CELESTIAL MARRIAGE: THE WAIT IS OVER

by: Norberto Betita

Christopher and Therese May

Baptism into God’s Kingdom on earth and celestial marriage are two important Abrahamic covenants for our salvation and exaltation. The ordinance of baptism is a renewal of the Abrahamic covenant’s promise of salvation. When a man and a woman enter into the ordinance of celestial marriage they are actually performing a renewal of the Abrahamic covenant’s promise of exaltation, where the continuation of family relationship beyond this life and eternal increase was promised to Abraham and his posterity, of which the members became part by adoption after they were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Accordingly since time immemorial Apostles and Prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints have counseled single men and women not to settle for less than Celestial Marriage. Yet some among the single women of marrying age sometimes struggle in their quest for potential celestial partners considering the fact that the role of courting seems to be only a special privilege for men. And most of those worthy returned missionaries are short in numbers than the worthy women in the church. This makes even harder for faithful single women of the church in the Philippines.

The Cebu Philippines Temple where they were married

One such was sister Therese May Angob. She did not have the opportunity to serve a mission, but she has long served faithfully in church auxiliary organizations, perhaps longest of which was in the Primary Organization where she is to care for little children, preparing and teaching them to become responsible members of the church. Her responsibilities towards the children as substitute mother while they were in church developed in her the greatest desire to be a mother herself. However, she wanted to stand by the counsel of leaders to marry the right man, at the right time, by the right authority, and at the right place which is the House of the Lord.

For some time she had been trying her best to be faithful in obedience to God’s commandments which is part of her covenant responsibilities as a possible heir of the promises given to Abraham and his posterity. As a woman she tried to be attractive to men her age. But fate appeared to be aloof. While the blessings of celestial marriage can still be available after this life or during the millennium as promised to the women who may not have the opportunity while in this life, yet the wonderful experiences of her family’s receiving the sealing ordinance and the joy and spiritual influence that it brings to their individual lives created in her an earnest desire to experience family life of her own while yet in mortality.

However, God has His own divine designs for His faithful children which are revealed in ways that are sometimes implausible. In 2010 Therese May commented on an lds.org post on Facebook about a convert from Africa who was very excited about his baptism. Then a Filipino returned missionary named Christopher also commented on the post. Surprisingly, the following day the same Christopher sent for her a friend request. Without even checking the profile of the man and other personal background information, she accepted and confirmed the friend request. She never even have the slightest impression that such a man would be a potential eternal partner, nor did she ever thought that their first chat will result to regular communications on Facebook. But from such a very unlikely encounter which to some might be just a glaring coincidence, was started the courtship and eventual long distance relationship which lasted seven long years.

In 2012 Christopher proposed for a temple marriage, however, because of her focus on the family’s difficult circumstances which are common among Filipinos, she decided to defer their marriage plans. Obstacles to their marriage goals did come and go. There was a time when again they were about to finally schedule the marriage with all members of her family already having the required temple recommends. But for some valid reasons marriage plans were again postponed.

Then her father died and she felt she lost her desire to be married. Her loving father, a former branch president of the church, was the one who planned for the reception and other things that are needed for the marriage. She was disheartened that he could no longer be present as she and Christopher exchange marital vows and be sealed for time and all eternity. However, because of the counsels of leaders, her prayers together with Christopher and the prayers of her loved ones and church friends, she became enlightened and comforted as to finally decide to proceed with their common dreams for a temple marriage. She realized then that her father will be very much happy about it, because it was also his dream for her to be able to enter the new and everlasting covenant of marriage in the House of the Lord.

Therese May is very much grateful to Christopher for persistently praying and most patiently waiting for their special day to come to pass. In her deep reflections and reminiscences of the event which brought them together from that most unlikely moment and venue for courtship where their eyes eventually meet and their words of love subsequently echo into their ears in tones of perfect and splendid harmony, she now recognizes God’s extended hands at work for her and Christopher. It was no coincidence, for as in the words of Elder Ronald A. Rasband, “Heavenly Father can put us in situations with specific intent in mind.”

Finally the dawn of their celestial marriage did come. On this day, the 21st of February 2018, in the beautiful sealing room and kneeling upon the holy altar of the Cebu Philippines Temple, Christopher and Therese May entered into the covenant of celestial marriage and vowed as husband and wife not only in this life, but throughout all eternity, in the presence of family and friends. At long last the wait is over.

The newlyweds will now start a new life as one flesh, bound together in love and devotion with a covenant and promise to be true to each other for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, for time and all eternity. Simultaneous with this covenant union is God’s promise: “…verily I say unto you, if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed unto them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys of this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them---Ye shall come forth in the first resurrection; and if it be after the first resurrection, in the next resurrection; and shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths…to their exaltation and glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be a fullness and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever. Then shall they be gods, because they have no end...”(D&C 132:19-20).

