6/25

Last Monday we had a dinner appointment with some members in our area.  It is a father, mother, and their teenage daughter.  Having dinner with them on Monday evenings is a pretty regular thing.  I really like it because almost always they serve huge fish that we completely devour.  I think one thing I will miss after my mission is all the sea fish.  There are so many different types and they taste pretty good.  They really don't taste fishy at all.  This last appointment they told us that their house was haunted by a ghost and then showed us a picture that the teenager had taken where in the first picture there is nothing in the background and in the second picture it looks like there is a ghost with black hair and is actually really creepy.  Sometimes the people here are so superstitious. We asked them if they had dedicated their home and they said they hadn't.  I told them they could dedicate it but they said they were fine and that the ghost was friendly. 

     Also last Monday in the morning we went to play basketball at the church.  When we were done we noticed a group of members from all around Palawan getting ready for a temple trip. When their meeting was over we went to see them.  I was really surprised to see two converts from my last area in Quezon.  They were on their way to the temple to do baptisms for the dead.  They were the two best investigators I have taught.  It was great to see them again because when I was transferred I never got a chance to say goodbye to anyone in the area.  We all got some pictures and then said goodbye.

     This week we also had a fun service project.  We weeded some and digged holes for fence posts.  At the beginning it was almost unbearably hot but we were pretty lucky when it started raining later on.  The rain was great to work in even though we got soaked.  The Philippinos wanted to take shelter because they know that if your head gets wet in the rain you will get sick.  The rest of the foreigners just kept working and got wet and guess what?  None of us got sick.  I guess that myth just got busted.

     We also had President Ostler's last zone conference with us this week.  It was a good meeting.  We talked about the new mission president.  He will be President Fermanis from New Zealand.  I have now spent one year with one mission president and have exactly one more year with the new one.  During the conference they showed some pictures from a recent convert trip to the temple.  I was surprised to see that about 1/3 of the pictures were of people I know from Quezon.  That area was really on fire.  I was so blessed to have gotten go be there when so much success was going on.

-- 

Love, Elder Harkness

Pictures:  1: part of the area.  2: I got a picture of a pet monkey while we were out.  3: A cool spider we saw while working.  These kind of spiders are really big but won't bite you. The little kids like to put two on a stick and have them fight.   4: The recent converts going on a trip to the temple.  I am a little sweaty because we had just finished playing basketball.

I actually didn't get transferred this transfer and am still in the area.  I expect I will be here two more transfers because my companion goes home after this transfer.  I am fine with staying in this area because it is big and we can try going to different areas when we get sick of old ones.   

     I'll be honest right now I'm not having a very good time as a missionary.  The investigators that we baptized never showed up to their confirmation and I am starting to feel like the guy just got baptized because the missionaries have been wanting him to for the past 7 or 8 months.  I feel like we probably just baptized him into less activity.  It makes me so mad when my companions want to baptize someone who I don't feel is completely ready or committed.  It makes me feel like I have no control.  They always say "just have faith" or "just trust them".  Also, another thing that drives me crazy is how the companion I am with right now isn't always obedient and then today when I opened my email from president one part was about how we are supposed to report all disobedience to him.  It just makes me so mad! It isn't worth making my life heck and have a companion that I have to stay with 24/7 angry with me just to report some dumb obedience to president.  Right now I am tired of everything and another year still seems like forever especially when I have to be with companions who have the potential to make my life a nightmare.  Sometimes I just want a break from missionary work but there really never is.

Sorry I am writing another email to you that is just venting.  Thanks for your emails.

Love Matthew

Missionary work is not always fun. Sometimes it's miserable to get up and have to go do it. That is an honest truth. I loved my mission but I felt that way fairly often. More especially when I had a hard companion. In those times you need to think about what you believe. We teach that the atonement can take away people's sins and carry their burdens. Sometimes as a missionary I needed to really decide if I believed that myself or not. Can Christ carry my burdens? It is necessary that you put whatever you are struggling with on the Lord. It requires faith to do that. You need to put your trust in him. If you are obedient and following the promptings of the spirit, then you are exactly where God wants you to be and have all of the tools that God wants you to have. You have talked about how some of the mission rules are dumb or not necessary. While this might be true, working without a willing heart will block you from the spirit's guidance and the comfort that you need to fight your battles.

 Having a disobedient companion can be hard. It limits your ability to do God's work. It is discouraging and makes you wonder why they can't just shape up and make it easy on both of you. In everything that you do, reach out to your companion in love. Even when you are trying to correct his behavior. I never felt good after loosing my temper with a companion. Good companions fight. Just not in the way you're thinking. What I mean by fight is that they discuss problems and work towards resolutions. Bad companions let a problem exist without doing anything. Be a good companion. Communicate how you are feeling with your companion. Let him know that you are discouraged or happy or not comfortable with how the lesson was taught. It is okay to take a minute and just talk with your companion. If they are not going to work with you then let a priesthood leader know. Your district leader, zone leader and mission president need to know the status of the relationship of your companionship. While I was a zone leader we had a missionary that became very disobedient and was wanting to go home. His companion confronted him. It wasn't resolved so he let the district leader know. The district leader let me know and all of us working together with the mission president and love for that missionary were able to correct the bad behavior and the missionary repented and finished his mission faithfully.  

All of this stuff is hard to do. I know that. But it's the right thing to do. I love you and want you to have a good mission. That's why I'm writing this email. You are a good person and will do well on your mission. You will be happy when you look back at what you were able to do in your time in the Philippines. Love, James