THE TURNING POINTS: 44 YEARS OF NERVING CROSSROADS

By: Norberto Betita

The resplendent Sun shines in a moment early morning today after several days of downpours as if to celebrate with us on this special day. The cold breeze of the northeast monsoon seemed to rest awhile as to not even move a small twig of the large and tall trees in front of our home as if to remind us of the peace and tranquility we experienced during those past moments of having chosen the paramount turning points in our long and grueling forty four (44) years of nerving crossroads.

However, as it is in this cold and rainy season, monsoon rains dominate and the cold winds blow as to defy the beauty of the much needed sunshine and environmental harmony; the same way that in summer we are irritated by the unquenchable heat of sunshine and desire for more rains. This jogs our memory to the compelling realities of sunshine and shadow; calm and wind; joy and sorrow which are indisputable variations associated with our journey of a lifetime.

All the while we thought as we grow old and gray that there’ll be no more of these challenging crossroads and the ways are cleared of barriers and hurdles for the weary travelers to advance to their destinations unmolested. Yet the fact remains that greying is never an exemption or a smooth pass through the variables along the far-reaching course of life. 

And so at this time of wanting to reach our 50th wedding anniversary we just join in singing the humorous version of Julie Andrews’ song “My Favorite Things” posted in the internet which I quote in part:

When the pipes leak,When the bones creak,
When the knees go bad
[We] simply remember [our] favorite things,
And then [we] don’t feel so bad.

Back pains, confused brains, and no fear of sinnin’,
Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin’,
And we won’t mention our short shrunken frames,
When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache,
when the hips break,
When the eyes grow dim,
Then [we] remember the great life [we’ve] had,
And then [we] don’t feel so bad.

Whilst what’d been described are actual realities, yet we are reminded of the words of Paul to the Romans: “I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). 

During those 44 years of nerving crossroads in our married life we have made the family as our ultimate turning point. We set aside all the desired personal comforts and ambitions to give place for the temporal and spiritual welfare of our children and posterity. After all, this journey is logically of spiritual consequence. The words of Wilford Woodruff inspire: “Bless your souls, if you lived here in the flesh a thousand years, as long as Father Adam, and lived and labored all your life in poverty, and when you got through, if, by your acts, you could secure your wives and children in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell with you in the presence of God, that one thing would amply pay for the labours of a thousand years” (Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 21:284, as quoted, S. Michael Wilcox, The House of Glory, p. 138).

We know that even a hundred years would be too long to endure and therefore our hearts are pained at the clear witness of today’s ever increasing assaults of the devil against the family using its strongest arsenal of evil influences. Our only remaining hope is the fact that “Mankind are elements designed to endure to all eternity; it never had a beginning and never can have an end… It is brought together, organized, and capacitated to receive knowledge and intelligence, to be enthroned in glory”(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:356, The House of Glory, p. 120).

Families can never be annihilated unless they yield to the enticing of the evil one. This is the very reason why during those 44 years of marital partnership family relationship is ever preeminent. But no matter our efforts to secure family boundaries, the devil is clever enough to institute seducing baits and greased slides as to successfully entangle his desired victims into his dragnets. 

We know with certainty that our call from home will come sooner than the length of those 44 weary years of our struggles. Therefore, to our children and posterity we leave our tear-filled pleadings that they will live up to the teachings and virtues that we have exemplified with earnest prayers that they will remain in service to God in righteousness and in truth to the end, and establish a multi-generation of actively participating disciples of the Lord. 

 
While we are praying for possible extension, yet we are sure to embark into the realms of an endless end to meet our Maker. So said the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson:

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for [us]!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When [we] put out to sea, …

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When [we] embark;

For tho’ from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear [us] far,
[We] hope to see [our] Pilot face to face
When [we] have crossed the bar.

(Idylls of the King, Crossing the Bar, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, quoted by President Thomas S. Monson, October 2007, LDS General Conference, “Mrs. Patton — The Story Continues.”)

