Tongan Sister shares story of faith and tithing

During a quiet time last week I role-played with two sister missionaries, testing their skills at resolving concerns and answering questions.  I asked, "So what about this business of having to pay 10% of my income to the church?"  Sister Latu, an Tongan from Compton, California, shared this story:

"When my family, mom and dad and twelve children, arrived in California from Tonga the only two English words my father knew were 'hello' and 'thank you.'  He got a job earning a modest salary.  We had very little...sometimes no food to eat.  One Sunday my mother said to my father, 'Why are you paying tithing to the Church when we have nothing to eat in the house?'  He just answered that paying tithing was a commandment and that the Lord would provide if we were obedient.  I will never forget the many ward families who brought food to our home that week...enough for the week and food to store."  Sister Latu concluded that from that day to now she believed in paying tithing and knew that the Lord would always bless us when we are obedient.