Everyone has something to share about how their beautiful story begun... Here's mine

The beautiful story of my life started when I went to Cebu to attend the Academy for Creating Enterprise.  

Prior to my coming to Cebu I felt totally helpless and confused as to where to begin picking up my life. I was in the real testing ground to apply what I had been teaching to people for the past 18 months in my service as a full -time missionary.  To stay positive, faithful and optimistic even in the moments of great challenges and testing.

Rest in my shoulders (being an eldest daughter ) are big responsibilities - to help elevate the situation of my family financially, and they all look up to me to do that. I could feel the burden on my back feeling the desire and also the pressure of a need to act and satisfy immediate and basic needs for my family.  But how will I even start when I need a lift myself. I felt like a big fish in a small pond, wanting to move and do something but I just don't have the means, literally, to keep myself going, other than my faith. 

During those distressing time of my life my Heavenly Father never left me alone. He is faithful to His promise when he said he will prosper those who are faithful. 






As I was making plans trying to figure out where to go and how to start.  He has provided a better plan for me where I was led to the Academy for Creating Enterprise. 

Thankfully, my parents were very supportive to me, they made such a huge sacrifice, selling our only means of income," the  fishing boat" which my father use for fishing just to send me to Cebu where the Academy was located. 

It was on the 18th day of October 2009 when I finally arrived at the Academy a month after my missionary service had ended. It is a nonprofit organization founded by a couple Steve and Betty  Gibson with an aim to help elevate the lives, especially for Latter Day Saints (aka Mormons) who had served as missionaries for the Church, by teaching them business principles and strategies.  The training lasted for eight weeks. Everything has been provided for us from food to lodging. I will never forget the kindness of the Academy and all the people behind the program. I just could never thank them enough. 

MY LOVE JOURNEY BEGAN 

At the Academy I met wonderful people, both classmates and teachers, and one of  my classmates looks different to me that i can’t take my eyes off him, his name sounds weird too. Rambo

During the first day at the Academy we had this little activity of getting to know each other, we were tasked to at least ask three questions about each other, when his turn came to ask me, I was a little annoyed and intimidated at him.  He was asking me things that I don’t really know or care about. One of his questions was if I know Sailormoon, I don’t, well I have probably seen it once or twice.

The guy who has a weird name became my friend. We started to really get to know each other and enjoy each other's company, I misjudged him for I thought he was an annoying guy but he was quite the opposite. I started to noticed his wonderful qualities. He is a smart, cool and with a compassionate heart. 

I call him "Kuya" despite his objection.  I truly enjoyed his company, it was always fun. Never a dull moment and always a learning opportunity for me. 

He said he likes my friend and so I was helping him get close to her. I was their chaperon during their dates.  Their courtship never worked-out though. 

Sometimes people would think that Kuya Bo was courting me because of our close and unique friendship.

Rambo and I at the Academy

We just  never entertained the idea because we are both happy with our friendship and besides,  but we both like someone else. 

Like all stories, our stay at the Academy has an ending too. Our graduation brought us "new hope" for the future and at the same time a sad reality that our happy moments will soon be over. We will all go home with lots of wonderful learning and happy memories of the Academy and the friends that we've made plus a new determination to make a difference in our lives, in our family's and in the lives of others. 

Our batch as we held our last activity together.

My experienced at the Academy was something worth my time, energy, and my parents sacrifice. We were taught the importance of balance between spiritual and temporal things for they both complement each other. It lessen my fear of facing the reality of life, poverty. It gave me hope for the future. It also helped me realized what I am capable of doing.

As a parting gift, Kuya Bo gave me a cell phone. At first I was so hesitant to accept his gift because I know he bought it with his only money, but he insisted so I accepted it. A little guilty and a little happy too because I know we could still communicate. I think he just know how to invest well ;)  or I must say he did a clever move :)

I wrote him a "thank you" letter and I gave him a Hong Kong LDS Temple pin as a gift and told him to give it to his future wife someday. 

Thanks to the cell phone that he gave me, we were able to communicate and even update each other. He is the same cool and crazy friend I used to hang out with in Cebu; waking me up early in the morning serenading me with his guitar and over the phone. Even in the simpliest way he never ceased to exist in my world and he simply never ceased to make me happy and keep me company. 

Little did we know that the seed of friendship has blossom into something beautiful and more mature. 

I remember while yet in Cebu, Elder Cook one of the Latter Day Apostle came at the single adult fireside (a gathering of single Mormon youth) to speak. He spoke of finding an eternal companion. He and some of the speakers who were with him said that "you must know what qualities you want for a companion, then strive to be one yourself". I took this council to heart and followed it. The day after the fireside, I spent some quite time pondering about the counsel. I was able to make a list of qualities I want for an eternal companion.

Here are some of what I wrote on the list, I want an eternal companion that:

• loves the Lord more than me
• a man of integrity and 
• is responsible
• I can call friend and 
• motivates me to be better and the list goes on..

I later realized that something has been changing, I was getting more excited of hearing from Rambo and is always happy when we exchange text messages. But despite it, I tried to ignore the idea of him-and-me, I just thought it wasn't possible.  Things just got a little complicated, because before I meet him I thought I was in-love with someone else and was looking forward for something grandeur. 

But a thought or perhaps an impression came to me saying "why look somewhere else when the one I am searching for is actually not that far".  Then I began to open my eyes and things got clearer to me "yeah" I muttered to myself. It's true. I think I have already found him. Kuya Bo is everything on my list and it felt good being around him. 

