Standing for Truth for 32 Years

Elder Tolentino and me reuniting after 30 years

Thirty-two years ago today, I was baptized by Elder Arturo A. Tolentino, a full-time missionary from Quezon City as a convert and confirmed by Elder Daniel Crossley, a full-time missionary from Salt Lake, Utah as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In this long years of membership, I was able to tackle and hurdle various trials and challenges in my life as I nurture and nourish my membership in the Church by staying faithful and active in my various callings I received.

In this first Sunday of April which is our fast and testimony Sunday, I was rehearsing and talking to my mind of what the achievements I had had before I shared my testimony.

Memorable things flashed back in my mind from the time of my conversion which took me 6 years till the time that my family members, my wife and I were sealed in Manila Philippines Temple, Quezon City.

Do You Need To Sacrifice Your Traditional Belief?

Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostle

In my case, I was converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I sacrificed my traditional faith of belief and I was willing to serve the Lord without pay just my time, effort and talent. I had a lot of things given up just to be baptized to the Mormon religion. And I did nurture my membership in this Church for 32 years.

These things I did were strengthened by the message of Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on sacrifice in the Saturday morning session of the 182nd Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah. It was rebroadcast in our respective meetinghouses here in the Philippines.

Agustin: 'Happy Life. Happy Home'

Happy life could be tantamount to a happy home when there's love. And this is what I've personally gained from the message of Elder Manuel Agustin of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in one of semi-annual conferences of La Carlota District.

Elder Agustin

Elder Agustin emphasized his spiritual instructions on family by citing Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?" to the Church members.

"Home can be a heaven on earth/ when we are filled with love/ Bringing happiness and joy,/ Rich blessings from above/" - some lines from Church hymn were also cited by Elder Agustin to substantiate his claim that family is very important in the eyes of the Lord.

Three effective Ws of Doing the Lord's Work

In our November 26 cluster meeting of all clerks and executive secretaries of all district here in Negros Occidental with Brother Ralphie Presa of MSR held at Galo Meetinghouse, Bacolod City, the following qualities propped up into my mind as a spiritual reflection of my experience and testimony of the basic qualities which I know as a minimum requirements in accepting my numerous callings from the Church.

And these are willingness, worthiness, and work.

God Forgive Him

Losing my cellphone while riding on a passenger jeepney to a snatcher who sat beside me seems ti be unwanted and a hateful moment, but yet I never condemned him and curse him. Instead I was considerate and forgiving though I didn't recover it.

Zandiv, Gilbor junior and I were in a hurry to catch a transportation from La Carlota going to Bacolod early this morning to attend a technology training conducted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Upon arriving in Bacolod near the old Airport in Araneta, we alighted from the nonstop bus and transferred to a round-trip jeep going to our destination. Zandiv requested  to drop by at a Union Bank branch in a corner of Araneta and  Rosario Streets. While we're waiting for Zandiv who's inside an ATM to come out, I noticed my leather receptacle on my right side where I placed my more-than-a-year old mobile phone, was empty. Though I was a bit disturbed, but not panicky. I might misplace my phone at home, I thought.

LDS Pattern of Prayer

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in his "Improving Our Prayers" (Liahona, August 2004, Pp. 16-23) stated that Psalm 37 as revealed David's words as "inspired process for active prayer and faith" is considered as a "step-by-step process" as a pattern for the latter-day saints (LDS) to follow as they seek to increase their faith and improve the efficacy of their prayers.

There are 6 steps to bear in mind. "Fret Not" is the first step. To fret means to worry or to brood something. The first thing we must do is stop worrying. When we worry about the future, we create unhappiness in the present. Righteous concern may lead us to take appropriate action, but worrying about things we cannot control can paralyze and demoralize us. Instead of worrying, focus on doing all that you can, and then leave the worrying to your Heaven Father. If your heart is right with him, He will take care of the worry and the fear. We must learn to "fret not."

DepEd Fun Run for Rizal's Birthday To Benefit Schools

The Department of Education implements today its national Fun Run project to celebrate the 150th birthday of Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero who died for his country Philippines after writing two novels: "Noli Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" which incited the Katipuneros to revolts against the Spanish government.

This DepEd Fun run aims to invite more participants to donate educational materials or volunteer time for education-related activities to benefit public schools nationwide especially the schools have already open.