism dress for me, but I didn’t wear it until after I got baptized. I chose to wear all of my own clothing to get baptized: my own white t-shirt, my own white pants, and, of course, white underwear. The other girls wore white dresses, and when they got in the water their dresses floated up and they had to be re-baptized to be fully immersed. When I got baptized I tucked my braid in my t-shirt and I only had to get dunked one time in the freezing water!

4th Great Grandfather WSB

(4th Great Grandfather William Stewart/Stuart Brighton--baptized at age 14, in 1844 in Scotland)

From his journal:

"It was at a place called Meadhead that I first heard the name Latter-day Saints, but I learned nothing of the doctrine of the Church until I moved from that place to Airdrie where I went to work in Gartlee.
"I had been in Airdrie some time when I heard a conversation between two men at my work concerning religion. One was a Latter-day Saint, and thus, I became acquainted with Peter Moffet. He invited me to come to a meeting, which I did, and I heard him preach on the first principles. I believed his testimony that angels had visited the earth again. When I returned home I told my father what Brother Moffet had said, referring him to some passages of scripture. A few days later my father was baptized. I was unwell that night, but it was only a short time later, in February 1844, that I was baptized by Brother Peter Moffet. [William was 14 years old at the time of his baptism. He was confirmed 20 February 1844.]
"I was rebaptized on the 16th of January 1849 in Holytown by my father (a common practice in the early Church) and confirmed on the 21st by William Livingston, President of the Branch of the Church there. I subscribed 5 shillings to help clear a sum of debt owed by the Branch at the time I joined the Church."


That is the end of William's baptism story, but because of his being baptized, the rest of his life took a different path than it otherwise would have, so I am including a few more entries from his journal over the next years...
He was married in December 1850 to Catherine Bow, and a year later their daughter Mary was born.
In late 1854 they set sail to emigrate to the United States. They sailed from Glasgow to Liverpool, where they had to wait around for over two weeks for the weather. Once they finally left Liverpool many of the passengers were sick. William was sick for 7 days, his wife was sick for longer.

"At 1 o'clock on the 31st [of December] my child Mary [age 2years and 2weeks] departed this life and Brother Gibson's child, Elizabeth, died at 11 o'clock on the 29th. Both of the children were sewed up in a bag and let into the sea at 2 o'clock--a very little time after they died. I may say that no one could know my feelings upon that occasion except a father. When I looked on the little ones laid side by side and then sewed up in a bag to be put into the sea...my heart was pained to see them thrown in the sea, though I look forward to the day when the sea will give up its dead.
"My wife was very bad at the time and continued very bad and weak for the want of food. I went to the Captain and asked if he would sell a little food for a sick person and he said, "Why the Devil sir, I have no food for any one." So I came away from him a little sorrowful on account of the weakness of my wife...but she has got over it and is not getting strong again and my daughter Jennet is now very well and I recognize in the goodness of the Lord to me and family while there has been a great deal of death on board the ship, and in my estimation a great deal of unbecoming conduct with a number of the people."

Once the arrived in New Orleans, William worked for a few years to earn money to take his family out to Salt Lake City.

"I started to go to Salt Lake on the 25th of May 1857. I and my family got on board a steamboat by the name of Edinburgh. We had a very unpleasant passage. We stuck several times on sand bars, and we had a bad set of deck hands.
"While we were stuck on a sand bar I was engaged to help unload the boat. The mate brought plenty of whiskey which the men partook of freely and which soon made them drunk. After we commenced to unload the boat, they began to impose on me by placing too much of a load on my shoulder, which I refused to take, but they still persisted. I then went to the mate and told him that I was going to stop for I would not kill myself for to please a set of drunk men, which some of the men heard, and as I went back one of them came at me with a club and struck me on the shoulders and then on the arm and lamed me right off. My arm was broken. During the night I thought if there was a devil that it was on board a steam boat with a drunk crew, for they were as mean a set of men as the Devil could let come from his domain.
"When I got to Florence I thought I was delivered from Hell and the Devil. I with my family did praise the Lord for our deliverance. I remained in Florence a few days waiting for the saints coming from Iowa. I started from Florence on the 27th June 1857 to pull a hand cart a thousand miles with my wife and two children. I got along pretty well on the plains though it was with hard pulling but thanks be to the Lord who gave me strength to overcome it all and with my family and my sister, Ann, landed safe in Great Salt Lake City on the 11 September 1857 after traveling 12 weeks."

