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| Rulon Asher Garcia Betita with his family after ordination to the Aaronic Priesthood |
When I was conferred and ordained and given the authority and power of the Holy Priesthood, I was still a young Father with a 2-year old daughter. I prayed that I might have a son, for me to be able to pass on the same authority and power of God to him. I was so excited and felt blessed when I did have a son born to us, followed by three more daughters.
In due time, I had been privileged to confer and ordain my only son to the Aaronic Priesthood. However, I missed the opportunity to confer and ordain him to the Melchizedek Priesthood, because when his age was ripe for advancement he was already studying college in Manila, hence, he was conferred and ordained by another Melchizedek Priesthood holder, who is a friend to the family.
Through the years, I have made it a point that I should perform the necessary priesthood ordinances for my family and have trained my son to exercise the same authority and power of the Priesthood to his posterity.
My grandson RULON ASHER GARCIA BETITA turned 12 years old on October 13, 2018. He should have been conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained to the office of a Deacon on Sunday, October 14, immediately following his birthday as has been our family tradition. However, due to the General Conference rebroadcast it was postponed. On October 21, he was sustained and thereafter was finally ordained to the priesthood by his Father. It was such an honor for me, his grandfather, to witness and have my hands laid upon him together with his father, our district president and his uncle-in-law, our branch president, during his conferral of the Aaronic Priesthood and ordination to the office of a Deacon. Rulon Asher is the second of our third generation of priesthood holders to have been ordained to the priesthood, and the first to have his ordination performed by his own father.
This new episode of my son, a father, ordaining his son to the Priesthood will now become part of a family tradition of honoring covenants, which we intend to pass on to our coming generations. It is, therefore, incumbent upon us who now hold the priesthood in the family to teach our children and grandchildren the divine significance of such authority and power from God and to train our sons and grandsons to keep themselves worthy to perform priesthood ordinances in preparation for us to continue to bless our families and be worthy to ordain the coming generations to the same priesthood. By so doing, we can build for our families, stronger spiritual foundations and building blocks to defend and contend against the continuing assaults of the adversary and to hold on to faith.
President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in his April 2010 General Conference message, said, “We have done very well at distributing the authority of the priesthood. We have priesthood authority planted nearly everywhere. We have quorums of elders and high priests worldwide. But distributing the authority of the priesthood has raced, I think, ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood. The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families as it should be.” Then in the same conference message he told of two stories about exercising the power of the priesthood in the family, by the father.
First he related: “During the Vietnam War, we held a series of special meetings for members of the Church called into military service. After such a meeting in Chicago, I was standing next to President Harold B. Lee when a fine young Latter-day Saint told President Lee that he was on leave to visit his home and then had orders to Vietnam. He asked President Lee to give him a blessing.
“Much to my surprise, President Lee said, “Your father should give you the blessing.”
“Very disappointed, the boy said, “My father wouldn’t know how to give a blessing.”
“President Lee answered, “Go home, my boy, and tell your father that you are going away to war and want to receive a father’s blessing from him. If he does not know how, tell him that you will sit on a chair. He can stand behind you and put his hands on your head and say whatever comes.”
“This young soldier went away sorrowing.
“About two years later I met him again. I do not recall where. He reminded me of that experience and said, “I did as I was told to do. I explained to my father that I would sit on the chair and that he should put his hands on my head. The power of the priesthood filled both of us. That was a strength and protection in those perilous months of battle.”
Second, he recounted: “Another time I was in a distant city. After a conference we were ordaining and setting apart leaders. As we concluded, the stake president asked, “Can we ordain a young man to be an elder who is leaving for the mission field?” The answer, of course, was yes.
“As the young man came forward, he motioned for three brethren to follow and stand in for his ordination.
“I noticed on the back row a carbon copy of this boy, and I asked, “Is that your father?”
“The young man said, “Yes.”
“I said, “Your father will ordain you.”
“And he protested, “But I’ve already asked another brother to ordain me.”
“And I said, “Young man, your father will ordain you, and you’ll live to thank the Lord for this day.”
“Then the father came forward.
“Thank goodness he was an elder. Had he not been, he soon could have been! In the military they would call that a battlefield commission. Sometimes such things are done in the Church.
“The father did not know how to ordain his son. I put my arm around him and coached him through the ordinance. When he was finished, the young man was an elder. Then something wonderful happened. Completely changed, the father and son embraced. It was obvious that had never happened before.
“The father, through his tears, said, “I didn’t get to ordain my other boys.”
“Think how much more was accomplished than if another had ordained him, even an Apostle.”
And I love it when President Packer said, “Authority in the priesthood comes by way of ordination; power in the priesthood comes through faithful and obedient living in honoring covenants. It is increased by exercising and using the priesthood in righteousness.” (The Power of the Priesthood, April 2010, lds.org.)
In due time, I had been privileged to confer and ordain my only son to the Aaronic Priesthood. However, I missed the opportunity to confer and ordain him to the Melchizedek Priesthood, because when his age was ripe for advancement he was already studying college in Manila, hence, he was conferred and ordained by another Melchizedek Priesthood holder, who is a friend to the family.
Through the years, I have made it a point that I should perform the necessary priesthood ordinances for my family and have trained my son to exercise the same authority and power of the Priesthood to his posterity.
My grandson RULON ASHER GARCIA BETITA turned 12 years old on October 13, 2018. He should have been conferred the Aaronic Priesthood and ordained to the office of a Deacon on Sunday, October 14, immediately following his birthday as has been our family tradition. However, due to the General Conference rebroadcast it was postponed. On October 21, he was sustained and thereafter was finally ordained to the priesthood by his Father. It was such an honor for me, his grandfather, to witness and have my hands laid upon him together with his father, our district president and his uncle-in-law, our branch president, during his conferral of the Aaronic Priesthood and ordination to the office of a Deacon. Rulon Asher is the second of our third generation of priesthood holders to have been ordained to the priesthood, and the first to have his ordination performed by his own father.
This new episode of my son, a father, ordaining his son to the Priesthood will now become part of a family tradition of honoring covenants, which we intend to pass on to our coming generations. It is, therefore, incumbent upon us who now hold the priesthood in the family to teach our children and grandchildren the divine significance of such authority and power from God and to train our sons and grandsons to keep themselves worthy to perform priesthood ordinances in preparation for us to continue to bless our families and be worthy to ordain the coming generations to the same priesthood. By so doing, we can build for our families, stronger spiritual foundations and building blocks to defend and contend against the continuing assaults of the adversary and to hold on to faith.
President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in his April 2010 General Conference message, said, “We have done very well at distributing the authority of the priesthood. We have priesthood authority planted nearly everywhere. We have quorums of elders and high priests worldwide. But distributing the authority of the priesthood has raced, I think, ahead of distributing the power of the priesthood. The priesthood does not have the strength that it should have and will not have until the power of the priesthood is firmly fixed in the families as it should be.” Then in the same conference message he told of two stories about exercising the power of the priesthood in the family, by the father.
First he related: “During the Vietnam War, we held a series of special meetings for members of the Church called into military service. After such a meeting in Chicago, I was standing next to President Harold B. Lee when a fine young Latter-day Saint told President Lee that he was on leave to visit his home and then had orders to Vietnam. He asked President Lee to give him a blessing.
“Much to my surprise, President Lee said, “Your father should give you the blessing.”
“Very disappointed, the boy said, “My father wouldn’t know how to give a blessing.”
“President Lee answered, “Go home, my boy, and tell your father that you are going away to war and want to receive a father’s blessing from him. If he does not know how, tell him that you will sit on a chair. He can stand behind you and put his hands on your head and say whatever comes.”
“This young soldier went away sorrowing.
“About two years later I met him again. I do not recall where. He reminded me of that experience and said, “I did as I was told to do. I explained to my father that I would sit on the chair and that he should put his hands on my head. The power of the priesthood filled both of us. That was a strength and protection in those perilous months of battle.”
Second, he recounted: “Another time I was in a distant city. After a conference we were ordaining and setting apart leaders. As we concluded, the stake president asked, “Can we ordain a young man to be an elder who is leaving for the mission field?” The answer, of course, was yes.
“As the young man came forward, he motioned for three brethren to follow and stand in for his ordination.
“I noticed on the back row a carbon copy of this boy, and I asked, “Is that your father?”
“The young man said, “Yes.”
“I said, “Your father will ordain you.”
“And he protested, “But I’ve already asked another brother to ordain me.”
“And I said, “Young man, your father will ordain you, and you’ll live to thank the Lord for this day.”
“Then the father came forward.
“Thank goodness he was an elder. Had he not been, he soon could have been! In the military they would call that a battlefield commission. Sometimes such things are done in the Church.
“The father did not know how to ordain his son. I put my arm around him and coached him through the ordinance. When he was finished, the young man was an elder. Then something wonderful happened. Completely changed, the father and son embraced. It was obvious that had never happened before.
