Elder/Sister Meyers

We have had a busy week! It started out on Monday. We met with the young men and young women district presidents. They wanted our help to plan a youth conference that will be held the end of August. The first thing was to decide where to have the conference, how many days and nights to have it and how many youth were going to attend. Elder Meyers and I suggested that they have rotational classes that used an object lesson and then give a spiritual message that would center around the theme that had been chosen. The theme for the conference is: "Be in the World but not of the World." We suggested that we have eight rotational classes with each class lasting thirty minutes. We were each given our assignments to do and we will meet together again this Tuesday. Our assignment was to gather ideas for the rotational classes.
Tuesday Sister Ann and Sister Shanti came and I showed them how to make bread. They formed their own pan of rolls and baked them. I had made Taco Soup so they stayed for lunch with us. We made the bread dough and while it was raising Sister Ann cut our hair. It was a wonderful day filled with lots of laughs. These two ladies are a lot of fun to be with. Shanti feels uncomfortable speaking English but she does just fine. If I can understand her anyone can.
Wednesday we held our English Class. After class Dinuka, one of our students, surprised us with a demonstration on the Jack Fruit Tree. He began by telling us the uses for the tree. He said it is used for medicine, wood to make furniture and roofing, and it is used as food. Sri Lankans make lots of curry from the fruit and nut of the tree. His mother had made food from the Jack Fruit and she also made sambal, a spicy coconut mixture. He brought banana leaves that he had formed into a plate to serve everything on. Another student, Nishanta, who is a baker brought a couple of loaves of bread to dip into the sambal and curry. We were so touched that these men would do all of this just for us. After we ate, we walked out to go home and it was pouring down rain. We all waited on the porch of the Church. Helen, a student from China, sang a Chinese love song for you in Chinese. It was beautiful. We could feel the Spirit so strong, even thought we couldn't understand a word.
Thursday we left our apartment at 9:30 in the morning. Anura picked us up in his tri-shaw. He took us to Sister Carmarleeta's home. It took us a little over an hour to get there. We surprised her. We don't call when we go visiting because they spend all day cooking and cleaning if you do. She can speak English but prefers to speak in Singhala so Anura translated for us. She stays with her daughter and her family. She babysits while her daughter works. She served us chocolate milk and bananas. We had a nice visit with her. She showed us her garden and lovely yard with many fruit trees. As we were leaving her home she ran back in and gave us a bunch of bananas.
After leaving Carmarleeta's home Anura stopped to buy something at a store. There was a tri-shaw parked in front of the store with a sheet of metal hanging over the edge. Anura didn't see this and he walked into the metal. His left eyelid was sliced open. We weren't far from his house so we went and picked up his wife, Renuka. Anura drove all of us to the hospital. The doctor came in and put three stitches in the eyelid. The doctor didn't deaden the lid at all. When that was over we went back to Anura and Renuka's home. They served us something that looked like a donut, but not sweet, sambal, and bananas. Anura cut the top off of a coconut for each of us and we enjoyed our first taste of delicious coconut milk. Renuka doesn't speak any English. I was a little worried about visiting with her. She isn't a member and sometimes gives Anura a hard way to go about the Church. She and I hit it off like we had known each other all our life. We laughed and had a fun time together. She loves to dance so I told Anura that he needed to dance with her. He laughed and said, "I'll try, Sister Meyers." Renuka asked for a blessing before we left. She asked that we come back and visit again. Anura and Renuka have a son and a daughter but they were away at work and school. As we left their home they gave us a watermelon.
The next stop was Rosemary and Chubby's home. Rosemary has been a member for 17 years. Chubby is her 23 year old daughter, who has Downs. Chubby loves to dance to Michael Jackson music. Her mother was telling us about how Chubby danced each evening. I said, "Chubby dance for us." She disappears and comes back all dressed in a bandanna and her dancing outfit. She turns the music up loud and starts to dance. We start clapping and yelling. She thinks this is great! Rosemary is a very faithful member that is always helping people out with food or money. Her husband isn't a member but he is very supportive of her and Chubby. Like everyone else, she insist on feeding us. We had bananas, sugar wafers and pop.
Saturday Brother Patrick Cheuk came to our apartment for inservice with all the seminary and institute teachers. Elder Meyers gave an awesome lesson. Brother Patrick is our Seminary and Institute Supervisor. He is a calm, gentle, and spiritual man. He is a stake president in Hong Kong. After inservice we had lunch that I had made for everyone. Then it was time to head to the Church to teach seminary/institute. Brother Patrick went with us. I had promised the students brownies. They don't get things like this very often so they were excited. It was a good class and they loved meeting Brother Patrick. At 6pm Brother Patrick took President Anton, Sister Ann, Elder Meyers and myself out to dinner at Hotel 168, which is Chinese Restaurant. Brother Patrick ordered for all of us. It was great!
We were exhausted after all these busy days. I looked at our email after coming home from dinner and discovered a message from Sister Premila, our primary president. She wasn't going to be at chuch today so she was asking if I could conduct primary and also teach her lesson. It all worked out just fine!