The last and most memorable event that I remembered about Bro. Leonardo Preciosa was during our Temple trip at the Cebu Philippines Temple. I and my dear wife Letty were out after an endowment session and we observed him walking alone along the isles toward the temple to attend another session. In his countenance was shown a mixture of joy and sorrow and some expressions of distress perhaps associated with the natural physical deterioration resultant of aging. Yet he was trying his best to relearn and renew his covenant to the Lord and once and for all refresh his memory of the knowledge provided in the temple endowment of how it is to grow and ascend from the Telestial state of mortality to the wonders of the Celestial realms. After the temple trip, we learned that he had become very ill.
The walk through life in this mortal world is indeed one of enduring the contrasting experiences of tranquility and turbulence; of light and darkness; of pleasure and pain. The telestial thoroughfare is replete with unremitting invitations that lead to moral debauchery and sin. In consequence, even the choice spirits who have accepted the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully in the beginning, were eventually lost among the passing procession of a drifting humanity. Their spiritual strength were devoured by the influences and lusts that sucked them hard into the doors of the large and spacious building.
However, Brother Preciosa who was one of the pioneer members of the Surigao Philippines District of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, notwithstanding his own share of the highs and lows of life and the bitter tests of faithfulness as a member of a Christian minority, endured well his trials. His dedication and devotion to God and His kingdom on earth was profoundly deep and sincere as to motivate him to voluntarily serve in different capacities throughout his lifetime as a church member. He has raised four generations of active family members of the Church. He might have failed in others of his children, but he has raised from among his family and posterity Priesthood leaders and missionaries---himself, his sons and grandsons---who served faithfully, diligently and with integrity and honor as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Last of his calling where he served faithfully toward the end of his life was that of an Elder’s Quorum President, even as an octogenarian or age 82, when most should have been rested and confined in a racking chair.
Life for him as a struggling mechanic with seven children to support was never easy. While he encouraged them to obtain the highest education that they possibly can, he also trained them to work in the shop. When he felt that supporting his children through college had become a burden beyond his capacity to provide, he decided to join the Filipino diaspora and worked abroad for several years. Such a sacrifice away from home and family raised for him six college graduates and one college level among his children. He also was able to build a modest home for his old age. At retirement, he devoted his time to serving the Lord and his people in different capacities.
His pioneering membership and service in the church since 1975 was one sublime example of dedicated discipleship. He walked approximately 8 kilometers round trek with the members to attend and worship in a rented facility. He attended Institute of Religion even with his busy schedule as a mechanic. He woke up with his family very early dawn to walk three kilometers and back to donate labor for the building of the Ceniza Heights Chapel of the church in 1981. He passed the Sacrament as a matured deacon and prepared and administered the same after he was ordained as a teacher and as a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood. He taught the priesthood quorum which he himself preside. In all, he did what he has been called upon to do, interrupted only during his work abroad. An American sister missionary remembered him as one who helped them pioneer the Welfare Program in Surigao City in 1986 as an Elder’s Quorum President.
As it is, our life in mortality moves forward in silent cadence to an eternal destination. We each go by appointment with God. Not one of us is exempted from the irrevocable sentence of death and nobody knows when our final fate comes. But perhaps personally we can feel when it is evident. Like Bro. Preciosa, being faithful to the end, should be our constant object in life that when we feel we are about to slip to the other side of the veil, we are best prepared to be “…received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where [we] shall rest from all [our] troubles and from all care, and sorrow.” (Alma 40:12.)
Bro. Preciosa is now at rest in the paradise of God. He died about 6:00 PM, October 11, 2018. His yearning desire to visit the temple for the last time before his mortal body finally yields to the invitation from the other side of the veil, made him that worthy to receive such a blessing only promised to the faithful:
A land holy and pure,
Where all trouble doth end,…
Where no tears shall be shed,
For no sorrows remain.
(Does The Journey Seem Long, Hymn No. 127)
I cherish the memory of having been a friend to Brother Leonardo Preciosa for such a long time. To me he was an inspiration and an exemplar of a true disciple of the Lord. His life will be remembered as a righteous husband, father, and Priesthood holder.
I and my family would like to express our deepest sympathies and heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of Brother Leonardo Preciosa for his passing.
No comments:
Post a Comment