A Couple from Yap Discover the Power of Prayer and Their Lives are Changed Forever. 

The Bamlul’s, Aaron George and Anna, are from the main island of Yap. One day two sister missionaries began coming to their house.  At first, Brother Bamlul did not want anything to do with them, but he allowed them to continue to come and teach his wife. He worked in construction and masonry.  He was very busy.  Sometimes, he had projects he was doing at home.  The missionaries asked him every time they came to the house if he could give them a few minutes of his time.  His answer was always to not bother him because he was busy, and he was a Catholic. Finally, they wore him down by their constant asking and he agreed to give them thirty minutes! Those thirty minutes stretched into several hours!  Before they began, the missionaries asked if they could say a prayer first.  He told them it would be alright if they prayed. That first day, they did not really have a “formal” discussion.  They talked about prayer, baptism, and other gospel things. Brother Bamlul said: “I wasn’t really believing what they were telling me.”  When the missionaries returned two days later, he still did not believe all that they were teaching him.  They asked him to give the opening prayer.  He did not want to close his eyes for fear they would look at him and laugh.  He agreed to say half of the prayer and then his wife could say the other half! The sister missionaries said: “When you pray, that blessing is supposed to be for you.  If you cut it in half, you will only get half the blessings!”  They taught him more about prayer.  As a Catholic, he could say all the memorized prayers. The missionaries taught him that you need to pray what is in your heart not memorized prayers.  After they left, Brother Bamlul began to ponder what they said.  He really liked what they taught him about prayer and felt that it was true.  The missionaries also taught him about baptism.  They asked him if he knew how Jesus was baptized.  He told them that Jesus was baptized by immersion.  They asked him if that was how he was baptized.  He explained to them that he had water sprinkled on his head.  After the baptism lesson, he really pondered on what he had been taught.  He said: “I don’t know what happened, but I felt a change come over me and a truth that that I’d never thought of!”  His prayers changed right away.  He never liked to pray before but now he loves to pray!  He said that he has learned that the more you pray, the more God will help you.  He explained by saying: “If you lost your cell phone and you prayed one time for the Lord to help you find it, the Lord may not think you’re serious about receiving an answer.  But if you keep praying, He will show you and direct you where to find your phone.”  Sometime after his baptism, he became the ward clerk.  The clerks are responsible for making sure that the tithing money is counted, recorded, and deposited in the bank.  Because you are dealing with sacred funds, there are always two people doing the recording.  One day, the other “witness” was tired and went home.  Brother Bamlul could not leave the money at the Church, and he needed a witness to record it.  He did not know what to do other than take it home and return another day to finish it.  He put the money in an envelope, put it in his pocket, and went home.  His home is a long way from the church, so by the time he got home, he was tired.  He changed out of his Sunday clothes and forgot about the money.  Later that evening, he went to get the box where he thought he had put the tithing.  It was not there.  He panicked and tried to retrace his steps, but to no avail. No matter how hard he tried, he could not remember where he put the money.  He prayed fervently at least 5 separate times for help to find it.  He finally went to bed not knowing what else to do.  When he got up in the morning, he felt impressed to go straight to his Sunday shirt.  The tithing was right where he left it…in his shirt pocket!  He said that he thanked the Lord right away and immediately took the money and locked it up in the box that he had planned on all along!  He knew that it would be safe in the box.  He said: “I know that the Lord is there watching over us.  He knew that these were sacred funds.”  Another time, he had set a tool down and when he went back to get it, the tool was gone.  He asked his wife and children if they had seen it which they all replied, “no.”  He again prayed to find it.  This tool was especially important to him and his work.  The next day as he was sitting on his porch pondering where his tool could be, he suddenly was directed to his toolbox.  He had checked his toolbox multiple times, but his ratchet was not there.  This time, as soon as he opened his toolbox, there was the ratchet!  Once again, his prayers were answered. Brother Bamlul has had many prayers answered over the years and has a strong testimony of prayer. 

Sister Anna Bamlul was taught how to pray by the missionaries.  After a few lessons, the elders asked her to pray about which church to join.  (People from the Jehovah Witnesses church had been coming by and told her to send them away.) She prayed about the things she had been pondering in her mind.  She felt happy and even more curious to learn more from the missionaries.  She felt in her heart that what they were teaching her was right.  She did not have a lot of questions for the missionaries. She felt like her questions were being answered as they taught her. It was easy for her to accept the gospel. Her husband and her argued a lot about the church in the beginning.  After about three months, Anna was baptized on September 4, 1992.  She would attend church and be excited with all that she was learning.  She wanted to share it with her husband.  He was not interested in listening to her talk about the church.  They had a copy of the Book of Mormon next to their Bible on the shelf.  One night, she remembers going into the other room and reading First Nephi with their children.  She read it loud enough that her husband would hear it in the other room. She continued to read to her children loudly each day.  Finally, he came into the room and joined them.  He kept asking questions and was really interested to know more.  Anna said: “I know that it was the Holy Ghost working on both of us.”  Brother Bamalul said that the stories in the Book of Mormon touched him.  He got to the point where he looked forward to his wife sharing what she had learned at church.  He began to attend with her and the children.  He was baptized January 27, 1993, on the birthday of one of the sister missionaries who had taught him. 

Brother and Sister Bamlul became good friends with a senior missionary couple, the Miller’s, on the island.  Their testimonies have really grown over the years.  They stayed in contact with the senior couple after they returned to Idaho from their mission.  Several years later, Brother Bamlul began having trouble with his eyesight and began backing into a few things.  This missionary couple paid for their flights to Idaho to get surgery on his eyes.  It ended up being cataracts.  While they were there, this same couple also flew their son, who was living in the States by then, to Idaho so they could see him.  Brother Bamlul and his son were able to reconnect and talked for hours into the early morning hours. The couple blessed them even more by paying for Brother Bamlul’s surgery.  Sharing this part of their story brought tears to their eyes as they remembered the love, kindness, and generosity of this beautiful couple. It was a humbling experience for them.

In closing, Sister Bamlul shared her testimony and said: “We have received thousands of blessings since joining the Church. We have grandchildren.  We were able to visit some places that we never dreamed of.  It is beyond our dreams.  We met so many wonderful people there and never spent a penny of our own money.   We were able to see our son again.  Our parents would often give us a tough time for joining the Church, but just before my dad died, he said: ‘Don’t forget me and take my name to the temple.’  I know that my dad and Mom know that this Church is true.”  The Bamlul’s continue to share their love for the gospel and their light with everyone.