This is our friend Dausi LaForge. She and Sophie have been friends for awhile now and we found out that she lives just behind us. We didn't know because she isn't a member of our church and we are bad neighbors. When we found out that she was taking the missionary discussions Sophie started going to them and Dausi came with me to Young Women's activities. She set her baptism date but then wanted to push it back because her friends Dad who was going to baptize her got in a car accident. But Sister Seegmiller (our YW Pres) told our 2nd counselor in our Stake Presidency about Dausi her was amazed because he is good friends with her Mom and didn't know anything about it. So, after the Missionaries and I talked with Dausi about Bro. Lewis baptizing her she was excited. She was baptized at 2pm on January 30th. Here is the story of the week of her baptism:
I go to the Temple every Wednesday to do initiatory and the 27th I had a prompting to put Dausi's name on the prayer roll. That night we had Young Women's and everything was fine. Then Saturday morning was the Best of EFY and I invited Dausi to come. She wasn't excited at first. Who would be? 3 hours of church on a Saturday! But, the Young Women told her how fun it was and she got excited. So, Saturday morning I drove to her house and her Mom answered the door and told me that Dausi was still in bed and didn't want to be baptized today. I was crushed. So, I talked to her Mom and asked her to ask Dausi if she wanted to come with us this morning for EFY anyway because it would be fun. I knew that if I could get her to EFY then everything would be alright. Dausi's Mom is a wonderful person. She herself has taken the missionary discussions 2 or 3 times but would never commit to baptism. Dausi had told me that her Mom had some concerns about her grandmother getting mad at her for being baptized into the LDS church because she was very Catholic and wanted Dausi to be Catholic. So, when Patty (Dausi's Mom) told me that Dausi didn't want to get baptized I told her that I thought that the Lord just wants us to be happy and if the LDS church doesn't make her happy then she shouldn't get baptized. She was kind of taken back. I think she thought that I'd try to convince her to be baptized. At that point I just wanted her to come to EFY. So, I told Patty that I had to go pick up some other girls and that I'd be back in 15 minutes to see if Dausi wanted to go. So, I picked up some girls and then went to the church to meet everyone. I let Sis. Seegmiller know about Dausi and then we left to go pick her up. On the way there I pulled over and started to cry and asked one of our YW to say a pray for Dausi. After the prayer I was fine. I knew that she would have a great time at EFY and would be baptized that afternoon. When we got to her house she was all ready to go.
I talked to Dausi before the meeting started and asked her what her concerns were and she said that she just didn't want to be stressed out. She wanted to be happy. Well, every talk at EFY was on ways to be happy. Not a coincidence. On our way home Dausi said that she didn't feel ready to be baptized because her Mom said that she hasn't been reading her scriptures. All of the girls bore there testimonies to her about the day they were baptized and how at the age of 8 they had hardly, if any at all, read the scriptures. I told her as we dropped her off at her house that we were all planning to go to the church at 2pm whether or not she was going to be baptized. It was up to her and I let her know it.
Then I went home to find the house a mess and Sophie still in her pj's and she was supposed to be baking brownies for the baptism. She hadn't even started them. It was 1pm. I ran all over the neighborhood trying to find Josh who told Sophie he was going for a hike 3 hours before. He needed to be home because I didn't want to take the little boys to the baptism. So, I was running around like a chicken with her head cut off and at 1:50 I got a call from Dausi asking if I could give her a ride. I dropped everything and picked her up. We went to the Stake Center, which is also the chapel we go to and helped her get ready. After she was in her jumpsuit I fixed her hair and when she came out everyone was there. Her Mom, about 8 YW, Joel and Sophie, Burke Staheli, the Lewis's and some of her Mom's friends. It was awesome.
During EFY Dausi mentioned that she didn't have any church shoes. She was wearing tennis shoes. But it was cute. So while the sister missionaries where giving there talks on Baptism and Confirmation I whispered to the YW that later that night I would be coming to there houses to get any unwanted church shoes and possibly dresses. Dausi was dressed nice for her baptism but it was a skirt and t-shirt. So, I when I got home we raided Sophie's closet. She had 4 dresses that she didn't wear anymore. And that night we got 2 more dresses and 5 pairs of church shoes from our YW. I called Dausi and told her that I was coming over to give her something and when I got there she and her Mom were amazed. Dausi tried on each dress like she was a princess. She was so happy. Her Mom kept on saying things like, "why did you do this and Dausi be careful because we can't afford to replace that one if you ruin it." I told her that they were all Dausi's now and that if she wanted to play in the mud with them then it wouldn't matter, that the girls wanted to do something nice for Dausi and they weren't wearing them or had grown out of them anyway. So, the next day for Dausi's confirmation in church she was wearing a dress and a huge smile on her face and I could tell that her concern about not being happy was behind her.
Well, one of Dausi's friends that isn't a member but is in our ward is now taking the discussions and Sophie and Dausi are going to each of the discussions with her.
In September Sophie and Shayne went to some discussions for another girl in our ward who was in Sophie's grade. Her name is Noni. She was baptized in October. The only bad thing about all of this is that Sophie won't be 12 until the end of June so she can't go to YW on Wednesday nights or to Sunday school or YW on Sunday. So, that's where Shayne and I come in. Dausi's Mom doesn't come to church yet so Dausi comes with us. We are trying to get Noni to come with us too because she lives with her grandparents that aren't active. A lot of time she will go to another friends ward instead of ours. We will also be having Taylor, the girl who is currently taking the discussions come with us too. Her parents are not active either. So, our family just grew by 3. We no longer fit in our pew. So, Sophie, Dausi, Noni and Taylor will be sitting right behind us. I hope that they all strengthen each other. They are in for some fun times. Especially Girls camp where they will all be first years.
I am extremely blessed to have such wonderful daughters who are good examples to their friends and blessed that the Lord has let me be a part of all of these Young Women's lives. It is amazing to see the strength in the youth in the LDS church. I am excited to see what the future brings.