The hurdles along their route to celestial marriage are now vanished and gone and indeed, the wait is over and "joy cometh in the morning" (Psalms 30:5). 

My warmest congratulations to Christopher Mariano and Therese May Angob on this their wedding day!

REUNION: TURNING THE HEART TO MY ANCESTORS

By: Norberto Betita

My parents: Millan Guhiting Betita & Francisca Mangle
Gasta Betita

In line with our scheduled Millian Guhiting Betita and Francisca Mangle Gasta Betita grand family reunion, I would like to share Chapter 5 of my written personal history, “Turning the Heart.” This is to enliven and pep up our family’s desire to know and remember our ancestors and search for the records of others of our forefathers who are not yet known. This is also aimed to allow some of our distant relatives on both sides to connect our ancestry and together join our search for those of our forebears who are already beyond the grave, that my family can help perform saving ordinances for them in the House of the Lord with their permission.

Family records in the Philippines are very hard to find, but now more are already available at familysearch.org for free research.       

Chapter 5

            “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

            “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).

“…For their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation, as Paul says concerning the fathers—that they without us cannot be made perfect—neither can we without our dead be made perfect” (D&C 128:15). As it is further written, “…It is sufficient to know, in this case, that the earth will be smitten with a curse unless there is a welding link of some kind or other between the fathers and the children…” (D&C 128:18).

                                                            The Lord declared from Mt. Sinai, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” (Ex. 20:12.)

            Until I came to understand better the value of our eternal relationships with our forefathers did I begin to develop a yearning desire to leave for my children and posterity a record of my family as far as my personal knowledge and family history research can provide.

            The conditions of today seem to be in common with that of Noah’s era when the Lord speaks of smiting the earth with a curse, and the flood happened as to cleanse the earth. As it is declared by prophets after Noah this curse might be repeated if we fail to turn our hearts to our ancestors and our children. The Lord warned: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord:

            “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:5-6).

            In the light of the restored gospel and the restoration of the keys of the sealing power---the power which binds husbands and wives, and children to parents for time and eternity---by no less than the Prophet Elijah, I am, therefore, dutifully constrained to search out and turn my heart to my ancestors that they may be provided the opportunity to receive the saving ordinances of the gospel which they do not have the opportunity during their lifetime.   

MY ANCESTRY AND ORIGIN

            My paternal ancestral origin was traced from my Great-grandfather known only as Anco Arreza of Cantilan Surigao del Sur, estimated to have been born sometime in 1850. There is no known record of his marriage except that of his children: Jose – 1870; Dominga – 1872; Rafaela – 1874; Cornelio – 1876 and Juan – 1878. Records of their birth are all estimates. Their death records are also not available. For unknown reasons the family name was changed from Arreza to Betita.

            The family name Arreza is popular among Whites and Hispanics while Betita is popular among Asia Pacific Islanders. The family name Arreza in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur was said to be of Hispanic origin. As to how it got to our family line was unknown. It could be that it was through bloodline from intermarriages between Spanish conquistadors and locals or are just being adopted by the local populace.

            The origin of the family name Betita which was later adopted by our grandfather Jose was unknown. However, we believed that there may have been some family relatives who carried the same family name and was eventually embraced by my grandfather. 

            Jose Betita---my paternal grandfather---migrated to Anao-aon, Surigao del Norte together with his siblings and stayed in the place until their deaths. He married Nieves Guhiting -1888 and begat Bernardo – 1907, and Millan – 11 October 1909-November 10 1994. Millian was to be my father.  

            I do not have any memories of my great-grandparents and grandparents because they were all dead when I was born. My grandfather Jose must have been a farmer because he left for an inheritance for my father and uncle pieces of farmlands. I was told though that my grandfather was known in the community as a drunkard that he was nicknamed “Dalan” (road) because whenever he was drunk he slept wherever he wanted and usually on the road.

            My maternal ancestry can be traced back in Liloan, Leyte where my great-grandfather Catalino Luza Gasta – 1850 was born. He married Felomina Marqueda Gasta – 1853 and begat Porferio Marqueda Gasta – 1883. No other children were known.

            Porferio---my maternal grandfather---married Tecla Celino Mangle – 1886 and migrated to Anao-aon, Surigao del Norte. In such marriage were born Teotimo – 1908; Mercedes – 23 September 1910-15 December 2002 (later married to Ramon Japzon); Pancrasio – 2 May 1916-26 February 1976 (married to Elvira Gesta); Fermin – 1919; Francisca – 9 March 1921-24 January 2004 (my mother); Felicula – 1923 (married to Julian Lopez); and Policronia – 17 February 1926 still living as of this writing.

