Welcome to the Becker Bear Den! : Avery's Baptism

Today was my sweet niece Avery's Baptism and it went really well including some comedic moments I want to remember:

First from the mouths of babes:

Today while giving the baptism talk at my niece Avery’s baptism, I was talking about the scenario of what if someone stole a candy bar from the store, how could they make things right. One little boy replied, “ you could return it.” Which was a great answer. But then I asked but what if you had eaten the candy bar. The answer I was looking for was that you could earn some money to pay for it. Instead this was the answer that came.

“Well you could cough it up!” I was dying! I guess I asked for it!

Another funny answer was when I asked the Articles of Faith Trivia Question: "How many years old are the Articles of Faith? The first answer I received was "Alot", the second answer I received was "a billion, trillion, infinity years." One girl did guess 200 years so she became the winner since she was the closest.

Then I had asked Bobby, Bryce, and Chase to read quotes for me during my talk and Chase somehow in five minutes completely lost his.

Then Breanne played a beautiful song from her speaker called "He Knows Me". During the song her phone just stopped playing the song out of nowhere and she had to scramble to get it back working.

Then my Dad gave a talk and wanted to bring back Cindy the Citrus Warrior (the clementine I had drawn a crazy face on, which btw when I first brought it out the kids were laughing so hard at it. ) I had put it out in the hallway so Cole ran out and had to bring it back in. Then my dad took over my leftover smarties to give away to the kids. Then he had this poor little kid, like way little, read this long hard scripture that went on for five minutes.

When Avery opened her gift from me depicted below I asked her how it felt to be baptized. She said she did feel different with a big smile on her face after she came up out of the water. And she was so radiant the rest of the time I was with her.

At dinner Bryce made my day and said he had dibs to sit next to Aunt Kara. Then of course I spilled on myself and he told me it was a rookie mistake that I didn't have my napkin on my lap.

It was such a wonderful day. As I drove home, I felt so happy and blessed to have such a wonderful family and to have gotten to spend this special time with them. It was just sad and CoCo and Henry couldn't be with us.

Love this niece of mine! So grateful to have been apart of her special day!

Today, my sweet niece Avery is getting baptized and I get to give the talk on Baptism! This is what I have prepared.

I have prepared to do two object lessons. The first is in reference to finding the light of Christ in the scriptures. I found this awesome light disguised as a book that I will have hidden in my own scriptures and at the right time will open my scriptures to reveal the light inside. That I think will be a pretty cool wow moment. Then I have attached a laminated picture of the Savior to the front and a laminated letter to the back to my niece Avery and will give to her as a gift after her baptism. I have included photos of these items at the end of this post.

I also purchased from Deseret Book bookmarks that have the articles of faith on them to give out to all of the kids and a pocket sized picture of the Lead Kindly Light picture to give to all of the kids. I anticipate there to be 8-10 kids.

The second object lesson is referred below as Cindy the Citrus Warrior. I will have a pitcher filled half with water and put in an orange with a girly face drawn on. Then as we talk about the mistakes she makes after baptism will peel the skin of the orange away. When I drop it into the water, it then will sink and we will talk about repentance so that she can float again. In testing this, I tried clementine's and oranges and strangely could not get the clementine's to sink, so it has to be an orange. This idea came from a New Beginnings I think probably over ten years ago that I remembered another leader doing. I even messaged her today to thank her for the idea. It's funny the things that stand out to you over the years.

Baptism Talk for Avery Sunday, April 24, 2022

Today I want to start with some trivia about the Articles of Faith.

By raising of your hand:

Who can tell me how many Articles of Faith there are? 13

Who can tell me who was inspired to write the Articles of Faith? The Prophet Joseph Smith

Who can tell me what book of scripture the Articles of Faith are found in? Pearl of Great Price

If someone asked you what are the Articles of Faith, what could you tell them? They are the basic principles that we, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints believe in. Our Beliefs

Who can tell me how many years ago they were written? We will play price is right rules- closest without going over wins. 180 years

Because you are all smart, you all get smarties!

