One of the lessons he taught me was the importance of paying tithing. He told me about my father, who was born in 1912, and my uncle, who was born a few years later. Both of these boys grew up in the Depression, a tough time. Because of the economic circumstances of the time, most of the young people didn't get a chance to serve missions or they had to serve missions late.
Despite these circumstances, my grandfather said, "You know, we were really blessed because both your dad and your uncle got to go on missions. And I'll tell you why they got to go. Because we were always honest in paying our tithing, so the Lord blessed us."
He said they never had enough money, and people wondered how they sent not only one but two boys. He told me that they worked hard and saved money and were very careful, but they were also very blessed. He emphasized that the blessings were evident because they didn't have any money fly out of heaven. Instead, grandfather was always able to get extra work and extra jobs.
He was a hard worker and had always worked 12 hours a day six days a week and sometimes more. He said, "Every time we thought that we'd be out of money, somebody would call me and ask me to build a room on their house or ask me to build a set of stairs or to do some painting for them."
Because of those blessings, my father and his brother were both able to serve missions. I have a copy of my father's missionary journals, and I saw the record he kept during his mission of when he got money from home. Although those dates were somewhat sporadic, they are evidence of my grandfather's testimony of tithing.
Of all the commandments tithing has probably been the easiest one for me to keep in my life because of my grandfather's faith and the testimony he bore. He taught me the principle of tithing because he absolutely believed it all of his life and he was blessed because of his obedience.