            From the families of Anco Arreza (Betita) and his unknown wife, then to Jose Betita and Nieves Guhiting Betita; and from Catalino Luza Gasta and Felomina Marqueda Gasta to Porferio Marqueda Gasta and Tecla Celino Mangle, spawned the Millan Guhiting Betita and Francisca Mangle Gasta Betita family and increasing posterity.

My young family

            Our maternal great-grandparents and grandparents were also of Spanish ancestry dating back to the colonization of European Ferdinand Magellan in Leyte and during the Spanish colonial period from 1521 to 1898. They might have been the product of Filipino and Spanish inter-marriages. 

            I am very close to my maternal grandfather. During my childhood and youthful days I used to be at their home helping fetch water or gather firewood for them. He was known among my siblings and cousins as being a very strict disciplinarian and really applied the rod to impose discipline even among his grandchildren. However, I always felt very comfortable with him and my grandmother when I am at their home.

            He related to me that he and his colleagues studied under the shades of mango trees. Their teacher used to have with him a whip on his table that whosoever got mistakes will get at least one lash.  He had an excellent command of the Spanish language. Even a college professor in Spanish language who lived in Anao-aon admired much his Spanish vocabulary.

            My grandfather during his younger days was an expert gambler---cards and cockfight. He used to show me how his cunning gambling tricks and deception earned for him much money. Yet he honestly told me that such dirty money never did build for him and his family even a comfortable small house. He admitted that it was his daughter Policronia who built the house for them. He always advised me not to be involved in such a dirty vice.

            A story was told of him being attacked by a fellow gambler at his back with the 2 x 2 lumber. Many thought that he was hit as he laid flat to the ground. But he briskly arose and hit is opponent with his brass arnis. He was an expert in the martial art of “Arnis de Mano or Eskrima.”

            He later turned to be a well-known quack-doctor and spiritual healer in our town and in the neighboring communities. I was told by my grandmother of an incident during my infancy when I was sick and at the brink of death. He went to the shore right at the bank of Anao-aon River and talked with the elements which were supposedly the carrier of disease and asked them to flee that I may be saved. And I survived.

            While Bible reading was strictly prohibited by the church, he used to read the Bible daily at their home. He had his Bible laid right at the center table of the living room where he daily sat to read it by the light from the glass window.

            On their backyard are several fruit trees which he planted of which his grandchildren enjoyed during fruit season. He loved animals. He raised chickens and pigs. He always had a dog and cats at home. He said he loved cats because they seemed to be the only pet who always prayed for his master to be rich, they always wanted to lie down on comfortable couches and soft cushioned beds.  

            In our town there was a popular hobby among teenagers and young adults where younger male chickens were utilized for kind of cockfights. My grandfather always offered for me what he believed was best for such petty gambling activity of youths from out of his own chickens. However, he did not fail to remind me of the consequences of such a vice. He even warned me to avoid and refrain as much as possible from drinking hard liquors that leads to drunkenness. That was the very reason that I grew up never being involved in such vices.

            My maternal grandmother Tecla Celino Mangle Gasta was very kind and humble and very loving old woman. Her vision never changed even in her ripened age. She still could hit a thread into a very tiny needle’s eye. She was such a small woman. She was loved by the grandchildren. She was very generous. She was very caring to her grandchildren. After each of my errands, she always offered me something to eat or drink. They always have enough reserves because my aunt Policronia always left for them a week’s supply of groceries, especially during her assignment as a teacher in a far municipality.

            With the help of my children and grandchildren, we have already performed most of the doable necessary saving ordinances for my ancestors for our families to be connected throughout all eternity.

THE LORD’S STANDARDS OF WORTHINESS

By: Norberto Betita

During the Lord’s visit to the Americas, He commanded the Nephites to call the Church after His name. He preached and taught them eternal values, principles and doctrines and then asked this question: “What manner of men ought ye to be?” His answer to His own question must have stunned everybody present as He said, “Verily I say unto you, even as I am” (3 Nephi 27:27). This is considering the kind of life He lives, the set of immeasurable trials He passed through, and the greatest sacrifice He made for humankind, offering His redeeming love and giving His life a ransom for the sins of the world.

The Lord, His works and attributes are the perfect standards of worthiness for all of us. For so many of us today, this would seem a ridiculous impossibility. Yet the Lord admonished us, “Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48 also recorded in 3 Nephi 12:48). Then together with this declaration, He assures us as he did Nephi that, He will not give any commandment, save He shall prepare a way that we may accomplish the things which He has commanded us (see 1 Nephi 3:7).

