Grateful

Bianca wrote a beautiful song; grateful, that comes to mind each Thanksgiving season. In the Philippines thanksgiving is not celebrated. Here they have the Mission Presidents seminar each year so we never celebrate it and neither was in the Dominica Republic and that is one Holiday I miss it so much but this year, we are headed to Utah on black Friday to help with the Mill Circle home. The woman who had lived there moved out and it's time to get it ready for Bianca. 

But before I start my day today I want to express my gratitude for my faith in a loving Heavenly Father who listens to my prayers. My faith and love for my Heavenly Father is at the very core of who I am and it helps me know that I am the daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me and who believes in the very best of what I can become in my life. 

 I am so grateful for my faith because it guides me in all of my values and it provides a solid foundation for me to build my life upon.  I am also thankful that I believe in God enough to trust him to take my life where he wants it to go if I just put forth my very best effort to do the right things each day.

 Most of all I am grateful that God sees the masterpiece that I can become with my life, even when I can’t always see it myself. Second I am thankful for my immediate family.  I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be married to my husband Daniel.  He is an incredible man and he always treats me with so much kindness, patience and respect.  I can truly say that he has never called me an unkind name or said harsh words to me.  That in and of itself is pretty amazing as I am certain I have tried his patience many a time over the last seven years of our marriage. 

 I am also the luckiest woman in the world to be the mother and grandmother of amazing children.  They are such good human beings.  They have a testimony of who they are and they live by their values.  They are amazing children and I am humbled daily that I get the blessing of being their mother, step-mother and mother in law.

  Third I am thankful for my extended family.   I have the most incredible mother in the world and she has taught me so much in my life.  She is intelligent and talented and loving.  She has sacrificed so much for her children and she has  always set a phenomenal example of living by your values. 

 In addition she gave birth to my Three other sisters and provided us a very fun upbringing.  I love my sisters very much.  We are all as different as the day is long, both in personalities and in looks even.  But each child has amazing talents and I have learned so much from each of my sisters. 

I loved growing up with them and I love forming friendships with them as adults with our own families.  I am thankful for everyone in my family.

Fourth I am thankful for my friends. I have been blessed to be surrounded with great friends in my life.  My friends are as loyal and true as can be and I love them as much as I love my family.   They have stood by me, they have mentored me, they have picked me up when I have down days, they have set me straight when I am in the wrong, and they have loved me through my failures as well as my successes and I am forever grateful to have them in my life.

Fifth, I am grateful for the opportunity to give back in my life.  I have spent the last 40 years of my life working my tail off to have the necessities of life, and as I married Daniel I was able to have a life changing event which has afforded me the opportunity to stop working in order to take time to give back through mentoring, speaking, teaching, and helping others to succeed as a missionary for the PEF This new opportunity to focus my efforts on giving back is a dream come true for me.  It is something I have dreamed about for as long as I can remember and now it is finally happening. 

 I someday will start my new company Almeida Investments, a Real Estate company and even launch our new charity Foundation for children at risk but for now, I am spending each and every day doing something I absolutely LOVE.   I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to do that.  I can’t even describe how humbling and grateful I feel. 

My life has been more than I ever dreamed it could be to this point and I can’t even begin to imagine what God still has in store for me in the coming years, but I know that if I just show up and work my hardest  every day to do the right things that the future will be nothing short of a true masterpiece…and the same holds true for all of you…thank heavens for my faith that let’s me know that to be true!  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday this week. Enjoy your time with your loved ones. Feel thankful for every wonderful second of your time together and for every one of the blessings you have in your life. Use those blessings to make the world a better place.

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.” -W.T. Purkiser

Thank you for sharing your lives with me. Thank you for taking the time to read my blogs and to care about the life lessons I am learning and sharing. Thank you for your amazing comments that motivate me to do better in my life so I can make all of you proud. Thank you for the contribution you make to this world and to my life. Have a happy holiday and I will talk to you again next week…I am going to spend the rest of this week focusing on my family and I will post again next Monday morning (Sunday night). Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!I

Con amor,

 Vero

Teaching Relief Society

Today I got to teach Relief Society on the talks by Elder Bednar "If Ye had Known Me"and Elder Christofferson, "Abide in my Love." I highly recommend that for Family Home Evening, you listen and study this two talks, they are amazing!

I started by asking the women what is love? And after getting a few to answer I read what Elder Bednar said as he began his talk: "The Bible tells us that God is Love.. God's love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply there."

The next question I asked was: "How do we describe God's love or divine love?  I responded by reading the next section of his talk " One of the terms we hear often today is that God's love is "unconditional" While in one sense that is true, the descriptor unconditional appears nowhere in scripture. Rather, His love is describe scripture as great and wonderful love, perfect love, redeeming love, and everlasting love. These are better terms because the word conditional can convey mistaken impressions about divine love, such as, God tolerates and excuses anything we do because His love is conditional, or God makes no demands upon us because His love is unconditional, or all are saved in the heavenly kingdom of God because His love is conditional. God's love is infinite and it will endure forever, but what it means for each of our depends on how we respond to His love.

