Awkward Baptism

This last week Elder Paguigan and I have been working really hard in the area.  These last few weeks have been really hard but our work is paying off.  We now have three progressing investigators.  One of them is a girl who just turned 8.  Her father is an excommunicated RM.  That is why she is an investigator and wasn't just baptized right when she turned 8.  We will try to get him to come back to church.  The girl will be baptized for sure in April.

    Speaking of baptisms, our branch had two baptisms for two kids that just turned 8.  A boy and a girl.  As missionaries we attended even though they weren't our investigators.  The girl was baptized first and then the boy.  He did NOT want to go under water.  He was thrashing and crying and it was pretty awkward.  The father eventually was able to baptize him.  The father almost went under water when he baptized him.

     Our other investigator is Gaciento Echore.  He is a really great investigator.  He got out of jail in 2016 after being there for 15 years.  He murdered 6 people back in the 90s.  He always comes to church and is working on his marriage papers.  Marriage is a big problem with investigators here. 

     The last one is a man who was an investigator before I got here.  He wasn't progressing but is now reading the Book of Mormon and came to church.

     This last week we were able to pick up some other investigators that I think will be good. 

This is a bit of an update with pictures because it has been so long.

This is the baptism Elder Ramos and I had in January.  The woman on the left is the mother of the four girls that were baptized in November.  Everyone in the family was baptized that was old enough except for the father who is always out fishing.  The woman on the left was a golden investigator that we found and was baptized about a month after we found her.  Her 18 year old brother was baptized a few weeks later after I was transferred to Puerto Princesa.

This was one of the families that we visited a lot in Quezon.  The girl on the left was an eternal investigator and was taught for over a year.  She was baptized a week or two after I was transferred.  The guy in the purple shirt is Rodel.  He is 19.  He worked with us a lot and was a life saver because we need another man present in every lesson.  He was a super great help.  The sign he is making with his hands means "bogie" or "guapo" (handsome).  The father is in the green shirt.  He was baptized before I got to the area back in July I think.  He always went to church every Sunday even though it is a bit of a walk from the church.       The house we are in in the picture was build while I was in the area because it burned down before I got there.  We helped make the cement floor for a service project. 

This is in our house in Quezon just before I was transferred.  We had to get one last picture all together.

The banana I told you all about.  It doesn't look super huge in this picture but it is the length of my arm.  It didn't taste very good.

This is a fruit that grows inside of a coconut.  If a coconut is left to grow this is what grows inside until there is no more milk.  It tasted good but was really small.



love, Elder Harkness