As we reflect on these seemingly unbending and intractable standards of worthiness, let us consider for a moment some pieces of scriptures. In Doctrines and Covenants 98:12, the Lord promised, “…he will give unto the faithful line upon line, precept upon precept…” “…here a little, there a little…” (Nephi 28:30) until we “…receiveth more light, that… groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day“(Doctrine and Covenants 50:24).

Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve counseled: “So we should be striving attribute by attribute, to become more and more like him; including developing the spiritual manners, which accompany living after the manner of happiness (2 Nephi 5:27).”

“So for us, putting off the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) and becoming instead a man of Christ (Helaman 3: 9) does not occur automatically, it occurs in the process of time (Moses 7:21).”

We should not worry therefore if we are short of the Lord’s standard of worthiness as of this moment in our lives for as long as we are truly striving with real intent and profoundly working towards becoming like Him. Perfection is not in this life.

Fundamental to our belief is the knowledge of God the Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. It is very important of us to know and believe that everything on earth is subject to Deity. Without the testimony of the Godhead there is no way we can ever start to follow the patterns of worthiness set forth by the Lord Himself. The first standard then is to believe in God, the Eternal Father, His son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost (see Articles of Faith No. 1).

At home, we have my son’s charcoal version of Jesus Christ and the prophets drawn on a canvass under the theme Doctrine & Covenants 1:38: “What I the Lord have spoken I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the Heavens and earth pass away, my words shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.”

The President and prophet of the Church is God’s oracle on earth. He serves as the mouthpiece of God in all His dealings upon the earth. As such it is part of our worthiness to sustain him. The Apostles are likewise anointed as prophets, seers and revelators. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve are called as special witnesses of the Christ and are commissioned to direct and govern the church under His hand and to bring about Heavenly Father’s righteous purposes and to guide His children into the strait and narrow way that leads to life eternal. As we raise our hands to the square, we bind ourselves with a sacred duty to support and sustain them.

If we are to be men of Christ, we have also to sustain all those who are called upon and anointed to preside over us. If we are in the quorum of the Priesthood, we have to honor and respect the words of our quorum president. If we are in the branch or ward, we have to give due respect and honor to the calling of the Branch President or Bishop. If we are in the District or Stake, we have to highly esteem the District President or Stake President as God’s anointed servant. We have to support them as they are chosen by God to lead us. Only then can we say that we are walking along the pattern of worthiness that the Lord has set forth.

Central to God’s plan of happiness is the family, the fundamental unit of society, the church and in eternity. As part of His standard of worthiness, the Lord has given us a perfect pattern of righteous family life as armor and shield against the fiery darts of the adversary. Some of these patterns are expressly recorded in Ephesians chapters 5 and 6 and in many scriptural passages. We read: “Wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord…(Ephesians 5:22); Husbands, love your wives even as Christ loved the church…(verse 25); So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies…(verse 28); [Wives], see that [you] reverence [your] husband…(verse 33); Children, obey your parents in the Lord…Honour thy father and thy mother… that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth... fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4).” This is the pattern which the Lord wanted of us as we set in order our families and strengthen the bonds of our relationships. What a pattern indeed; what a standard!

In The Family Proclamation, the First Presidency declared: “Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. Children are an heritage of the Lord (Psalm 27:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live.”

As we try to abide by this parental standard of worthiness, we need to feel as did John the beloved who said: “I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth” (3 John 1:4).

To live the law of chastity is an eternal covenant. Breaking the law is a very serious sin. It is “…most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost.” (Alma 39:5). “Fornicators” and “adulterers” shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. (see 1 Corinthians 6:9). Those who “commit adultery…shall not have the Spirit.” (Doctrine and Covenants 63:16). No wonder that the Lord requires all to obey and abide by the law of chastity with a covenant and promise, if we are to be counted His disciples.

Included in the Lord’s standards of worthiness is our regular attendance in Sacrament Meetings, Priesthood meetings and other church meetings. We are likewise commanded to magnify our callings in the church, it being part of our Priesthood covenants. “For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God. And also all they who receive this Priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; For he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; And he that receiveth me receiveth my Father” (Doctrine & Covenants 84:33-37).

We are to be honest in dealing with our fellowmen. President John Taylor once said, “We should be strictly honest, one with another, and with all men; let our word always be as good as our bond; avoid all ostentation of pride and vanity; and be meek, lowly and humble; be full of integrity and honor; and deal justly and righteously with all men.