Jesus said: As the Father hath love me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. To continue in or abide in the Saviors love means to receive His grace and be perfected by it. To receive His grace, we must have faith in Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, including repenting of our sins, being baptized for the revision of sins, receiving the Holy Ghost, and continuing in the path of obedience. God will always love us, but He cannot save us inner sins."

From the Book of Mormon we learn that the intent of Christ's suffering, the ultimate manifestation of His love was to bring about the bowels of mercy... that they may have faith unto repentance. Blessings are conditioned on obedience...to abide in God's love in this sense means to submit fully to His will...What precious gift is devine love! Will you not love Him who first love you? Then keep His commandments. Will you not be a friend to Him who laid down His life for His friends? Then keep His commandments. Will you not abide in His love and receive all that He graciously offers you? Then keep His commandments.

Next we got right into the next talk by Elder Bednar. He began by saying; " As the Savior concluded the Sermon on the mount, He emphasize the eternal truth that only by doing the will of the Father is the saving grace of te Son obtainable. He declared: " Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, ave we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name have done wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. We understand from the inspired revision of this text that he actually said: Ye never knew me." The same thing with the five foolish virgins.

Do we only know about the Savior, or are we increasingly going to know Him? How do we come to know the Lord? Jesus said: I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comet uno the Father, but me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. We come to know the Father as we come to know His beloved son...We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only...Pray to the Father. .. And he said unto Peter, Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. The Savior has admonished us to become as He is.

Lehi's dram in the Book of Mormon identifies the path we should follow, the challenger we will encounter, and the spiritual resources available to assist us in following and coming unto the Savior....He declared: For I will be before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up. He ended by saying: "On a future day, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ. On that blessed day, we will know He knows each of us by name. And I witness and promise we can not know about the Lord but also come to know Him as we exercise faith in , follow, serve, and believe Him. I so testify in the Sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Con amor,
Vero

Good reminders

Today I am home alone but got to go over to pick up the picture Mandy asked me to frame. This is a birthday present for her and can't wait to give it to her. It is a little bigger than I anticipated so I hope I  won't have any problems carrying it on the plane. 

I supposed to be preparing my Relief Society lesson but instead I am surfing the internet to find something I can give the women in my ward to remember my lesson. I like to give them some treats or a little favor that has to do with the topic. As I am looking through posts I found this quote that I think is a great reminder: 

Live beneath your means.

Return everything you borrow.

Stop blaming other people.

Admit it when you make a mistake.

Give clothes not worn to charity.

Do something nice and try not to get caught. 

Listen more; talk less.

Every day take a 30 minute walk. 

Strive for excellence, not perfection.

Be on time.

Don't make excuses.

Don't argue.

Get organized.

Be kind to people.

Be kind to unkind people. 

Let someone cut ahead of you in line. 

Take time to be alone to ponder on your life.

Cultivate good manners.

Be humble.

Realize and accept that life isn't fair.

Know when to keep your mouth shut.

Go an entire day without criticizing anyone. 

Learn from the past.

Plan for the future.

Live in the present.

Don't sweat the small stuff. It's all small stuff.

I think I could write a chapter about everyone of those reminders. Today I will work on Take time to be alone to ponder on your life. 

Con amor,

Vero

No talent required.

I saw today this post on my Facebook feed that I want to share:

10 Things that required Zero talent

1. Being on time.

2. Work ethic

3. Effort

4. Body language

5. Energy

6. Attitude

7. Passion

8. Being coachable

9. Doing extra

10.Being prepared 

Daniel is always on time; sometimes way before anyone else is in. He has an incredible work ethic. He is a man of integrity  He puts so much effort into everything he does. He revises everything countless of times to make sure its correct. He is an optimist and sees the best in people. He is in Cebu today, yesterday he was in Urdeneta and last weekend he went to Tobolod. He gets up at 4:00 a.m.sometimes to start his work and at times he goes to bed way after midnight because he has meetings late at night since its daytime in the U.S. That requires a lot of energy. He has a happy attitude and loves to smile. He loves what he does with passion. He is also teachable and does what he is asked to do from his superiors even when he does not agree. He is so dedicated to his work and goes the extra mile. Daniel does an amazing job at it. I love the fact that he is such a hard worker and likes to be prepared.  I am so proud of my husband. 

Con amor,
Veronica

Giving Thanks

There are so many tender mercies and things I am so thankful for today. This day was a special one. We got to spend a whole day with Elder Cook, Bishop Waddell and Elder Robbins. They have come to do an area review and Daniel gets to go with them tomorrow. to Cebu and I get to stay home but that is okay, I don't have to go with them. Last week they went to another town.

