A Temple Excursion

I was discussing LDS beliefs with a non LDS friend of mine and the subject of Baptism for the Dead came up. It reminded me of a time in my life when I was sixteen years old. My friends and I were in a Sunday School class taught by my Mother. The course of study that year included the topic of "Baptism for the Dead." During the discussion, my Mom asked if the class would like to do baptism for the dead. The response was 100% in favor of the idea. We decided on the day to go and my Mom made the arrangements. We decided to go to he Manti Temple to perform the ordinances. One of my friends (I'll call him Dave) who was active in all aspects of the Church wanted to go with us but he was not a member. He went to our Bishop and told him of his desires. The Bishop told him he would, first of all, need to become a member of the LDS church. Dave knew this and ask the Bishop to talk to his parents for permission to be baptized. This was accomplished and so with all of us, Dave got a recommend not only for his own baptism but a recommend to perform baptism for the dead. On the prescribed day, we all got on a bus and went to Manti, Utah and the temple there. My maternal grandparents lived in Manti and were ordinance workers in the Temple. As such, my grandfather supervised the baptism session. First off, Dave was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. We then proceeded to do the baptisms. There were about 18 members in the class about equally divided by sex. All of the boys, except Dave, were Priests and, therefore, could perform baptisms. So, we took turns baptizing each other both boys and girls. The confirmations were performed by the Ordinande workers. As I recall, we did about 300 baptisms that day. It is an experience that I will never forget and a tribute to my Mother that I'll always cherish.