Devotional with Elder Holland

On Tuesday we had a special devotional with the area office employees with Elder Holland but what was most special about this day is that Elder Holland asked my husband to say a few words at the beginning as he was conducting so Daniel had the opportunity to express how much we are enjoying our assignment in the Philippines and of his appreciation to the people who work under his helm.

Daniel bore his testimony of the revelation flowing he saw first hand when the area plan was first conceived. He was there from the beginning three and a half years ago and he was the only one left as the new Presidency continued to revise the area plan. He told of a touching moment in his life when Elder Holland offered him a blessing when he learned that Daniel had cancer. "This was a scary time in my life" Daniel added.

Elder Holland also expressed his admiration for Daniel and told Daniel that he remembers that day of the blessing very well. He told our employees that Daniel was an exceptional senior DTA if there is a word to describe Daniel is "quintessential" as a DTA and as he was saying those things about my husband I couldn't be more proud.

Elder Holland explained that Sister Holland's health has declined but she is well. He thanked the people there for their prayers. He told them that he prays for them too. He asked the employees to thank people for what they do. He quoted Napoleon saying that A soldier can only fight on his stomach meaning that he needs to be fed and nourished. "It does not cost anything to show appreciation to those who serve us." He said.

He told of the scripture found on 1 Corinthians 12 that talks about the body is not one member but many members of your body and how the arms and legs and eyes and all what constitutes our body is important as the employees are all important to do the work. "Whatever we do in this Church has to be the very best. We are placed in a higher standard than people who work outside and many people would love to work for the Church. Keep that high level of commitment." He said.

Revelation continues and on January 2 of this year all the temples around the world implemented those changes and that is a tribute to you who are doing all the work behind the scenes. We want to change the culture of using the name of the Church as the Church of Jesus Christ. As an apostle as a witness of Him I need to know all of His names, study His names in all the scriptures.

Examples: He is the Hight Priest of all good things to come. We need to believe that all trouble times will come to an end. That is called hope. Another name is The bright and morning star. (like the sun) He will appear in the East. No matter how dark the night, we know that the sun will come out. He is the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end. The first and and the last. For me and my family He is everything.

Toward the end of his remarks, he made a tribute to all women. Mothers, grandmothers, wives, sisters, daughters. The creation was not complete until a woman was created. He ended testifying as a real witness of the Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior and Redeemer.

Con amor,
Vero

What a week we had!

What a week we had! 

Daniel has been working non-stop to be ready for Elder Holland’s visit to the Philippines. He presided over a nationwide conference on Sunday broadcasted to 107 stakes. He said that there are only twelve of them and with the growth of the Church it is very unlikely that they could attend a single conference at a time because if they were to do that it would take 31 years to visit each stake.  He told us of the news of the passing of President Nelson’s oldest daughter from cancer. “Our General Authorities are human” he said“ we worry when our children get sick and we mourn and grief at the loss of a child.”

 He continued “I came as a witness of the Lord and His timing… The changes that have been taking place in the past year have been talked about for decades… I was a Bishop 52 years ago and back then we asked the Bishop to do everything but not anymore. He also explained the change with shortening the Sunday worship at Church is not to do less but to do better. It needs to be more and more home centered.”  He said.  

He continued…”there are 168 hours in a week and if we take two or three out of 168 hours is not much of a difference. What makes a difference is what you do with the remaining 166 hours and what especially in your home… we are going to be witnesses of God at all times and in all places to receive Him again… the second coming is near and it started around 200 years ago with the first vision. We don’t know when it will happen, even the angels don’t know when it will happen but it will happen! This time He will come to rule the world and we need to be ready to receive Him. Don’t be tossed about. Be strong. Be steadfast. Be firm. Be immovable. Be filled with faith. Be ready.” He said.

He continued talking about the area plan and the significant role the Philippines play in Asia and it all begins with being obedient. He continued talking about how Christ exemplified obedience as he partook of the bitter cup. He quoted George Q. Cannon "By the Saints refusing to be led by the influences of Satan, and not yielding to his seductive temptations, he is virtually bound so far as they are concerned; and, when the head of the family can attain unto this power, and persuade his wife and family to do likewise, the power of Satan will be bound in that habitation, and the Millennium will have commenced in that household; and if all should take this course, man and the earth would soon be prepared for the coming of Jesus and the ushering in of the full Millennial glory, and the complete binding of Satan, of all of which glory they would already have a foretaste.” 

My heart still feels too much joy as we together with all the Filipino saints watched Elder Hollad. It made my Sabbath day complete and so blessed! Towards the conclusion of his inspiring message he invoked a special apostolic blessing upon the heads of the faithful saints. His humble way of blessing and touching my life moved me to tears. That special blessing once again has given me hope, and faith to carry on. His presence through a live broadcast did a lot for us. He did not only uplift the souls of the Filipino saints but blessed the lives of all the citizens in this part of the world as well. The clear message I got from his words were to be strong to be steadfast and to not let Satan enter your home. I will continue writing with what will transpire the rest of this week.

Con amor,
Vero

A House of Order

D & C 88: 119 

I love what Cristi wrote on Instagram last week so I am sharing.

"My social media “sabbatical” has given me some reflection time and clarity on what I want for 2019. I recognize that there are some really BIG changes about to happen in the Dame nest with my baby girl coming in 4 months! 👶🏻 

As a mother of three littles, I already feel like I am at the end of a conveyor belt catching everything that drops in front of me and unable to make progress in those other areas of my life that I want to. I acknowledge them; but I can't seem to focus on them for long because of what seems more urgent falling right at my feet. Does that even make sense?
This year I want to SIMPLIFY...and SLOOOOW down the pace of things coming at me.

I want systems in place so I can step away for a minute and pay some attention to the other areas of my life that make me whole without everything else falling apart.

As I have prayed about how I can go about doing this... one word keeps coming to mind... Order.

I keep trying to find a more exciting attribute to focus on this year like "adventure" or "travel" or something more fun... but I am recognizing that I yearn for ORDER just as much as I yearn to PLAY and CREATE in my life. And it is really hard for me to feel creative or playful when my mind feels jumbled and as a result overwhelmed.

One of the scriptures that I strive to model my home after is: "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God; (D&C 88:119)

So, 2019... I am creating order to make space to create and play more. I will keep you posted on this journey of mine.
For now, let the nesting begin!" 

Yes, ti feels so good to have a house of order. I started today with my bedroom and it feels so good to have each thing in its own place. 

Con amor,

Vero

Elder Holland is here!

Amazing to think that Elder Holland arrived in the Philippines yesterday, January 11 so Daniel and I went to Urdaneta to look at the site once again before the temple ground-braking next week. There is a committee helping with all the logistics of this mega event. The choir was practicing and sounded amazing!

 It's such a long drive that we left yesterday to stay over night at a near city, (Clark) so we didn't have to travel for so long in just one day which is what we did last Saturday and that was way too hard. Waking up so early and coming home so late. Daniel has been doing that every day this past week as he had a lot of meetings early in morning and going to bed way late so much that he almost felt asleep coming home one day and that can be dangerous.

It is so good when things come together as people cooperate with each other the way it should be. Daniel is very detail oriented so he asked a lot of questions about every little thing so I think we are ready. The members are so excited about having a temple so close to them. what a blessing this is and I am so happy for them.

Tomorrow he is going to preside over a multi-stake Conference for all of the 107 stakes in the Philippines and he is doing a special devotional for couples too. I will write about it tomorrow.

Con amor,
Vero

Surprise!!!

The last time I was surprised was forty years ago in 1979 when a group of friends invited me to go out to eat ice-ceam but when I arrived, I noticed that every single person had a newspaper covering their faces and all of the sudden they said: SURPRISE! They had come there to say good bye and wish me well as I was departing the next day going home to El Salvador.

Today, I got another surprise. As I was about to talk to the Pathway students, I saw three people coming with birthday cakes singing happy birthday to me. each cake had candles and all. How sweet is that! It had been my birthday last week and Daniel had planned to do this sort of thing at our Pathway gathering but we din't have one last week so he did it this week anyway. All because I went to take a power nap on my birthday to be ready for the evening but never woke up in time to go out. I had the worst jet lag! I just couldn't keep my eyes open and woke up the next morning at 4:00 a.m. My husband knows how much I love celebrating birthdays and that was just a bummer!

But today, he made it happen. Some refer to it as positive thinking or the Secret or the law of expectation. All I know is that deep in my heart I felt sad to have missed my special day but today I can honestly say that I had my CAKE and ATE it TOO. No diet for me today. I was very surprised and couldn't even say all the things I had prepared Like setting goals for the new semester and to have faith and hope for good things to come and to work hard but all I could say to them was thank you!

When I was blowing out the candles I made some wishes that I hope they will come true. those wishes should come true and the reason why is because when I thought about them I decided to believe it will happen. I am willing to work extra hard this year for the things I want. 

  

I told the students that today was the first day of the rest of their life. Today we can start fresh, putting the past behind us with all the mistakes and regrets and we can start over. We can start fresh to become the person we want to be in our life. We can write our goals for what the rest of the semester will look like. It they can find the time to write it down and go one step further and create a vision board or what my daughter Cristi calls it a dream board. She had written about it in her Weeds to Wishes blog. What an incredible semester this is going to be. Brushing up our math. 

I told the students not to forget that today was the first day of a new semester and the first day of the rest of their lives. 

Con amor,

Vero

A time to meditate

When I was reading the scripture found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to pluck up that which is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and at time to build up; a time to weep, and at time to laugh; and at time to mourn and a time to dance."

I would add to that list a time to meditate as well. There are times when you need to be still and plan your day. Here are a few suggestions I read in an article.

Suggestions for planning a day:

         1. Set aside a quiet, prayerful time each morning for planning.

         2. Focus on what you need to do that day.

         3. Write what you need to do on a task list.

         4. Prioritize your list.

         5. Use your time wisely to accomplish the most important items.

 Points to Ponder

         •What are the top 10 priorities in your life?

•In what ways are worthwhile goals important in achieving eternal life?

•In what ways can you better manage your time?

         •What are some less-important activities that consume too much of your time?

        •Why is the wise use of time an eternal concern?

Con amor,
Vero

when people asks "what do you do all day?"

28 ideas of good, productive or fun things to do!

                Daily

1.     Start my day with a prayer. 

2.     Take my Thyroid medicine, vitamins and fix a healthy breakfast

3.    Exercise 1 hour or more.

4.     Write in my blogs and journals.

5.    Cook healthy lunches and dinners and clean up.

6.    Practice Piano for half hour.

7.    Read the Scriptures each day or night before going to bed.

                                                            Weekly

8.    Attend the temple each week.

9.     Write the Monday weekly letter to the family.

10.   Go on a date. 

11.  Write and re-write the novel until it’s finished. 

              Monthly

12.  Eat all the food in our Freezer

13.  Throw a dinner party.

14.  Get in touch with an old friend.

15.  Call on each birthday and send BD cards. 

16.  Watch four opportunities to do ministering.

17.  Organize a room in our house. 

18.  Manage each of our 5 rental properties.

19.  De junk each drawer and closet in each room.

                Yearly

20.  Do Tax documentation 

21.  Make a movie with music of us

22.  Organize all photos and make scrapbooks.

23.   Make an inventory to use up food before it expires. 

24.  Plan Summer vacation trip

25.  Update all the passwords

26.  Make ABC Books for the Grandkids (Gabriel, Michael and Walter) 

Some day 

27.  Retire and go on missions 

28.  Run a marathon

 Con amor,

Vero