Hidden homes

 It was transfers this last week but Elder Paguigan and I are still companions.  That is pretty normal though.  Usually you are in an area for four transfers and have two companions there.  I expect to be here until July and get a new companion next transfer on May 3.  Today is another mile mark on my mission because today I have exactly one year and three months left.  

     Last week we found a lot of good new investigators.  In our area I have found that there are places where people live but they are kind of hidden.  For example, the access to five or more houses may only be a small pathway between houses and buildings that could be easily overlooked.  We found one of these places and found some good investigators inside. People are more willing to talk to a foreigner like me than if both missionaries are Philippinos.  It helps us get lessons because people want to hear me speak Tagalog because foreigners here almost never speak Tagalog even if they live here.    

      As for our investigators that we already have they are dong pretty much the same.  We will have a baptism for an 8 year old girl in the next few weeks and one for another once we get him married to his living partner.  I am exited to see the area progress in the next few months.

     Last Saturday when we were out working in the morning we had been able to get two lessons and were going to try to get another when we noticed the people in the streets were very distressed.  They were saying that there was a fire.  I could see a big cloud of black smoke rising and we decided it wasn't a good idea for us to go over there.  On Sunday we went to the area where the fire was.  There were about five houses that were completely burned down.  One of those houses was the one we would have gone to on Saturday if the fire hadn't happened.  When I think back, if we had gotten one less lesson on Saturday morning we would  have been at that house just in time for it to burn down.  I am glad we weren't there for that to happen.

     Sunday night we also had a good dinner with our branch president at his house.  People asked me questions about the United states like what we eat.  They were surprised when I told them that we don't eat the same thing every day like rice.

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Love, Elder Harkness

We live on the second floor of this apartment.  It is a pretty nice apartment.

I took this picture out of the back of a trike.  The trikes you see are what we ride every day  to get places.

Dinner at our branch presidents house.  Spaghetti, rice, crabs, and pork.

Me at the apartment to go out on a pday.