This morning we woke up very early to go to a town three hours away. I didn't think I was going to be in the same room or eating at the same table because that was not scheduled but it turned out that when the lunch time came around, we sat down to eat at the mission home there and we waited until everyone sat down and the only two chairs left where at the tale were Elder Cook sat. What a treat it was for me and Daniel to experience that!

Today I want to thank my Heavenly Father for allowing me to have this experience. I am thankful for my faith in God. My beliefs and my love for my Heavenly Father is at the very core of who I am and it helps me know that I am the daughter of our Heavenly Father who loves me and who believes in the very bet of what I can become in my life. I am so grateful for my faith because it guides me in all of my values and it provides a solid foundation for me to build my life upon. I am also thankful that I believe in my Heavenly Father enough to trust him to take my life where he wants it to go if I just put forth my very best effort t do the right tins eat day. Most of all I am grateful that my Heavenly Father sees the masterpiece that I can become with my life, even then I can't always see it myself.

This weekend as I spend time on my own, I will be able to prepare my lesson for Sunday and finish writing my Christmas cards one by one. I should be doing ten every day until I get to write everyone who has been kind and special all year. This is the time of the year when I like to write notes to people to give thanks.

Con amor,
Vero

For your eyes only

Tonight which will be the morning in Utah, I will call my eye doctor to see if I can get in to see him.  He is always super booked so it will be a long shot but worth to try since we din't see him this year. He always sees us both on an annual basis.

My cousin posted on his Facebook feed 8 Tips for Healthy Eyes:  Look, See and Feel Better!

1. Schedule eye exams for your whole family.

A comprehensive eye exam can detect serious problems, like diabetes, before you even know they exist.

 2.     Wear sunglasses.

To protect your eyes from the sun’s UV rays, which can be dangerous even on cloudy days.

 3.     Rest your eyes.

Once every 20 minutes for 20 seconds while on your cell phones, tablet or computer to help prevent eye strain.

  4.     If you smoke, quit!

Smoking increases your risk of cataracts and sight-threatening eye disease.

   5.     Be active.

Regular exercise can delay the onset of age related macular degeneration (the leading cause of permanent vision loss later in life.)

    6.     Wear safety goggles.

An estimated 2.4 million eye injuries occur in the United States each year, and 90 percent of them can be avoided with protective eyewear.

      7.     Drink lots of water.

Without enough water, you can’t produce enough tears to keep your eyes moist and nourished.

8.      Eat your greens.  
A diet rich in fruits, leafy greens and omega-3 acids can help reduce your risk of dry eyes. Macular degeneration, glucose and more. 

These are good reminders.

Con amor,

Vero

Quesadilla

Today sister Webb asked me to share a recipe for a cookbook that she wants to publish from all the missionaries favorite recipes serving here in the Philippines. I wanted to give them my favorite recipe for quesadilla but I don't have the exact amounts because I just calculate how much of this and that so I looked on line and this is what I found:

"Unlike the Mexican snack of the same name, Salvadoran quesadilla is a rich, sweet dessert cake often found in local panaderías, or bakeries. The queso in quesadilla is traditionally unsalted Salvadoran queso fresco, a fresh farmers-type cheese. But Parmesan cheese is often substituted."

10 to 12 servings

INGREDIENTS

• All-purpose flour -- 2 cups
• Baking powder -- 2 teaspoons
• Grated queso fresco or Parmesan cheese -- 1/2 pound
• Sugar -- 2 cups
• Eggs, beaten lightly -- 4
• Whole milk -- 1 cup
• Butter, melted -- 2 sticks (1/2 pound)
• Sesame seeds (optional) -- 2 tablespoons

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift the flour and baking powder together into a bowl.
2. Add the cheese, sugar, eggs and milk to a large bowl and beat until smooth. Stir in the melted butter.
3. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the cheese mixture until fully incorporated and a smooth batter is formed.
4. Pour the batter into two well greased loaf pans, filling them only halfway. If using, sprinkle sesame seeds over the top of the batter.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Set on racks and allow to come to room temperature before slicing and serving.

QUESADILLA SALVADOREÑA VARIATIONS

• Try using different types of cheese for your quesadilla: grated cheddar, Monterey Jack, or even grated feta cheese.
• Many Salvadoran cooks substitute rice flour for the regular wheat flour.
• Instead of milk, use crema agria, or sour cream thinned with a little half and half.
• Bake in round cake pans or in muffin tins if you like.Tod. 

Some modifications:

I actually use bisquick instead of flour and baking powder. 

I add cream cheese and sour cream and even whipping cream to the mixture. 

Enjoy!