Baptism report

Finny’s baptism was beautiful.  I thought I would share the talk and the slideshow of his life and times   I prepared for him, so that my family can feel as though they were there in some way. I have also shared the beautiful letter my mom wrote for him.

Pre Baptism  and  Post Baptism in matching ties  all the way from Viet Nam (thank you Grandma Moon!)
Talk for Finny’s baptism 5-5-12:  The Inestimable Gift of the Holy Ghost
Hi Finny, this is an exciting day. You turned eight today and you are making one of the first major choices of your life, a decision that will change your life for eternity. It is a choice that you have had to make alone. Doesn’t that sound like a big, huge deal? It won’t just affect your life, it will affect the lives of your family, your future family and the people who come after them. This is major. It means you are really growing up! And we are so excited for you.
Joel talked to you about baptism, and now I am going to talk to you about the gift of the Holy Ghost which you are about to receive. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is by far the best gift you will receive in your lifetime.
You know my iPhone right? Imagine if I only used it to make calls. What if I didn’t know that it was as cool as it is, and so I didn’t use it to text, or facetime or take photos, or play games, or go on the internet or listen to music. I just used it to make calls. To daddy. Not to anyone else. What a WASTE THAT WOULD BE! An iPhone has so many apps to make your life cooler and easier and what a waste it would be to carry it around and only use it as a phone.
The gift of the Holy Ghost is way cooler than an iPhone. It can make your life so much better and easier (just like an iPhone but so much better). I want to tell you some of the ways you can use the gift of the Holy Ghost to help make your life cooler and easier. Like an app you have to choose  to APPLY  (or use) this gift to it’s full advantage.
The things in this bag represent just some of the things the Holy Ghost can do for you. You get to keep them when I am done with this talk.
Yoyo.
When I was little, a yoyo was about the coolest toy you could have. I am not even kidding. So I got you one.
How does a yoyo work? In life we have ups and downs right? Sometimes we score tons of goals in soccer, and sometimes we totally mess up and even score an own goal. Sometimes we are really popular and sometimes nothing we do seems right with anyone. Bad things will happen in life to all of us. But the Holy Ghost is an anchor. Just like the string tied to our hand is the anchor for the yo-yo. Even though things might get rough, if we will ask for help as we make decisions and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost it will keep us close to Heavenly Father. Think of the string as the Iron Rod. As long as we keep holding onto that string, or that iron rod, The Spirit will help us to keep the connection that we need to return home to Him. It will remind us of our worth and our purpose in this life.
My next gift is this safety light. When we get you a bike that doesn’t embarrass you, you can put this on it when you are out on a foggy day or when it is getting dark. It will keep you safe from danger by warning the cars that you are there. Just like this flashing light, the Holy Ghost can warn us when we are in danger physically or spiritually in danger. Sometimes the warning will come in the form of feeling bad about something we have done wrong, or something we are thinking about doing wrong. This is called a conscience. It helps us to get back on track or to keep us from going off track. Sometimes the warning will come in form of a thought that will take us out of a dangerous situation. The Holy Ghost has helped me many, many times as a mom to protect my kids from danger too.
This sword represents the strength the Spirit can give us. It can also help us to fight temptation. Temptation is all around us. Satan hates us to be happy and wants us to lose our way, to forget about Heavenly Father and to forget about our special mission in life. He will fight as hard as he can to break us down. The Holy Ghost helps us to fight back against Satan. If you are having a hard time choosing the right, just pray to Heavenly Father and the Spirit will help you to find a way to do so. Sometimes choosing the right can be very hard but Heavenly Father will never tell us to do something without giving us the strength to do it. Nephi knew this, and even though he was asked to do difficult things, he knew that the Lord would help him through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost gave him COURAGE. Remember when he said “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” (1 Nephi 3:7).
Here is a Colour Reveal Pad. It’s really cool. You use a special pen on this special black paper. The paper looks like plain black paper, but when you put the pen on it, it shows beautiful colourful designs. One of the coolest things the Holy Ghost can do for us is to open our mind. He can reveal things that are hidden or hard to understand, He can help us to remember things we have learned but may have forgotten. He can help us to teach other people in ways that they can understand. He can even help to give us words or language that we may need at a specific time to comfort people or persuade people.
In D&C 121:26  we read: God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now.