“The father, through his tears, said, “I didn’t get to ordain my other boys.”
“Think how much more was accomplished than if another had ordained him, even an Apostle.”
And I love it when President Packer said, “Authority in the priesthood comes by way of ordination; power in the priesthood comes through faithful and obedient living in honoring covenants. It is increased by exercising and using the priesthood in righteousness.” (The Power of the Priesthood, April 2010, lds.org.)
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| With grandparents and cousin, Craig Kirby, also a Deacon |
I am ever grateful that Heavenly Father has sustained me and my family throughout those 41 years of my membership in the church, honoring the Priesthood and living a life of worthiness. There may have been times when I failed in my obligations to the Lord, but I tried to make it a point to stay put in the shelter that the church offers while the storms of life raged. Sunday has always been a delight for me and the family and partaking of the Sacrament worthily provides a constant reminder of the second chances to correct our disobedience and sinfulness, which the Lord offers through the transcendent saving power of His atoning sacrifice, on conditions of repentance.
I am likewise grateful that my only son, Robert Sherwin, the father of Rulon Asher, has remained a pillar of spiritual strength in the family. His dedication to his church duties and the magnifying of his priesthood responsibilities, allowed him to be able to perform the necessary ordinances for his children and family.
Exercising the authority and power of the priesthood to perform saving ordinances for family members, such as naming and blessing of children, baptism and confirmation, administering to the sick, conferring the priesthood and ordaining to an office, father’s blessings and other blessings of comfort and counsel, dedicating our home, did truly strengthen our testimonies and conviction of the power of the priesthood, and the love that binds the family together.
The conferring and ordaining to an office in the priesthood which I performed as a father to my son, and my son’s doing the same as a father to his son, had served well and will serve fittingly through the years, in our family life, as a tower of strength. It will be a flare that will light the way for our coming posterity to follow a family tradition of honoring covenants which will provide relevant influences in using the authority and power of God to bless their future families.
Rulon Asher now holds the great gift of spiritual power that is in the Aaronic Priesthood, even “the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins…” (D & C 13:1.) He will surely cherish the memory of having his father, together with his grandfather and uncle, laid their hands upon his head, with his father as the voice, to confer upon him the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain him to the office of a Deacon, and blessed him to honor such priesthood and perform his duties according to the Lord’s standards, as did his father.
It is my wish that he will continue to live a clean life and keep his priesthood covenants so that he may have the blessings of spiritual companionship and communication from the Holy Ghost. Such will be a moving force for him to serve well in his future callings in the priesthood throughout his growing up years.
It is always a great joy for me and my only son to have been able to bequeath a legacy of eternal consequence to our posterity, especially the opportunity to personally and worthily pass on the authority and power of God to our children and our children’s children.
I am likewise grateful that my only son, Robert Sherwin, the father of Rulon Asher, has remained a pillar of spiritual strength in the family. His dedication to his church duties and the magnifying of his priesthood responsibilities, allowed him to be able to perform the necessary ordinances for his children and family.
Exercising the authority and power of the priesthood to perform saving ordinances for family members, such as naming and blessing of children, baptism and confirmation, administering to the sick, conferring the priesthood and ordaining to an office, father’s blessings and other blessings of comfort and counsel, dedicating our home, did truly strengthen our testimonies and conviction of the power of the priesthood, and the love that binds the family together.
The conferring and ordaining to an office in the priesthood which I performed as a father to my son, and my son’s doing the same as a father to his son, had served well and will serve fittingly through the years, in our family life, as a tower of strength. It will be a flare that will light the way for our coming posterity to follow a family tradition of honoring covenants which will provide relevant influences in using the authority and power of God to bless their future families.
Rulon Asher now holds the great gift of spiritual power that is in the Aaronic Priesthood, even “the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins…” (D & C 13:1.) He will surely cherish the memory of having his father, together with his grandfather and uncle, laid their hands upon his head, with his father as the voice, to confer upon him the Aaronic Priesthood and ordain him to the office of a Deacon, and blessed him to honor such priesthood and perform his duties according to the Lord’s standards, as did his father.
It is my wish that he will continue to live a clean life and keep his priesthood covenants so that he may have the blessings of spiritual companionship and communication from the Holy Ghost. Such will be a moving force for him to serve well in his future callings in the priesthood throughout his growing up years.
It is always a great joy for me and my only son to have been able to bequeath a legacy of eternal consequence to our posterity, especially the opportunity to personally and worthily pass on the authority and power of God to our children and our children’s children.
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