“It is proper that men should be honest with themselves…, they ought to be governed by truthfulness, honesty and integrity, and that man is very foolish indeed who would not be true to himself, true to his convictions and feelings in regard to religious matters.”

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? God said. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the Temple of God is holy which Temple ye are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). In 1833 the Lord revealed Section 89 known as the Lord’s Law of Health or the Word of Wisdom, stating among others that coffee and tea and other harmful substances are not for the body. We are to refrain from these substances if we are to be counted worthy to stand.

Tithing faithfulness is also a standard of worthiness in the Lord’s church. It is not that the Lord wants His church to have abundant financial reserves. Tithing is a standing l law in the land of Zion (D&C 119), yet it is subordinate to an even higher law in the Celestial Kingdom---the law of consecration. Tithing is one of the great tests of personal righteousness for church members. “By this principle,” says President Joseph F. Smith. “The loyalty of the people of this church shall be put to the test. By this principle it shall be known who is for the kingdom of God and who is against it.”

There are yet still other established standards of worthiness that we each are expected to abide. These are not to push us toward and against the wall and rob us of our agency. These are to help us see the glory and preeminence of our existence as sons and daughters of God. These requirements of righteousness will make us understand and appreciate our worth in the kingdom of God.

Speaking about the beauty and grandeur of creation President Russel M. Nelson said, “…Ponder the magnificence of all you see when you look in the mirror. Ignore the freckles, unruly hair, or blemishes, and look beyond to see the real you—a child of God created by him, in his image....

"The magnificence of man is matchless. Remember, glorious as this physical tabernacle is, the body is designed to support something even more glorious—the eternal spirit that dwells in each of our mortal frames. The great accomplishments of this life are rarely physical. Those attributes by which we shall be judged one day are spiritual. With the blessing of our bodies to assist us, we may develop spiritual qualities of honesty, integrity, compassion, and love. Only with the development of the spirit may we acquire 'faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence' (D&C 4:6).

"Pattern your lives after our great Exemplar, even Jesus the Christ, whose parting words among men included this eternal challenge: 'What manner of men ought ye to be? ... even as I am' (3 Nephi 27:27).

"We are sons and daughters of God. He is our Father; we are his children. Our divine inheritance is the magnificence of man. May we honor it and magnify it." (Russell M. Nelson, "The Magnificence of Man," BYU devotional, March 29, 1987).

Such are the profound reasons why the Lord establishes standards of worthiness for us to follow while we are yet tracking the narrow way of our eternal journey.

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.

WHAT WOULD WE GIVE IF JESUS VISITS OUR HOMES ON CHRISTMAS?

by: Norberto Betita

It’s December 24, 2017, the day before Christmas Day and the time when everybody seems to be very busy preparing for the Christmas Eve celebration.

The Church’s Sabbath services has been reduced to the lowest possible time and meetings postponed to give more time for members and families to prepare and celebrate the special day of the Lord. Consequently, we have our combined Sacrament meeting for the three branches which are regularly using the District Center.

In his Christmas message for us, our District President related the story in a Church video entitled The Old Shoemaker---an account adapted from the story of Russian author Leo Tolstoy. There had been several adaptations of Tolstoy’s story, but I loved this 3.27-minute video produced by the Church. This was a story of Martin the old shoemaker who heard the voice of the Lord in a dream that Jesus will visit Him the following day. And while he was looking over the window, anticipating the visit of Jesus, he happened to see a man shoveling the snow which he offered something warm to drink. There was a young mother and her child cold and weary whom he invited into his shop then gave his own coat and some money. Then there was an old woman selling apples and a hungry little boy stole one from her basket, and Martin saved the boy from being apprehended by the police by paying the stolen apple, after which the boy promised not to steal again. As it was related by my son---our district president, I was again moved to tears as I had been each time I viewed this video each Christmas.

In one concept it was told that, Martin, the Old shoemaker, read about the story from his old leather Bible of the wise men giving their best gifts for Jesus. Then he thought, “If Jesus visited me, what would I be able to give Him?” The story is the same although there are slight variations.

I thought that if by chance we will hear the voice of the Lord speaking to us in a dream as it was in the story of Martin---the old shoemaker---what would we give if Jesus visits our homes on Christmas?

Perhaps at this time of great calamities that befell so many people we can give Him food, clothing and some materials for shelter. His sandals might have been torn for long use and we wanted to give Him a pair of shoes. He might have been cold because of walking under the heaviest of rain and we wanted to give Him a warm jacket and rain coat and a warm blanket to protect Him from the cold of December nights. In His weary walk we might offer him a ride home. He so loved children and perhaps He would need fruits, candies and toys for them to enjoy.

