Natalie met her goal of reading the entire Book of Mormon by herself a week before her baptism. She worked very hard to reach that goal, often reading two chapters a day. As a review of gospel teachings, Jon taught her the missionary discussions (old school) a few months ago. I kept asking myself, “Is she ready for baptism?” “Did I do enough to prepare her?” She certainly felt ready and acted ready.

Natalie even tried fasting the very next day. We talked about it a lot during the weeks leading to her baptism. She was really cute that morning and asked, “Well can I at least eat breakfast? ‘Cause I’m starving!” I explained that it’s best to skip breakfast since it’s the first meal of the day. She was an absolute trooper and didn’t even enter the kitchen when Jon made pancakes for the other kids. I was so impressed with her! She asked if she could take the sacrament bread and water, and I reminded her “Yes! This is renewing your baptismal covenants.”

In church, her teacher handed out treats. She left church clutching her untouched cookie, and when she returned home and broke her fast with prayer, she asked, “Can I share this with Andrew?” Natalie is a very sweet, giving girl. I’m so happy that she chose to be baptized.

Natalie asked me that morning, “Did you have to get baptized more than once?” (When you’re baptized by immersion, you have to go completely under water or it is repeated.) I told her no, but that it would depend on how her dad did. (She was easily covered by the water - no problem.)

Since the last baptisms Jon performed were in Spanish eleven years ago, he did say the baptismal ordinance three times to get it perfectly correct before immersing Natalie in the water. So when she came out of the font she told me, “I got to spend a lot of time in the water!” It really was beautiful to watch her be baptized by Jon.

After baptism she received the Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands from the family members there who hold the priesthood.

Kevin, Jake, Grandpa Heap, Monte, Jon, Natalie, Devin, Gary and Barney (my brother Brian left before we took the picture)

It was super neat that all of her grandparents could be here for her special day: my parents from Ohio, and Jon’s parents from Bountiful.

My sister Nancy’s family drove out from California for the special day. We had many of our local family members join us, too. Being surrounded by so many loving family members made the day extra great.