I became aware of Jennie through a sudden interest in and subsequent research about her this year. (Read about it here.) I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many know that family history is very important to us. We believe that family ties can last beyond this life and into eternity.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints use family history records to perform sacred temple ordinances, such as eternal marriages and sealings of children to parents, for their kindred dead if these deceased family members were unable to perform the earthly rites themselves. This gives deceased ancestors the opportunity to accept these ordinances in the afterlife. (https://www.comeuntochrist.org/beliefs/family/family-history)If you read the compilation of stories to which I posted a link yesterday, you know that Jennie loved Jesus Christ. She devoted her life to Him and to teaching others about Him. I believe that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Jesus Christ's church restored to the earth through living prophets and apostles, just as when He established the church through His apostles after He died. When I read about how much Jennie loved Christ and how much she sacrificed to share the Gospel, I thought, "I have to give her the opportunity to be baptized into His restored church." (To learn how we give those who have passed on the opportunity to be baptized, watch this short video.)
I requested the privilege to go to the temple and be a proxy for Jennie in baptism and other sacred ordinances performed there. (Learn more here.) As I contemplated performing these ordinances for Jennie, I wondered whether she would accept them. She had probably been baptized during her life; maybe she had even baptized others. Would she recognize the need for baptism from one with proper authority from God? However, I felt that I had been carefully led (maybe even pushed a bit - if you read about Jennie, you might know what I mean 😉) to discover Jennie at this particular time. I could almost feel her pushing my mind to her and the need to do this for her.
The last ordinance performed in the temple is sealing of families together for time and all of eternity - husbands & wives together and children & parents together. It takes several hours to go through all of the ordinances performed in the temple for each person. I went on a beautiful day in May, but ran out of time before completing this final, important ordinance. I thought, "I will come back in a couple of days." But a couple of days turned into a couple of weeks (all the while the "push" feeling).
Jennie was never married, but on June 14th, I was able to participate as she was sealed to her parents, my great-grandparents. The wise and kind old man who performed the sealing (it always seems to be wise and kind old men who perform sealings) asked, "What do you know about Jennie?" I told him that she was my great-aunt, a single woman who lived much of her life as a Baptist missionary in Peru.
Tears came to my eyes as he said, "She's here today. And she's going to give you a big hug when you get to Heaven!"
What a beautiful experience. I'm so grateful to have found such an incredible woman (who faces down men with machetes by shouting that God has a message for them?!) and to have been able to give her a very special gift for her 100th birthday. I know that she will be just as enthusiastic sharing the gospel now as she was in life. I look forward to that hug.
PS - We often call other members of our church "Brother" and "Sister" - when I came out of the temple after being baptized for Jennie, the words came to my mind "Welcome, Sister Jennie Adams!" or en español, as she would've been familiar, Hermana Adams.
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