Rex wrote:Two Baptisms

 On June 13^th the Seaqaqa Elders had a baptism of a young man living in Naduna, Viliame. The former Branch President of Naduna had a daughter being baptized as well, Kalisi. We were in charge of making and printing the program. Naduna was a branch for two years, but as members have moved away or quit coming, it is now a “Group” under the Labasa Branch so President St. John is their Branch President, and the baptisms are under Labasa Branch authority. The elders planned to have Brother Jone, the group leader from Naduna, preside and conduct the meeting. At the last minute, they found he could not make it. They quickly called around in the Labasa branch to get someone to take charge. All the Branch Presidency were out of town or busy. Finally, Elder Kumar, our district leader, suggested they ask the mission leader to take the responsibility. He accepted. We had to wait at our flat for the name to put on the programs and print them here. It was time to start when we got to the church. Pictures had just been taken, and the parents of the little girl asked the elders where her dress was. They didn’t have one. It was a member baptism and should have been taken care of by the Primary President. The Naduna Group is not organized for that yet. The Labasa Elders said, “Drive us to our flat. We have a baptismal dress.” We hopped into the truck, drove to their apartment, and got the dress. As we got out of the truck at the church, Elder d’Aquin said, “The dress is for a grown lady. It is the only one we have, and we only have one safety pin.”

By this time it was one half hour past starting time. They tried the dress on the little girl. The sleeves were over a foot past the end of her hands. The bottom of the dress looked like a wedding dress with over two feet on the ground and the neck line was low, very low. The little girl was almost in tears.

I tried to cheer her up by saying, “It looks like a princess wedding dress.” It didn’t help.

Sister Kora said, “We have a smaller dress at our flat. It is still for a lady, but a much shorter one.”

The parents said, “No worries.This one is fine.”

They took pictures in the long dress.

Most of us went into the chapel to start the baptismal service. Betty was feeling sorry for the poor little girl. She looked so sad, Sister Kora went to work. She is an artist. About five minutes later, the little girl appeared in the chapel with a better-fitting dress. The sleeves were to her elbows. The bottom hem was at her knees, and the neck was just right. We were told later that Sister Kora and the mother had rolled the sleeves up on the inside. The bottom of the dress was rolled up inside to her chest with the sash tied around her waist to hold it up. They used the one safety pin in the back to tighten the neckline.

All was set.

After the prayers and the songs, as we headed to the font, Sister Woodward insisted that more pictures be taken in the tailored dress. They were. The little girl still did not smile. I think she was afraid of the water.

Elder Nuku from New Zealand baptized the teenage young man first. After the prayer, Elder Nuku took the young man down and back up so quickly that the water splashed out and the resulting waves went over the edge two more times after. It was so quick that the water barely had time to fill in over the top when he went down. He had been totally immersed, but not very long. It was the quickest baptism I have ever seen.

The father didn’t have his own white sulu so he had to wait for the Viliame to change and borrow the one the elders had provided him. As he and the little girl went down the steps into the water, she had a terrified look on her face. Her father was so gentle with her. Still she was very afraid. When all was ready, he slowly laid her into the water and lovingly brought her back out. There was hardly a ripple in the water. It was so sweet. The contrast between the two was stark. One was a strong brotherly baptism and the other a soft father-daughter baptism. Both were done to perfection the first time.

Such a spiritual baptism!