Sister, Are We Poor?

Our Relief Society lesson in the Tanay branch a few weeks ago was a time of learning for me. The sisters were studying a talk from the Ensign. I cannot tell you whose, as my Tagalog includes how to say "good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening" and "thank you very much". But the language of the land is actually Tagalish: mostly Tagalog but with a smattering of Spanish and even more English. All Gospel terms are English.  So I knew the topic was self-reliance.

First, you must know that at that moment I thought these people were probably not as poor as many I have seen here. They dressed very nicely. The sister who taught the lesson spoke in such a manner as a good RS teacher in any ward. And they talked about the usual topics of self-reliance: taking care of what you have, putting away something for the future, not spending above your means. Sister Dalay was talking about using their swish card: a bank card, like a debit card. She talked about how easy it was with that card to spend more than they had. “What is it about us”, she said, “That we cannot resist the temptation to swipe that swishy card”. Then she turned to me and said, “Sister, are we poor?” 

The Sisters of the Tanay Branch

At the moment I just laughed it away, but I have given it a great deal of thought. The next week we were visiting in the homes of two of these good sisters and I realized that though they were not in the realms of the poorest, we in the North Logan 10^th would consider ourselves very poor indeed if we lived in their circumstances. The two homes in which we visited probably ranged around 500 sq. ft. Walls are made of cement block and windows are few. I think that some of the sister have better circumstances but  by my standard of living these could be called the “poor”. But really, are they?

Walking to visit Sister Elinda, an original member of Tanay Branch. Her health no longer permists her to come to church 

The door to Sister Elinda's home

There are some ammenities. Elinda had a TV. 

Elinda is going blind and uses a very small magnifying glass. I bought a small LED flashlight to help her. I wish I could find a  magnifying class with a light like the one Mom got from the Blind Foundation

All the neighborhood kids were interested in our visit (my white face mostly) and kept saying hello through the window

These people are in general happy. They smile and they laugh. They have lots of fun associating in activities outside of church. They are raising families with a large portion of their children serving missions. They keep themselves and their physical surroundings very clean. The members I meet have testimonies of the Gospel and take a “tricycle” to church each Sunday. (But who would want to drive a car on those narrow streets)! They have friends and family they love. The homes of “neighborhoods” are very close together and grouped into joined structures, and they know everybody and take care of each other.

Are they poor? Perhaps by the standards of the world they are poor, but in the things of the heart and the spirit, in the sort of gold that counts to God,  the saints of the Tanay branch are very rich indeed. So my answer would now be, “No sister, you are not poor. In fact, you are very rich indeed.”