A Humbling Experience

On Sunday we visited San Mateo branch. We randomly picked that branch since we hadn't been there before. When we arrived we realized it was their branch conference. The District President and Auxillary Leaders were there, but they quickly shift everything so that Rudy and I could speak.

I first attended Primary. The children were bright and happy. I was especially fond of a darling little 3 year old with chubby cheeks. They drew a temple. The younger kids had to connect the dots and she was able to draw really straight lines. They asked me to teach the children a song and I taught them the echo song (Hello, Hello...)

Next I was able to catch the last 10 minutes of Relief Society and hear a little of the lesson taught by the district leaders.

During the Sacrament Meeting, they had lovely piano prelude (the best piano player I've heard so far in the Philippines). The meeting went fine. I spoke on miracles and shared a few that had happened to us so far in our mission. I suggested that if we're doing God's work we can expect miracles. I reminded them that our most important work is raising our children and we should expect miracles as we try to raise them with love and prayer. After the meeting we visited with the District President for a few minutes and then we noticed that not one soul in the congregation had moved a muscle. We couldn't figure out why noone was leaving the chapel. We turned around and asked Elder Phipps, one of our missionaries who was singing with the choir, why noone was leaving. He responded, "President, they are waiting for you to leave before they get up." Wow, that was really humbling. These sweet people exhibit a reverence that we've never seen before. We realize it's not because of us, but they respect the calling that Rudy holds.