Recently my niece, Lottie, got baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and she asked her cousin, my other niece, to give the baptism talk. The following was created and presented by my 12 year-old niece and I think she did a fantastic job! She used cotton candy to teach about life, baptism and repentance.
First, she congratulated Lottie on her choice to be baptized and then talked about all the qualities she admired in her. She specifically noted the Christlike qualities and said that even though she was older than her, she still looked up to her. It was adorable.
Next, she talked about how when Jesus was 30 years old, He decided to go to the River Jordan and be baptized by John the Baptist. She said, "you might be thinking, "Wait, Jesus was perfect. Why does he need to be baptized? Well, Jesus wanted to set a good example for our lives, just like you're doing today."
When we decide to be baptized, we are choosing to follow Jesus' example. It means we want to be like Him and live the way He taught us. Here, it might be meaningful to point out other ways that your little one has followed Christ already.
Next, she told Lottie that now that she was 8, she is old enough to understand the difference between right and wrong, as well as good and bad. She can also learn how to fix her mistakes and understand that when we promise to fix our mistakes Heavenly Father forgives us and blesses us in return.
She explained that the promises we make at baptism are called covenants and they are the following:
Take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ
Keep His commandments
Serve Him by serving others
And then the cutest part...
She pulled out a few containers of cotton candy and said, "Cotton candy can be awesome and wonderful, but it also gets sticky and messy sometimes. This is how life can be. Most of the time life is fine and happy and amazing! We're suppose to enjoy life, our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy!
BUT, we were sent down to this earth so that we can learn to overcome things, and learn to be like Jesus. We need a little bit of a challenge and that is the "sticky" part of life."
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Next, she pulled out a package of Wet Ones and said, "But, because Heavenly Father loves us so much, and wants to help us with our messy lives, he gave us repentance and the sacrament that can help clean up our messes after baptism. Your baptism will make you clean today, but we need help everyday which is where the Wet Ones come into play as repentance and the sacrament."
She concluded her cutest LDS talk on baptism with bearing her testimony and encouraged Lottie to keep choosing the right and "being an awesome and happy girl."
If it feels right to you, consider ending by passing out some cotton candy with a reminder that "it might get sticky, just like life sometimes, but do your best to enjoy the experience and repent along the way!"
