Jessica Montemayor Cajulis

Jessica Montemayor Cajulis, 49, born on June 4, 1968 in Quezon City, Philippines, passed away on October 5, 2017. She resided in Pasadena, California, at the time of her passing. A "Celebration of Life" service was held at the Old North Church, Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California on October 18, 2017.

A EULOGY FOR MY SISTER JESSICA
Psalm 16:11 " You will show me the way of Life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

My sister Jessica was born on June 4, 1968 in Quezon City, Philippines. Our family affectionately called her Jema, nicknamed after a Filipina beauty queen. Growing up back in the Philippines, we also called her by another nickname, Imang, more suitable to our humble surroundings. She grew up with a lot of family on my father's side of the family. She loved playing board games, especially checkers and chess. She always looked forward to playing chess with my youngest son, David every time she would see him. Someone mentioned recently that they best remembered Jessica for beating them off a chess tournament.

We actually both attended the same schools throughout her lifetime. The same local elementary school, the same parochial high school in Kawit, Cavite province, and the same prestigious college in Manila, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering. It was also during her college years that she found the love of her life. God showered her with His grace and love and she fell in Love with the Lord Jesus Christ! Her pursuit of this authentic relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ as her Lord, her Savior and her Friend became her greatest passion for the rest of her life.

Coming to the United States in the early 90s, she rejoined our family here, our brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, our Nanay and Tatay Art. I introduced her to a big church in Los Angeles called Angelus Temple. It was at this church that she developed many lifelong friendships with many wonderful people. She attended the local Bible school and spent many volunteer hours serving the young people at this church. She later on attended New Heart Foursquare Church which was located in Altadena. Again, she immersed herself in many volunteer opportunities, serving and loving people.

Aside from her volunteer work, her work career includes working for Century National Insurance Company, Angelus Temple, ICFG Headquarters and lastly, at the Los Angeles County Office of the Assessor as an Appraiser. She enjoyed working for all these places where, again, she met many wonderful people and developed enduring friendships.

She loved people! And the love of God through her allowed her to have so many friends, from her high school years, college years, friends from church and ministry and from places where she worked. I never checked her Facebook account but I won't be surprised if she had a thousand friends in it.

She loved to laugh and smile, you guys can see that in many of her pictures. She had joy that only comes from God but the enemy of our soul tried to steal her joy. Jessica always smiled, she held on to that joy no matter what difficulties and diseases this life had given her. She smiled through her pain, she laughed even when it hurts.

Oh, and she loved food! And for some of us here who came to visit her these last few month, I'm sure she had asked you to bring her some kind of food. There were lots of food and she ate a lot which gave me the false notion that she would live a lot longer. But more than the food, she enjoyed eating it with her friends and family even though she can't taste much of it anymore. What she loved during those times were spending time with people she loved.

With the illnesses that she faced and the many challenges brought about by her situation, she was very courageous and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ every step of the way. Even though the enemy of her soul tried mightily to steal her joy, she kept on smiling and being joyful, sharing her love of God to as many people as she could.

She is now eternally in His Presence, no more pain, no more tears, completely healed, worshipping Jesus for all eternity.

**If you wish, you may contribute to one of her favorite charities in her memory, St Jude Children's Research Hospital and Foursquare Missions International (a link to each of the charities named are listed on the website).