Alice is baptized

April 28, 2024

Dear Alice,

 I’m so excited that you are turning eight years old this year because that means that you are old enough to choose to be baptized. I’m so happy you have made that choice.

I remember when I was baptized. I was baptized on my eight-year-old birthday on a Saturday night in a little white church across the street from my house in Union, Utah. My congregation had all the children being baptized sit on small wooden chairs and talked to us for a while. I don’t remember what they said, but I do remember what I felt.

I felt excited and a little scared before I was baptized. Maybe you are also. When I was baptized, the water was warm and I felt clean and happy when I came out of the water. Then I put my dry clothes back on, walked out of the church and into the cold January winter air. I remember looking up and seeing lacy white flakes of snow falling all around me. Even though it was cold outside, I felt warm inside. I knew God loved me and was pleased I wanted to come home to heaven someday.

I also knew that Jesus was my best friend and that if I tried to live like Him that I would be happy. When I was your age, they waited until Sunday to confirm me at church and give me the gift of the Holy Ghost. I felt protected when the men with the priesthood made a circle around me and put their hands on my head as my father confirmed me.

What I didn't know was that the man I was going to marry someday was being baptized on the very same day, January 6^th (my birthday) in a little town called Spanish Fork, Utah. He was a little scared and excited too.

Because we both wanted to be like Jesus, we found each other many years later. We recognized that we had the same dreams and plans for life.

           When he got back from his mission to Samoa, we were married in the SLC temple and made special promises to God. We were sealed for time and eternity. Pretty soon your mother was born. Then she grew up and married your daddy in the same SLC temple and then pretty soon, you were born.

Being baptized is such a special time because we are able to participate in our first saving ordinance and make our Heavenly Father our first official promise.

You are a daughter of God, Alice, and your Heavenly parents love you very much. They want you to be happy so they have made a plan of happiness for you to follow so you can return to them someday. 

Now that you are eight, God thinks you are wise enough to know the difference between right and wrong choices. Heavenly Father knows that some of the choices we make will not be wise. Because He loves us, He wants us to know how to change so we will not be trapped by our mistakes and bad choices. So He invites us to make a promise to Him and then He makes a promise right back to us. When we make a special promise to God and He makes one right back to us, it is called a covenant. Heavenly Father never breaks a promise.

The promise you make to God is that you will remember Jesus, follow Him and keep His commandments. Heavenly Father promises you that He will forgive you if you make a mistake then you feel sorry and repent. He also promises you eternal life. He also gives you the gift of the Holy Ghost to help, guide, protect, warn and comfort you.

 When you choose to be baptized you tell Heavenly Father that:

 *You want to be a follower of Jesus Christ

 *You will serve your fellowmen

 *You will stand as a witness of God all the time

 *You will obey the commandments of God

  God promises you that:

 *You are accepted as a member of Christ’s church

 *You can be forgiven of your sin when you repent

 *You can have the gift of the Holy Ghost

 *You can live in the kingdom of God

           Did you know that you can be re-baptized every week? Everybody makes mistakes after they are baptized so Heavenly Father gave us the sacrament every week on Sunday. That is when we remember the covenant we made when we were baptized. We think about our week and decide how to be better during the coming week. We think about our Savior Jesus Christ and how He atoned for all our sins, pains, disappointment and grief. We also think about Christ’s resurrection and that we can be resurrected too someday. Taking the sacrament with a humble heart is just like being baptized again.

I hope you will write about how you feel in your journal when you are baptized. Never forget that you are a child of God and that you can inherit the eternal life God has planned for you. And never forget that your grandma loves you with all her heart.

Love,  

Grandma Baadsgaard.   

 

Oakland Temple at Sunrise

As part of our two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my husband and I work in the office of the Oakland San Francisco Mission right across the street from the Oakland Temple. My husband took this picture while on a morning walk at sunrise. We have the great blessing of attending this temple every week where we feel peace and joy and experience an eternal perspective for the challenges we face in life. I love the temple and feel so blessed to live close by this House of God.

Cambodian New Year Celebration

I LOVE serving a mission in Oakland and San Francisco! We are surrounded with so many beautiful people and cultures with fascinating traditions that truly enrich my life. For example, we served at a Cambodian New Year Celebration recently. 

We have a small Cambodian branch in Oakland that meets in the same building we do each Sunday. Many of the small church units around here have young missionaries and senior missionary couples who attend their services so they can bless the lives of those in the small branch. 

Of course these missionaries soon discover they are the ones who are being blessed by wonderful people of multiple cultures and backgrounds. 

A small Cambodian branch sponsors a New Year celebration for the whole Bay Area and has been doing this service for 28 years. As people immigrate to the US, many young people lose the traditions of their parents. So this small branch sponsors this celebration to give Cambodian families in the bay area a chance to celebrate their heritage. 

This Cambodian branch puts together a wonderful program of dance in the auditorium and then provides a free meal of Cambodian food after. Hundreds of people show up and enjoy the evening, all for free because of the generosity of the members of the church here. 

Moody Family Visit to Oakland/San Francisco

Moody family at the Oakland Temple

We love having our family visit while we are serving a full-time two year mission 

in Oakland/San Francisco California

Celebrating Christmas on Temple Hill

The lights on Temple Hill at the Oakland Temple are stunning this year.

My husband and I were in a volunteer group that helped install the lights.

The lights represent the light of Jesus Christ who offers each of us joy and peace.

