ENDURING WELL IN SERVICE AT 69

By: Norberto Betita

I should have awakened myself as early as the tick of the first second that signals the last hour of the passing day and the turning point to the dawn of a grand new day. By that moment I should have offered my ever dearest Letty the divine bouquet of love and devotion that ever fills the depths of my heart on her birthday. Yet, the forlorn reality of a diminished physical vigor of an aging lover, sets a deep sleep on the weary eyes that hours passed by unnoticed until the cocks crowed and the usual morning call for comfort awakened my soundly sleeping soul.

The crack of dawn breaks the seemingly long and weary night, and the profundity of my affection reverberate perpetually as to prompt me to serenade her with a birthday song written long before my lifetime:

Happy birthday my darling,
And many, many more
Another year had passed,
And I love you even more

Your eyes I love to see,
Your hair I love to touch,
Your lips I love to kiss
I love you oh, so very much

Tomorrow starts a new year,
And memories could wait
I want to say I love you,
Darling, happy birthday

The gift I have for you
Is a promise to be true
To love you through the years
And never ever bring you tears

Tomorrow starts a new year,
And memories could wait
I want to say I love you,
Darling, happy birthday

As she awakened and we hugged tightly together, stirred by the profoundness of our affection and love for each other, I sang for her the song which throughout our marriage have remained a binding melody---No Other Love. And while sharing morsels of memories gone by, I was prompted to recite with fondness, although occasionally fragmented by a somewhat ebbing memory, the lines of Shakespeare’s sonnet 116: 

 

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove;
O no! it is an ever fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wondering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”
(William Shakespeare, 1564-1616)

In a short while the alarm rang, then with hands clasped, we sat together in a moment of prayer to the Most High in expressions of gratitude for the wonderful new day he added into our lives; and for Letty a prayer of thankfulness for the passing of another challenging but fruitful year and welcoming the blessings of a new year in her yet continuing mortal journey.

As the sunrise of her 69th birthday slowly breaks the dark horizon, and imperceptively consumed the passing hours of a busy morning for the celebrant, my mind was again transported to the wonderful memories of the kind of life she lives.

She has been retired in public service for already six years, but of her voluntary service in the church and kingdom of God on earth, she expects no retirement entitlement. As a matter of fact, she even accept an additional major calling as Relief Society President again, in our branch of the church. She understood best as a teacher of the Institute class that service is a crowning principle. Her long and dedicated service in the church for more than 40 years, has been motivated by her love of God and His people. Despite her physical limitations consequent to the natural deterioration of the mortal body related to aging, she determined to endure well to the end.

In her life of service with real intent, I perceived best the profound and reflective import of the Lord’s declaration and promise, “I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory.” (D & C 76:5-6.)

At age 69, she should have been relaxing and enjoying the remaining days, months and years of her life as many retirees her age do. Yet, even when she should have been supposedly under the care of our children, she instead continues her service in the family, not even minding the pains of a frozen shoulder and faltering feet. Perhaps her vision goes far beyond the infirmities and weaknesses of the flesh, as she learns of the assurance that, “When the frailties and imperfections of mortality are left behind, in the glorified state of the blessed hereafter,... shall woman be recompensed in rich measure for all the injustice that womanhood has endured in mortality. Then shall woman reign by divine right, a queen in the resplendent realm of her glorified state, even as exalted man shall stand, priest and king unto the Most High God. Mortal eye cannot see nor mind comprehend the beauty, glory, and majesty of a righteous woman made perfect in the celestial kingdom of God.” (James E. Talmage, The Eternity of Sex, quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland, To My Friends, p. 238.)

While the sunset of life slowly dims, her light ever so brilliantly shines as she stands up the zenith of her consecrated life; a beacon which provides flares for our family to follow along the path to eternity.

The youthful beauty, vigor and vitality are now resigned beneath the shadows of the passing years leaving behind silhouettes of a once most adorable outward countenance. Yet, within the loop of her inherently divine soul, now physically waned by the the process of aging, is hidden and permanently kept aglow, the loveliness and splendor which springs from the timeless wonders of eternity.

I am hopeful and faithfully inclined that my ever dearest Letty, by her sheer dedication and devotion to every inspired call for service in God’s kingdom, and her obedience to God and His commandments, will be rewarded, in due time of the Lord, the crown of glory which He promised “shall follow after much tribulation.” (see D & C 58:2-4.)

