<code> Be receptive to the Spirit</code>
<code> - Depend on the Lord</code>
<code> - Grow in leadership</code>
<code> "Great spiritual blessings" have been experienced in abundance as the gospel has spread in the Philippines, Elder Augusto A. Lim of the Seventy said Sunday afternoon.</code>
<code> Elder Lim, called in June as the first General Authority from the Philippines, gave an account of the growth of the Church there.</code>
<code> On April 28, 1961, President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a member of the Council of the Twelve, met with a small group of members at the American War Memorial Cemetery to invoke the blessing of the Lord on missionary work in the Philippines, Elder Lim said.</code>
<code> He said that President Hinckley, in his prayer, prayed that there would be thousands who would receive the gospel and be blessed. He also prayed that many faithful men would join the Church, receive the priesthood and grow in leadership, with the work handled largely by local brethren.</code>
<code> "From a handful of members in 1961, the Church in the Philippines has since grown at a remarkable rate, now increasing by more than 2,000 members per month," Elder Lim explained. "Membership is now 300,000 distributed in 48 stakes, 65 districts and 13 missions.</code>
<code> "Five of the 13 mission presidents, all the eight regional representatives, all stake and district presidents are now native Latter-day Saints. Sixty to 70 percent of the more than 2,000 full-time missionaries are also native Latter-day Saints." And the country has its own temple, Elder Lim added.</code>
<code> "Surely the prayer of President Hinckley is being fulfilled as thousands of young men and women as well as elderly couples are responding to the clarion call of the Lord. . . ."</code>
<code> Filipino saints are often asked the reasons behind the phenomenal growth in membership, he continued. Because the Philippines has been the only Christian country in Asia for five centuries, that may have prepared the people for the coming of the gospel.</code>
<code> Being the third largest English-speaking country in the world also made it easier for people to understand the message of the gospel and is the reason for the fast development of members' leadership skills, Elder Lim added.</code>
<code> "But more important is the humble nature of the people and their dependence on the Lord for the things they stand in need of, making them receptive to the prompting of the Spirit. Because of the economic difficulties experienced in the Philippines, the gospel is the answer, and rightly so, to their prayers for a better way of life.</code>
<code> "Member families may still live in humble homes with dirt or bamboo floors and walls, but because of their positive response to the gospel plan, and through their obedience to the Lord's commandments, they receive the promised blessings and, as a result, . . . are now living in more sanitary conditions, are healthier, more educated . . . and generally happier," he concluded.</code>