Halloween Fun 2023

                                              Halloween costumes with fun family members 

                                                 who know how to celebrate and enjoy life!

I AM SO BLESSED TO HAVE CHILDREN IN MY LIFE

I am so blessed to have children in my life. From my 36 precious grandchildren to the Primary children in the Oakland 9th ward and Chinese Branch, my life is full of children who bring me so much joy!

Meet the Waymans

Some people just don’t know how much good they do because they are too busy serving others to notice themselves.

Meet the Waymans.  

The Waymans are a senior couple in the California Oakland San Francisco Mission. Before coming on a mission, Sister Wayman was an elementary school librarian who regularly brought whimsy and delight to countless young children. She became the characters in the books she read aloud and dressed up in a different costume for every holiday of the year.  As an educator, Elder Wayman saw the potential of each student he worked with and inspired them to see their worth and aim for the stars. Hundreds of young people have had their lives profoundly changed by the care and attention this couple has given them.

Their greatest career, they will tell you, is being the mom and dad of eight beautiful and remarkable children and now many grandchildren. The Wayman’s home was filled with love and fun.

When asked how she finds the energy to serve so many people, Sister Wayman simply answers, “I received so much anonymous service in my life as my husband faced major health challenges, I just want to pay it forward.”

Elder Wayman is on his third kidney transplant and has to take a handful of pills every day. They have faced the possibility of death together numerous times. Perhaps that is why they are often seen holding hands.

“We have had so many miracles in our lives,” Sister Wayman says. “Finding three people willing and able to donate a kidney to save my husband’s life is perhaps the biggest.”

One of those donors was the Wayman’s daughter demonstrating the deep love in their family. Recently all their children pooled their money and surprised Elder and Sister Wayman with a beautiful home remodel while they were away serving in California.

The Waymans are called as a Pathway coordinator. Pathway is an educational program with certificates and degrees for those who have not had an opportunity to continue their learning for a variety of reasons, including the inability to pay for higher education. This program, offered by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is remarkably inexpensive and mostly on-line except for a weekly in-person class with all the students in their group.

If there is a need in the mission, the Waymans always step in to help. They recently filled-in at the mission office when they were short staffed and now they are filling in the visitor’s center as well.

Perhaps one of the most endearing qualities of this couple is the way they love to feed people . . . both their bodies and their souls.

Sister Wayman is a ball of sunshine holding a cookie sheet with her latest culinary delight. Her husband is always helping out in the background to support a wife with boundless energy and the desire to feed and nurture everyone around her. In the wee hours of the night when others are sleeping, Sister Wayman is dreaming up ways to celebrate others by creating delicious meals and scrumptious treats. She invites neighbors and friends over for dinner and creates magical birthday celebrations so everyone feels noticed and appreciated.

Sister Wayman creates celebrations. She takes the time to know when those around her have a birthday or anniversary and then she come up with a surprise party complete with balloons, streamers and the most delicious treats. 

Elder Wayman is right there at her side helping to cook, carry, set up and take down the magic they create together. Having faced the possibility of death many times together, they don’t take each other for granted.

Elder Wayman was diagnosed with kidney failure at a young age and they both know life is unpredictable and presents challenges. But they both choose to see the miracles instead of the tragedy.

The Waymans always seem to notice when someone needs a ride to church, a warm hug or a little cheering up. Their love creates the sparkle in other’s lives.

 “When nothing is expected and everything is appreciated, life is magical.” Sabin Conference Talk Oct 2023

The Waymans expect nothing from life or those around them. They appreciate everything. Because of the lens they choose to look through, their life is truly magical. Those around them find that the Wayman’s sparkle has rubbed off on them, making their life magical as well.

Serving in the Oakland Inner City Ward Brings Me Love, Acceptance, Joy and Pease

My great privilege, while living in Oakland, is attending an inner city ward. I wish all wards in the church were like Oakland 9th ward. We have members who have been homeless. addicted to drugs, or spent time in prison. They all desired a better life and have found hope and peace by turning to Jesus Christ. Our ward becomes their family where they find love, support and acceptance. Soon, they bring their friends who also feel the love we have for them and develop a desire for baptism as well.

 I've found more love, acceptance in the ninth ward than I've felt anywhere else. No one in our ward tries to hide their past lives or their present doubts or struggles. Everyone is accepted no matter where they are in their personal journey.

I love the connection we have to other cultures and communities here. For example, the president of the Oakland NAACP, Cinthia Adams and her family, were invited to attend the General Conference with the Brunt's, our Oakland Temple Visitors Center Director and his wife . They met with Elder Stevenson and Sister Eubanks and these church leaders simply said, "What can we do to help?" Then they listened. This group was also taken to the Humanitarian Center and Welfare Square as well as to several conference sessions. I love all outreach to all people of all faiths. 

This week I attended a bridal shower for my dear friend in the ward and a baptism for another. We are basking in the love and see the beauty of each daughter or son of God, no matter where we are on our journey. We have been taught how to love and be loved on a deeper level and we feel God's hand in the lives of His children every day.

There was a short segment about Amos Brown,(the SF Oakland NAACP President and activist from the 60's for racial equality, between conference sessions. He is still a pastor and still doing God's work here in his nineties. I know all the news coming out about Oakland and San Francisco is about the crime and decay of moral values, but there are millions of beloved sons and daughters of God here and the truth is God loves the ones committing the crimes as well. 

The good people in the Oakland 9th ward are my heroes and my living examples of how the Atonement of Jesus Christ can transform each of our lives.