The Baptism of Eleanor Valentia King

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, existed a women; fierce in nature and short in stature. She had a tongue like none other and a determination that outshone them all. It wouldn’t be long before her path crossed the lines of smartly-dressed, God-fearing young men. Elders Broadhead and Martins were their names. It was then that her venture began, putting to test all that she had previously learnt of God.

Her curiosity peaked, and from lesson to lesson she asked questions. From lesson to lesson she took notes. One privileged, such as I, met with one such as her. Elder Martin left and Elder Wegrowski came. Together, the three of us taught her, as she faithfully searched. She came to Church, hopping an’ all, to see all that it had to offer. She took it all in and found the love, found the peace.

Today she stands as a living miracle, having forsaken habits of old through faith in her Redeemer and trusting her all to Him. Today, on the fifteenth of February 2015, she takes that step towards baptism, proclaiming to God and the saints that she is prepared to follow Him. Her journey has only begun, and only rich blessings are in store.

I am honoured to have been witness to this beautiful occasion, and to have been asked to be the one to take her into the water. I remember our discussion in Gospel Principles early one Sunday morning, when speaking of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods.

“Can you baptise?” she asked.

Elder Broadhead eavesdropping from his end of the room, nodding his head, “Jono can baptise you.”

“Really?” came her rolling R.

“Pray about it,” I told her, recounting how I’d come to choose Elder Tew as the one to baptise me.

It wasn’t long after, when the missionaries went over to teach her the Law of Chastity that she said, “I know who I want to baptise me. And I pray, from my mouth to God’s ears that you will be available that day.”

It’s truly a splendiferous, momentous occasion. She came to Church that Sunday, even today, smiling from ear-to-ear, butterflies in her stomach, and anxiously excited, awaiting what was to come.

The service opened with Brother Youngman reciting the schedule, followed by my talk on the Holy Ghost (strange, but effective), Elder Wegrowski’s musical item, Elder Broadhead’s talk on baptism, and then the moment we’d all been waiting for: dunking her under the water. No, no, I did not drown her. But there was enough water to do so.

I remember us walking in as she kept back, “There’s too much water here. I’m gonna be fully immersed just standing here.” She wasn’t.

Her testimony at the end of the service, however, was the highlight of the occasion. Her words were perfect, thanking Heavenly Father for everything that had happened, extremely grateful and filled with awe, filled with love, filled with emotion.

This was her day, and I pray – and trust – that it only gets better from hereon out.

The Gift of the Holy Ghost

This is the talk I gave at the baptism of Eleanor Valentia King. It's a talk on the Holy Ghost.

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It’s always a happy occasion when the children of God gather together to witness the baptism of His sons and daughters. Yea, and today we have exactly that, Washington and Eleanor. Today we proudly stand witness to your commitment and dedication to Christ, our Lord and Saviour. Today the angels shout praises to the Lord God Almighty as you enter into the waters, ready to come out a new person. And it’s joyous to know that this is only the beginning of your journeys as faithful followers of the Great Redeemer.

And when I think of it, I remember the day that I was baptised, when a lady named Letta stood before the congregation telling us that if she could give any gift, any gift at all, it would be the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now I know that this gift comes straight from the Father, but when I think about it, I couldn’t agree more. What greater gift is there, especially at the start of your journey in Christ?

Nephi says:

2 Nephi 31:13 “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism–yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yeah, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost; and then can ye speak with the tongue of angels, and shout praises unto the Holy One of Israel.”

And there it is… the promise that you will receive the Holy Ghost, the greatest gift of all, by following our Lord and Saviour into the water.

Nephi 31:17 “Wherefore, do the things which I have told you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should enter. For the gate by which ye should enter is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by fire and by the Holy Ghost.”

How plain and clear.

2 Nephi 32:2-3 “²Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the power of the Holy Ghost? ³Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”

I still find myself in awe when I think exactly what this gift means to us. On the first hand, we have our covenant to carry the name of Christ in all places, wherever we may be. On the second, we have the Holy Ghost which allows us to speak with the tongue of angels, making it possible to uphold that covenant. We have the words of Christ before us, they are our guide. And we also have the gift of revelation, made possible by the Holy Ghost.

2 Nephi 32:5 “For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.”

So I repeat, there is no greater gift than the gift of the Holy Ghost.

2 Nephi 33:1 “…for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men.”

So this is my testimony, that Heavenly Father loves us and cares for us. That the atonement of Jesus Christ has made it possible for us to return unto Him by entering into the waters of baptism through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, as well as repentance. He has even made a way for us to be guided in this mortal journey through the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the priesthood, by the laying on of hands, you two, Washington and Eleanor, will receive this gift and have the Spirit to be with you. Yes, and by continuing to endure, by continuously striving to do better, upholding your covenants and partaking of the sacrament, you may always have the Spirit to be with you.

So this is my message to you, bear your testimonies, push forward, and hearken unto the voice of the Lord. Listen to the promptings of the Spirit, and go where the Lord wants you to go. You will be guided, you will be strengthened, and you will be comforted.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,

Amen.

The Last Sunday

There are few moments in life, in my life at least, when one specific day brings to pass the flooding of emotion more than ever before. It was my last Sunday, for the next two years, at the ward I’d come to love. It was my last Sunday with the men and women who’d been at my side from the very beginning. It was my last Sunday behind the pulpit of familiar eyes… and I couldn’t have asked for a better one.

The previous night, my five closest friends drove from their various districts to spend on final eve together as a group; Surietha from Pretoria, Ben from Johannesburg, Sunette from Bedfordvies, and both Warren and Priscilla from Weltevreden Park. Though, Warren did drive from Sandton that day.

