Update: My whole family was baptized

[Lilac]

My husband and I were baptized in a very private ceremony. I have been baptized three times prior, by submersion, and I just wanted to do it. Plus, I'm naturally a quiet person. I hate being the center of attention.

The following Sunday my 3 oldest kids were baptized.

Everything went well. We had the nicest NICEST missionary doing the interviews etc. that none of the questions were a problem for any of us. He was a great young man who did a Godly and professional job with all of us.

That's it.

I just wanted to update you on our progress.

My husband and kids are thrilled. I think I might need a bit of time to grow into my testimony, which is funny because I am the one who got everyone interested in the LDS to begin with. But that is also my personality...I don't like change too much and it is NOT easy to change your religion all around. It's a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. I'm sure I'll be fine with some time. Plus, I'm ready to give birth and who knows where my head it anyway. I'm happy but it's a little shocking.

Thank you for your help on the topic.

Many Blessings.

[Spartan117]

Best news of the day. Congratulations

[beefche]

Oh, Lilac! Congrats! I'm so excited for you and your family!

And just as a side note, I look back at when I was baptized at age 19 and see that the testimony I had then is nothing compared to the one I have now. I truly believe that if we nurture it, our testimonies will grow and deepen as we gain more experience with the Spirit.

[Lilac]

You know, it is not the "religion" that is hard to adjust to.

It's changing your whole culture. My religion and the culture that comes with it has been a huge part of my life.

Like they asked me "what song would you like to have sung?" I only know Protestant hymn, most of them by memory, so most of the songs are very unfamiliar to me. That's hard for me. Maybe if you weren't very religious to begin with, you wouldn't care. But for me, that was hard. I have a list of 40 hyms that i've sung my whole life during good times, bad times, weddings, funerals etc. But I had to find a hymn from a book that is unfamiliar to me. I told them "pick anything pretty".

The communion is different. I've been taking communion my whole life and it's just different. Maybe not wrong but different. That's really hard to adjust to. Even the word "sacrament" is different for me. I took it on Sunday and I was like "this is weird".

Stuff like that.

My husband was a non-practicing Catholic and converted to be Protestant/Baptist. So to convert again did not seem like a big deal to him. It's a BIG deal to me.

In retrospect, when asking people to convert, we tend to forget how much changing some people have to do. It's not just about the Book of Mormon or whatever. It's all the "little things" that make a religion familiar, comforting and sweet to the soul. People like familiar and changing that is hard for some of us.

I think I'm struggling with that more than anything.

But on a lighter note, Thank you for the congrats.

[Jenamarie]

There's a reason why Faith is refered to in the scriptures as being like a mustard seed. A mustard seed is hardly bigger than a grain of sand, and yet, if well nutured, it grows into a huge, magnificent plant. You've got your little seed, and now you have the rest of your life to help it grow. :)

Congratulations to you and your family!

ETA: and good luck in adjusting to the culture! our ward missionary is herself a convert, and she has hand-outs that she gives to new converts to help them figure out the lingo. I'll see if she has it as a file that I could e-mail to you or something.

[Lilac]

Jenamarie,

You homeschool, right? I know you from somewhere.

[Vort]

Congratulations!

[Jenamarie]

Yes I do! Are you on the WTM boards?

[rameumptom]

Congrats to you and your family. Now, do yourself a favor and ask the mission leader to set up a date when your family (all over 12 years of age) can go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. Your ward should have a family history specialist, who can help you do some family genealogy so you can be baptized for some of your own ancestors. It will be a most spiritual experience for all of you, and help prepare you for the day when you can be sealed as a family forever in the temple.

[dahlia]

You know, it is not the "religion" that is hard to adjust to.

Like they asked me "what song would you like to have sung?" I only know Protestant hymn, most of them by memory, so most of the songs are very unfamiliar to me.

The communion is different. I've been taking communion my whole life and it's just different.

I still find Mormon hymns to be very 'Protestant' to my formerly Catholic ears, and hard to sing. I am getting used to them and actually just ordered some sheet music so I could play some at home. The other thing I do is listen to them on YouTube. There are scores of MoTab clips, plus instrumental versions of hymns and other choirs. Because of listening on YouTube, I had a favorite that I could suggest for my baptism.

The communion thing freaked me out a little the first time. I did not expect torn up bits of bread at all. Don't know what I was expecting, but certainly not bits of Wonder Bread whole wheat.

Glad to hear that everything went OK for the baptisms.

[Lilac]

Jenamarie,

Yes it's the WTM boards. I don't post there. I just read the boards. Seems like there is a lot of arguing there so I'd rather just read. I can't post things and worry that people will dissect every single word I say. Too much stress.

I knew I recognized you from a forum or something.

Nice to "meet" you.

Do you have any Homeschool LDS boards that you hang out at?

Edited September 7, 2011 by Lilac

[Lilac]

Oh, I'm not doing any baptisms for a looooong time. I have a c-section coming up really soon. Then a recovery, an infant etc. I'm gonna be down for a while.

I think my son is going in November; people are already planning.

I have so much geneology done already. I have a cousin who was really into it and got as far back as the Vikings. I can cheat!!!

[Jenamarie]

Lilac: Ya, they do argue a bit but I usually learn something when they do, and then of course there's the For Sale forums! About 80% of my curriculum for this year came from there.

Check out Latter-day Homeschooling if you haven't already. It's a great blog. :) It leans towards TJEd and Celestial Education, which may or may not be your thing. It isn't my cuppa tea, personally, but they have more Classical and Charlotte Mason writters now, too, and more often than not I get at least *something* from each post. :)

Also, the LDS WTM ladies started our own Yahoo group. I'll see about getting you into that (it's private, and I'm not the one running it, so I'll have to check out how to get you in.)

[Lilac]

Thank you Jenamarie! I have checked out the LDS homeschooling blog.

Oh yes, I do learn things from the WTM arguing, I just don't want to be the one arguing! I like to sit back and watch the fireworks. Let others stress. I come on the internet to relax, not argue. I can do that in real life easy enough!

[LittleWyvern]

Congratulations! Good luck with things ahead!

And, I wouldn't worry too much about getting used to the culture. That's a far second to the doctrine.

And... I think you'd be surprised on the amount of "classical" hymns that are in our hymnbook. Look through the title or author index on the back and see what you find. :)