Tubao Branch Visit

This week the Branch president from the Tubao Branch, President Dango, asked if Dad could come and do five temple recommend interviews for his members. We had visited him in his wood carving shop a few weeks before. 

Pres. Dango does wood carvings to make a living for his young family. He is teaching his young sons to carve wood also.

 He lives on the side of a mountain about half an hour from the rented building where they hold Church. It is a very humble home.

The members of the Branch have to travel quite a ways to get to Church. A ride in a jeepney, the cheapest transportation, is 80 pesos one way per person. People who make a living here only make 300 pesos a day. That is enough to buy food and some of the other necessities of life. For a family to ride to Church would be very difficult to pay for, if not impossible. Many cannot come to church because of the cost. Some walk to church by wading across the river which is only ankle deep at this time of the year. During the rainy season the river will be flooded and it will be impassable. They are a faithful, humble branch of church members. 

It takes us about 1 1/2 hours to drive to Tubau form our house in Manaoag and we didn't know if we would go for the full block of meetings on Sunday. We could go to Manaoag for sacrament meeting and then leave for Tubao to be there after the block for the recommend interviews. As Dad was thinking about it, he thought "What would the Savior do?" Then he said, "When I thought about that, I immediately felt the great love the Savior had for the people in that Branch. He would want us to go and be a visible, tangible evidence of the Savior's love for them."

When we arrived on Sunday some future missionaries welcomed us to the Tubao Chapel.  We got some good handshakes from these boys when we got out of the car and felt really welcome.

This was our gospel doctrine class, which meets in the chapel.  Up the stairs is Relief Society, and in back is Primary. 

One of the first people we met when we arrived was a man in a wheelchair. His family was gathered around him outside the building. He was prepared for a temple recommend interview. Dad learned that one year ago he had been cutting down a tree with a chain saw, as part of his work, when the tree fell the wrong way and landed on him, breaking his back. Now he is paralyzed from the waist down. I saw his wife sharing some pictures and she showed them to me. They were of her and her husband as they went to the temple for the first time and were sealed together as a family. Her husband was tall and strong standing beside her. She looked at the pictures longingly as she told me it was her family. They are all still grieving over the great loss. Her husband cannot work now. He is carried from the wheelchair to be put in the tryke to go home, but they come to church every week. He asked Dad for a blessing after their recommend interview.  After the blessing he knew that the day would come when he would walk through the veil and into the arms of his Savior who would hold him and tell him how much he loved him. He would walk again and be whole and strong because of the Savior's atonement.  This man carries that image and hope in his mind and heart now and it is a great comfort to him. It is such a blessing to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to exercise the priesthood. 

Waitng patiently for recommends.

The children have a long wait after Church for their parents, but they are patient.  Miracle Whip and bread sandwiches help.

Filipinos love music.  I played some Primary songs for the children and they gathered around me at the keyboard.  They were shy at first, but they delighted in singing.  I love having them around me.

The Elders love to sing also.

We were very touched to see how grateful the Saints were for our visit. They asked us to speak in sacrament meeting and even the tiniest children came to shake our hands and would stare at us and smile. When we left that day, they said, "We will never forget your visit!" We told them very sincerely that we would never forget them, the faithful, humble saints of Tubao.