Saturday, I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing a friend baptized. A few weeks ago the missionaries had asked me to go with them to meet with this sweet lady. She wanted to talk to a woman, and so I went and talked with her about some of her fears. She obviously has had some tough things in her life and as much as she wanted to get baptized she was fearful. One, of getting in the water and more importantly going under the water, and two...having a man baptize her. We talked and she was so determined to work on overcoming her fears because she wanted so badly to be baptized. She only wanted a few people at the baptism. I came and played the piano and had a wonderful experience. When she first got in it was cold and she was nervous and when the elder first went to baptize her she just stiffened up and couldn't go under and was just too frightened. So she got out of the water. Knowing her I almost expected for her to just say... I can't do this, I quit. But she talked to the missionary and to the bishop, (a wonderful man), and then also to another sister who had been baptized recently and who has a special connection with her. She went back in the water and she was able to be baptized. She did it in a little unconventional way. She knelt down and sort of put her head forward, but it was beautiful. As I sat and thought about her decision to be baptized and how she knew she had this huge, terrible fear of the water... this huge obstacle in her way... I couldn't help but think of the obstacles that are in my life. Am I willing to face them head on and to push ahead, even though it's hard ... so that I can become a better person... So I can work to overcome them and be closer to my Heavenly Father? Or do I run from them or push them in the background and just refuse to deal with them? I learned a lot in that short hour. I feel very blessed and inspired to have been there.




As I left I had to race over to an evening session of stake conference that we were to attend. Mark was there already and I just sat in the back til the intermediate hymn. It was also an inspiring meeting. The stake president talked about obedience. He was so articulate and had obviously given much thought to his comments. He talked a lot about how our agency is destroyed when we succumb to temptation. Two comments to ponder that are in my notes are...1-Never mistake temptation for opportunity. 2- Our obedience is the collaterol of our faith.