And in in John 14: 26 we read:   But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

  Here’s Curious George. I know you like him to hang out with you on your bed at night. He  represents something that comforts you and makes you safe when you are scared. Do you remember the kissing hand when you were in kindergarten? You took it with you so that you could feel close to me. Unfortunately much as I would love to be, I can’t always be close to you. Even though I love you so, so SO much I can’t protect you from all the sadness or hurt that may come into your life. But the Holy Ghost can always be by your side. It is better than the kissing hand because instead of just a kiss on a piece of paper, the Holy Ghost can be with you always, always, always.  As a mother, it makes me so glad to know that you have this gift, because as your mom I don’t ever want you to feel all alone.

In Moroni 8:26 we read about “the Holy Ghost, the Comforter which fills with hope and perfect love”.

When you receive this gift today, it means that you can have the Holy Ghost as your constant companion, if you choose to, by always trying to do what you know is right. When you are so sad that not even a hug from mommy or daddy, or Ella laughing, or playing soccer or eating your favourite food or TV show can make right, and you will be that sad sometimes, the Holy Ghost can give you peace and comfort. Do you know how sometimes you get hit or knocked over and you lie on the ground and you feel like you can’t breathe? Sometimes in life there can be things that make us so sad that we feel that we can’t breathe. Although there are things that we need to learn sometimes from being sad, or going through hard times, the Holy Ghost can help us to feel as though we can breathe again.  It can give us the strength we need to move through the sad times and be happy again.  There is nothing in life that will be so terrible that the Holy Ghost cannot help you through.

Werthers candy-  I got you this candy because it is gold and it is called Werthers which sounds almost like WORTH. Heavenly Father has given you the gift of the Holy Ghost because you are worth more to Him than gold. You are His precious child and he wants you to return to him. Your life will be much sweeter with the gift of the Holy Ghost. It will remind you of your divine mission. Your special purpose that only you, Jonathan Seth Sayer have. If you will listen to the Holy Ghost, your life will be a beautiful and joyful experience as you discover and then do what you were sent here to do. And you will touch the lives of so many other people and bless them in ways that only you can.
I know that among your many gifts, you were sent on this Earth to comfort other people. You have a wonderful gift for comforting and healing people who are sad or hurt or lonely. I can’t wait to see how much more powerful this gift will become now that you will have received the gift of the Holy Ghost to help you use it.
In 3 Nephi 19:13 we read “And it came to pass when they were all baptized and had come up out of the water, the Holy Ghost did fall upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”
I know that with the help of the Holy Ghost, you are going to do great things, your life will be on fire!  I am so proud of you. I love you so much.
In the name of Jesus Christ,
Amen.

Wielding his sword after his baptism and before his baptism, with Grandpa from Idaho, who gave him an awesome set of scriptures.

5/5/12
Talk on Baptism for Finny Sayer’s baptism-by Joel Richardson.
For those of you who do not know, Jonathan Sayer has many nicknames: Finny, Fin, the Finster, the Fin myster, and my personal favorite, “Finny baby.” I probably heard the latter from the mouth of his mother during some “moment”, and subconsciously shouted it out when he and I shared a “moment” together, but not after some gushy “mother/son” moment, no offense to you, Kirsty. No, “Finny baby” blasted through the lips of my mouth on the soccer pitch. You see, that name only comes to him, the goalie, who takes merciless kicks to the head and blows to the stomach by his 2 older brothers and other led-footed boys in order to save the hides of his teammates from a 3-0 hole. I will never forget that day Finny saved not one, not two, but three screaming line-drives, diving and all, while still recovering from the blows of the aggressive opponent. “Finny baby” was a gem, and after watching him save our soccer pride in the goalie box that cold March afternoon, I could do nothing else but shout the arguably “new” nickname, “Finny baby!” Thank you, Finny.
Finny, you are going to be baptized today. When we are ready to enter into this covenant with our Heavenly Father we promise to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, always remember him, and keep his commandments. We show that we are ready to make this promise by being baptized by a worthy priesthood holder. In this case, your dad! So when we are baptized, we are showing that we are ready to take upon ourselves the name of Christ. In a sense, we receive a new name, even, a nickname. This nickname is very sacred, special. It cleanses us, gives us happiness, joy, and peace. But it comes with responsibility. If we want to be Christ’s followers, we need to do what Alma the older taught his people in Mosiah chapter 18: “mourn with those that mourn…comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and…stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in.” In other words, as people who follow Jesus, we should help each other and others when they are sad, lonely, or without friends. If we do that, we will keep our promise, and Heavenly Father will give us his Spirit, which will cleans us and help us feel joy, happiness, and peace.
Finny, baby, I know you are ready to be baptized b/c you already help others whether on the soccer field, @ home, @ school, or @ play. You do comfort those that are sad and lonely. You have already shown Heavenly Father that you are a follower of Jesus. But today when you are baptized you will officially receive that most important and sacred “nickname” that will allow you to receive blessings without end.
I am grateful for my baptism, and to be a follower of Christ. I know that our Heavenly Father lives and Jesus Christ is our Savior. As we follow him by being baptized and being obedient, I testify that we can be clean, become like him and be happy. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

