One man used to organize town fiestas in Cebu. But he saw how, although they were supposed to be religious in nature, they became an excuse for raucous merrymaking, drunkenness and dancing, and often in the end​—fighting. However, his visit to a circuit assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses prompted him to note the contrast, saying: “Peace and happiness were all I could see. No fighting, no smoking, no drinking and dancing, yet they were truly happy.”

Walking on his hands and knees is the only way one badly crippled man from Mountain Province can get around. He was in Dagupan City to receive schooling for the handicapped when one of Jehovah’s witnesses offered him a lift in his car and invited him to visit their local Kingdom Hall. His crippled appearance did not hinder the warm, loving spirit they displayed toward him. He so appreciated what he had enjoyed among them that, upon returning to his home province, he searched up and down the mountains until he found the local Kingdom Hall. He is now a baptized Christian Witness, actively preaching to others despite his disability.

The case of a ninety-five-year-old man in Basilan City who used to chew buyo leaves mixed with tobacco, lime and betel nut illustrates this point. He gave up his debilitating habit immediately upon learning that Bible principles show it to be unclean. (2 Cor. 7:1) He also went to a judge and had his marriage legalized so as to be morally clean in God’s sight. Certainly no one is too old to make changes!

“I was not ashamed to fight publicly,” admits a woman in Ilocos Sur of her former way of life. “When I disagreed with my husband I shouted and destroyed everything I could lay my hands on, including the radio, just to satisfy my anger.” After she learned the truth from God’s Word, a radical change took place. Although her husband opposed her study of the Bible, she no longer fought with him as before but showed submissiveness. This impressed him so much that he too is showing an interest in the Bible.

Feeling what she considered to be a lack of parental love, a youth in Iloilo ran away from home when she was twelve. In Manila she began a jaded career that came to include excessive smoking, drinking, the use of drugs and knives and guns. An interlude back at home, when she also studied at a Catholic school, only added to her vices, now expanded to include lesbianism. During her high-school years, she began to have a guilty conscience and to wonder what was wrong with her. Approaches for advice to her mother, her teachers and her priest only brought the opinion that she was “normal.”

Finally, she asked one of Jehovah’s witnesses, who did not hesitate to tell her God’s view of such matters, noting that God had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for similar immoral conduct. On hearing this, she said: “I was stabbed to the heart and awakened as from a deep sleep.” A study of the Bible and sincere effort produced gradual changes in her conduct until she qualified for Christian baptism on July 7, 1974. Truly the “word of God is alive and exerts power.”​—Heb. 4:12.