As it was in the story of Martin, the old shoe maker, Jesus did not physically come. Yet throughout the festive season we might have seen and witnessed so many whose lives are in distress. There are the garbage men working under the rain and braving the foul smell of filthy garbage in our neighborhood. There are the children passing by walking barefoot. Old and young singing carols if only to get a peso or two to be accumulated for a kilo or two of rice for a day’s meal. Children come at our gate and sing carols if only to satisfy their craving for chocolate and candies they wished to receive from generous homeowners. We see many even more of the destitute living in slums. When we extend our hands to these suffering people out of love and kindness and generosity, like the old shoe maker we can be the happiest man or woman on Christmas Day.

I and my wife felt such greatest joy as we were made the hands of a very generous donor to extend her benevolence to the poor and needy on several Christmases notwithstanding her own needs. Those things were not ours to give, but a service to share and render.

The story concluded with Martin wondering why the Lord did not come. But he was made to understand later that those who were in need and of whom he extended his helping hands in love and mercy were actually representations of the Lord’s presence. As Martin opened a verse from Matthew 25:40 he was reminded of the Lord’s words: “…Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

In whatever circumstances we may have been entombed, we each can have the opportunity to give. If we are rich we can give more from our abundance. If we are living in poverty we can give of our time and service. Even in our own physical and financial handicaps we each can give a generous offering to the Lord. We need not ask what would we give if Jesus visits our homes on Christmas, for however simple and scanty the gift when given out of charity, it will always be acceptable to Him.

May we all remember that, “The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea is preface. The three-year ministry of the Master is prologue. The magnificent substance of the story is His sacrifice, the totally selfless act of dying in pain on the cross of Calvary to atone for the sins of all of us.

“The epilogue is the miracle of the Resurrection, bringing the assurance that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).

“There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The babe Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection” (Gordon B. Hinckley).

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

PREMORTAL ORDINATION AND MORTAL MISSION

By: Norberto Betita

In the premortal council God stood among those that were spirits and said, “These will I make my rulers.” Then He told Abraham, “thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born” (Abraham 3:23).

The Lord also told Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

“And this is the manner after which they were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of their exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore they having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such” (Alma 13:3).

However, such premortal ordination was never an assurance that we will be free from trials after we have proven our faithfulness and obedience during our first estate. Our premortal ordination is our mortal mission to again prove whether we are still willing to abide by the principles of truth and righteousness while in mortality---our second estate. Our foreordination in premortality does not even guarantee that we will be called to certain specific callings until and unless we exercise our moral agency in righteousness the same way that we were ordained in the premortal life.

Thus, each one of us who ever lived in this mortal world has had our foreordination in the premortal sphere with a duty to perform in accordance with faith and righteousness and each of us is never exempted from passing through the tests and trials of mortality.

My long time missionary friend which I met in the Philippines in 1986 and which I had the privilege of having continued communications during the last 31 years, understood that all the difficult and sanctifying experiences she has undergone in her mortal life, including that of her being born during the worst and most difficult times of the world---the great depression---are kind of her premortal assignment.

She was born in December 14, 1937 when the great depression---the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world which started after the stock market crash of October 1929---was still at its worst. It is historically recorded as ‘a period of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, lost opportunities of economic growth and personal advancement which reportedly was ended in 1939.’ But even after 1939, economic recession in America was still felt. Such was the economic environment when her mortal journey was started.

Early struggles

She recalls that even though she was still young, she still remembers when they have government stamps for sugar and gas. Her father was a truck farmer, one who grows and produces and peddled garden produce from home to home. While her father was peddling during the day, she and her siblings and their grandfather were charged to pick raspberries and other above ground fruits for the trip the next day. Her mother was involved with the house hold upkeep, child bearing and caring for the vegetables when they were brought in. She washed with a ringer washing machine and hung the clothes on a clothes line. One of her young jobs was to learn to fold clothes.

After peddling, her father would dig the potatoes and pick corn and clean them to be included in his next day’s peddling. She remembers that wash tubs were placed around the rhubarb plants to hold the leaves up out of the ditches so water could go through but became a place to play hide and seek at times.

The family owned a horse to plow the ground and a large barn where they milked their cow and stored their hay. While the family worked together, she did not feel the depression crisis as she was yet very young and she thought it was just the common daily routine of people. She and her siblings enjoyed life on the farm not knowing that there had been so much of a crisis in the world, because their parents were industrious as to be able to provide them with the necessities of life and even give them the opportunity to work and enjoy life in childhood.