As ever, my heart overflows with gratitude and love for her unconquerable desire to serve God and family and her inexplicable determination to move on through the remaining laps of life’s race undeterred by the constant negative variables along the way; joyfully content of whatever is laid on the table of a most challenging mortality; ever positively hoping that after enduring well in service and defeating all the trials there will come a wondrous reckoning of a blessed and glorious eternal life.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY EVER DEAREST AND DEARLY BELOVED, THE ONLY ONE THAT OCCUPIES THE DEEPEST CHAMBER OF MY HEART, EVEN MY ETERNAL PARTNER---LETTY!

FATHER ORDAINING HIS SON TO THE PRIESTHOOD: A FAMILY TRADITION OF HONORING COVENANTS

By: Norberto Betita 

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.) 

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.

BEING FAITHFUL TO THE END

by: Norberto Betita

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.

CEBU PHILIPPINES TEMPLE: RECALLING AND RENEWING OUR COVENANTS

by: Norberto Betita 

CEBU PHILIPPINES TEMPLE

Living in the countryside away from the temple district is a barrier for many members to go and worship in the House of the Lord, not only because of the distance, but also because of the high cost of travel expenses, plus the fact that most of them have no regular sources of income. The opportunity then to be able to visit the Cebu Philippines Temple is such a sacrifice for many and a rare privilege.

Temple attendance has been the regular and unvarying reminder from living apostles and prophets. President Russel M. Nelson once said: “Each Holy Temple stands as a symbol of our membership in the church, as a sign of our faith in life after death, and as a sacred step toward eternal glory for us and our families.” (Personal Preparation for Temple Blessings, April 2001.) 

Baptismal Font

It is in this most sacred edifice that the pronouncements of the ultimate spiritual blessings that may be received in mortality and in the life to come are made available both for the living and the dead through sacred Priesthood ordinances. It is in this consecrated sanctuary that we learn and know of spiritual mysteries, which may be revealed to us personally; feel of its importance in our lives; and do the covenants we have entered into toward becoming celestial citizens worthy to pass by the angels standing as sentinels.

Learning and understanding the gifts of the spirit that are in the temple are most essential in our personal quest for spiritual maturity. Regularly recalling and renewing our covenants, therefore, should be given deeper personal attention. Regular may mean as frequently as possible, but for those who are far and financially handicapped, it can be a once a year visit to the temple. 

Grand Staircase

Indeed, for the Latter Day Saints of Surigao Philippines District going to the temple is rather a difficult undertaking. Even qualifying for a temple recommend is already a mounting challenge to most of the members. Tithing faithfulness is one great hurdle that many Priesthood holders find difficulty to leap. Their irregular meager income creates a vacuum between their increasing needs against available resources as to tempt them to differ obedience. Ironically though, even those who had been blessed with better employments find it hard to qualify. Many don’t realize how small a tenth of our income for a sacrifice in comparison to the promised blessings if we stand true and faithful to our covenants. I too was once in that kind of attitude of giving more concern in the things of the world. But I soon realized, as I kept myself qualified for a temple recommend and visit the temple at least once in a year, that blessings of greater knowledge and understanding did flow with superior light and wisdom, and with sweet feelings of joy and contentment, thereby inspiring me even more to walk on the covenant path toward what Heavenly Father wanted me to become. 

Sealing Room

During the April 2018 General conference, President Russel M. Nelson, in his concluding remarks, pronounced blessings for the members. Said he: “…I bless you to identify those things you can set aside so you can spend more time in the temple. I bless you with greater harmony and love in your homes and a deeper desire to care for your eternal family relationships. I bless you with increased faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a greater ability to follow Him as His true disciples.” In this light, with one simple idea and suggestion from a veteran temple worker, backed by such prophetic blessings, the Surigao District leadership gives emphasis on the pronouncement and encouraged and even challenged the members to try the Lord and start preparing to qualify for a temple recommend forgetting at first the concern for the needed financial resources for the trip, and instead try to “identify those things [they] can set aside.” 