How we, indeed wish that Hazel and family; Robert Sherwin and Analiza and family; Lori Lynne and Fraodel and family; Kathleen Beth and family, Shauna Megan and her future family, our foster daughter Angelica, and the rest of our coming posterity may so live to their full immortal potentials and be worthy to live in God's presence in the eternities according to the sealing promise and eternal covenants.

APPOINTED TO DIE

by: Norberto Betita

Today was the funeral service of the late Nenita Yurtas Zaragosa, a humble great-grandmother, grandmother, mother, estranged wife, sister and friend. She was murdered in cold blood while on her way home immediately after renewing her eternal covenants in the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and performing her stewardship for primary children. 

At 64 Sister Zaragosa died in peace. As this happened on that sad and grief-stricken Sunday afternoon of January 14, 2018, when she was consecrating her last and final hours in service to God and His children, unaware of the welcoming angels standing by right at the doors of death and beyond the veil of tears, the voice from heaven kind of declared: “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; …they may rest from their labors… (Revelations 14:13)

Somehow like the Psalmist we plead for God to “preserve…those that are appointed to die” (Psalms 79:11). However, the word of the preacher in Ecclesiastes reminded us that there is “a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). Alma declared: “…behold, it is appointed unto man to die…” (Alma 42:6). Paul told the saints in Corinth, “…we had the sentence of death in ourselves…” (2 Corinthians 1:9). Yet we are assured, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalms 116:15).

She has been a member of the church for many years, perhaps more than 40 years. Life was very hard for her and the family, but they survived. She was a very faithful tough woman. For years she had been patiently drinking the bitter cup of hardships and destitution. She had borne the heaviest cross of life to her personal Golgotha. Even during those times of her estrangement, she had tried to live strong as a single parent and raised and supported her children in love, guiding them into the paths of righteousness. She had always been an active participant in the church.

Last August 2017, she went to the Temple to renew her eternal covenants and endowments with God. She was with her daughter, who too was receiving her eternal covenants. It was to her a joy beyond measure.

During those many years in service to God, she had been an example of faithfulness, serving notwithstanding her inadequacies and weaknesses. Never have we heard her complained about her church callings; rather she instead showed her submissive character in the face of her personal limitations. She was the apple in the eyes of her Relief Society sisters. Her humors despite her magnifying challenges provided joy, optimism and hope to others of her associates. Her smiles even in her darkest hours shine as a light at noonday creating sunbeams for her family and the children she was called to serve and the sisters in her associations.

Despite her humble womanly virtues, she was brave as to not be easily intimidated by those who wanted to trample upon her rights as a person and citizen. She bravely fought for justice and fairness in the proper courts of law even in her poverty. Regrettably, however, like many others of the poorer class in society her name will now be part of the catalog of the unfortunate victims of cold blooded murders and the ever blindfolded eyes of justice in the country.

Her last hours were convincingly a state of intimate relationship with God for she did not even know nor did she even think that such few hours were to be her last. All that was perhaps in her mind was to commune with God in renewal of her covenants and performing her stewardship for the little ones in God’s kingdom as Primary President.

Sister Zaragosa was an example of a woman who tried to cross the treacherous sea of life with simple faith and courage, braving the raging storms and heaving waves, hoping and sincerely praying to find the blissful shore. But Heavenly Father must have a better plan for her that she was appointed to die sooner than she is expected.

For the murderous evil deed of the criminal and his cohorts, the Apostle Paul reminded us, “…avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19).

God’s unmistakable warnings of the ultimate punishment of the wicked are sufficient. He declared:

“And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house—and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil.

“Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection” (Alma 40:13-14).

“…the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelations 21:8).

“And [together with] the devil that deceived them [shall be] cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,… and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelations 20:10).

To Sister Zaragosa are promised:

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests [and priestesses] of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years” (Revelation 20:6).

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelations 21:4,7).

May the bereaved family be comforted with these assurances and the timeless promise of the family being together forever in the realms of God.