Baptism Day

Bryson and Courtney started dating about 5 months ago when he was waiting for his mission call. He was a little nervous to tell her that he was leaving to go on a mission because he was afraid that would be the end of them. She was not a member of the church and he wasn't sure she would understand his choice. 

Brian and I had our own concerns when they started dating. We found out she was a junior in high school and we were a little "unsettled" that our 20 year old Marine son, soon to be missionary, was dating someone so young. But as the last 5 months have progressed, we have grown to love Courtney and have felt that she was meant to come into Bryson's life. As they talked about him serving a mission, he bore simple testimony to her often and she started asking questions. These discussions progressed to the point of calling the missionaries to teach her the lessons. She had her first lesson up in Bountiful at Bryson's friend's house who just returned from his mission. She wanted to continue taking the lessons so we then called the Sister Missionaries in our stake and had the remaining lessons taught in our home. The spirit was always strong throughout the lessons and as Courtney began to read the Book of Mormon her testimony began to blossom. She made the decision to be baptized and we are so grateful we were able to be a part of her process and witness this amazing day. 

She asked Bryson to baptize her and she asked her Grandpa to confirm her tomorrow during sacrament meeting in her new ward.

 We had a luncheon at our house after the baptism and her family brought most of the food and her grandpa helped set everything up. She has a great family who is very supportive of her and obviously loves her very much!

 I love this picture of Sis. Cochrane!

 I love this picture below and I don't even know who took it. But Courtney's aunt and I were talking about how each of the families felt when we found out each of their ages. Her aunt's husband is very protective of her and he flipped when he found out Courtney was dating a 20 year old. Same way we felt when we found out she was 16. :) But look at the amazing thing that has come out of this...she is now a member of the church...something her extended family had been praying for for a long time.