Reyna I. Aburto Quotes

When I was nine years old, I lost my older brother during a devastating earthquake. Because it happened unexpectedly, it took me a while to grasp the reality of what had occurred. I was heartbroken by sorrow… A few years after, I started thinking of my brother in a specific way. I would imagine him knocking on our door. I would open the door, he would be standing there, and he would tell me, "I am not dead. I am alive. I could not come to you, but now I will stay with you and never leave again." That imagining, almost a dream, helped me cope with the pain that I felt over losing him. The thought that he would be with me came to my mind over and over. Sometimes I would even stare at the door, hoping that he would knock and I would see him again.

The Church is more than the buildings and the ecclesiastical structure; the Church is us, the members. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with Christ at the head and the prophet as His mouthpiece.

The Savior is always inviting us to bring to Him all of those who are afflicted in any manner, and that, in reality, includes all of us. We are all suffering from something, we are all healing from something. But He invites us to bring them hither, to bring ourselves hither. And the most beautiful thing about this, I think, is that as we bring others to Christ, He can see our faith and He can heal them, but He can also heal us.

The Church is the members. They are the ones who willingly and joyfully give… to help those of us in need.

Like the monarch butterflies, we are on a journey back to our heavenly home, where we will reunite with our Heavenly Parents. Like the butterflies, we have been given divine attributes that allow us to navigate through life, in order to "[fill] the measure of [our] creation."

Each of us can be the means through which others feel the love of God in their life. Through our righteousness, our sincere desire to follow the commandments, and our constant effort to minister to others in simple ways, people can perceive God's image in our countenance, and they can have the desire to follow Him.

When we open up about our emotional challenges, admitting we are not perfect, we give others permission to share their struggles. Together we realize there is hope and we do not have to suffer alone.

All I needed was to have a desire to reach for the Savior, turn my hear to Him, believe in Him, and act on that belief.

As I look back, I realize that my life, as it happens with each of us, has not been a bed of roses. There have been bumps, steep stretches, unexpected bends, and scary downhills. However, I can say with certainty that God's hand has always been guiding me when I have had the humility to acknowledge that I need His divine help at all times.

My greatest motivation and my greatest desire is to testify that there is hope. There is hope in the Savior. There is hope in His promises. There is hope in His Atonement and His ability to guide us and to give us healing and peace and hope in this life.

Relief Society is the covenant women of the Church; it is us—each of us and all of us. It is our "global community of compassion and service." Anywhere and everywhere we go, we are always part of Relief Society as we strive to fulfill its divine purpose, which is for women to accomplish God’s work in individual as well as collective ways by providing relief: "relief of poverty, relief of illness; relief of doubt, relief of ignorance—relief of all that hinders… joy and progress."

To receive revelation from heaven, we must look for it in divine sources.

As human beings, emotions are just part of our soul. They are with us all day, every day.