The first six years of her life were spent in her grandfather’s house not far from town and the walk to the bus stop was an eighth of a mile. But when she started her second year of school the family had moved 14 miles from town and to catch the bus meant walking the 2 mile country road to the bus stop in all kinds of weather. Once in a while their mother had to go with them in the winter to break a trail for them to safely get through the snow drifts. They were always glad when the road dropped down along the river as it was warmer and broke the wind. Yet there were times when they would cry because of too much cold despite their overshoes. Their parents tried to impress upon them the value of education in their lives as a means to provide for themselves when they grew up.

They planted gardens and fruit trees and raised animals, but when cloudburst and rainstorm went over, water came rushing down the mountain and out over their fields sweeping everything with it into the river. Sometimes baby chicks were lost in the cloudbursts. Most of the ditches in the garden and field had to be cleaned out to once again carry water. They had no electricity and cooked on a wood burning stove and heated the house with wood. They harvested their fire wood from the cottonwood trees that were in the country. One of her worst experience was when, “One day we were cutting wood with what was called a buzz saw and I was taking the pieces of wood from the saw and throwing it in a pile behind her. I turned to talk to my father and got too close to the saw and it caught my glove and cut my middle finger into the end of my little finger. Everything shut down and my parents put a splint on it and wrapped it and hurried me to the Doctor. He stitched it back together and I have had full use of it, including being able to milk a cow or goat,” she related.

As a child growing up to the age of ten she experienced so much of hard work including watering their fields with a water wheel built by her father. Many rocks were carried into the stream to divert the water toward the wheel race. Willows were cut to line the rocks so as to save even more water to reach the waterwheel. From such assignment, her sister was floating an armload of willows to her father and lost her footing causing the water to catch the willows and was sweeping her toward the water wheel. Her father was quick to catch her before she got to the wheel. She also cherished those experiences dealing with a lot of rattle snakes and lizards, porcupines, skunks, ground hogs and squirrels that would eat their fruits.

Youthful challenges

Her earlier trainings as a child and her hardest of experiences working in the fields and the continued motivation from her parents about the value of education inspired and encouraged her to finish her high school education until her senior year, by herself, picking apples to pay for her school clothes, shoes and school supplies. She understood then that education will open the bolted doors of opportunities towards self-reliance for her. As a young woman she had done even men’s kind of work, milking cows and feeding rabbits for her parents; as a tractor driver for farmers during haying; picking fruit in the season; driving a Caterpillar that pulled the big hop machine.

She eventually lived in Houston Texas and worked as a messenger to be able to provide for herself and live independently. But she did not like the hot climate and returned back to Colorado and worked picking sour cherries, sleeping in her car. She suffered destitution; barely able to buy gas for her car, lunch meat and bread.

She thought of a school friend whose mother was a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) at the local hospital. She helped her got a job as an aide that allowed her to rent a motel room to live in. She worked there for two and a half years and then transferred to Grand Junction where she eventually became an LPN herself. Her work provided her only with $1.40 an hour. She also worked as Assistant Instructor for the Aide Class at St. Mary’s Hospital, then was asked to work in the ICU of the same hospital and stayed in such work for 12 years. Then she moved to Spokane Washington and worked in a nursing home in 1964. While on her way to Yakima with her cousins a car hit her as a pedestrian and her life started all over again. As she was on crutches and could not walk the hospital halls, she went to work at a nursery repotting plants from those planted in trays. At this time she was able to buy a trailer house for $3,000 through the help of a sister in the ward.

Church and community service

In the midst of her relentless efforts of conquering and persevering through the stretched hours of days and dismal nights, she remained as always faithful and active member in the church. She sings in the ward and stake choirs and was MIA Secretary. She tried to be as faithful as she could be with the full understanding that all the tests that she had passed through were all part of her premortal assignment to prove worthy of her second estate.

After recuperation and healing from accidental injury, she went to work for a boat company making their wiring harnesses for their boats and putting instruments in the panels. She did that for 6 years and moved to Orem, Utah. Utah Valley Hospital hired her and she worked on the Medical/Surgical floor. She took the Pharmacology course so she could pass medicine to her patients.

However, during all those several shifting of career, her heart drew her back to her childhood interest in the farm. She met a couple in the hospital that lived in the Uintah Basin. She moved her trailer from Spokane to Orem, from Orem to the Basin and set it up by herself each time. In the Basin she went to work at the County Hospital while growing up a herd of sheep, goat and cows plus three sows and chickens.

At this time of the prime of her career life, she was eventually called to serve a mission in the Philippines. She sold some of her animals and worked a full hospital 3-11 shift to spare her morning hours for another extra earnings changing the wheel lines of her branch president every morning earning enough to pay for her whole mission.