(Joel with his baby Axel, at the post-baptism fiesta. We love Joel-y baby!!! And Axel baby.)
We showed this slideshow while the guys got changed out of their wet clothes (and I ran home to get the props for my talk. In a classic Kirsty move, I spent 30 mins before the baptism fluffing the table cloth and 2 mins before it was due to start, realized I had left my critical props at home. Fortunately I can fly ;)

Letter from Granny in South Africa
Dearest Finny,
I wonder if you can even remember what your real name is. You have been “Finny” for so long! Your real name, Jonathan, is always associated with being a good friend. In the bible, Jonathan was best friends with David. Jonathan’s father was the king, and he was very jealous of David and even tried to harm him. In spite of this, Jonathan was a loyal and good friend to David and protected him from his father’s unreasonable behaviour.
Being a good friend is an important characteristic. It shows that the person has integrity. Our greatest friend is Jesus who showed how much He loved us by being willing to die for us even though he could have escaped this great challenge. There is a scripture in John 15:13 which says “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends” which is exactly what Jesus did for all of us, his brothers and sisters, his friends.
By getting baptised to-day you are showing your gratitude to Jesus for this great thing that he did for you. He did this hard thing so that we can all return to Heavenly Father and to Him. Without baptism we can’t get this right. So, by being baptised you are in effect saying “Thank you. I accept your gift and I will use it for its intended purpose.”
Sadly, I don’t know much about soccer, but during the World Cup which took place in South Africa, I watched a lot of soccer. In fact, when South Africa was playing, lots of places let their workers go home early so that they could watch the game on TV. People would blow their horns and wave to each other because they knew that they were all going home to watch our country play. It was a very happy and exciting time in our country. Auntie Thalia knows a bit more about the sport than I do, and gave me this example about what Jesus did for us in soccer terms. Imagine: there are two minutes until the end of the game. Your team is tied with your opponents. You are trying desperately to score. You dribble the ball towards the goals, and take a shot, but you are blocked by the other team’s defence. Try as you may, you can’t get past. You notice your team mate is free and you kick the ball to him. Your team mate aims and scores! With 10 seconds to go, he has scored the winning goal! What your team mate did is a little bit like what Jesus did for us. He did something that we could not do for ourselves. By dying on the cross, and suffering in Gethsemane, He scored the winning goal, and beat the Devil’s team. He conquered death, and gave us the promise that we would all be resurrected. He gave us the opportunity to repent of anything we have done that is wrong. He gave us the opportunity to be the victorious team, and return in triumph to our Heavenly Father, and our Brother and Friend, Jesus Christ.
Congratulations on being baptised, Jonathan. May you always be a good friend to those that you come in contact with, to your brothers and sisters, to your parents, and most of all, to Jesus Christ.
With lots and lots of love,
Granny and Grandpa in South Africa, Aunty Thalia and Uncle Shaun, Uncle Seth and Aunty Christina and cousin Samuel, and Uncle Luke and Aunty Sandra.
Our friend Joel also gave an awesome talk on Baptism(I will get it from him and include it later).  Gracie,Gabe and Finny sang with our friend McKenzie. Gabe opened with prayer and Benj closed with prayer.  Aaron baptized and confirmed Finny with the help of some special friends.  It was a wonderful experience.

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