Words in Tagalog

Every Sunday, Daniel likes to attend a different ward here in the Philippines to check out the chapels and buildings as part of his work.

No one has asked for him to do that, but he does it anyway because my husband likes to go the extra mile. If there is one thing I want you to remember from my talk is this. In life, it's not enough to do the minimum required, you need to do more. you need to go the extra mile in whatever you are doing. at home, at school at work, etc.

(I only attend our Makati 4th ward every fourth Sunday of the month and sometimes not even that like next week when we are going to speak to the missionaries at the MTC )

Today we were asked to speak so I told them about the words in Tagalog that sound like Spanish and bore my testimony using those words, they are in no particular order just as they came to mind.

*Importante : My testimony is the most importante possession in my life that I have, it is more precious than rubies or gold or any amount of money.  I know a woman who sold her company for 400 million dollars. That is a lot of money but I wouldn't trade my testimony for that amount of money because my testimony is priceless so I feel extreme pain when I know of someone who has thrown their testimony away. (I know people dear to my heart that didn't keep their testimonies intact and that is the saddest thing. )

*Testimonio: I like to maintain my testimonio each day by doing two things: praying daily and reading the scriptures. I compare this to my daily dose of my thyroid medication. You can asked me if I have taken my medication this morning and I will say yes, likewise you can also ask me at any time what am I reading in the Book of Mormon and I can tell you exactly the chapter  I am currently reading. At the moment I am reading 3 Nephi.

*Dios: I am thankful that my Heavenly Father or my Dios, the same Dios of Adam and Eve from the very beginning to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and so on, that same Dios is my Dios. He listens to my prayers and he knows me and loves me. I have felt of his love in the temple.

*Instrumento: I want to be an instrumento in his hands and do what he needs me to do to help his kingdom and that is why I am here today.

*Milagro; I believe in milagros that still happen in our day. I have witnessed many milagros in my own family that I could never deny.

*Jesucristo: I feel so honor to belong to the His Church La iglesia de Jesucristo.

*Sacrificio: I am thankful for his atoning sacrificio for me and you and every person that has lived. I don't comprehend how was that possible but I think about his sacrificio every time I take the sacrament.

*Perfecto: We as members of His Church are not perfectos, we make mistakes but we are continuing to strive to be better each day.

*Evangelio: The evangelio is perfecto, all we need to do is obey.

* Complicado: Life can be complicado but we can endure all things with His help.

* Problema: We all have problemas, there are no perfect families and if you think your family is perfect, you have not lived long enough. wait and see, however, problemas is the very thing that makes us better and help us grow.

* Familia : I am also grateful for my familia. Whenever I think of a happy time in my life, I think of a moment spent with my family. My immediate as well as my extended familia. I can't think of my life without my familia and I am thankful to know we can become an eternal family.

*Trabajo: It takes trabajo or hard work to accomplish anything worthwhile and that goes with our faith too. We need to exercise our faith by serving others. It all starts and ends with Charity, the pure love of Christ.

* Ordenanza: But you have to start somewhere and that is why we have ordenanzas.

*Bautismo: How important this day is for me. I think of my bautismo as the day I decided to be a disciple of Jesus Christ from that day forward. And here comes my conversion story. We all have one story in our family of how we learned about the church, because either we were born in the Church or we were taught by the missionaries.

About 60 years ago, missionaries were first sent to El Salvador and my grandmother, Hilda and her daughters: Silvia, Dina and Norma, or in other words, my aunts were first introduced to the Church.

My mother was already married and out of that household. There were only about 100 members at the time when they joined so nothing was known about the Church the way it is now but even though my parents were not members, they accepted for me to attend Church with my aunts and grandmother and that is how I was I was exposed to Primary from a young age so when I was eight my parents were approached by one of my aunts to see if they would allowed me to get baptized, my parents said why don't we wait another year so 18 months later, I was baptized.

My aunt Silvia who took me to Church later became the First counselor in the General Relief Society of the Church and my grandmother Hilda is featured in the daughters in my kingdom on g. 92. I only say this because who would have thought that out of a tiny little country of El Salvador, we could have a leader today. The children and young men and young women of today will naturally be the leaders of tomorrow. Today out of that one family of one mother and three daughters, there are over 100 descendants who are members which only means that the people that you are going to bring to the Church will have a ripple effect on years to come. I am so grateful for elder Prina and elder Jones you came knocking on my grandmother's door.

*Profeta: I am grateful to know that I live in this time such as this when we are enjoying the fullness of the gospel with a living Profeta. We know of his limitations and we miss him but we know that with the aid of his counselors he is still in charge and the head of Christ's Church.

I am grateful for President Monson and all the teachings he  has bestowed among us for so many years from the time he was an Apostle to today. I am going to leave with you one of his remarks that I keep dear to my heart. In the April conference 2017 he said:  "My dear associates in the work of the Lord, I implore each of us to prayerfully study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven's help in our lives. I also testify with all my heart in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Con amor,
Vero