Baptisms for the Dead.
There were a number of church activities that I had opportunity to attend during my youth. I loved the trips down the Green River for Father’s and Son’s commemorations, the youth conferences, trips with the school for debate and band and trips with the seminary for special events. One such trip was a trip to the Salt Lake Temple to perform Baptisms for the Dead. It was a great trip and there were a number of boys and girls that got to go. Leesa and I were together on the trip as I remember.
I don’t remember if we went to eat somewhere when it was over or if there were even any other activities but I do remember seeing the font held up by the oxen for the first time in real life. I had seen pictures of course and knew what it looked like but to see it in real life was really special. I have tried to remember how many names we were given and the number that keeps coming back is 150 but that seems to be a lot as I judge it by today’s standard where 10 to 20 names seems to be the normal number. It could possibly have been 50 per youth but I really can’t get the number of 150 out of my head. It really doesn’t matter however but I know I felt like it was an awful lot by the time we got done and really a lot for someone afraid of water.
When I attended Snow college I again had the opportunity as a freshman to be baptized for the dead a couple of times that year and then when I returned from my mission I had the opportunity to then perform those baptisms as the Priesthood brother. That first experience was such a positive thing that I have always loved that ordinance.
