By Stephanie Mountain

Our eighth grade students were confirmed at Community Lutheran Church campuses in Escondido and San Marcos on Sunday, May 19th.  In case you missed it, we are posting twelve of their testimonies here on our church blog.

Hello, my name is Stephanie Mountain, daughter of John and Helen Mountain, and sister of Jackie and John Mountain. I was baptized at San Marcos Lutheran Church on August 1, 1999 by Mark Anutson.

Being baptized means to me as being invited into Heaven. Confirmation is just a more excited way of being invited. To be able to go to Heaven one must be baptized and believe in Jesus Christ. Confirmation is easily defined, confirming of one's faith in Christ. Knowing that I am baptized helps with various things through out my day most indefinitely. When friends at school would ask of my faith, I would get scared because I didn't know what answer would be accepted. Now I don't go screaming around school that I'm a Lutheran, but know I am confident when I tell people. They have two options, take me as I am or leave me.

Forgiveness to me means to have your sin be excluded. If I were to retake a failed Math test, a C or lower, which is like apologizing and taking Communion, my math teacher would have me retake it, not get full points, leave the bad test grade, exempt that, and put in the slightly better, but still not amazing test grade in. When I would do something really not good, which happens about once every four months or so, I would feel really bad, which is normal, but for weeks after. Nobody would know because I would keep it to myself. Now when something like that happens, I feel bad for a couple days or so, cringing slightly when its brought up, because I know what Jesus did for me, gets rid of all my flaws.

Where I think I will be in 10 years, is done with college with a bachelor's degree in what ever will get me into the world of chemistry, or maybe even a higher degree. Being a chemist came to me last year because it has the perfect balance of math and science with a tad bit of creativity. Spiritually, I won't be as uneasy, but I really was introduced to Christ two years ago, while most religious people my age have been doing this type of stuff for their entire life.

Confirmation has truly been a life changing experience for me. I have found new colors and applications of myself. I have met some new friends, and with time have begun to fit in better. Confirmation has also presented a challenge academically. This is the only class i would ever get a B or C in. I didn't have very much past knowledge of Christ, and had to be taught skills and concepts my classmates learned many years ago. With that it has given me more sympathy for the kids that don't do as well in school, because they can't absorb the information as others can. It has also prepared me for the hardening classes in school and given me new study skills.