Elder Bednar comes to the Manila mission

 This past week was really busy and sleep deprived but it was also really awesome.  On Thursday we got to fly to Manila for a special conference with Elder Bednar.  Manila is a ton different from Palawan.  There is only city.  I didn't think it was too bad though.  The food kind of makes up for it.  I was amazed to see mcdonalds, dunkin donuts, KFC, Krispy Kreme (at the airport), and Wendy's.  It was a little weird.  There were also lots of cars and trafic.  The skyscrapers were also huge.   

     Elder Paguigan and I went on splits with other elders in their areas.  We stayed in their apartment.  I enjoyed doing missionary work there.  On Saturday we went to a chapel in Manila to see Elder Bednar.  The chapel we went to is the oldest in the Philippines built back in the 1960s I think.  We had a good lunch and then Elder Bednar came.  We all gathered together and got a mission picture with him.

     The meeting with him was really awesome.  He did a question and answer with us all and the spirit was really strong.  It made me think of all the other churches here in the Philippines and how they really just can't compare to a living church.  Elder Bednar talked about how he and his wife sometimes would go around knocking on college campus dorms and how surprised the college student would be when they opened the door.  He said that sometimes people don't even want to look him in the eye because they are worried that he will be able to read them.  Right while he was saying that he looked over and I think he was looking right at me.  I looked right back at him straight in the eyes and thought "I can look right into your eyes and feel good about the person I am and what I am doing"  It was really good to be able to do that and not feel like I have stuff I am trying to hide.

     After the meeting it was really sad to see him go and I wished that he could stay longer.  I felt like he really is an apostle and he is so in tune with the spirit.  It was a great experience even though I didn't get to ask my question.

     Yesterday we all flew back to Palawan but not before I bought some really expensive Krispy Kreme donuts at the airport (they tasted just the same as they do in Utah).  Right after returning we had zone conference and then were allowed to go back to our apartments and catch up on sleep because we had been awake since about 4 am for our flight.

 

     Sorry there haven't been pictures for a long time.  I was having trouble getting the pictures from my camera to copy onto my flashdrive.  I will try again this week because I should have some good pictures.  Earlier today I saw some bananas and each one was about the length of my arm so I have got to go buy them and take some pictures.

--

Love, Elder Harkness

Matthew is 4th row from the back.  8th from the right.

Puerto Princesa

I am still new to the area but I kind of like it.  Puerto Princesa is a fun city and there are lots more people.  They have big stores which is nice because now I have food more food options and hopefully won't be eating the same thing every week.  Food is also a little cheaper here.  My new companion is Elder Paguigan.  His native language is Ilocano.  Our area is on the end of a cape and borders the ocean on three sides so I can almost always get a stunning view with ocean and mountains off in the distance.  There are also enormous ships that come into the bay that are pretty cool  I had never seen ships so huge. 

     The other week we found what I think is a "golden" investigator.  It is this man who is very religious and wants to be better.  He came to church the first week and also came to church yesterday.  He does have a pretty bad past though and has had to spend 15 years in jail.  He has a very sincere desire to change and I will like to see the atonement work on him.

     

 I like my new area and my companion is good.  Also, the other missionaries in the apartment are good.  The new area is nice because they have big stores and there is a bigger variety of food and it is cheaper.  When I tell the members here that I came from Quezon they say things like "it is much more modern here" and things like that.

--

Love, Elder Harkness

Staying on Palawan

 This last week I was transferred to Puerto Princesa 1A.  Everyone thinks that I am so lucky because I get to stay on Palawan.  My new area is different but I think I like it better.  There are more people to talk to and visit.  Here I see tourists every day so people here don't stare at me as much.  In my last area people would just stare at me until I was out of sight.  Sometimes I got sick of it and would just stare at them until I was out of sight.  My new companion is Elder Paguigan.  His last companion sounds pretty bad and I am kind of a replacement.  That is probably the reason why I got to stay on Palawan and why my new area isn't in Manila. 

     I was really bad with remembering to write in my journal so I don't have much to say this week.  Puerto Princesa is a fun city and I think I will really like my new area.  There are some good investigators and people to work with. 

