The Sproul Family: Bentley's Baptism Sunday March 2nd

In the LDS church turning 8 is a big deal. At the age of 8 is when we baptize our children into the church and they receive the gift of The Holy Ghost. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we feel that babies do not need to be baptized because they are incapable of sinning. At the age of 8 a child is old enough to be accountable for their sins and to know right from wrong. Joseph Smith a prophet in the latter days received revelation that states in the Doctrine and Covenants Chpt. 68 verses 25 and 27:

25 And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents.

27 And their children shall be baptized for the remission of their sins when eight years old, and receive the laying on of the hands.

This is very comforting to parents and family members of those who have young children and babies who die before they are baptized (my parents are involved in this situation). Because they were not baptized it doesn't mean they are lost, they will still be reunited with their families in the Eternity's.

So why do people get baptized at all? In John 3:5 it states:

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man beborn of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Through the ordinance of baptism, we make a promise, called a covenant, with God. We promise to accept Christ, to become His followers, and to keep His commandments to the end of our lives. In return, our Heavenly Father promises to forgive our sins and let us return to live with Him.

We also believe in baptism by immersion, just as Jesus was baptized (being fully immersed in water).

So, back to my family....Bentley turned 8 March the 1st and we scheduled her baptism for Sunday March the 2nd.

My sister in-law drove all the way from Alexandria VA with her 3 children to be here. It was so nice of them to do that! My brother had to work and was actually flying overseas that weekend. Jennie was also a HUGE help in preparations for the baptism and setting the food up and making sure water and everything else was taken care of that evening. She was such a life saver!

The evening was actually really bad weather, our windshield had frozen ice on them by the time we left.

Once we got to the church we set a few things up and then took a couple of pictures beforehand. Here is the handout that we had of the program.

Here are some of the pictures we took before the actual Baptism started

Bentley's friend from school came!

Bentley with her siblings and cousins

The whole evening was so lovely. Absolutely one of the best experiences next to me getting married that I've ever had. The Bishop of our ward was presiding and he opened the meeting with talking about his interview with Bentley. Before a child or anyone gets baptized into the LDS church they have a special interview with the Bishop where he talks about the importance of getting baptized. During the interview (The Bishop told us about this later) he asked Bentley if she had a testimony and she said "Yes" and proceeded to share it with him....sharing her testimony wasn't necessary but when I heard about it I thought that it was so sweet.

Next we sang "Choose the Right" and I gave the opening prayer after the song.

Grandma Kristy gave a talk on Baptism and had a cute little white bag with objects in it that she talked about. Each thing resembled something. I started crying when she pulled out the heart from the bag. She was mentioning how it resembled the love that we all had for Bentley. It was really sweet.

After the talk on Baptism, Bentley Paisley and Copper all sang "When I am Baptized". I attached a little video of the song from lds.org. It was the cutest thing I've ever experienced. My heart literally was about to burst. I loved it!

Next was Bentley's baptism. Rodney baptized Bentley while the Grandpas were the witnesses. They stood off to the sides of the doors to make sure that Bentley was completely immersed and that the proper wording was used for the prayer.

example of what it looks like

When Rodney baptized Bentley it was so sweet. I was up off to the side watching from the stairs and Rodney gave such a sweet prayer and choked up a little. After changing Bentley into her special baptism dress Grandma Jayne gave a talk on The Holy Ghost. During the talk the girls were listening very intently. Grandma Jayne was giving an example of when you might feel the prompting of the Holy Ghost and was saying "if you are playing outside at the park and you might see a little girl who is all alone without someone to play with" Copper piped up "THAT'S ME". She said it just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear and had a sad tone of voice. Everybody laughed. It was hilarious. Grandma Jayne gave Bentley a soft pink blanket that reminds her of The Holy Ghost being a comforter.

After the talk, Rodney and both Grandpas and Bishop Hjorth and our friend Kent Andrews confirmed Bentley. It involves the laying on of hands and is performed after baptism. Through confirmation, the initiate becomes an official member of the church and receives the gift of the Holy Ghost. Basically the men stand in a circle around the person being confirmed and the person giving the prayer lays their hands on the receivers head and the rest of the group lays their hands on top. Rodney gave the prayer.

Here is a picture that was on lds.org that kind of shows what it looks like

We ended things with a closing song and then my sister Charisse gave the closing prayer.

At the end of the program we had refreshments waiting for everyone in the Primary room. The food all turned out really great. I worked pretty hard on these CTR cookies that I found a recipe for on pinterest and they turned out really cute. I also made some delicious pretzel bites. Jennie and my mom and Charisse assembled the rainbow skewers and my mom brought a veggie pizza. Rodney's mom brought crackers and cheese and our friends the Andrews brought some awesome brownies. We wanted to have finger foods that wouldn't be messy and it all tasted great!

We had such a wonderful evening!!!!

pretzel bites

pink ctr cookies (ctr stands for "choose the right")

rainbow skewers

friends eating refreshments

Mommy, Bentley and Daddy

Grandma Kristy and Grandpa Marlow with Bentley

Bentley and Xander hiding

Bentley with Grandma Jayne and Grandpa Don

As stated above, the evening was wonderful! The Grandmas did such a wonderful job speaking, the girls were adorable singing their song and the food turned out great. We are so thankful also the friends and family who attended and helped make the evening a special one. The room was overflowing with people...because of the horrible weather we weren't sure if there would be many people in attendance but there were so many people that there weren't enough seats for everyone. We were so very appreciative of all those who came out to support our cute Bentley. Bentley sure felt the love in the room and we did too!

Bentley also received some special gifts for her Baptism.

She received a journal and a sweet CTR necklace (ctr stands for "choose the right") from Aunt Desiree' and Uncle Chuck