The Seattle, Washington, temple.

Tonight was the youth baptism temple night, and I was able once again participate. For those unfamiliar with LDS baptisms in the temple, we believe in being baptized as proxy for our deceased ancestors. We do this because we believe there are certain ordinances, or actions, that need to be taken to qualify us to live with our Heavenly Father again. One of these ordinances that we believe to be necessary is baptism. However, many have died without the opportunity to be baptized; we believe that, as God is a merciful God and would not deny someone heaven’s blessings because they did not have the chance to be baptized while on earth, we can baptized on their behalf, under specific authority granted by God. The LDS church’s website has a little more about the topic.

Tonight, as one of the adult youth leaders, I helped with the baptisms. I love being with the youth at the temple! However, tonight was a little more exciting than previous youth temple trips have been. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. Being confused as one of the youth. I had taken a family name with me that needed baptism and confirmation, so I was dressed in the clothing for that purpose. Even being 7 months pregnant, the clothing was large enough on me that I just looked a little ill-proportioned, not pregnant. This became obvious when one of the temple workers started talking to me as though I was one of the youth, rather than one of the adults helping with the temple trip! Being days away from turning 30, I was definitely thrilled to be mistaken as being a teenager!

2. Being baptized for someone on my mom’s side of the family. First, having a name that needed baptism on my mom’s side of the family was amazing! She’s from El Salvador, and finding family history records there is difficult, to say the very least. Most of the baptism and confirmation work had already been done for the rest of the family members; this was a new one. However, that wasn’t the only exciting part…I also slipped on the stairs into the baptismal font, giving everyone, including little Magnum, a bit of a scare! Little did I know that the temple worker who had been giving the youth their instructions for how to participate in the baptisms and confirmations had watched and said to the youth, “Right…be careful, the stairs can sometimes be slippery.” There’s nothing quite like leading by example!

3. Just being in the temple. I love the calm feeling of the temple. It’s truly a place where you can leave the world behind and focus on the matters of eternity. I always love going and doing work there!

4. Getting pizza afterwards. When I had first arrived at the church to pick up youth to take to the temple tonight, one of the girls mentioned to her mom (and the rest of the youth and leaders present) that I was definitely waddling. I had to laugh and say, “Hey, just because I’m waddling doesn’t mean you have to point it out!” After the temple trip, we had pizza and cookies for everyone. I was hungry, and after the young men’s leader called out to the hungry teenage boys, “LADIES FIRST!” I mentioned to the young women’s president, “Well, he said ladies first, and this lady is getting some food!” Little did I realize she’d take the opportunity to call out another announcement, “Ladies first, and there is a pregnant lady who definitely needs to eat!” What was super sweet was one of the girls immediately responded, “Sister Z, I’ll get your pizza for you!” Ah, the love. And ah, the pregnancy!

I should also point out that another highlight to the evening was just getting to hang out with the girls and the other young women leaders. I really love working with them all! We have such a fun time together, teasing, talking, swapping stories. I loved getting to drive some of the girls to the temple and chatting with them both on the way there and on the way back.

I’m looking forward to the next temple trip. Hopefully, I’ll still be able to go!