4th Great Grandfather WMB "I found the gold I was looking for"

(4th great grandfather William Morley Black, baptized in 1849 in Salt Lake Utah USA)


William Morley Black, at age 22, caught gold fever to the degree that he resigned from being sheriff of Cuba, Illinois, and in the spring of 1849 and went west to get rich. He traveled with a joint stock company, meaning that each man signed over all his things to the company--if a man left the group, he would forfeit (lose) everything he had put in--money, animals, or goods.
William entered the Salt Lake Valley on 24 July, 1849, two years to the day after the first group of Saints had entered the Valley. There to his surprise he found a well organized city, and the people gathered for a Pioneer Day celebration.

From his journal:

"At first I thought we had lost our reckoning and that this was the Sabbath day, but this could not be as the Mormons were an unchristian lawless sect and doubtless paid no heed to the Sabbath."
He further notes that he ate dinner with a friendly Mormon family and was influenced by the blessing on the food.
"This was the first time in my life that I had heard a blessing asked on our daily food and this prayer fell from the lips of an uncultured Mormon.
"Toward evening I met another Mormon, a Mr. William Wordsworth . . . To my surprise Mr. Wordsworth invited us to attend their church services the next day. I accepted the invitation and he promised to call for me. Sunday, July 25, 1849 is the day ever to be remembered by me. Mr. Wordsworth called early and after chatting ten or fifteen minutes with members of our company and again extending an invitation to us all to attend their church, he and I walked to the bowery. We secured seats near the front of the congregation. On the west was a raised platform of lumber on which were seated some twenty of their leading Elders, including Brigham Young. Under the shade of the bowery seated on neatly made slab benches were the choir and congregation. Services opened with singing and prayer, and the sacrament (bread and water) of the Lord's supper was blessed and passed to all the people. Then a man of noble, princely bearing addressed the meeting. As he arose Mr. Wordsworth said, 'That is Apostle John Taylor, one of the two men who were with our Prophet and Patriarch when they were martyred in Carthage jail.' The word 'Apostle' thrilled me, and the sermon, powerful, and testimony that followed filled my soul with a joy and satisfaction that I never felt before, and I said to Mr. W., "'If that is Mormonism then I am a Mormon. How can I become a member of your church?'
"'By baptism,' he answered.
"'I am ready for the ordinance.'
"He replied 'Do not be in a hurry. Stay here and get acquainted with our people. Study more fully the principles of the gospel. Then if you wish to cast your lot with us it will be a pleasure to me to baptize you.' That night I slept but little, I was too happy to sleep. A revelation had come to me and its light filled my soul. My desire for gold was swept away. I had found the Pearl of Great Price, and I resolved to purchase it, let it cost what it would.
"After a few days rest the company pushed on for California, but another man drove my team. I gave them my all, and in exchange received Baptism at the hands of Levi Jackman. I had lost the world and become a Mormon. 'He that putteth his hand to the plow and turneth back, is not worthy of me.'"

William had a wife and two children back home in Illinois. Eventually they came out to Utah with him, but did not join the church. Over time, William was plurally married to a total of 5 wives, of which we are decended from the second. He moved a dozen times over the subsequent years, building gristmills in many developing towns and helping them get up and running before moving to the next place. He is buried in Blanding, Utah.

Years later, William would record in his journal
"I found the gold I was looking for"
That phrase is carved on his tombstone.

Grandma AJM

(verbatim from Grandma AJM--baptized in 1946 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)



When I was baptized, none of our church buildings had a baptismal font. On a Saturday morning a few months after my eighth birthday, we went to temple square. In the basement of the tabernacle there was a baptismal font and children came from all over the valley to be baptized there. The first time my father baptized me, my foot flew up and my toe came out of the water. I was afraid of going under the water but the second time everything went all right and I was totally immersed and became a member of the Church.

I hope your baptism day is special for you.