After a year in the mission she turned her life back to her medical career and the farm. She returned to her trailer house and gathered her remaining animals and started all over again. That was her home until the trailer burned down while she was at work. In 1990 she had a total hip replacement and became the Discharge Planner for the hospital for the next 12 years retiring in 2004.

From that time forth she focused her time in farming and serving in the church. She proudly labeled herself as a farmerette. Through all those years and with gut-wrenching determination she had put in fences, laid water line to her trailer house two times, owned 10 hives of bees and extracted the honey, delivered piglets, kids and calves, Hauled animals to pasture in different places, sheared sheep, trimmed hooves on goats and sheep, picked up hay from her fields that she had baled and stacked them 6 high, always had a garden, learned to maintain wheel lines and buy other pieces of land that provided her with a collateral to purchase her present home.

In the church she served as Librarian for 20 years and did the Bullletin. She has always been a Visiting Teacher and regularly works in the Temple. Apart from her full-time mission, she had been a Branch missionary twice and a Stake Missionary. She has always had a calling in one way or another in the auxiliary organizations of the church in their area.

With immeasurable faith and courage dredged from her remaining strength in old age and failing health, she performed her visiting teaching assignment faithfully even on a crutch. She serves regularly in the temple as savior of Mount Zion so far for 14 years. She was the special nurse on call of her missionary companion during her trying moments of sufferings from debilitating afflictions until her last days.

In the community she served as the President of their Culinary Water Company for 5 years, maintenance and meter reader for two years.

Generous disposition

In all that she did, she admits it was never easy, but she believes that all those harrowing encounters that she has undergone in life and the services she has done and are still doing in the church and to other people even at this time of her old age are all part of her premortal ordination and mortal mission.

She once had a boyfriend early in life which she dumped for obvious reasons. Always her hope was to find someone that would take better care of her than she could of herself. As time and opportunity for her to find her mate passed, she left all her chances of being married to God and asked Him instead for her to be a farmer. And it was granted of her, at which time she would raise her animals for the purpose of helping a person in need. She selflessly shared meat, vegetables and money from out of her hard labors, to the willing needy recipients.

When she was hurt in a car accident in 2015, her hospital bill came in and she thought she would have to start payments to clear the bill. When she went to the hospital she was informed that there was no bill. So in expression of gratitude the money which she was supposed to pay for her own bill and which she should have saved, was instead paid to the hospital in the amount of $2,000.00, to cover the bill, at the discretion of the management, of some patients who might not be able to pay their hospital charges. She admits, “Blessings have been coming my way ever since. I did not look back.”

Her enduring faith during those years of immense struggles in extremely unpleasant circumstances paints for her a portrait of an exemplary life of a single woman. Those who had been so closely associated with her could attest of the noble character that radiates from the inner chamber of her heart. I and my family have our hearts brimming with joy for having her as a friend despite the fact that we have never again met since those short days and months of her assignment as a missionary in our place, where I was then the branch president. Her love and friendship knows no bounds. She treated us even as her own family. The story of her life inspires us to move forward amidst great adversities.

Her generosity and love for people who are in distress defies not only barriers of oceans and continents but even cultural boundaries. In her own benevolent way, she had been extending her little abundance not only to people in her neighborhood, but also to some people in the far distant place of her mission---Surigao City, Philippines. She heard of the devastating earthquake early this year 2017 in our place where she served her full-time mission, and her first reaction was how she can help. From a timeworn wallet were drawn the old farmerette’s mite and sent to a foreign land to help build temporary shelters and materials for repairs to benefit some earthquake victims. She does not have much of the worldly goods and riches, but her heart overflows with boundless love for the destitute.

At this time of her 80th birthday when her own feet are already hard to steady and her hands need someone’s grasp, she still wanted to “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down and strengthen the feeble knees” (Doctrine & Covenants 81:5), sharing her hard earned resources to Light the World at Christmas time with compassion and mercy to people she did not even know in a foreign land. Like President Harold B. Lee, “[she] understood those who suffered…because of [her] own poor and simple beginnings” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf).

She always acknowledged the fact that throughout her mortal mission God has been so good to her. In grateful acknowledgement of the great love of Heavenly Father she testified: “He has been so kind as to let me wear myself out and still serve Him. I know He knows us personally and grants our righteous desires. He knows whether we will learn the lessons we need to, doing what we want to do, or if we need a calling to help us grow.”

She believes as did the Apostle Paul that, “God hath from the beginning chosen [her] to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (Ephesians 2:13), and “be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). As such, she consecrated her whole life to fulfill her premortal ordination and mortal mission and endure well no matter the required sacrifices and refining tests all along the path to eternity.