Celestial Room

The last few years, we only have one temple trip for adults which seldom covers the reservation of 20 persons in the temple patron housing. But as soon as the blessings were declared by the prophet and emphasis were regularly given for members to take the challenge, more were aroused and motivated to work out for the needed temple recommend interview and qualified. While some were short of resources on the scheduled dates, God’s extended hands provided some needed resources through benefactors who ministered with love beyond boundaries.

Since that prophetic blessings, the Surigao Philippines District had already conducted three temple trips with a total of 67 adult members visiting the Cebu Philippines Temple, with one more scheduled trip in November. With such excitement, the district leadership planned to make the temple trip a yearly activity for each Branch. 

Entrance

S. Michael Wilcox wrote: “The Lord knew that some people would fail to maintain their temple worthiness through the temptation and weaknesses of human nature. But we are not so much condemned for our mistakes and sins as we are for our failure to cease doing them. In terms of temple covenants, the condemnation comes for not correcting our faults so that we can return to the temple. Worthiness and the desire to return to the temple are often the best signs we have that our repentance has been complete and is accepted by the Lord. Then we must forgive ourselves, continue with our lives, and remain temple worthy.” (House of Glory, p. 79-80, Deseret Book Company).

When we first received our temple ordinances at the Manila Philippines Temple it was such a great sacrifice on our part. We tried our best to spiritually qualify according to the requirements. Money was then in scarcity that it was difficult for us to save for the trip. My wife sold her treasured jewelries without hesitation to cover the cost of our planned temple trip to be sealed together as a family with three of our then young children. When all were already in place except for some needed allowance for contingencies, unexpectedly, a check almost equivalent to my one month salary was received from a generous benefactor. Finally, on December 13, 1986, we received all the necessary ordinances and were together sealed as a family for time and all eternity. 

Temple Patron Housing Lobby

I should admit that during that time when I first received my temple ordinances, I have never truly understood all that had been conveyed and presented, except for a few memories of the promised blessings. All my wishes to return to the temple were in vain because of the distance and financial requirements. It took me several years before I was able to go back to the Manila Philippines Temple, until a more nearer temple was completed. At the Cebu Philippines Temple, recalling and renewing our covenants regularly became a reality. Our regular temple worship then, at least once every year has become a source of better understanding of the covenants and promises that the temple provides. 

Temple Patron Housing

In our last temple trip on September 26-29, 2018, I carry with me these thoughts from S. Michael Wilcox: "Sometimes the world is like a hot summer's day beating down on us. There are no clouds in the sky and no relief in sight. We search anxiously for a place of shade to shield us from the burning heat of the sun. When the world's heat becomes oppressive the Lord says to us: "Come into the shade of my house. Be refreshed. Be renewed. No burning heat will reach you here. Drink from my fountain. Swim in my river, and you will be able to return to the challenges of life, prepared to meet them."" (House of Glory, p. 58, Deseret Book.)

If I may be privileged to travel every year during the remaining years of my mortal journey to visit the most beautiful and special places in the world, the temple will be the only place that I would want to go. It is the House of the Lord where His holiness is felt. To me it is the place where heaven and earth meet.

SURVIVING THE SANCTIFYING SWELTER OF ADVERSITY

By: Norberto Betita

I have wondered for so long the ironic contrast between the life of a tree and the life of a man of whom was given “dominion…over all the earth.” (Genesis 1:26). A native tree grows in the jungle of an untamed and uncultivated wilderness, subject to the hostility of the surrounding inauspicious atmosphere. While the man, the greatest and grandest of God’s creation created in the likeness of the Father and the Son, was provided with all that was necessary and was given “the Lord [as his] shepherd” never to be left wanting. The Lord, “leadeth [man] to lie down in green pastures…beside still waters…and into the paths of righteousness for his names sake.” (see Psalms 23).

They both grow old. The tree growing up tall into the sky with roots penetrating deep down the earth, and the man into becoming a successful dominant being in the world of competitive power. In their growing they both passed the tests of time and the tremendous opposition of nature and man-made adversities.

However, as life follows the forward movement of time and seasons, the tree becomes even taller and sturdy; its trunk even becoming stronger and undefeatable by nature’s fury, with branches able to withstand natural calamities, excepting manmade disasters. They can live thousands of years.

