Finley's Special Day

We had a lovely day as a family for Finley's eagerly awaited baptism. Covid restrictions went in place right before Finley turned eight early in the year and our plans for him turned out to be delayed for eight months. But we got there in the end. On Saturday 5th of December Finley was baptised by his Dad and it was a lovely and very powerful experience for us all. 

Back at the beginning of the year we invited the missionaries to teach Finley the missionary lessons so that he could clearly learn about the commitment and ordinance of baptism and make the decision for himself if it was something he wanted to do. We had two greats elders come for a few weeks, teach and even play some handball with Finley after the lessons. It was a great experience for Finley to come to the decision himself to follow Jesus Christ and one that I hope he will remember as his faith and love of the gospel grows. 

As the day grew closer this time around, Finley met with the bishop and I was really proud of his knowledge and commitment to be baptised. He was rallied around with so much support. Levi gave Finley a powerful talk on baptism, baptised and confirmed him. Grandma gave a beautiful talk on the Holy Ghost, was a witness to his baptism and helped me so much with preparations on the day, I couldn't have done it without her. Grandpa was in the circle to confirm him. Courtney was a witness. Primrose made it all the way to the stand to attempt the opening prayer. Ray and Gemma travelled from Sydney to be there and Ray participated in the confirmation. Jaqueline and Bob travelled from Yass. Tiffany Tomisk played the piano and gave the most beautiful artwork of Finley and the Saviour to Finley as a gift. Mike Tomsik participated in the confirmation. Levin Flake participated in the confirmation. Bishop was a wonderful help filling the font, conducting, confirming and supporting Finley in his decision. And Chloe, Meg and Will Palinthrope travelled from Bungendore to support him and there were gifts galore from primary, friends and family. And mum of course coordinated, prepared, planned and executed what I hope was a very special day for our little man Finley, growing up more and more each day. 

The day was lovely and in Finley's own words this is how he felt about it:

'I felt happy. I felt the spirit so much. It feels calming. I had a really fun time and seeing everybody, all the kids made me feel nice. When I got the Holy Ghost I felt very calm. I felt excited and happy about my baptism. I felt peaceful. I love to be with family. I decided to get baptised because I knew it was the right thing to do and Heavenly Father wanted me to. I knew it would mean I could get the gift of the Holy Ghost.'

It was an emotional experience for Levi and I. Levi felt very keenly the influence of the spirit through is talk and performing the ordinances. I had a very special experience seeing my son as Heavenly Father must see him, so innocent and striving so hard. It was wonderful to experience this day with him. We are so grateful for Finley and the big decisions he is making as he grows. Finley has such a fun, adventurous, imaginative personality and is excited by life. We are excited for all he is and all he will become. We love you Finley. 

Finley Catton’s Baptism 05 December 2020 - Levi Catton

Dear Finley,

Welcome to your baptism. We’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, and I’m very glad that we all made it here today.

By being baptised you are making your first covenant with the saviour Jesus Christ, your baptismal covenant. As a man you will make three more important covenants with the saviour, when you receive the Melchizidek Priesthood, when you receive the Temple Endowment, and finally when you are sealed in the temple to your future wife. But these things are a long way away and you don’t have to worry about them now. Today you are making your baptismal covenant, and I will say a little about the blessings you will receive from this.

This talk is like a story, so please listen careful lly. I know that Heavenly Father loves us very much. We are part of his family. He wants us to return to live with him after we are finished living here on earth.

Because Heaven is a perfect place, only perfect things and people can be there. If it wasn’t like that, it wouldn’t be perfect any more. Remember our two rules (1) Obedient and (2) Kind? Perfect means being perfectly obedient and perfectly Kind.

Unfortunately, we are all sometimes not as obedient or kind as we hope to be. In fact, we’re nowhere near perfect! So how can we hope to return to live with our Heavenly Father in his perfect Heavenly home?

Because Heavenly Father loves us, he sent his son to provide the way. Do you know who that is? Jesus Christ.

As the Son of God, Jesus Christ was given power over life and death, and at the end of his earthly life, he completed a great sacrifice, which we know is the atonement. This included his suffering in the garden of Gethsemane, and his suffering and death on the cross. He did this as a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and through this atonement, he took upon himself all of the guilt and punishment for all the things we do wrong.

He also taught us, through his personal teachings as well as through his prophets, the way to use the power of this sacrifice to overcome our own mistakes, problems and sufferings, so we can return to live with Heavenly Father in his perfect Heavenly home.

This way is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and it works by us exchanging special promises with Jesus Christ. Have you heard of a pinkie promise? This is like the most serious kind of pinkie promise you can make, and you make it directly with Jesus. Instead of holding pinkie fingers together, you have to go into the water, I’ll say a simple prayer, and you go completely underwater and out again. The going under water and back up again is a symbol of the old Finley dying and being buried, and the new Finley coming alive again out of the ground. Once you have made this promise with Jesus Christ you are starting a new life. All your old mistakes are gone, and you start fresh.

Now let me tell you how this covenant, or special promise, works.

The Saviour invites you to join together with him to make up a team. To get onto this team, you have to repent, promise to be obedient to the commandments, and be kind to others, the best that you can. You don’t have to be perfect but you have to do your best and not give up. This is a solemn agreement between you and Jesus Christ, which you have to take seriously.

Now this team is a small team, it has just two people, you and Jesus. On this team, there is one team member who doesn’t have a lot of experience, and often makes mistakes. That’s you. But, this team also has the ultimate player: Jesus Christ. He knows you really well, and he really likes being in this team with you. In fact, he loves you!

He also knows everything that could happen. If you make a mistake, he can make up for it. He is faster, stronger, and smarter than any opponent or challenge that your team might face. He is so good, that even though you may be nowhere near as good, together with him, your team is awesome. He is so good that no-one can beat your team. Your team is unstoppable. Together with Jesus, you are on the perfect team.

So Finley you can see that this is the team you want to be on, and it’s going to happen now, today. By making your baptismal covenant, you are saying to Jesus, I promise to try my best always to be the best player I can, and never give up.

Once you are on the team, you will want to stay on it. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi said, once you are on this special team of Jesus and Finley,

            “ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, this saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.”

This means you have to keep trying to be obedient and kind, you have to have faith, read your scriptures, and never, ever, ever, EVER give up. Jesus will never leave this team, and you have to never leave it either.

Once you are on this team, your team-mate Jesus will you a special gift which links you to him and gives you some of his power. This is called the Gift of the Holy Ghost. You will get this gift from the Saviour today, and Grandma will say a bit more about this.

So remember, obedient and kind, have faith, read your scriptures, and never, ever, ever, give up. And if you do this, you will be happy in your life, and one day, a very long time from now, when your time on earth is finished, the time will come to enter Heavenly Father’s perfect Heavenly home. Remember only perfection can go in. But even though you are not perfect and you have made many mistakes along the way, you are still on the perfect team. And if you stand together with your team mate Jesus Christ, hand in hand, you will be allowed in, and you will find that you are amazingly happy, and it will be forever.

The Prophet Nephi goes on to say:

            “And now, behold, my beloved Finley, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby Finley can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

And for all of us here today I re-interate this commandment from the Saviour:

            “Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptised in my name, that you may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.”

Finley, I’m very grateful to be part of your day today, I love you, I’m proud of you for the choice you are making, and I say all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Confirmation Blessing

We bless you that you will have kindness in your heart. That you will look to your Saviour Jesus Christ as an example and always reflect on the things that he would do and the things that he would have you do. 

We bless you with faith that you will be able to trust your Saviour as you look forwards in your life and understand that he has a plan for you and that you have important things to accomplish and that those things will be revealed to you as you move forward in faith in your Saviour always seeking the guidance of the Holy Ghost in making choices. 

We bless you to be a good friend to the people around you and that you will be able to bless the lives of many because of your good heart, your kind spirit. We bless you with wisdom, knowledge and understanding, that you’ll be able to see things as they really are, and that you’ll be able to understand people’s needs and how to help them. 

We bless you with the love of God, you have an intelligent mind and we bless you that you’ll direct that to learn as much as you can. We bless you with love for the people around you. Heavenly Father will show you an example of love, if you seek out his love in prayer. You’ll be a light to people who are facing challenges in their life. 

We bless you with patience, there are many things set before you but they will come in due course and according to the plan for you. We bless you with patience and the wisdom to wait for things until they are ready for you. 

Finley we love you and seal all of these blessings upon your head in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen