baptism and blessing

april 11th was a very special day for our family. it was the day that our oldest daughter, nani, was baptized and our youngest daughter, mahealani, was given a name and a blessing. it was a wonderful "family" day. because nani was the only child being baptized from our ward, we were able to combine the baby blessing with the baptism. it was a very unique situation that we had a child old enough to be baptized just as a new member of the family was born!

 

nani was able to pick all of the speakers and the songs and i made the programs. on the front of the program we had this picture of the two girls:

and written under it was the fourth article of faith:

"We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

 

then on the inside of the program we had this picture:

with this scripture from 3 nephi 27:20:

“…I say unto you, ye must repent, and become as a little child, and be baptized in my name…”

 

my mom and dad flew in from california to share in the special day, as well as mitch's parent's who drove over from arizona. we also had mitch's sister and her family and his grandma, "grandma great" in attendance! many of nani's friends and their families were also there!

 

nani asked mitch to give a talk on baptism which he did a wonderful job on! because his family was in attendance and none of them are members he talked about the first principles and ordinances of the gospel as found in the fourth article of faith above. he talked about what faith is and why it is important, about repentance and the steps to true repentance and forgiveness. then, he spoke about how Jesus Christ was baptized by immersion as an example for all of us to follow.

 

next, nani wanted some of her friends and their moms to sing "if the Savior stood beside me".

then, nani was baptized.

 

after her baptism, nani had asked my dad to give a talk on the holy ghost. my dad is a great speaker and did a perfect job on his talk. when he was preparing it he asked how long he needed to speak. i told him about 5 min. he had timed himself several times and said that he only had 3 minutes. then my mom said, "bert, did you allow time for crying? that will add an extra minute or so!" we all laughed! but sure enough, he did add some extra time for crying and it was the perfect length!

 

after nani was confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and given the gift of the Holy Ghost mahealani decided to wake up from her nap...and she was hungry...and, of course it was almost time for her to be blessed. so, i found an empty room and gave her some "fast food" so she wouldn't scream through the baby blessing. it worked!

 

the blessing was lovely. my favorite part, if we are allowed to have favorite parts of a blessing, was when mitch spoke of her name. he mentioned that the meaning of her first name (night of the full moon) was similar to mine (moon goddess) and as such she was named after me. he blessed her to know that because of this she should strive to develop a strong bond with me and should turn to me for counsel throughout her life. he also spoke of her middle name (surrounded by love) that she may always know of the love that her family has for her.

 

i am so glad that we were able to have both the baptism and the blessing together. it was such a special time for our family! i am so pleased with nani and her preparations for this day. she truly has demonstrated that she is ready to be baptized and to take upon her the name of Jesus Christ. she has such a sweet and kind spirit about her. she serves her sisters and her friends willingly, she loves the Savior and desires to follow Him in righteousness. she has a testimony and knows that this is Christ's church and is so happy to be a member of it! and i still can't believe that our first baby is old enough to be baptized!

 

there were a lot of pictures that wished i had gotten, but was to busy to remember to take. i did manage to get my dad to snap a quick family photo...or two:

this first photo was a result of this next photo:

we had to do something to get kawena to look at the camera and not pout. apparently, whatever tutu lady did worked!