Confirmation Rude Correction

 Alfredo recently reminded me of an experience we had while we were in the singles ward.  A young man named Immanuel took the missionary discussions and attended the singles ward.  He decided to be baptized.  As it was a convert baptism, he was baptized on Saturday and then confirmed during sacrament meeting on Sunday.   Immanuel's native language was Spanish and he'd been taught by the missionaries in Spanish.  So when they confirmed him, the confirmation was in Spanish.  When the confirmation was completed, a member of the stake high council assigned to our ward stood up and said that as those presiding couldn't understand the confirmation it would need to be performed again in English...he said something along the lines of  "for all I know you just sent this young man to hell" so do it over so we know it was done properly.  It was such a shocking and sad thing...what should have been such a beautiful experience was tainted a bit by the way it was handled.  The missionaries repeated the confirmation and it didn't seem to shake Immanuel's testimony, thankfully.

Here's what I learned from that experience:

1.  In the words of Elder Holland:  "Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but He deals with it. So should we. And when you see imperfection, remember that the limitation is not in the divinity of the work. As one gifted writer has suggested, when the infinite fulness is poured forth, it is not the oil’s fault if there is some loss because finite vessels can’t quite contain it all.¹⁰ Those finite vessels include you and me, so be patient and kind and forgiving."

2.  Our words matter.  This leader could have calmly and lovingly explained that the ordinance needed to be performed in English so that they could be certain it was performed correctly and then gently asked them to repeat it.  He could have complimented the beauty of the language and how happy we were to have Immanuel join the church and then explained the need to repeat the ordinance.  It wasn't the need for repetition that was shocking or hurtful but the anger that seemed to come through the words.  

3.  I guess this goes back to number one somewhat, but it's important to forgive.  It is very likely that this leader remembers that day with sorrow.  There's a good chance that he recognized his mistake and wishes with all his heart he could do it over.  It's possible that he had something going on in his life that we knew nothing about that led to the way he handled this situation.  It's really unfortunate that the situation was handled so poorly, but it was one decision/one moment out of millions in that man's life.  And I saw him love and serve diligently for the three years I was in that ward, so I don't think that was typical of him.  While I haven't forgotten the experience, and I still consider it an unfortunate one, I hold no ill will toward this kind man who made a mistake.