Mike!! Mike? Where are you?

HERE I AM!!!

So, what have I learned since my last entry??? Never, ever write pages and pages and pages of notes at General Conference, THEN, try to summarize and describe your feelings on them in a blog. During General Conference, you don't realize how many notes you actually take (well, according to most, including my ward's Bishop, I seem to be some king of note taking freak! haha [Not necessarily in those words]).

So much has happened since my last postings... Where to begin.??

Well... No, maybe I won't begin there. Let's go back a little further.

I experienced complacency in regards to my scripture readings, which was very difficult for me to over come. I kept telling myself "I was GOING to", which was kind of like a fall-back for me. Yeah, I'm GOING to read my scriptures... Just not now :-) Thankfully, I'm back into it and looking forward to another splendid reading this evening with my beautiful wife over the phone.

So, I got baptized. "YOU WHAT?" Yeah, I thought that might come as a suprise to most. I figured, heck, what have I got to lose?

No, seriously. As I have mentioned before, I have known for some time that the right thing for me to do was to be baptized. To make the sacred covenant, wash myself clean of sin and let myself loose through the gates and follow the holy trail led by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Believe me, I would have done it sooner, but I felt the right thing to do would be to have Melodie there. Not so that she could hold my hand and help me through the process (which she did anyway), but so she could be there to witness it and share in the experience.

23rd December, 2009
The baptism was set for 7pm on this very night. I could still hear Elder Nelson in my ear... "Make sure you bring 2 white shirts, a white T-shirt and white underwear and a change of underwear". Wow, it was almost like going away on school camp again!

I was supposed to be at the Church at 6:30pm. The time was 6:30pm. Low and behold, I realised, I don't own any white underwear. "Do you think they'll mind if I wear these red ones, Melodie?" By the look on her face, I assumed a 'no' so I turned away and kept rummaging through my junk. As time was winding down, we realized that we had to try our luck at the local supermarket. Luckily, I had not been washed of my sins yet, so I sped down to the supermarket and we ran in to look for some. Black, grey or navy is all they had to offer. It was either that, or womens underwear. I knew heavenly father would not appreciate me being baptized in womens underwear. I finally found a 6 pack of white at another store and we were on our way to Church.

We got there at about 6:50pm. I was able to get changed with Elder Nelson beatboxing and Modlik rapping 'be still, my soul'. I now know how they have been so successful Gq'ing on the streets of the Ghet... I mean, the Beaches.

To my disappointment, they didn't have a white tie for me to wear. I offered Elder Modliks tie to myself, but apparently he 'NEEDED' one, so I couldn't look like I was doing a new Boyz II Men music vid. It's all good though, I enjoyed rocking the white shirt and pants with no shoes.

A friend of mine from Church, Isaac te'u, gave a talk on baptism. It was cool to hear him talk about it and his views on Baptism, and how he felt it would help me. I was suprised when he started to choke on his words towards the end of his talk, but could definitely feel the sincerity and the love behind his words.

Melodie gave a short talk on the Holy Ghost, who and what the Holy Ghost actually was, how and when it should be used and other cool stuff like that. I surely was excited to have my Wife fly across from the US to be there, and having her talk made it that much more special.

THEN I WAS DUMPED. It was kind of nerve racking. Hold your hands like this, bend your knees like that, don't bang your head on the tiled walls etc etc. So many instructions, I was sure I was going to stuff something up. Wasn't to happen though, everything went smoothly and I came up, out of the water clean and feeling like a new spirit inside.

I had a few minutes to contemplate what just went down as I was drying myself off and getting changed. Awesome Mike, you forgot socks... Whatever...
There was no going back to what just happened. And I didn't want to. Everything felt so right.

That feeling was backed up by Melodie singing 'Be still, my soul' accompanied by Sister Manwell on the piano. That particular hymn seemed to be a running theme for the evening and it sat very well in the pit of my stomach.

The baptism was followed by a tremendous feast consisting of any kind of food you could possibly think of. Well, kind of. there was some tuna salad, some pizza, some chicken, some other stuff and it was all grand!



Christmas came and went and I was back at Church on Sunday 27 December, 2009. Today was the day of confirmation. I was asked by Bishop to arrive at Church at 8:30am for an interview he wanted to conduct with me. I agreed (as if I was going to say 'no') and made the awesome effort to be there right on time. He explained to me what would happen today and what he thought of my progress thus far. He then told be that, today during Elders Quorum, I would be ordained into the Aaronic priesthood.



Since my Baptism, and confirmation, I have felt a great deal of peace within. My stress has decreased and I find I have a lot more patience. More importantly, I find that I'm more aware of my actions and reprecussions the might have the near future. I feel as though it has improved my relationship with my Wife. Not that we needed our relationship to improve,but we are both on common ground and I feel something that has been apart of her Life since she can remember.
People were telling me months and months ago, "Mike, if you take this journey, you will be happy."
I'm happy to say I recognise that true, everlasting happiness and I'm proud to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints