Raphael and Pateet: Happy Father's Day Dad, Love Your Daughter

It's Father's Day and this post is dedicated to my loving Father, Dindo. My father is a very quiet man with big dreams. My father, Dindo, was not born in a rich family. He was born into a family that tries to make ends meet. He did not have expensive toys, expensive clothes, and extravagant life. He is my example of living a simple life. My dad did not graduate from college because he didn't have enough money to pay for school. He served his full-time mission honorably and married a wonderful woman for time and all eternity in the House of the Lord.

   He has four amazing, talented, and adorable children and he couldn't ask for more. My dad worked really hard to put up a business to provide for our family. Because of his hardwork, patience, and faith in God, his business flourished and boomed. Throughout our childhood years, he provided us things that he didn't have and showered us with unconditional love. We went on road trips and educational outing. In other words, HE GAVE US THE BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES WE COULD EVER HAVE!

    Because of big competitions, our business started failing until he decided to close our business. He was beyond heartbroken but he decided not to dwell on it and move on. We sold our cars, our house, and our properties until nothing was left of all the things he worked hard for. Eventhough he has big challenges, my dad never stopped praying, reading the scriptures, going to church and going to the temple.

    This is his routine every single day.

- He wakes up as early as 5 am and wakes us up for family prayer and scripture reading.
- He prepares to bring us to school at 6:15am. He drives us to school.
- He goes home to do his personal prayer and personal scripture study. He takes a bath and prepare to go to work.
- He works from 8am-5pm then he picks us up from school and drives us home.
- He then goes out again to do some errands for our home.
- 6:00pm we eat dinner together and we talk stories.
- If its Monday, he will call us at 7pm to do our FHE (Family Home Evening). After FHE, he lets us do our stuff for at least an hour and then he shuts everything off. When I say he shuts everything off, I mean he takes of our TV cable, he takes our cellphones, and he turns off our wi-fi. People say what he does is cruel but hey...we never got addicted watching television, we know our limitations when we use our cellphones, and we never got addicted on computer games. TALK ABOUT TOUGH LOVE!
- At 9:00pm he calls us for family prayer.
- Before he goes to bed, he studies his scriptures again, pray with my mom, and do his individual prayer.

   Once a week, my dad visits the temple to do sacred ordinances. We never missed church for small and non-sense reasons. We all graduated from seminary because of his example and his guidance, together with mom. My father's example of faith gives me strength to carry-on with my life. Believe me, his challenges did really test his faith, trust, and humility. I remember waking up in the morning and my mom said not to do anything to upset dad because he just found out that one of our delivery trucks was stolen. He invested big time on buying our trucks and of course he got heartbroken when it was stolen. When I asked him how he was doing, he simply replied, "Pateet, that truck is just a material thing. I am just happy that our driver and his assistant are safe and that's all that matters."

   My father went through a lot of trials and challenges and until now he still has some but throughout all those years his faith was never shaken and destroyed but became stronger. Though he never gave me extravagant gifts or an extravagant life, I am still grateful because God gave me a father that has given me everything that money cannot buy. He gave me his time, love, and care. He is a league of his own. He is the leader of the band and I am his living legacy.

I love you dad! Happy Father's Day. Thank you for loving me unconditionally and for taking care of me! MWAAAAAH!

Love, Your Only Daughter :D