Primary - Baptisms {Thoughts}

There is a lot going on, but I wanted to take just a few minutes and write down a few thoughts about Primary. As a Stake Primary leader, one of our biggest responsibilities is to hold Stake Baptisms. Before we got called, way back in 2019 - they held large group baptisms where all of the wards in the stake gathered together then were released one by one to go back to the baptism font. Then, with Covid, they switched them to be half-hour time slots with each child meeting together individually. In May, we weren't even sure that Lydia would be able to be baptized, then we thought it would just be immediate family, then we learned that we could have 16 people there. It was a beautiful day, and each month following that has been a beautiful balance between having limited numbers (20 people) and having more focus be on the baptism ordinance itself. In November, with growing Covid numbers and the upcoming holidays we were asked to limit baptisms to immediate families only.

The twenty people limit was sometimes difficult, because families just want to celebrate this special day with all their family, but for the most part - families seemed to appreciate the opportunity to still hold their child's baptism and the days were filled with a sweet spirit and focus on the child and their baptisms. The immediate family only limit has been hard. It's been hard on the kids and hard on the families. 

I just wanted to share my testimony that I know that we have Heavenly Parents who care about the individual needs of each of their children. I also know that our God is a compassionate God who compensates and blesses us for the sacrifices we make to follow Him. I know that these primary children will be blessed for choosing to follow Jesus Christ and that the rest of their lives will be blessed for the decision to be baptized even amid sacrifice. It seems a powerful thing. 

I believe that we are always asked to sacrifice for the Lord, and I've seen it with baptisms over and over and over. Some people make the sacrifice to be baptized in the middle of a freezing river. Some people make the sacrifice to be baptized with 8 other children in succession and without much individualization to the services. Some people make the sacrifice to be baptized with family members only viewing through zoom on the computer because they are in the middle of a global pandemic. The Lord sees each sacrifice. He sees each individual giving up something that might be important to them, or doing something that is a little uncomfortable/hard, because they care about following Him more than they care about that thing. He sees that and he blesses them for it. 

I'm grateful to be able to be a part of these special  Covid-baptisms, although I'm praying for the day we will be able to increase our numbers back up to 20 (which feels like such a huge number now that we've done two sessions with immediate family only!). 

(I wasn't able to attend December baptisms because we were in Quarantine, but I went over to the church and set up the chairs and have just been thinking about it all day. I'm also grateful for counselors and great stake baptism specialists who took over the day without a problem and supported me in our family quarantine.)