Today I want to focus on the 4^th article of Faith.

It starts

We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are:

Ok those were some big words. Another word for principle is truth or foundation of truth

So we believe that the first principle or truth is to have First have Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ

Alma from the book of Mormon teaches us that Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, which are true.

So how in the world do we do that? How can we develop Faith in Jesus Christ when we can’t see him?

Let’s start with the beginning of our earth life.

When we all came to this Earth we obtained a body and in that body is our Spirit and in that Spirit is the Light of Christ. Everyone in this world was born with this Light of Christ.

Will someone read quote 1:

The Light of Christ is the divine energy, power, or influence that proceeds from God through Christ and gives life and light to all things. The Light of Christ influences people for good and prepares them to receive the Holy Ghost. One manifestation of the Light of Christ is what we call a conscience.

Someone read quote 2:

The Light of Christ should not be confused with the Holy Ghost. It is not a personage, as the Holy Ghost is. Its influence leads people to find the true gospel, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (see John 12:46; Alma 26:14–15).

Someone read quote 3:

Conscience is a manifestation of the Light of Christ, enabling us to judge good from evil. The prophet Mormon taught: “The Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God. Moroni 7:16

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/light-of-christ?lang=eng

So the next question is where can we learn about the Light of this World who is our Savior Jesus Christ?

These are my scriptures that I have had since my baptism day when I turned 8 years old. And you know what I have discovered over the years. The more and more I read them, study them, and ponder them, I am able to find the light of Christ through its pages. And get to know him personally.

So I want you to always remember that you gain Faith in Jesus Christ through your scriptures.

Now let’s return to our 4^th article of faith

The Second Principle or ordinance of the gospel is Repentance. This is when we realize we have done something wrong, and need to ask sometimes others and our Heavenly Father for forgiveness. The ability to be forgiven is all because of the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. Because he atoned for our signs and died for us, we can become clean and our sins and mistakes are washed away.

Another word for Repentance I really like is change. Repentance is the opportunity to change to become more like our Savior and Heavenly Father so that we will feel worthy to live with them again one day

Third item of the 4^th article of Faith is, Baptism by Immersion for the Remission of Sins

Baptism is a sacred ordinance because it is a ceremony performed by someone with priesthood authority.

What does immersion mean? Being completely covered by water

And remission of sins means that we will be cleansed of any mistakes we have made in our life thus far.

So what happens if someone never learns about the gospel of Jesus Christ in this life and goes to heaven without ever being baptized? Do they never get a chance to become clean?

No, that is why we have temples so that we can go be baptized for them and they can choose to accept that baptism in Heaven.

What’s really special about Baptism, because it is a sacred ordinance, is that it is the first time in our lives that we make a two way promise with our Heavenly Father known as a covenant.

When we are baptized we promise or covenant to do three things.

To take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and always remember him.

To keep his commandments

And to love and serve others

What does that mean to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ? It means to be an example of him in all we do and say. To be kind and loving like he was and to a good representative as one of his disciples. And to share his wonderful gospel with others.

And because baptism is a two way promise, Heavenly Father promised us to forgive us of our sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ, and gives us the gift of the Holy Ghost.

I want to do one last activity.

Meet Cindy our Citrus Warrior. Cindy was just baptized. She is happy and clean and light- floating through life.

But then because she is living on this earth, is here to learn, she makes some mistakes. Maybe she lied to her parents, or cheated on a test, or was mean to her brothers and sisters.

Cindy the Citrus Warrior, starts to feel heavier and starts to carry the burden of guilt because she knows she has disobeyed the commandments.

Is all lost? How can Cindy become light again?

She can repent. She can tell her parents the truth, she can come clean to her teacher, she can apologize to her brothers and sisters and then she can pray to Heavenly Father for forgiveness.