[align=center]by: Diana V. Cruz - Batch 42[/align]
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A man in red shirt came rushing to the training room. He was wearing a smile on his face and as soon as he reached the table where the projector was, he immediately introduced himself. He was Ronald Aban, he is only the Chief Operating Officer of Cellular City, a multi-million peso franchising business with eight branches all over the country.
He did not have notes to look at while discussing the characteristics of a good business franchise. He explained every principles as if they were already a part of him and I guess nobody in the class wondered, after all, it must have taken a man whose every fiber of himself is breathing and living what he taught for a person to reach the height that he has now reached at a very young age.
He taught us about reliability and commitment. He illustrated from his shared personal experiences how difficult it is to keep promises and how he manages to do so despite the hazards and hassles. Truly, he is a man worth emulating if one would wish to thread this man’s trail of success in business.
Our batch not only had Ronald Aban in the training room to speak to us. We were also very blessed to have no less than President Keith Edwards, the president of the Area Presidency one beautiful Friday morning. In my one month stay here the academy, I can say that he has given so far the most spiritual talk I’ve heard in the academy. The spirit was so strong as he spoke about success and attaining it through charity and consecration.
When President Edwards and his wife were still starting up as a young couple, he said, they committed themselves to contribute $200 in building up a chapel in their ward but after making that commitment, they found out that they had to find a new place to live because of his demands in his work. At this time, Pres. Edwards and his wife thought if they should still honor their commitment. They were challenged by the fact that they have to give another donation in their new ward because their chapel was also being built at that time. They both decided to exercise their faith and pay both donations in the wards they promised to support even though they knew that they would be short of $200 that month. On that same time that they decided to honor their commitment, Pres. Edwards was asked by his boss to come to his office and there he learned that he would have an increase in his salary, equivalent to the amount that they promised to donate to the church. There he said that when you give something to the Lord, He will give you more and I believed him. I hope to live my life cheerfully giving to the Lord like him.
What I’ve been learning in the academy about business and life is truly life-changing. I will be forever grateful to Steve and Bette Gibson who have made such an experience possible for me and all others who became and will become students in the academy. They have shown us the way in blessing lives not only temporarily but in a way that they can use what they have been given throughout their lives. God be thanked for people like them--Steve and Bette, Bro. Aban and Pres. Edwards.
