Rosalinda's Baptism

One of the things I have always loved and admired about my Dad since I was a little girl was his excitement and love of sharing the gospel with others! My Dad just relayed a story to us about a baptism he got to be involved with on our family video chat and I thought I would try to type out the words he said so that you could understand the following pictures... The gospel of Jesus Christ brings me so much happiness! I am so thankful for the lessons that I continue to learn from my parents about how to never let an opportunity to share it go by..

- xo/Lacey

"Mom and I were out doing interviews in Cagayan and its kind of grueling because we'll do 16-20 interviews in a day and we travel from church to church. Its really hot and half of them don't have air conditioning, so it takes a lot out of us and we're exhausted at the end of the day but we love it! We were in an area called "Lasam". Its a very little town off the main highway and we were interviewing missionaries there. One of the missionaries is Elder Hall who went to Rocky Mountain high (in Idaho where my parents are from) and he has a Filipino companion named Elder Erlano that he is training. They told me about a baptism they were going to have with a 16 year old girl. Her mother is an active member but the daughter had been attending the 'Iglesia ni Cristo' (a christian religious organization that originated in the Philippines). The girl came to church 4 times which is the requirement in order to be baptized, but now she was backing out because her friends were making fun of her and the head guy from the 'Iglesia ni Cristo' church face-timed her and said not to join the "Mormons". So she backed out of the baptism and the missionaries were really bummed out about it. I had some more interviews to do that day in another town, but I said that I would try to get back there later that night and go with them to see her. So that's what we did.. I came back about 6:00pm and we went to her house ( a little tin shed) but she wasn't there. She was at an activity with the Iglesia Ni Cristo... So we just started teaching some other people that were around. (I laughed when he was talking about the 'adolescent chickens' that were all over him jumping up onto his lap during this time... I am sure he really loved that). Finally the girl showed up after about an hour and she had all of her nice clothes on. I suggested we teach her about Lehi's dream. I had been thinking about that story because her mom is so good and she was trying to get her kids to take the fruit like Lehi was doing in the dream. The great and spacious building was like her other church and friends telling her not to do it. The iron rod was the Book of Mormon, because she had one and liked reading it. The missionaries were so awesome and bore strong testimony.. I got down on my knees in front of her and said "Can you feel that? Can you feel that spirit? Its telling you that its true" and she said, "Yes President I feel it" and I said "that's because its true, and the Lord is telling you to follow it.. he is sending that feeling to you. Will you be baptized on Saturday?" I didn't know if that was even possible but I just invited anyway. She broke down and started crying and we taught her a little bit more... and then I said, "If you'll get baptized Saturday I'll come and be the one to baptize you. Her mom was pretty excited about that, she jumped up and about hit her head. The girl still didn't say yes, so then I said "So you're problem is that you're going to lose all your friends if you get baptized isn't it?" She replied with "Yes, that's my problem" and started to cry. At 16 years old that is a huge problem to have, friends seem like your whole world.. so it was hard and I felt bad for her! But we just kept testifying, inviting and telling her that it would all work out. Finally at the end of it all she said that she wanted to be baptized. So we left and changed around our plans so that we could be there for the baptism and we took that sweet little teenage girl and her mom and some members of the branch and then we went down to the river to baptize her. There were about 3 big Carabao in that river and they looked just like wild water buffalo snorting in the water. I was about 20-30 yards from them which seemed too close. The water was like bathtub water! When its 100 plus degrees and 100% humidity I guess that's how it is. After I baptized her, she came out of the water said "I'm so happy President!" and her mother kissed and hugged her and that's the story of Rosalinda. Elder Hall and Elder Erlano were great and I was blessed to be a part of that".

The out-house where Dad changed into the baptismal jumper - that is tricky when you are trying not to touch anything around you; floor, walls etc...

The meeting before the baptism. It was most definitely the hottest day we have experienced here! Dad and I were melting...

This is a Kuliglig - one of the tractors they use in the rice fields. This one is a fancier model because it has a top to shade you from the sun. Dad couldnt resist hopping on it.

Walking to the river

Gathering before the baptism

Elder Hall (from our stake back home) and Elder Erlano are the missionaries who taught Rosalinda. Zoom in on the friend in the water behind them...

The sister with the towel on her head is the mom of Rosalinda who is being baptized. She is a faithful member who has been praying for her daughter to get baptized.

See how close the Carabao is?

After she was baptized, Rosalinda dove right back into the water, then splashed around and frolicked (the only word I can think of that explains it)... I am not sure if it was the joy of the moment and the spirit that made her do that,
or just the heat 😊