Nick's Baptism

For those of you that do not know, until Saturday, January January 14th, 2017, Nick was not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (I will be writing a whole other blog post about this very subject so stay tuned). Nick has been meeting with the sister missionaries for about 3 months now, and made the decision that he wanted to be baptized. It has been an incredible journey watching his growth from the sidelines. He 100% was ready to be baptized and was 100% excited.

My mom flew into town to support Nick on his baptism day (see Mammacita in the House post). Nick had been taught well by Sister Cahoon and Sister Welch, had been briefed by Wilford (the ward mission leader), chosen who he wanted to participate in his program, and was ready to go on his big day.

Saturday morning, my mom and I picked Nick up from his place and drove back to Mesa, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Cafe Zupa's (for those of you that don't know, Zupa's is one of my favorite restaurants).

We arrived at the Church early so that I could practice the piano for the musical number. Nick was able to help get the refreshments set up and talk more with Wilford about his special day. Before I even knew it, the time for preparation had passed and the baptismal service was upon us!

The service was absolutely beautiful. I have never felt the Spirit so strongly at a baptism before. I know that Heavenly Father was watching very closely as one of His choice sons returned to the fold. It was an honor to have the entire Stake Presidency (President Smith, President Nielson, and President Baker) with us, the Scottsdale Mission President (President Robinson) and the entire Bishopric (Bishop Deering, Brother Kircher, and Brother Wright). So many friends showed up from the ward, and I was grateful to have Natalie and one of Nick's students there as well!

The baptism itself was rather funny--the water was definitely not high enough for Nick and Bishop Deering! Nick went under the water twice because after he was baptized, the Bishop kind of dropped him back into the water.

After the baptism, Nick said that he felt the Spirit very strongly. He said that he felt this feeling burning inside of his chest telling him that this was right. He felt clean. And he was! And he is! Nick is already a strong, faithful, and exemplary member of the Church :) I am so proud of him, and so proud that he made this decision for himself. He is already doing great things for the Lord and I can't wait to see what the Lord will do with him next :)