And what of man? In the short span of its time in mortality, when the unwanted label of seniority becomes evident, man deteriorates and its physical vitality starts to recoil and shrink. Soon he is to “walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” but “fear no evil” ever clinging to the assurance that the Lord is with him preparing “a table before [him] in the presence of [his] enemies.” In the process of surviving the sanctifying swelter of adversity attendant to aging, lingering afflictions, and anguish of pain, walking along the seemingly impenetrable crammed celestial highway, the only strength that keeps him to stand tall is the uplifting and comforting promise that “goodness and mercy shall follow [him] all the days of [his] life, and [he] will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.” (see Psalms 23). 

2000 year old tree in Africa

Thus, while the tree enjoys the glory of its enduring growth and longer life in its space in the telestial environment, the man, like the tree, tries to drive its roots deep into the fertile field of the gospel and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for, “He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.” (Isaiah 40:29). And though a tree lives thousands of years, yet man, with the Lord, is ushered into eternity.

Job, “the man in the land of Uz,…perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil (Job 1:1),” and a very wealthy man, described as “the greatest of all the men of the east (Job 1:3)”was tried with physical illness and pain of enormity, losing all that he possessed even including his children. Nevertheless, in the quiver of losing everything he calmly said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21). And no matter his confusion why God did sorely tried him, and despite being impelled by his very own wife to surrender his integrity and “curse God and die (Job 2:9);” the cruel accusations from among his friends; the travesty and ridicule by those who were thrilled in his ruin, he did not waivered his faith in the Lord for he knew then, as he bore witness of the living Lord and His Second Coming, and his own personal resurrection saying: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter-day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: (Job 19:25-26).”

While I so appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the tree as it grows up with increasing strength into the green horizon, no longer did my heart envy for I know that though my physical life deteriorates in so short a time in mortality, it is only temporary. The tests and trials of life are but constants to spiritual growing into a sanctified state on the other side of the veil where eternal power, might and dominion are reserved by no less than the Father of us all and the creator of the tree and man; heaven and earth, to those who, like Job, endured well to the end.

I am not yet as Job, but as I contemplate on the ills of my mortal journey and the preservation of my life until this time of my 66th year of an enduring race through life, I can’t help but acknowledge with deepest gratitude to Heavenly Father in earnest prayer:

O, Father, before Thee and Thy eternal heavens I pray
With deepest feelings of thanksgiving, ever in my yearning heart,
Encompassed by Thy eternal love, kindness and mercy,
Through each passing day of my life’s mortal journey.

Ever in my soul, I thank Thee, for Thy divine power,
Which saved my life in its dying moments from infancy,
Forward to my growing years and ordeals of maturity,
And through the waning days and refining tests of seniority.

I thank Thee, for every moment of joy and gladness
Thou gavest me, along the path in this challenging earthly sojourn.
Grateful as always for the edifying experiences
That sustained me in my battles with the adversary.

In my sinfulness, and human weaknesses and frailties
Thou hast always been forever forgiving and loving;
In the depths of humility and my ever grateful heart, therefore,
I express my most profound thanks for Thy forbearance and compassion.

Father in Heaven, how grateful I am for the Atonement
Of Thine only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ and His redeeming love and mercy,
Giving me the faith and hope for a glorious resurrection,
If I but follow the covenant path and the conditions of repentance and obedience.

In flashes of Thy Divine light, I express gratitude to Thee,
For guiding me, through the Holy Ghost, away from the dark tunnels
That obscured the track of my voyage into the realms of eternity,
Clearing the way to the inviting flickers of eternal exaltation.

I thank Thee, O, Father for the trust and confidence
Thou hast in me as to have me ordained to the Holy Priesthood.
Grateful as well for an even greater trust of having a family of my own
And the glorious promise of being sealed together forever.

Heavenly Father, at this time of my life when intensifying trials are evident
I pray that Thou mayest grant for me a stronger heart and an enduring soul.
Please help me in mine unbelief; guide me through the Holy Ghost,
To live a life of service in righteousness and in truth to the end.

Help me that I may continue to live in faithfulness and obedience to Thy commands,
And allow me to consecrate my life in service to Thy kingdom and Thy people.
Bestow upon me the spiritual gift of power to withstand the refining tests of life
Now remaining as I move into the abating cycle of life attendant to old age.

