I survived the Ritual Drowning! (My Wife's joke)

So tonight was the big night. The night when my Wife and I take the plunge in both a literal sense and spiritual sense and get Baptized. Needless to say I was a nervous wreck all day long, but we managed to get dressed and get to the Church on time. Seeing so many friends, old and new there with us to share this moment was amazing. I felt an astonishing amount of love coming from every person there.

Two of the Members of my Geezer class truly moved me with words I was not expecting. Brother Gezzell looked me right in the eye and said that he loved me and felt like he had known me all of his life even though we met only a few short months ago. Brother Tibbetts gave a truly inspiring talk on the Holy Ghost and seemed so proud to be up there speaking for us. He later told me that it had been a Honor to be chosen to speak for me. Choosing a speaker from my class wasn't easy because they are all so amazing, but I am glad he was there to speak for us.

The actual Baptism was equal parts inspiring/scary and uncomfortable. The jumpsuit given to me to wear was a little tight across the chest and in the legs, so needless to say when it got soaked everything shrank up and got really binding. Elder Sahagun did a marvelous job Baptizing me and my Wife and I am pretty sure he saved my life because when I came back up from the dunking, my right foot slipped and I went back under again. Somehow, the slim young man managed to keep hold of me AND pull me back up again. At 235 pounds, I am a hefty guy but he managed it. Must have been adrenaline.

After we got dried off, we went back into the church for the rest of ceremony. My Wife's best friend, Stephanie gave a wonderful speech and touched us when she said they considered us part of her family. By the time it was all over, I felt truly loved and cherished.

So tomorrow is the day when we are Confirmed and that final step will start us on the next stage of our Trek. As we go along, I will try to chronicle it here for you to see. I am sure we still have many adventures and misadventures still to come. I hope you will stay with me as I tell them all.

I apologize for the shortness of tonight's post. It has been a long and very tiring day. I will be more verbose tomorrow after a good night's sleep. Good night every one and God Bless.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen