Blog entries on the life of Felipe Murillo III
Broken heart and contrite spirit - talk given by Sis. Weipert. Taken from conference talk by Elder Porter.
Bro. Frank Szeles - October 6 Boyd K Packer - the weak and the simple, who are they?
We are called on callings we don’t seek or decline.
I got to the stake center about 7 minutes late. A men’s choir was singing when I came in. The first speaker was Elder L. Tom Perry. His topic was about raising the bar in preparing for a mission or for knowing your potential.
The second speaker talked about procrastination and its perils. His name is Donald Hallstrom. The third speaker was L. Whitney Clayton. He talked about the dangers of pornography. He opened up with the story of David and Bathsheba.
The next speaker was Walter F. Gonzales. He spoke about preparing for adversity, crisis, or calaminities.
Pres. Henry B. Eyring, newly called counselor in the First Presidency was the next speaker. He talked about meeting the challenges of our responsibilities. He assured us that God is there to help us. Forget ourselves and pray about those we serve. Keep the commandments, keep ourselves clean so the Spirit will be there to help us. It will not be easy. Pres. Monson was the next speaker. He talked about certain marks in our lives that we should remember such as the mark of virtue and the mark of prayer.
Before he announced the remainder of the session he talked about a father and son with flaming red hair reminded him of an incident where he complimented a redhaired boy about his hair one conference and how he told the boy that he admired people with red hair that they are pace setters. He said thw mother’s boy thanked him for his comments because it changed the boy’s life. The boy used to be shy and embarrassed about his red hair but now she sees him proudly combing it in fron of the mirror every morning.
When Pres. Hinckley spoke he said, Pres. Monson, I am waiting for you to dye your hair.
Pres. Hinckley talked about anger.
Picked up Elmer for Branch Presidency Meeting. We decided to have a TDC class with Ate Delia teaching. Prospective students would be Ate Vangie, Sis. Olifane, Elmer, Bro. Magapan, and Jun Resolme.
Lesson for Priesthood was on the importance of keeping a journal. A journal is necessary to record spiritual experiences that our posterity could benefit from.
Sacrament talks - The Stake Relief Society President, Sis. Olsen, expounded the July First Presidency message. Bro. Mitchell talked about repentance.
The De Leon family were in church. They wanted to attend sacrament before they take Geraldine to the airport.
Janet Mamangon went to church today. Jen picked her up.
Oscar Pangilinan got baptized today. Elder Papel baptized him.
Pres. Idos was released as President of the Sweetwater 2nd branch last April 9. Bro. Jun Alcantara was called as the new President. I was called as the 1st counselor and Elmer Manarang accepted the call as 2nd counselor on April 30.
Went to branch temple sealings. Picked up Jen at Kaiser around 6:15PM. Temple parking lot was full. Had to drop off Jen at the lobby and park at the overflow parking area. Changed from work clothes to church clothes in the car. When I got to the sealing room, Jen was already there along with Bro Jun, Sis. Lou, Aileen, Pres. and Sis. Idos, and Jeremy and Lolit Palma from the Mira Mesa Branch.
Did Alcantara’s family files and a few temple files.
After the temple, we stopped by my office to reboot Park Camino server (see post below).
We visited Jen’s visiting teachees last Sunday together with Pres. and Sis. Idos. We visited the Saluds first. We sang hymns and other songs using their new piano. Pres. Idos noted that at one point Bro. Salud (the father) became teary-eyed as we sang songs that reminded him of his wife that passed away just a little bit over a year ago. Mark also played his guitar. I also helped Mark identify people he took pictures of for the Book of Mormon placement project. Jill and Luke played with Aleia. Juliet stayed in the van. Bro. Salud gave us some home made bread to take home which the kids promptly ate.
We stopped by a convalescent center to visit Sis. Ellsworth. She was very glad to see us. She mentioned that Sis. Alcantara also stopped by earlier in the day. We sang I Am a Child of God for her. In the middle of the song, she joined us in the singing.
Next, we visited Sis. Jones (not her real name) who is recuperating from a recent hospital stay. Sis. Jones is a widow who is now in her 80’s has a relationship with Mang Juan (not his real name either). Mang Juan has separated from his legal wife for more than 30 years but they were not formally divorced. Recently, Sis. Jones’ daughter, who lives in a different house, asked Sis Jones to tell Mang Juan to stay away from her because she might contract TB from Mang Juan. It was later confirmed that Mang Juan did not have TB. Nevertheless, Mang Juan got offended when he found out the daughter does not want him around anymore. We called in Mang Juan and we talked about how we could resolve these issues. We assured him we are not opposed to their relationship. In fact, we advised him that it is best that they formalize the relationship with a marriage. In that case he needs to formally divorce his first wife. He seems to be willing to do that. One thing that was brought up was the fact that if the two would get married, the welfare money they will get from the government as a couple will be less than what they now get individually. Pres. Idos advised them that their happiness as couple is more important than the money they will miss. I also told them they can recoup the money by renting one apartment instead of two and cosolidating utility bills.
Sunday was the first time we participated in a multi-Stake Conference satellite broadcast. The broadcast covered 4 temple districts in Southern California. Elder Wirthlin and his wife spoke as well as Pres. Monson. Another General Authority and his wife also spoke. There was a brief interruption towards the end of the GA’s talk. It was later attributed to a solar flare.
Pres. Monson spoke about his experiences in the Navy. He also shared his favorite stories including The Christmas Carol.
Pres. Idos called today. He informed me that there will be a Bishopric Training Meeting tonight at 7pm tonight at the Stake Center and wants me to represent the Branch. He will not be able to make it. Sis. Alcantara told him that Bro. Jun might not make it as well as he had to finish a project at work. That is odd because Jen said Bro. Jun told her he was going to work with the missionaries tonight and might stop by to home teach us.
Called Pres. Idos to check on how things went at the Mormon Battalion parade and see if he has assigned speakers for tomorrow. I apologized that I was not able to come. He assigned the Magapans to speak tomorrow.
I asked Pres. Idos not to pick me up tomorrow. I’ll drive to church on my own so I can come back after PEC and pick up Jen and the kids. Because of her condition, Jen would rather not drive if she can help it.