Do I believe it?

There are moments in our life that truly challenge and define who we are and what we believe. I had one of those moments. We went with a couple of elders to visit the most precious soul in the world. He is a sweet 84 year old man that drives a bicycle with a side compartment built on it for a taxi service. He has made a humble home out of primarily ropes and rice bags. I fell in love with him immediately and my heart ached a bit for his humble circumstances. 

I learned that the tent pictured above was his primary residence. I remembered that the elders told us we were there to teach him and invite him to live the law of tithing. (Giving 10% of everything we earn back to the Lord). When I realized that I was about to ask this elderly man to give what little he had my heart sank. I have never been homeless. I have never missed a meal without choosing to. For a small moment I questioned if it was the right thing to do. Then almost immediately my mind was flooded with memories of all of the blessings and true miracles David and I have received from living this law. 

In Malachi 3:10 we are invited to, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,... and prove me now herewith,... if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. 

I have personally witnessed the Lord pouring out blessings upon my family through obedience to the law of tithing. How in the world could I deny this sweet man the blessings and miracles he so desperately needs? Of course it was right to teach him how to access Gods blessings through the law of tithing.  In that moment I knew without doubt that I believe 100% what I teach. I know the Lord lives. I know He loves us. And I know that he always keeps His promises and loves to bless His children. 

We have had the awesome opportunity to work with our district in teaching and promoting the Linking Arms program, created specifically for the Philippines. The heart of the program is linking missionaries with branch members to who then minister together to part member families. The success has been astronomical and most of our reactivations and baptisms come from this effort! It's been really exciting to see the growth and success. We work with 6 branches but I only have pictures of a couple of our meetings. 

The number of baptisms has grown significantly in the past two months. I'll share just a couple pictures. I especially thought these pictures were breathtaking. Elder Dabel and I aren't in the group photo because we are holding up all the cell phones for lighting and taking the pictures. 

Some of the growth in our area has resulted in the creation of special sacrament services. When there are individuals who want to attend, but live far from a meeting house, occasionally the mission president will allow special sacrament services to be held in the area closer to the home of the individuals desiring to attend. These groups started out with just a few attendees. Within in only a couple of months they have grown substantially. This Sunday there were well over 20 participants in the Polambato group, most of whom are not members, that are receiving the teachings of the elders! 

This is Brother Bobby's family who also host a special sacrament in their home. They live out on one of the islands our district covers. Their group has seen massive growth as well. We have really grown to love this precious family and enjoy the time we have had to visit them. They had us for dinner and made us a delicious meal of deep fried chicken feet and heads, fresh fish, adobo chicken, and rice. 

The final activity I want to share was the invitation to attend the San Remigio's youth activity the past weekend. We were asked to participate in the games and share a spiritual message. We had a blast!!!

These videos are hilarious. We had to come up with a team name, dance, and song!

We are loving our time here in the Philippines. We feel overwhelmingly grateful for the sacred opportunity to serve the Lord in such a choice country, filled with the most wonderful people in the world!!!!