Grandma CMB

(verbatim from Grandma CMB--baptized in 1967, Nevada, USA)

I don't remember much, so I had to check out the facts with my parents :o)

I was baptized in Carson City, Nevada, after we had lived there almost a year. We had spent most of that time building a new ward building, and I was one of the first people baptized in the new font.
I was the first person my daddy ever baptized, because he had only joined the church a few years before.
I was baptized in the same dress that I had worn when our family was sealed in the temple. (I don't think we had the white jumpsuits that most people use now.)
I had to get dunked twice, because my hair floated up. It's hard to believe, because my hair was very short. But it was long enough to not get totally immersed!

Grandpa THM

(verbatim from Grandpa THM, baptized in 1965(?) Maryland, USA)

I was baptized at age 31. At the time Grandma AJM and I had been married for seven years and had three little girls---the oldest being your Grandma CMB. At the time we lived in Annapolis, Maryland. Our home teacher baptized me at a ward building in Baltimore Maryland (about 30 miles north of Annapolis). When we were driving to the baptism other members were passing us on the highway. Grandma said that maybe I should go a little faster so that we would be there on time. I told her that we needn't hurry because I was sure that they would wait if were late since I was the one being baptized. I had been going to church regularly with Grandma and our girls and so lots of people were surprised because they thought I had always been a member.
Grandson, you are making the right choice. The Lord will welcome you as a new member of the Church and so will your family.
Love,
Grandpa

Mom--JRB

(Mom, JRB, baptized July 1989, Bonney Lake, Washington, USA)

I was the oldest child, and we did not live near any extended family, so I had never seen a family members baptism. I knew that getting baptized was the right thing to do, but I was nervous about it because I knew it was a big commitment and responsibility. I was a little bit scared. Nobody ever asked me if I wanted to get baptized--they all just assumed that I would. I DID want to, but I remember being very upset that nobody ASKED.
The bishop had to interview me first to make sure that I was worthy and ready to be baptized. Our ward had a softball team, and the bishop was on his way to a game when he stopped by our house to interview me. I didn't know he was coming--I guess my parents arranged the interview. The bishop was in his softball uniform! He said he had never done an interview in his softball uniform before! He went with me into my daddy's den and he sat on the desk and I sat on the office chair and he asked me some questions and I answered them, and then he filled out a little piece of paper and said I could get baptized.
A few days before my baptism, I climbed up to the high platform of our playground--it was about 20 feet up and I was always a little bit scared up there, but I wanted some privacy. My dad came up there after me and we talked for a while about baptism. He told me that I would be the very first person he baptized (he never actually performed a baptism on his mission). He was really excited about it. He told me about his baptism and how it was really big and impersonal, and that he was glad that mine would not be like that.
I remember that I really wanted Grandma and Grandpa M to come, and they were planning on doing so, but then just a week or so before my baptism Grandpa had some kind of surgery, and was not able to sit in a car for the 6-hour drive to come. I was really sad about that.
My mom was in the Young Womens program, and she was helping her girls work on their personal progress goals. One project they worked on was helping a child prepare for baptism by creating a story for them--mom made a little book for me about a little girl who wanted to be a bunch of different animals--a fish to breathe under the water, an elephant so the confirming hands wouldn't be too heavy, and so on. I don't remember all of the story, but I do remember my mothers very cute drawings.
I was baptized on August 5, 1989. I was baptized with one other person--a boy named Trevor. We each picked one song, one person to pray, and one person to give a talk. I chose "Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice" which was my favorite hymn at the time. I asked my dad to give a talk about the Holy Ghost, and I remember that he told everyone that he was there to talk to me and Trevor, and that everyone else could listen if they wanted but really he was just talking to us two. I don't know who the person was that Trevor chose to speak about baptism, but I thought she was really boring.
Trevor was baptized first. When he was done, I walked down the steps into the water. It was warm, like a bathtub, and it felt really weird to be in warm water with clothes on. My dad tucked my long braid inside my shirt so that it would not float up in the water, and he put his foot over my toes so that they would not float up when he dunked me. When I was under the water, it felt like a really really long time. I know it was only a couple of seconds, but when I came back up the first thing I thought was just that I was really glad to be out! I was also glad to be done because I didn't have to be nervous anymore.
My mom had made me a pretty dress with white eyelet and little pink flowers to wear after my baptism. I had picked out the pattern and the fabrics. I remember mom helping me get my clothes changed and that my long curly hair was all tangled up from being wet and it was really hard to try to comb it out to put the bow in. I thought everybody must have been waiting a really long time for me to come back out.
Trevor was confirmed first as well, then it was my turn. Some of the men from his circle stayed to be in my circle too (men from the ward). One guy I did not know started to go back to his chair, but then dad invited him to come back up. He was one of Trevor's uncles, and my dad knew him and I guess he thought I knew him too, but I didn't, and I felt very weird about him being in the circle. Now when I try to remember who was in the circle, the only people I remember are my dad and that guy I didn't know!
The confirmation blessing is a special chance for God to give you messages about what you should do or how you should live. I remember one line from my blessing--it stood out to me at the time and I have never forgotten it: "Remember that self control is very important." So I have always tried to follow that.
On the way home we all stopped and got ice cream at Baskin Robbins. I had never been there and thought it was so neat that they had so many flavors. I got berry cheesecake, which is still one of my favorite flavors.

