Rebroadcast: Love Thy God and Thy Neighbor | Sister Reyna I. Aburto | August 2025
As part of BYU-Idaho's Summer Session Devotional Recommendations, we’re featuring “Love Thy God and Thy Neighbor" by Sister Reyna I. Aburto, which was delivered on June 4, 2019. Sister Aburto was sustained in April 2017 as the second counselor in the general presidency of the Relief Society, the Church’s organization for its six million female members ages 18 and older.
Reyna I. Aburto was born in Nicaragua to Noel Blanco and Delbi Cardoza and married Carlos Aburto of Mexico in the Jordan River Utah Temple in 1993. They are both converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they have three children.Reyna I. Aburto says her husband, Carlos, is her “best friend” and her “biggest support,” and they enjoy spending time with their children and grandchildren.
She says two major incidents from her childhood greatly impacted her life: surviving an earthquake that destroyed her home and killed her older brother, and living through a period of civil unrest in Nicaragua in the late 1970s. Through these difficult experiences of loss, uncertainty and fear, she learned relationships, family, love and faith are our most precious possessions.
Reyna I. Aburto attended Universidad Centroamericana, where she studied industrial engineering for four years, and holds an AAS degree in computer science from Utah Valley University.
In 1989, after going through a difficult time in her life, she was invited by Latter-day Saint missionaries to attend church in California. She was hesitant at first, but recalls feeling safe and at home the moment she stepped into the meetinghouse. A few weeks later, at age 26, she was baptized. She says she has “never stopped marveling at the beauty of the gospel,” calling her membership in the Church a huge privilege and gift.
Her family attended Spanish-speaking congregations until 2013, when they began attending their neighborhood English-speaking ward, and she has served extensively in the Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, Sunday School and Scouting organizations in her ward and stake (diocese).
She served on the Primary general board from 2012 to 2016, where her responsibilities included coordinating resources for children in the Church with disabilities, involvement in the Scouting program, improving Primary web content and providing trainings to Church leaders in the United States and Mexico.
She has worked in the language industry for more than 25 years, balancing work, family and Church responsibilities, and now owns a small translation business with her husband.
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