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Sunday, September 4, 2011

Aaron's Baptism June 2011

Our family was so excited to be together the day and night before Aaron's Baptism. We spent time together swimming, talking about baptism, laughing, meeting "Holy Monkey", reading testimonies from the family's testimony book that Mamma put together, and just being together. Being together is our favorite thing!

Our family was met by Madee & Papa at Genese park where we hiked, built a fort out of branches and rocks, ate lunch, and had a testimony meeting under the canopy of the trees. Aaron picked a bunch of flowers for me (as usual!) and requested (several times) that I wear a flower that he picked for me in my hair to the baptism he said, "because I love you the most". I did exactly that. (He made sure several times during the Baptism that the flower was still in my hair.) It was an absolute gorgeous day!

Mamma got out our matching ties and new white shirts. We talked about how our family likes symbolism the way the scriptures teach in symbolism sometimes. At Easter and Christmas we have so much symbolism in our traditions. There was no exemption for this wonderful and meaningful day!! 1) We all wore white to symbolize our dedication to remain clean after Baptism. 2) We wore our best and newest clothes symbolizing that we always want to treat our bodies as Temples and to show our respect for the Sabbath Day (and occasions such as Baptism). 3) We wore matching clothes and colors symbolizing that our family is a united force and that we ALL want to do our best in the Gospel so that we can be an Eternal Family. 4) We chose green accents to our WHITE to symbolize that on this Baptism day we recognize the knowledge (knowledge is represented in the church as the color GREEN) that our Father in Heaven has blessed us with regarding Baptism and the Holy Ghost.

We talked about these things as a family before Aaron's Baptism. You never saw more proud children to be a part of something bigger than just a nice outfit. We were there for Aaron and to show him our love. We were there with respect to our Father in Heaven and with a dedication as a FAMILY to do our best to show thanks for this covenant Aaron was about to take part in.

Aaron wanted no part in anyone else besides me, his Daddy and brothers and cute lil' sis. We had to remind him several times to give his other family members (his mom, Grandpa, & Grandma) hugs and acknowledgement. Begrudgingly he did so but always swiftly came back to us. His eyes were strictly on us and we gave him all the love & attention he could want. We were SO proud of his decision to get baptized that day! Madee cuddled sweet Genevieve, Ammon leaned & snuggled me the whole baptism (except for when his Grandpa asked him to sit with him up front), Michael sat in my lap, Asher would not leave his Daddy's lap and Aaron was in the middle of us all. We are a happy family who loves each other very very much.

My Baptism Day by Aaron Durtschi

"The water was warm. I felt happy and scared both at the same time. Happy to get Baptized and scared because there was a whole bunch of people that I didn’t know. There was another girl there, Kelsey, sharing my Baptism day.

My Papa Baptized me and Grandpa gave me the Holy Ghost. I was happy that my family was there and proud that there were people there to support me.

I got a beautiful shell that represented listening to the Holy Ghost from the person who gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.

My brothers (Ammon, Asher, Michael) & I sang “I Am a Child of God”. It was cool to be able to sing and play a part in my own Baptism with my family.

We went to Genese Park and had a picnic with Madee and Papa and had a Family testimony meeting under the trees. Mamma made a Baptism book with pictures in it and testimonies written from my family. We read through some of the testimonies of family who wasn’t there and then Daddy, Mamma, Papa, Madee, and Ammon shared their Testimonies. Asher and Michael shared their feelings about Jesus too. Their choice of words got a little funny (Michael started talking about a movie theater or something) but we all understood that they loved church and Jesus and me.

Also, I got the Holy Monkey (my white monkey). He represents me. If he gets dirty I throw him in the washing machine to get clean. If I get “dirty” (I take a bath- just kidding) or if I make a mistake, I take the sacrament and pray to Heavenly Father that I am sorry and want to try harder to not make the same mistake."

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