How many baptisms do YOU have?

Wouldn't it have been funny if we all had received one of these for each baptism that we participated in?  I'm imagining us wearing them all on our shoulder like military (or boy scout) badges.  It would have shown our rank. 

Of course, we were sometimes reminded that the important thing was not how many baptisms we got.  On the other hand, we were sometimes subtly told that how many baptism we got was exactly what was important.  I recall a Zone Conference about "Inner Circle Missionaries."  If I recall, to be an Inner Circle Missionary, you were supposed to be obedient and diligent and all those wonderful virtues.  But there was (at least) one missionary whose main technique seemed to be Flirt to Convert and who had been caught in deception and who otherwise seemed to be NOT living the wonderful virtues, but who was considered an Inner Circle Missionary - due entirely, from my understanding at the time, to the number of baptisms said missionary had achieved. I also remember, one particular transfer, being told to set a goal of how many baptisms we were going to get during that transfer.  My comp & I set a ridiculously high number (well, it only seems ridiculous in retrospect, since it was about the number of baptisms I "got" my entire mission) and ended up with zero that transfer, I think.

I also remember disliking the fact that my number of baptisms was marked on the little ID card kept in the Mission President's office.  The card had my name, my picture, it showed what area I was currently in and who my companion was, and it had a tally of how many baptisms I had so far.  I think I was given that little card at the end of my mission to keep.  Things like that, combined with the reminders that number of baptisms aren't important, sent a mixed message about what our purpose was.

I hope you never felt that your status as a missionary, as a member, or as a human depended on how many people you led to the waters of baptism.