--

Love, Elder Harkness

Back in the modern world for a few days

 Last Monday we did a family home evening lesson.  We put pepper in water and then touched it with a soapy finger.  The pepper all moved away.  We compared it to the armor of God. 

     Tuesday we went to Aborlan and spent the night on our way to Puerto Princesa.  We worked in their area for a while.

     Wednesday we got up at 5:30 and took a shuttle to Puerto.  The conference was great and the food was also really great.  Elder Ramos needed to buy new shoes so we went to the mall there.  It was so weird to be in a "modern world" again.  They actually have FOOD there.  I actually saw some white people too.  At this point it is weird for me to see a parking lot.

     On Thursday at one point it was unbearably hot and at another it really couldn't have been raining harder.  Luckily we were inside for the rain.

     Saturday we had two baptismal interviews which took a while.  We should be having two baptisms next week.  This week is transfers though and I don't know if I will stay or not.  Later Saturday night we were out walking around trying to teach when we saw a member and stopped to talk with him.  Suddenly I felt fomething bruch my back.  I thought it was a bad flying by that flew into me but it felt like something was still on my back.  I turned around and asked the others if there was something on my back and there was.  Chicken poop was splattered all over my back.  It fell from a chicken in the tree branches above us.  It was awful.  I am just glad that it didn't land on my head at all.

     Sunday we worked with some branch missionaries.  This week has been a little slow.  We will see if I will be transferred this week or if I will stay here.

Sorry for no pictures.  I am having trouble transferring my pictures onto my USB.

--

Love, Elder Harkness

Someone who gets it

 It was a super busy and fast week this week.  I have really enjoyed it though.  We were able to get two baptisms.  One was for the mother of the four girls that we baptized in November and another was a golden investigator that we met about 6 weeks ago.  Elder Ramos baptized both of them and I confirmed both of them.   

     We had a good lesson on Tuesday with a new investigator.  When we told her about the promise of the Book of Mormon she said "WOW!"  I thought "Finally, someone who gets it! Why doesn't everyone think our message is that amazing?".  The bad thing is she is moving to Puerto Princessa and her family doesn't want her to change religions so we can't really continue with her.

     We also had interviews with the mission president which was good.  There was also pizza.

     This week we also had some adventures.  Last Sunday a lady came up to us in church and asked us if we could bless her father who is sick.  They live in Panitian which is still in our area but far away.  We finally found time to go there on Thursday because this week has been so busy.  I was really hoping that the guy wouldn't be dead by then.  We got to Panitian and started asking around where these people live.  We thought we found out where they live which would take another trike drive.  We found someone to take us.  It ended up being the wrong place but the scenery was great.  We drove on a windy road through miles of rice fields and lots of mountains around us.  When we returned to Panitian we found the lady and her father.  He wasn't really sick at all so we didn't need to give him a blessing.  After all that we returned to Quezon.  Even though it was a waste of time I really enjoyed it.

     Saturday we went to Narra to watch a worldwide missionary broadcast and there are a lot of changes.  (James will be jealous)  The amount of studying we do has been changed and the schedule has also been changed.  We can now do our studies, lunch, and dinner whenever we want.  This will be great because our area is dead at 7:00 pm so we can return to the apartment then and eat dinner and do studies instead of having our nightly walk around Quezon.

   

-- 

Love, Elder Harkness

Most areas in the mission aren't as successful as ours is.  Usually there are only about three or four investigators at church.  Our area is very unusual right now but I don't really know why.  I think one of the challenges is that many of the men here are either fishermen and have to work on Sunday or are trike drivers and work all day.  It also can seem like the only good investigators are women.  Out of the ten baptisms we have had in the area 9 of them were women. 

     We have mission conferences every three weeks but sometimes we also have interviews and bigger conferences.  We either go to Narra 1 hour away or Puerto Princessa (for the bigger ones) three hours away.  We will have a new mission president in June I think.  I don't hear really any news at all and the government probably isn't stable but I don't really know.  The worth of their currency has gone down a lot over the last ten years.  

     I think a good peronal success is just the language and feeling the spirit more.  The baptisms are just luck and working.