On January 19, 2010 after a very careful pondering and consideration I received a very sweet and special confirmation. It was a feeling of peace and clarity, I acted on the impression I felt.

After gathering enough courage I broke the silence, and confessed to him my feelings. 
I learned that he has been feeling the same all this time around. He likes me since day one in the Academy, however because I called him "Kuya" (which for Manila guys is the other way of saying "let's just be friends") he withdrew his design and accepted the fact that we are just to be friends. Poor him :) But he was considering on telling me just waiting for the right timing, I guess he wasn't that fast :)

After the confessions we were ready to take our friendship to the next level.  Two weeks later, He flew from Manila to my place to see me and my family, to propose and asked my parents permission to marry me,. which I readily accepted :)

I admired him for his resourcefulness for getting things ready within a short span of time, despite his limited financial capabilities. Thanks too to his friends and local church leaders he came to my place with not only himself but with his plans on how we would want our marriage life to go. it sounds a good deal to me. 

However, my parents were really surprised with my decision to marry Rambo. I can't really blame them, things happened too quickly, but the feelings of peace I felt was undeniable. There was a little opposition on my mother's part but I know that she knows that I am doing the right thing and it has something to do with things of eternal value, so she finally gave her approval and so did my father.  

On a beautiful Tuesday afternoon, April 6, 2010 happened the most special event of my life. I was married for time and eternity to my best friend Rambo Ruiz. The feeling of joy was overwhelming. What added more to our joy was the presence of our loved ones and friends. It's so overwhelming to see how many people would be there to celebrate with us, our happiest day. On this day Rambo gave me the Hong Kong LDS Temple pin I gave him when we were yet in Cebu (the one I told him to give to his future wife) I just thought it's sweet :) 

OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER AS HUSBAND AND WIFE

Indeed the most exciting time of our lives has began. Knowing that our marriage received an approval from the Lord we felt that we were both ready to face the life together. I remember the day when we were married, after the ceremony we only have 220 pesos left on our wallet, not because we use our money for the wedding but because it's all we have.

We felt a deep sense of gratitude to our Heavenly Father for making our life together possible, and for sending assistance to us through our friends. Without His divine help things would be so hard for us especially to start with nothing.

Despite having only 220 pesos only when we started we were blessed to have stayed right after our wedding separate from our parents. We rented a small room (around a thousand steps from my in-laws) which became our first home. It was so bare. 

The new demands of a marred life stretched us both, and it brought us together in unity. We helped each other fulfill our roles and the things a husband and wife requires of us. Married life was far different from single life, we have to solely depend on our own for our financial obligations, there were a little fears but we felt greater excitement. Knowing that things would work out well, as long as we continue to do our part and to trust our Heavenly Father.

OUR FINANCIAL JOURNEY 

We started our first business venture as an industrial partner to our friend and mentor Ed and his wife in a food cart business - selling Fishballs and Siomai. It's our first time and we were excited to apply the things we've learned from the Academy. The food cart business had been a tool for us to learn many things, especially trusting the Lord. It has not been fruitful in terms of financial rewards but it served its purpose so we have no regret at all. (This part of the story was featured in a local newspaper in Utah click here for details)

Rambo was offered an article writing job by his American friend Matt, and I think it was such a blessing for us.  It wasn't a smooth sailing because my husband was not a writer nor had the experience of writing anything related to marketing, it was a big leap for him. 
The new job also required him a set of computer and an internet connection, the good thing is that my sister-in-law has an old computer sitting dull in her apartment so he borrowed it. He used to work with his desktop on the floor because we have no table nor chair. This  job opportunity opens a door for him in the online world. 

The first online job eventually became our business, because Rambo became good at what he does and was able to duplicate himself by hiring more people.  We felt we were so blessed really, we have enough to cover our needs, and was also able to send some assistance to our families and we are also able to provide jobs to our friends.

But during the first few days of our married life, there were times when we almost have nothing. We even got to a point that we have to skip a meal or two. Sometimes his mother would knock on our door and bring us food, I had no idea how she knew we needed food, I guess it's called a Mother's Instinct. Sometimes it was some forgotten coins in our bags and pockets that had saved us from hunger. Along with this experiences early on our married life were opportunities that made us grow closer to each other and to the Lord.

We have seen the hands of God in our lives, He never left us to go without when we do our part. He has his ways of surprising us with unexpected blessings. 

(Today aside from leading a team of Virtual Assistants my husband is designing websites and teaching others too to learn website design)

OUR ADJUSTMENTS

Since both of us came from two different backgrounds, our wedding ceremony doesn't guarantee that our transition will be that smooth. There were challenges here and there as many couples are normally going through. But we were able to surpass them one challenge at a time as we seek to incorporate gospel teaching in our lives. Family prayer, Family Home Evenings and scripture studies together has been great sources of strength for both us and means to understand each other better. One good thing about our relationship is that because we don't only treat each other as husband and wife but we also treat each other as best friends. We laugh and cry together. True and honest communication help us overcome our differences and made them our strengths. 

Some may say that romance is only present especially when love is still new. No, not in our relationship, because we understand that keeping our courtship alive very very important. We make sure that despite our busy and demanding schedules we go on dates, watch movies together, take vacations or just a walk in the neighborhood, we just both value our time together and are always looking forward to it.