Elder/Sister Meyers

Christmas decorations at the mall

The Christmas season has begun! We made our weekly visit to Majestic City Mall. We go there for part of our banking for the church. It is interesting to see decorations with a Palm Tree in the background.
Elder Meyers turned 61 on Friday. Our Wednesday English Class gave him a party. They spent an hour before class decorating. They are wonderful people! As you can see from the spread of food on the tables we were all stuffed when the party was over. They sent what wasn't eaten home with us. We shared it with the security guards in our apartment.
Gobin, one of our Chinese students, will be going back to China this month. He has been in Sri Lanka teaching Chinese to business men. He gave us a hug and told us that he was glad that he had the opportunity to meet us. It was sad to have to say a final goodbye to him. It just amazes us how many friendships we have developed in the few months that we have been here.
Sister Ann, Milli, and Codi called to sing Happy Birthday early Friday morning. Then Riley and Garrett called and sang and finally Jared called and said, "Happy Birthday, Elder Meyers." Anura, our tri-shaw driver, stopped by on Friday to wish Elder Meyers a happy birthday. He brought candy, bananas, papaya, and fried stuffed rolls. Later that evening President Anton stopped by with a present. He bought a pink shirt for Elder Meyers. He insisted that Elder Meyers try it on. He was afraid it wouldn't fit but it was perfect. Ann and Milli stopped by and pick President Anton up and took him home. I made a chocolate pie for Elder Meyers' birthday. That will be the only pie he will get here in Sri Lanka! Elder Meyers kept saying it was the thought that counts.
We visited several members this week. I will tell you about two of these sisters. One was named Emily Mary Amerasekara. She is 86 years old and lives in an elderly home. One of her sons is a member and lives in Hawaii. He called and asked that the church visit with her. We went to her home and discovered that she was in the elderly home. Her neighbor was nice enough to give us her address and phone number. I called her a few weeks back and asked if we could come. Then Elder Meyers had his kidney stone problems so we were unable to get there as soon as we wanted to. When we walked up to the home, she was sitting on the front porch with several other ladies. We could hear her tell them that we were here for her. The first words out of her mouth were, why did it take you so long to get here? We had a lovely visit. She showed us around the home and told us about her three sons. Beau, who lives in Hawaii, hasn't been home in 27 years. She is lonely but gets around really good to be 86. She is a member of the church. She was baptized in 1980. She was one of the original members of the church in Sri Lanka. She no longer is active but still has a testimony.

Then we met a lady by the name of Priyanthi Thudawa at Arpicos. Arpico is the closest thing that we get to Walmart. She was working in the cosmetic department. We were looking at some items and as we walked past her she ask, "Are you Mormon missionaries."(We aren't allowed to wear our name tags here.) Elder Meyers responded, "Yes, we are missionaries." She then told us that she had served a mission in Singapore. She doesn't come to church because she works on Sunday. She is hoping to get a schedule change that will allow her to attend church. Before we left she asked if she could give me a hug. I thought we all need to be aware that people are watching us even when we don't know they are watching.
Saturday, we made another trip to Negombo to interview two young boys for baptism. Their families have been reactivated and they are 9 and 1l years old . We were suppose to interview at 10:30 but it was 12:30 before they both arrived. While waiting I helped clean the church since the Relief Society sisters were there cleaning. I couldn't just sit there and watch.
Our English Classes and Seminary/Institute Classes are all over until January. We are hoping to get out and visit more this month. We also hope to take a couple of sight seeing trips.