Not long after we arrived in the mission field and started going to
Marinduque we met a family name Noche. The missionaries on Marinduque
had been working with a daughter of a less active family (Gracie), and
wanted our help to activate the parents. Gracie was baptized shortly
after we started meeting with the family. You need to understand we
were only going to Marinduque once a month, so this is home
teaching/visiting teaching in slow motion.

The Noche family is made up of the parents with an older daughter and
an older son who are members but not living on Marinduque. At the
time they were raising grandsons from both of these older children.
These little boys looked and acted like brothers (2). There is a son,
Meco (24), a daughter Gracie (20), and another daughter Princes (12).
We loved this family from the moment we met them, but it wasn't clear
they felt the same way we did. At each invitation to come to church
they would find an excuse not to come. Finally after 4 months Brother
Noche told us he was working on Sunday at the Public Market (planky),
and the money he earned on Sunday was being used to pay off a debt.
He promised us the debt would be paid on June 10th and they would
start attending church after that. To our knowledge they haven't
missed a Sunday since.

A few months ago we approached them about going to the temple, and we
used a large pop bottle to start a "temple fund". On our last visit
we counted the money and they had almost enough to make the trip to
Manila. You need to understand they live about an hour from the dock
on Marinduque and three our boat ride to Lucena, and about 6 hours on
a bus to Manila. So, the next time you don't think you have time to
attend the temple think this through.

Elder & Sister Ralphs came over from Marinduque to travel to Manila to the temple. We met the Noche Family there and Diane and I were their escorts as they were endowed and sealed together as a family. This was a very special experience for us and for the Noche's. Sister Noche cried like a child when they were sealed. Later Brother Noche told me he sensed he was missing something in life that we had and
decided that it was the temple. Long before we invited them to go they had decided on their own to go.

We don't know if the older children will ever become active and be sealed to their parents or not, but Gracie and Princes have been sealed to them now. I had the honor of doing their recommends for them. Meco will go through the temple just before he leaves for his mission (soon), and Gracie will also put in her mission papers soon.