In the process of surviving the sanctifying swelter of adversity,
I ask for Thy inspiration that I may not in any way shrink from my fight.
Let my family life be in accord with the pattern that Thou hast provided
For us to live by in unity, harmony, peace and love.

Dear Heavenly Father, I most humbly pray, as I submit my honest petitions to Thy divine will.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

The dawn of my 66th birthday commenced with hugs and kisses and words of love from my dearest wife---Letty---as early as 2:00 AM, whose unbounded love has always been reflected by her thoughtfulness and ability to remember the most memorable days of each of our lives.

THE DRESSMAKER’S NIGHT

The Flordeliza Gasta Betita-Odtojan Story

By: Norberto Betita

Flordeliza Gasta Betita-Odtojan

She was born on August 11, 1937 when our mother was only sixteen years old and christened as Flordeliza Gasta Betita. She is second to have been born out of thirteen siblings. In her younger years, she was the most beautiful and attractive of the women in the family. She was born when life was too difficult because of the global ‘great depression’ and only a little child when the greatest battle ever fought during World War II at the Surigao Strait was at its height during General McArthur’s Leyte landing. The most terrifying roars of American bomber planes, flying above their evacuation places, was such a dreaded part in her life’s experiences.

Although our parents are very supportive of our quest for learning, high school education was too difficult to attain because of its 12 kilometer distance from our place and the non-availability of public transport. Plus the fact that money was too hard to find.

However, despite all the difficulties she struggled to study high school at the Northeastern Mindanao Colleges until she was forced to stop due to an incident in which she collapsed and went on a coma one afternoon at school---4:00PM. She was thought to have been already dead, and was no longer brought to the hospital. But at about or past 10PM, she awakened as if just from being fast asleep. 

With husband Gerardo Odtojan

Since then she stopped schooling and trained with our mother the skills in dressmaking. With innate intellectual gift, she’d easily learned the skills. Not long after she became the assistant of our mother in her dressmaking works. She had trained so well that she eventually became an expert dressmaker.

Then trying to find opportunities for work, even just as a house help, she went with our cousin Margie Japzon to the Province of Lanao. Returning home later, a distant relative---Bella Marquida Odtojan, discovered her dressmaking skills and invited her to stay with her family in Mangagoy to earn a living as a fulltime dressmaker. She obliged and went to stay with the Odtojan’s. Her expertise started to shine in the neighborhood and then into the community which in consequence earned for her the trusts of more clients.

Not long after, while more women were attracted to the glamour of her finished dresses, her beauty and personal prettiness also caught the searching eyes of a relative of her landlord. Gerardo Odtojan, a native of Bad-as, Placer, from the same province of Surigao del Norte, her home province, was an engineering graduate and was working at the lumber department of the Bislig Bay Lumber Company, Inc. (BBLCI), which later evolved to become the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines (PICOP). From attraction was formed a deep friendship which later developed into a profound desire for courtship. Finally, as was the culture of their times, a “yes I do” was given in answer to a very sincere pleadings, “will you marry me?”

I was only about eight years old and had just completed my first grade in elementary, but I still could vividly remember that day prior to the scheduled wedding day when a large truck came and parked in front of our house filled with oversized cooking utensils, food stuffs, live animals and others. There was also a band. While formal family courtesies was in process, hired cooks started slaughtering animals for the sumptuous wedding feast. The pre-nuptial party ended late while cooking continued uninterruptedly even as the church’s bells rang to signal the beginning of the wedding march and expressions of marital vows on that blessed day of May 6, 1960; until the wedding convoy with a band following arrived at home and the grandiose wedding reception was started to the delight of the guests and the entire neighborhood who had been invited to the celebrations. Such was one very expensive wedding preparations which probably was never duplicated in our hometown. But to my brother-in-law---Gerardo---it was and must have been worth the cost, for throughout their family life, my sister---Flordeliza---had always been a loyal and hardworking partner. 