A Warning!

(A warning from Grandpa TBB, baptized in 1950 in Illinois, USA)

You really need to write down your thoughts about being baptized and save them in a safe place. Grandpa didn’t, and cannot remember one thing about his baptism. He is sure his father baptized him but has no information at all about the details.

Aunt HSBB

(Aunt H, baptized in August 1975, upstate New York, United States)
(story told by Grandpa)

When aunt H was baptized our church met in a public school. We had not yet built the chapel which became the stake center. As such we had no baptismal font. The closest one was in the Church chapel at Palmyra. So Aunt H was baptized in Palymra, not far from the home of Joseph Smith and the sacred grove. On the way home we stopped for ice cream which then became a family tradition for other family members baptisms. [Aunt H was the oldest child in the family]

Aunt LB

(verbatim from Aunt L, baptized on her 8th birthday in June 2002, Enumclaw, Washington, United States)

I guess my baptism was pretty normal at first, except that it was a busy summer. I hope I remember everything right, but the way I remember it, the next day Daddy left for Europe and I left to go to [visit relatives out of state], so a lot of nerves were running high. Like I said, it went pretty much normal except after I was confirmed I jumped up and left and then everyone started laughing, and I turned around and [my uncle] said "Aren't you going to shake my hand?" And then, bright red, I turned around and shook everyone's hand.

I do remember a few other details, like that I was the only one getting baptized that day, so I got to pick all the songs and speakers. We sang "I like to look for rainbows", and then [a primary teacher] talked and tried not to yawn.

There was also this old guy I did not know and had NOT INVITED came and I was upset, and I asked mom of we could make him leave and she just hopelessly said no, because he had found out. An then, this is what still makes me angry, HE JOINED IN THE CONFIRMATION WITHOUT BEING ASKED!!! He was just an old creepy guy, I still don't know who he was.

Grandpa JDB

(verbatim from Grandpa--baptized in July 1962, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA)

Back in the dark ages before dirt was invented, they built meeting houses without baptismal fonts. So when I turned 8 there was some discussion about how to baptize me. I wasn't quite skinny enough to fit into a drinking glass, but they were afraid that in a bathtub, I might slip down the drain. The irrigation ditch in front of the house was a possibility, but it was dry on my birthday. So we ended up going to the Tabernacle. Back in 1962, most of the children baptized in Salt Lake City went to the Tabernacle, where there was a nice font, and a nice chapel area with about 300 padded choir seats. I was one of 50 kids baptized on July 28. I came somewhere in the middle. I don't remember much, except that it lasted forever, and there were lots of people changing wet clothing. We went home and I got 2 presents, a color by number book and a firehouse covering for the card table. I spent the whole summer in the firehouse reading books on the front lawn. It was great. I don't think I ever finished all the birds in the color by number book. I was confirmed the next day in sacrament meeting, the first person ever to be confirmed in the newly formed Garden Heights North Ward.