We conversed, played a game they spent hours rigging and ate dinner ‘til midnight. It was at that point Surietha said, “Don’t you still have a speech to write?”

I did. I was final speaker in sacrament meeting that… yea, that morning. I had been procrastinating, trying to find the perfect words for nearly two weeks, and now I had only nine hours left to write, learn, and uphold my commitment to not have cue cards (much less have the talk written before me). I was stressed.

It wasn’t until 01:30 that I had my spark, found my opening, and began typing; praying every second until that moment. Practicing, typing, and searching the scriptures. This continued until I’d finally finished at around 05:00. Now I had another problem, learning it before sacrament meeting in four hours and looking refreshed enough to give a talk.

At 05:37, I closed my eyes and went to sleep, having to wake up, get up, shower and dress to be at Church by 08:15. This included my five other friends getting ready as well as my mon, sister and step day. We did it—

Or so I thought. We got into the car and Surietha said, “Your eyes are red.”

Now this was actually a bad combination of eyeliner and not sleeping. Yes, I wore eyeliner, as cosplay for a date I went on Saturday afternoon. We dressed up as our own unique characters; she had scars for an extended smile while I had bloody tears running down my face. Little did I know, pharmacy grade eyeliner does not come off with just water and face wash.

So Surietha spent the car ride applying additional powder and some other make up to hide the look of death. That, and Sunette had given me a henna tattoo on my neck that previous night. Yes, I did ask for it.

So it wasn’t a good start. Kim and Andrew Willoughby both noticed my eyes (which were cleared up as much as possible). Elder Broadhead, Sister Farquharson, and Eleanor noticed the henna tattoo (which was also mistaken for a hikkie). But I was ready; as ready as can be.

I sat facing the congregation, with all five of my friends seated at the back (all five of my friends, at Church, together), Dylan and his girlfriend keeping them company, and Shan and Kev on the far right corner.

We started with sacrament, continued with Elder Broadhead as first speaker (it was his last Sunday as well). Three minutes is how long he spoke for. Three minutes. And he even mentioned my name. Now, I was even more nervous.

Jennifer Cox was the second speaker, and she gave a beautiful talk on the young women principles and being a witness of Christ at all times and in all places. Things were going well, until she too mentioned my name. She spoke about my Facebook posts (she actually read them?!) and how I was the only member in my family, that I was an example unto others.

Now, I was even more nervous.

We all rose to ring the intermediate hymn, I’ll Go Where You Want Me to Go. Tears filled my eyes and emotion filled my hear. I felt the Spirit strongly and I couldn’t hold back. It hit me. Every word in that song was me speaking to the Lord. It was an overwhelming sense of emotion knowing that was where I needed to be.

After which, I jumped the gun and went straight to giving my talk. Being touched immediately by the Spirit, saying things I had not even prepared. That, my dear brothers and sisters was the most difficult talk I had ever given. Yet the words came out, clearly, eloquently, and without hindrance. I knew the Spirit was working and I could see the eyes of the congregation peer my way.

I closed and moved back to my seat, tears pushing even harder. I would miss them. I would miss them all.

The Sunday continued with Gospel Principles or, in other words, Jonothan’s class. Elder Wegrowski started the lesson and chose to make the introduction What is your name? And what is your favourite thing about Jono? just because everyone in that room knew who I was.

We learnt of the restoration, had inspirational analogies and good questions. I later learnt that every class had a common theme, even though the topics were all chosen by individuals. The spirit was at work that Sunday, teaching us all to rely on Heavenly Father, to ask Him, and to be witnesses of Him wherever we may be.

We moved on to Priesthood where Kevin gave his phone to Warren so that he could read through the lesson as we were busy. Kev and I, mostly Kev, made interesting comments regarding specific verses and topics.

It was then time to follow my day with Eleanor’s day. Sharing a my farewell with her baptism is only something I’d have over and over again. Elder Broadhead lent me his baptismal clothes so we could start off with photos.

Unfortunately, we were supposed to have Washington baptised as well, Elder Wegrowski was supposed to baptise him, but he didn’t show. The missionaries even went to his house to look for him, but he wasn’t there.

That was the one sad thing that happened that day, but we couldn’t let it have a damper on Eleanor’s day.

We went out to take some photos and then gathered together in the chapel to conduct the service. Brother Youngman was the conductor, and the service went on without a hitch; except for me needing to repeat the words in the font as I had made a mistake regarding tense.

But it was a good Sunday all in all.

Afterwards, we went to Jackson Dam with family and friends for a bring-and-share. Ouma Sandy was there, Oupa Erick was there, Damien and Bonita were there, Theuns and Ursula came, Sonia and Myles arrive, Tanie RIna came, Aunty Michele, Nicole, and even Paul, Devin and Nicole Randal, and Meghan and her mom popped by for a moment.

It was actually disappointing to not have the missionaries there. I was actually checking every five minutes just to see if they were there and was wondering if they were lost. But things happen and they didn’t come. It was fine, not really, but life is such. Poor planning; can’t change that now.

At the end, however, I received the best gifts a person could ever ask for. My grandparents gave me a snow globe with a picture of them inside. I can keep that on my study desk while on mission. Then, in the form of a renaissance Bible, my friends presented me with a box containing letters from each of them as well as family members and friends. And I’m only allowed to open it when I’m down in Durban.

But that was my day. My last Sunday here in Alberton. On Thursday I leave for the MTC and my mission begins. I will miss everyone, but I know that my Lord has need of me. I’m going down to do His work and I can’t wait to see what’s in store.

This is the Lord’s work. I know it. I love it. And I invite you to check it out.