Relaxing at home with family pets

I was privilege to live with them during the summer vacation of 1962. I was supposed to enroll for my fourth grade in the public school of Mangagoy, Bislig, Surigao del Sur. She was then pregnant of her first born son. It was there and during the time of her pregnancy that I witnessed the mounting pressures of the dressmaker’s night. From morning till night, she labored to make sure her commitments to her clients are met. When her husband was on a night shift duty in his work, she worked even till midnight. She healed her conception related nausea by smoking cigarette and filled her thirst with Coca Cola. The demands of her sewing expertise includes dresses, uniforms, curtains and others. Yet in her busiest moments as a dressmaker, she always took time to care for her husband when at home. Her husband, a very humble man, also understood that in their partnership, they are co-equal, hence when he recognized that his wife was too busy dressmaking while at the same time doing household chores, he did the woman’s chores as well, such as, but not limited to laundering and cooking.

Even at the heights of her pregnancy, at the time when the fetus in her womb was already 5 months, she still did sewing dresses. She did her daily routine in dress making and never complaint. She should have reasons to decline her customers or to limit her works to do, after all, they still have no children to provide. Yet she did what was necessary to prepare for the future and especially to make sure that her clients will remain faithful patron of her.

Sometime in 1971, I have again the opportunity to go on vacation at their home. Mangagoy was already flourishing as a barangay. I noticed that she had gotten more and more clients than before. By then she had already four children to care for and pregnant for her fifth child. Yet despite her mounting dressmaking work commitments, she never shook off nor faltered in her motherhood responsibilities to her children and her spousal duties to her husband. As a matter of fact, she should have established her own dress shop and hire other dressmakers, but she did not, knowing that it would seriously affect her motherhood duties. At least with her business at home she was sure that the family was first in her daily agenda before sitting in front of the sewing machine. Her family was central to her life. She had been very lucky to have a very understanding and kind husband who was always true to their spousal and parental partnership. 

With living siblings

While the family was as ever paramount in her daily routine, sewing seemed to have become the way of recuperating her weary soul. Besides, she wanted to serve her clients with confidence and build a relationship of trust; keeping in balance family duties and earning opportunities. As children are asleep and her husband on his duty shift, the dressmaker’s night continue to echo the timbre of a mechanical sewing machine which to her had long become a sweet music to the ear. She knew then that there is no way that she can be a perfect mother, but throughout those many years of her mothering, she was provided the best opportunities to be such a good one.

Despite her husband’s adequate income as an executive of the Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines, as Section Head of the Lumber Department, even eventually retiring as Senior Staff member, she continued to labor as a dressmaker. Beyond those weary nights of pedaling the sewing machine was her dreams to help her children attain the necessary education that they wanted to achieve which for her was denied because of poverty. She and her husband, provided all their children the opportunity to go to college. Although not all earned a degree, it was not out of financial incapacity and moral support, but of individual choice. Her unconditional love for her children reverberate the poem “A Mother’s Love” by an unknown author: 

Her seven children

There are times when only a Mother’s love
Can share the joy we feel
When something we’ve dreamed about
Quite suddenly is real

There are times when only a Mother’s faith
Can help on life’s way
And inspire in us the confidence
We need from day to day

For a Mother’s heart and a Mother’s faith
And a Mother’s steadfast love
Were fashioned by the angels
And sent from God above
(Author Unknown)

There’s a saying that “Never underestimate the power of a woman with a sewing machine.” Indeed, as years are carried on to the ever changing fashions and styles, the dressmaker remains to be the best and most fitting partner of beauty and glamour. However, more than the fits and fads in the stylistic and enchanting world of trendiness and charm, the dressmaker’s night which was made part of my sister’s productive dynamism was always and ever pointedly attuned to an ever dominant and far more supreme creative power to shape and frame the beauty of her family life.

When her husband died in July 1, 1998, my sister Flordeliza continued to do her trade until she was advised by her children to stop at age 75. She may not have been blessed with material abundance, but she rejoiced with contentment while reflecting on those years of tremendous struggle to raise and rear and educate seven children.

She is now 81 and walking the lonesome pathway reserved for the feeble and weary travelers in their advanced and deteriorated years of life’s journey. Yet her countenance never displayed the common frustrations of the compounding and intensifying physical limitations resulting from old age. She enjoys her remaining years at home under the care of her two unmarried daughters.

On this her 81st birthday celebrations, I do wish for the best of benedictions which God has kept in reserve to be poured out for her from this day and all through the staying time of her mortal life.

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MANA FLONG!

SHE RESTED IN PERFECT PEACE

by: Norberto Betita

I join and bind my sorrowful heart with the Gasta clan in grieving for the passing of our dearest Aunt Policronia Mangle Gasta. Weeping and mourning are natural responses for losing a loved one. Yet when death is best understood, feelings can easily shift from mournful grief to joyful gratitude.

Most people feared death. They think of death as horrible and therefore just turn their backs whenever the subject of death is on discussion. Yet, according to President Russel M. Nelson, “...death, though difficult for surviving loved ones, is a necessary part of our immortal existence. Death allows us to progress to the next world.” (The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?, lds.org). This truth adds credence to the words of the legendary Socrates when he wrote: “Death maybe the greatest of all human blessings” (Brainyquotes).

Parting and final sad farewell to a dearly beloved as he or she is brought to the ultimate resting place maybe thought of as permanent separation. But, “Death is not the end. It is putting out the candle because the dawn has come.” (Hugh B. Brown, quoted by President Thomas S. Monson, Ruth Faust is 'welcomed home' Deseret News).

However, more reassuring than the above straightforward and faithful declarations are the words of the prophet Alma in the Book of Mormon who said:

“Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.” (Alma 40:11-12)

I will always remember Tiya Conyang as a very good and generous aunt. My relationship to her was one of great respect and love. When I was a boy and until I was in early high school I always went to the house of my grandparents to do errands for them. Tiya Conyang had always been very accommodating of her nieces and nephews.

She was the last to come to earth of the seven siblings and the last to leave this vale of tears. Of the seven children of our grandparents Porferio and Tecla Gasta, she alone plotted a route and traversed the deep swamp of poverty and therefore surfaced as the only one in the family who made it through college. With real courage and struggle; patience and perseverance, and faith to endure which she daily carried on her bag of destitution, she eventually became a professional teacher. Public school teachers during her time were among the highest paid government employees. Hence, he was able to build for her and her parents a two-storey house. She also studied English as a second language in Manila making her one of the best English subject teacher in our town.

She was a very religious woman. At retirement she volunteered to teach catechism in the Catholic Church. She even went to the hinterland barangays not only in our town but in other places in the country to teach children the principles of Christianity and love of God. Many of the people in our town remember her as the teacher and catechist. All of us who paid her a visit will always be reminded of the need to live righteous lives, warning us of the consequences of sinful acts.

During the strongest earthquake that hit our town of San Francisco, Surigao del Norte on February 10, 2017, her house was irreparably destroyed and she sustained a serious injury on her head. Yet she survived. She was then 91 years old. With the help of a friend of mine, we bought materials for a temporary shelter for her and with the help of nephews and younger family members the dwelling was immediately built.

She was given birth on February 17, 1926. A week ago I received a message that she suddenly became so weak. After sending some of the things that she might immediately need, I prayed to Heavenly Father that if her appointed time and call to return to where she came from draw more closer that she be allowed no longer to have a prolonged suffering and just have a peaceful rest. At the earliest dawn of July 22, 2018, when the immediate surroundings of her temporary dwelling was in total stillness and most quiet tranquility, she rested in perfect peace. Her spirit imperceptibly sneaked to the other side of the veil leaving behind the physical body soon to lie dormant in the "cold and silent grave" (2 Nephi 1:14) until the resurrection day. I was told that not even a single prior complaint was raised nor a slightest faint was heard as she breathed her last to finally meet her Maker.

Now she is in grand reunion with all of her loved ones who had long passed beyond the veil. We have already done the sealing of her parents, my grandparents, for time and eternity, with her sisters Mercedes and Francisca, my mother, being sealed to them. This August we will be doing the necessary saving ordinances for her other siblings to be sealed to their parents. For Tiya Conyang, we will make it sure that she will be sealed to the family in due time, with hopes that all of them will accept the ordinances in the next life for them to live forever as a family. Tiya Conyang was never married in this life, but Heavenly Father will not deprive her faithful daughter of that privilege of having her own family in the afterlife.

Perhaps for Tiya Conyang, she wanted more for us to rejoice than mourn for her passing and to better understand the realities of her journey to the next life as a blessing of progression back to a more blessed sphere of existence.

I personally express my deepest gratitude and heartfelt appreciation to my cousin Julian Lopez, Jr. and his family for taking care of her, especially at the time of her seniority and until her eventual final rest.