Baptism and Temple Blessings

1. Everything That Touches You by The Association

2. Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Mamas & The Papas

3. Chewy, Chewy by Ohio Express

4. Elenore by The Turtles

5. My Special Angel by The Vogues

6. Cry Like a Baby by The Box Tops

7. I Got the Feelin' by James Brown

8. I've Gotta Get a Message to You by The Bee Gees

9. Sunshine of Your Love by Cream

10. La-La Means I Love You by The Delfonics

11. The Unicorn by The Irish Rovers

12. I'm Gonna Make You Love Me by Diana Ross & The Supremes

13. For Once in My Life by Stevie Wonder

On May 14, 1968 I turned eight years old. This is a special age - the age of accountability. The scriptures tell us that this is the earliest age of baptism - when you are considered able to tell the difference between right and wrong. This is pretty accurate and I'd like to think I was pretty good at telling the difference. Making the right choice isn't always easy though and Satan steps it up in the temptation department when he knows someone is getting ready to take that big step. All in all, I'd say I was a pretty good kid but definitely not perfect!! I was willing and able to follow the steps of my family and be baptized. I had loved the difference the gospel had made in our lives.

In the recently finished baptismal font (with which I had helped) I was baptized on June 29, 1968 in the Jamestown, NY chapel. My father had received the priesthood by then and was able to both baptize and confirm me. I was nervous and I'm pretty sure he was, too! I will never forget that day and the feelings I had as I dressed in the bathroom. The door to the font was opened and I looked across to the other side where my father approached from the men's bathroom. He walked down the stairs and over to me and reached our for my hand to help me down the stairs into the waters of baptism. We walked over to the side closest to the faucet and put our hands together in the way we had been practicing. A glance up to the missionaries assured us we had everything right and then the short but powerful prayer was pronounced. I had shared some of my anxieties about the water with my dad and he knew to hold me especially secure. The water was warm - perfectly warm and a feeling of comfort and peace filled my little soul. As he immersed me in the warm water I had a sense of flight, almost soaring and was a little worried that I wasn't fully submerged - but we got the OK when I came up out of the water.

Isn't it amazing the difference a few short seconds can make? I was free from sin - pure as the day I was born. The joy in my heart, even as a child, let me know that I wanted to feel like this forever. I was sure that that was how heaven felt. I tried to explain to my mom while we were changing how I was feeling but the words were just not available to my eight year old mind. I think she knew what I was trying to say, though. Sometimes there just aren't words, only impressions. And the understanding you have of gospel principles are very clear. It's alright if you can't express them to others, those moments are meant for your own personal use and uplifting.

After the baptism we assembled back in the chapel and I was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by my father. I felt and heard the pronouncement, "Receive the Holy Ghost." I now had a helper on board to help me as I journeyed my way back to Heavenly Father. A helper who, I'm sure, gets very weary at my knot-headed ways at times!

The next wonderful event would take place on August 10th on that forever trip out west I spoke of last time. We were going to the temple to be sealed for time and eternity as a family. I'm not sure how the Manti temple was chosen for this. Perhaps because it was close to Elder Law's home and we were going to stop and visit with him and he was going to go to the temple with us. He and his family lived in Springville, Utah and I used to wonder why we didn't just go to the Provo Temple as it was closer - but it wasn't built until 1972! The Manti temple is beautiful, though, and I'm glad to have a connection with it. I have often thought I'd like to go back there to do temple work someday.

I don't remember if we stayed with Elder Law's family - maybe some of us did. But I remember being at his parents' home and visiting with his siblings. He had family, an uncle I think, who was in the music business and had made some recordings so there was a common interest between the adults. We kids were amazed to discover a jar on a shelf in someone's room that held two globs of what looked like maybe giblets! Alas - they were tonsils! Either Elder Law or one of his siblings had saved theirs! I remember running away and thinking "EW!!!" But I'm pretty sure my brothers were thinking with great regret that they hadn't saved theirs. Marvin still had his ( and would until his senior year.)

The day at the temple was very special. I remember the peace that invaded your soul as soon as you walked through the door of that holy place. I wasn't sure what to expect - not much had been said about what was going to happen. My parents were led away and us kids were taken to the nursery where we played and were attended to by the sweet sisters there. I remember building with these huge wooden blocks. There were dolls, too, which made me happy. It was a happy place and it was a comfort to have my brothers with me. I'm sure I would have been traumatized had I been taken away alone. At the appropriate time the sisters announced that it was time to get into our special clothes. I had a beautiful white dress for the occasion with a sheer organza fabric with embroidered flowers over a white cotton sheath. It had little puffy sleeves and a sort of fabric corsage made from the flowers in the organza on the chest. It didn't spin as it was an a-line cut but I could forgive it because of how dainty and beautiful it was! I remember thinking how very princess-like everything seemed with the white and the soft light.

My temple dress

We were taken to a sealing room where we met with our parents, also in all white. My brothers and sisters and I and our parents knelt around the altar. I remember the mirrors which we looked into and could see for forever. I'm not remembering many details, but I'm remembering impressions and feelings. They were feelings of comfort and all being right.

We left Manti after the sealing and traveled to Mesa, Arizona to visit with Elder Stanley Miller and his family. We loved it there and had a great time swimming in their pool that was shaped like a kidney! He had siblings that were close to our age so we had fun times together. My parents and some of the Millers went to Nogales one day and they came back with vanilla that smelled like no vanilla I had ever smelt - heady and sweet! And they came back with sombreros, too! Arizona seemed like an entirely different world to us Pennsylvanians! There were spiders and snakes to worry about and it was soooo hot!! This was August, mind you! We thought it was quite the adventure.

Stanley Miller, Mom, Sharon Miller - taken around 1996

All was great until it came time to leave. A few days before we left, the Millers received terrible news that a daughter that was traveling home for a visit had been in a bad car accident in one of the canyons. Elder Miller had been so excited for us to meet her. The car had rolled and she and the passengers were in pretty serious condition. We left for Oregon with a bit of a heavy heart and wondering how things were to turn out for his sister. We later learned that she did recover, but was left with some lasting effects. We would eventually meet her but that would wait for about a year or two.

We visited the grounds of the Mesa temple while we were there and I, again, sensed that peace and comfort that I would soon associate with any House of the Lord. It was very different than the Manti temple in style, but the purpose and feeling were the same.

Music in America was on the verge of great change - or at least I was going to start noticing that things would be different. This week's playlist is still fairly simple - a mix of bubble gum pop and folk music. But, soon, the climate would change. I had grown up with Elvis and was a very little girl when The Beatles landed so I wasn't as acutely aware of the changes they brought to music as I was going to be with the advent of the late 60s and early 70s. Troubles, they were abrewing - and the need for the peace and serenity of the temple would be even more so.