It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Years ago there was a popular beer commercial which always concluded, "It doesn't get any better than this." Of course, it was wrong then and it's wrong now, but the saying was catchy enough to remember all these years and today (Saturday, Feb. 9th, 2008) was truly a day when "It doesn't get any better than this." Nine weeks ago Catherine Pearce was baptized and today she went to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead. Perry Raleigh is her home teacher so he and Valarie planned the whole event. Fortunately for me they invited me along. We were to leave the Raleigh's at 5:45a. I woke up around 4:15, excited for the day to begin but wanting to get more sleep before it did. The next thing I heard was Jeanne saying, "Rodger, it's 5:40a!" It was a great opportunity to decide not to go, but that was never an option. I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, grabbed a granola bar and drove over to the Raleigh's. Fortunately, the clock by our bed had been set ahead about 5 minutes, so I even made it on time. The whole thing was a miracle. Catherine was radiant. She was excited and curios and desirous to do work in the temple. We got there plenty early and took some pictures outside the temple. Her smile tells it all.
I was just lucky to be there. Perry has been suffering with some back problems and was unable to perform the baptisms so he asked if I wanted to do it. I asked the sister at the front desk if I could perform the baptisms for Catherine and she said, "Can you make sure that happens?" "Yes, I can!" Just the kind of interaction I like. Well, for whatever reason, the girls were entering the font area one at a time. Perry, Valarie and I were sitting in the viewing area talking and enjoying the spirit of the place, when suddenly, there was Catherine in the baptistry. I jumped up and ran into the font area, forgetting to take my footies off (which got sufficiently wet) and surprised all the workers there by announcing I was going to be performing the baptisms for Cathering. It all worked out and Catherine later expressed how grateful she was I had done it. I felt deeply blessed for the opportunity.
The greatest part was the smile on her face every time she came out of the water. She was beaming, being sure to read for herself the names of every person she was baptised for and just beaming with joy. After, I asked Perry and Valarie if they had seen the smile, "No, we could only see the back of her head." "Oh, I should have turned her around so you could have seen it!" Although, I'm a bit surprised, given the size of her smile it didn't go all the way around to the back.

Afterwards we went to the vistor's center and watched the Joseph Smith film and took some more pictures. It was just an absolute joy and honor to be with Catherine on this wonderful day.