Preparing My Son for Baptism and Documenting His Experiences with The Gospel of Jesus Christ

My oldest son, L, just got baptized this past weekend and became an official member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, then you are well aware that I’m passionate about record keeping. 

I wanted to write a post to share about a few of projects and goals that L and I have been working on throughout parts of this year, leading up to his baptism.     

 

Gospel Experiences Book

Back at the beginning of April, when I was thinking about how to make Easter more meaningful, I felt a stroke of inspiration.  I really feel like it was a prompting from the Holy Ghost.  I thought that it would be neat to gather excerpts from my kids’ journals and compile a book for each of them about their experiences with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

 

I thought that this would be a good way for them to be able to read about their past experiences that have been building blocks for their testimonies.  Record keeping is super important to me and I know that recording our spiritual experiences can really help to keep us strong in the gospel.  

At the beginning of each of their books, I put a copy of this letter that I wrote to them.  This explains why I made the book…

Landon, your birth was a very important step in your eternal progression. Before you came to this earth, you chose Jesus Christ. You were on God’s side during the war in heaven. You wanted to come to earth to get a body. You also knew that in order to reach your eternal potential, you needed to leave the presence of Heavenly Father. You needed to experience life on Earth where you would be given the opportunities to prove yourself and to choose to follow Jesus Christ. This life is a time of testing and trial and error and repentance. It is a time of growing and learning and changing and becoming. It is a time of joy. And that joy comes when we keep the commandments and follow Jesus Christ.

You are a child of God – one of His sons. He loves you more than you can ever imagine. He will always love you, no matter what you do or don’t do. Your worth to Him can and never will change. But because He loves you, He wants you return to live with Him. He wants you to grow and change and become what He wants you to be. He wants you to learn how to obey His commandments and to live His gospel. He wants you to receive your ordinances through Baptism, Confirmation, and Temple covenants. He wants you to have joy. And again, that joy comes through keeping the commandments and following Jesus Christ.

He know that you won’t always choose the right and that you will have moments when choose not to keep the commandments and you forget to follow Jesus Christ. But he provided a way to change and to get back on the right path. The only way to do this is through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ, you can change. You can become more. You can become better. You can become what Heavenly Father wants you to become. You have to do your part though. You have to turn to Him. You have to ask for His help. You have to choose to follow Him.

I felt inspired to put this book of gospel experiences together for you because I feel strongly that record keeping is a valuable tool, especially when it comes to building and maintaining a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the biggest tools, if not the biggest, that Satan will use against you is to try to get you to forget Jesus Christ, to forget your testimony, to forget the experiences that you have had with the gospel. If Satan can get you to forget those sacred and special experiences then he will have a strong grasp on you and will be able to lead you away from God and towards him.

But that is not what you want! That is not what you came to earth for. You didn’t come to earth to follow Satan. You came to earth to follow Jesus Christ and to allow the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change you and make you into the best version of you. You came to earth because you want to return to live with Heavenly Father. You want eternal life. Don’t forget that. Something that will help you so much with remembering is recording.

Since you were born, I have been keeping a record of some of your experiences with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have compiled them here in this book so that you can read them, look at the pictures, and remember the experiences that you have already had during this mortal journey of yours. You already have a strong testimony of Jesus Christ and His gospel. I want you to continue to build upon that testimony. I hope that you continue to have experiences with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Make holy habits (prayer, scripture study, temple attendance, church attendance, etc.) an important part of your daily life. When you have those experiences, record them, and add them to this book. You will find that as you record these experiences, and take the time to read the experiences that are recorded, you will become even more aware of the spiritual experiences in your life. You will grow even closer to Jesus Christ. This record will help you to remember Jesus Christ and keep the commandments. And there, you will find joy.

Love, Mom
 

I spent tons and tons of hours (pretty much all of my spare time) on this project, over a couple weeks, leading up to Easter.  I was really hoping that it would be done in time for Easter.  But, it just didn’t happen.  By Easter morning, I had L’s about 50% complete (everything was gathered, just not put together all the way.) and varying amounts completed for the other 3 kids’ books.

I decided to complete L’s book in time to give to him (for the second time) as a gift for his Baptism.  Although it’s already out of date now since I need to add his Baptism photos and experiences.  🙂

I decided to break everything up into sections…

  • Birth Story / Letter from mom
  • Experiences with the Priesthood
  • Experiences with Prayer
  • Experiences with the Scriptures
  • Experiences with the Holy Ghost
  • Experiences with the Temple
  • Experiences with Church
  • Experience with Gospel Stuff (Variety)
  • Experiences with Service
  • Experiences with Protection

I included excerpts from their journals, photos, drawings, etc.  Here are some sample pages from L’s…

 

 

 

One of his talks that he wrote for Primary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids have already enjoyed looking at their books and I am really excited to see how these little books grow over time. I’m excited for the kids to have this tangible evidence of their testimonies growing throughout their lives.

I also plan to continue to add to this book year after year as they have more and more gospel experiences.  I included some blank pages at the back for them to continue to record their spiritual experiences.  

Something that I have noticed over the past 7 months since starting this project is that I am more aware of the little gospel experiences that the kids are having, and I encourage them to write those down.  And also, I am more intentional about recognizing moments where I can turn an everyday experience into an opportunity to teach a gospel lesson to the kids.  My last post is a good example of this.

 

7 Years Old and Preparing for Baptism Book

About a month before L’s 8th birthday, I was looking up ideas for his Baptism day when I ran across a couple of book suggestions so I ordered the books. One was called Baptism: Entering the Path to Eternal Life by Chad Daybell and the other one was called Seven Years Old and Preparing for Baptism by George Durrant. 

The first book was useful for helping him to understand the importance of Baptism and what it means for his life.

His favorite one was the second book though. It was a compilation of short stories about experiences that happened to George Durrant (the author) when he was seven years old. These stories were divided up into 10 different gospel principles (Service, Purity, Honesty, Responsibility, Repentance, Generosity, Obedience, Prayerful, Loyalty, and Compassion) and in the book George talks about how having these specific experiences helped him to be more prepared to be baptized.

After we got this book, it became a nightly ritual for me to lay on L’s bed with him and P and read a chapter or two to them before bed. He loved hearing these stories, especially from a seven year old perspective.

After we were almost done reading the book I was thinking about how he has learned a lot of things during this past year of his life that are preparing him for baptism. I talked to him about this and we decided that it would be neat to write his own version of Seven Years Old and Preparing for Baptism. So that’s what we did.  We spent some time together thinking of gospel principles that he has been learning about over this past year of his life. And then we sat down and wrote down the stories and experiences together.  After we were finished writing the stories, L drew an illustration for each story.  I put everything together and got it printed through a company called Blurb

The book arrived in the mail a couple of days before L’s Baptism day.  It will be neat to have this book to be able to look back on this year of his life and think about all the ways that he was being prepared for baptism.

 

 

 

 

In a lot of ways, being 7 years old wasn’t easy for L. Especially as the oldest of 4 young kids. He started first grade right before he turned 7, so that year was filled (except for summer break) with full time school. It was his first year being away from home for most of the day, everyday. That was kind of hard…especially in regards to his relationship with me. The time that he did spend at home was normally the chaotic parts of the day – the morning rush, and the late afternoon crazies of everyone wanting my attention at once, and then dinner prep, dinner, and bedtime. L and I didn’t have the easiest time together that year.

On top of that, he spent the year learning and growing and changing. He started exerting more of his own willpower instead of just blindly obeying J and me. He became more opinionated. He started developing friendships at school. He started testing his limits with talking back to J and me and expressing his true thoughts and feelings (mostly through sighs and aggravated noises.)

Being in school all day for the first time tested his energy levels and gave him more mood swings.

For a while, I just didn’t really know why he had turned into a mini teenager when he turned 7 years old. But reading George Durrant’s book helped me to see and realize that the struggles during this past year were preparing him to be baptized. He had been learning valuable life lessons that will help him for the rest of his life – especially after baptism and making sacred covenants with God.

Throughout the year that he was seven, he had real experiences with obedience, service, brotherly kindness, work, agency, understanding gospel principles, putting on the armor of God, scriptures, focus, and stepping out of his comfort zone. These things weren’t always easy or fun to experience, and they often tried his relationship with me, but they were good for him and these experiences prepared him to be baptized, and for life after baptism.

So when I look the year of his life when he was seven, and I see it through that lens, I can see that that year was pretty perfect. Not always fun. Not always easy. But perfect for his eternal growth and development. I learned a lot of things that year as well. I sometimes felt guilty and mourned the relationship that we had together when he was younger (before my attention got spread so thin with having other kids). This year, when he was seven, was good for us though. It pressured both of us in areas of growth and development.

And although, in a lot of ways, I’m not necessarily proud of the mom that I was to him that year, and I feel regret and guilt for not being a better mom for him, I am realizing that things happen for a reason. And maybe all things really have been working together for his good and for my good and for our family’s good.

 

Reading the Book of Mormon Goal

Here is one of the stories that Landon and I wrote up for his 7 Years Old and Preparing for Baptism book.  It explains the goal that he had to finish the Book of Mormon before he turned 8.

A few months before I turned 7, my mom helped me come up with the goal to read the entire Book of Mormon by my 8th birthday. At first, I had to read one page everyday, then two pages everyday. I started to get behind on my goal because I kept missing days every so often when I would forget to read. I really wanted to finish my goal on time so eventually I had to read three pages everyday, and then it went up to four pages everyday.

After I got done reading each page, I would write in the margin a little bit about what I learned on that page. I didn’t always love reading my Book of Mormon. Sometimes I felt like it took too much time. I wanted to be playing legos instead. I complained about it sometimes. But usually I didn’t complain and I took responsibility for completing my goal.

I’m happy that I took the time out of my mornings to read the Book of Mormon almost everyday. The Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson has encouraged everyone to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I am happy that I have been doing my best to follow the prophet by working on this goal.

Here are some of the things that I learned about through reading the Book of Mormon and that I wrote down in the margins: You shouldn’t follow Satan; You should repent when you make a bad choice; You should pray everyday; If you listen to Jesus, you will be happy; You should keep the commandments; Satan tries to tempt us; You should read the scriptures everyday; If someone hurts you, don’t be mean back; Jesus healed the people; forgive people if someone hurts you;

The doctrine of Jesus Christ is repent, baptized, be little kids; You should be converted to Jesus; If you follow Satan you will not be happy; Pray to have strength to fight Satan; The Stripling Warriors were protected because they had faith; You shouldn’t make bad choices; If you repent, you will be happy; Listen to Jesus; Jesus is the light of the world; You should obey; You should be humble; You should be happy; You should have faith; water your seed; You can pray anywhere; You shouldn’t harden your heart; Jesus blessed the people; If you keep the commandments you can live with Heavenly Father;

You should help people; You should not have pride; If people are being mean, be nice to them; If people are poor, you should help them; You should be friendly; The atonement of Jesus Christ saves us from darkness; You should forgive; You should love everybody even if they are mean to you; Jesus can comfort us; Jesus did the atonement for us so we could be healed;

You shouldn’t go to war being naked; Jesus can answer our prayers; everyday the people didn’t have to worry because Jesus gave them manna; We need to know Jesus because He is our master; We should serve people; Jesus will help you if you are poor; If you make a mistake, you can repent; When you repent, you are happy; Little kids are like Jesus; If you keep the commandments you will be happy and protected; Jesus does miracles; If you don’t fight, there will be peace; If you didn’t have the scriptures, you won’t learn; You have to give your will to God; The scriptures can prick my heart and tell me when I need to repent;

We can’t live with Heavenly Father if we’re dirty but Jesus can make us clean; Enos wanted to talk to Heavenly Father so he prayed; Say sorry when you do something bad; Jesus loves everyone even if they are bad; Jesus helps us to do stuff;

Heavenly Father knows what He’s doing; The scriptures are important, we should be thankful for them; Listen and obey the commandments;

The Holy Ghost will help you when you are baptized; If you don’t keep walking, you won’t get to where you want to go; If you have a question, pray; Everyone should be baptized; Satan tempts you to do stuff; If you are being bad, be good; Jesus’s hands were stretched out; The Lord will have mercy; God is the Eternal Father; Even when the people were wicked, Jesus’s hand was stretched out still; Care about what Heavenly Father thinks, don’t care about what other people think; Jesus loves children; Jesus keeps His promises; Jesus loves everyone; Jesus knows more than you;

If you believe in God, you will not be destroyed; Jesus is perfect; We can choose good or bad; Agency is a gift; We can only go to Heavenly Father if we obey Him; If we keep the commandments, we will be happy; If you are good, you will not perish; The Lord is our Savior; God won’t forget us; God made us and He knows us; Jesus knows how to help us; If you look towards Jesus, you will be healed; If you don’t understand, ask Heavenly Father; Ask in faith; Its good we have the Book of Mormon;

October 13th was my 8th birthday! I woke up really early because I was so excited for my birthday presents. While I was waiting, I went down to the living room where it was really quiet and I could be alone. I read the last 2 pages of my Book of Mormon and I finished my goal.

In my reading the day before, I read Moroni 10: 3-5. In these verses, Moroni teaches about how to know if the Book of Mormon is true. He says that you need to pray and ask God. My mom encouraged me to take Moroni’s challenge.

After I finished reading on my birthday, I decided to do what my mom had suggested. I said a prayer. In my prayer I asked if the Book of Mormon is true. After I said my prayer, I sat on the couch for a little bit and thought about Jesus and the Book of Mormon. When I was sitting there, I felt the Holy Ghost tell me that the Book of Mormon is true. I had a good feeling.

After that, I wrote down my thoughts and feelings on one of the blank pages at the back of my Book of Mormon. I wrote “I finished the Book of Mormon when I was 8. I prayed. I think it’s true. I am happy.”

I feel happy that I read the whole Book of Mormon because I learned a lot from the experience and it taught me more about Jesus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After he finished. 🙂

First Page

Last Page

 

 

Baptism Day Video

I took some little video clips throughout the day and put them together to make this this little video of Landon’s Baptism Day. 

*music is “Baptism” by Brian Daw, used with permission.

 

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