Bananas on stalks

We have been on the road a lot this week.  We have seen many sights that we thought you would enjoy.  These bananas were hanging at a roadside fruit market.  We also finally got a picture of a Sri Lankan van.  When we first arrived Brother Nate Jones asked me if I had seen a Sri Lankan van.  I replied that I had seen a van but they didn't look very different from our vans in America.  He said, Sister Meyers a Sri Lankan van is 4

Sri Lankan van

or 5 people on a motorcycle. I've had a good laugh many times as I have remembered this joke.
President Sunil called last Sunday and asked us if we could teach his daughter,  Ranatunge Arachchilage Wijeyratne Menike, the discussions.  Elder Meyers told him that we would be glad to do that and asked when he wanted us to start.  President Sunil said that he would like to start right away.  We made an appointment to be at their house at 10am on Monday morning.  They live about an hour away by tri-shaw.  When we arrived we were greeted by Wimala, the name Sister Lilani gave her daughter. Before we began the discussion President Sunil told us the story about how Wimala came into their life.

Lilani, Wimala & Sunil

Twenty six years ago, Sister Lilani had a miscarriage.  She needed help in her recovery so it was arranged for Wimala to come into their home and help.  At this time Wimala was only 13 years old.  Sister Lilani said that she was very small for her age and she was unable to assist her.  They decided that they would have to send her away.  Then they discovered that Wimala's mother had died and by this time they had fallen in love with her, so they kept her.  She has never been adopted by them but they consider her their daughter.  They have never had any children of their own.  Over the years Wimala went to church but never showed any interest in getting baptized.  She continued to practice her Buddhist faith.  President Sunil and Sister Lilani fasted and prayed often that Wimala would one day want to know about the church.  A few weeks ago President Sunil said that he and Sister Lilani would be unable to come to church because their daughter was struggling with some health problems and they couldn't leave her alone.  I fasted and prayed that a way would be provided for this to change because President Sunil and Sister Lilani are looked up to by the members.  I knew if they stopped coming others would too.  Soon after Wimala went into her room and prayed about the church.  Her parents were unaware of what she was doing.  After about four days of pleading with the Lord, she came out and told President Sunil that she knew the church was true and wanted to be baptized.  We gave two of the discussions by Tuesday afternoon.
Thursday was one of our institute student's birthday.  His family invited us to dinner on his birthday.  This is a less active family. We

Balakrishnan, Sis Bala, Aunt, Raj & Luxmy

have grown to love them dearly.  We had a wonderful dinner and Raj was happy that we came.  As we left we invited them to come to church.  They all came today except for Brother Balakrishnan.  We were so happy to see them at church.  Now we hope they continue to come.
Saturday evening we attended what they call "A Big Girl Party".  Some of their customs and traditions still keep us on our feet.  Milli is 12 years old and had her first menstrual cycle. I don't understand all that they did but I will share some of the things that I was told about.  For 3 or 4 days the young girl is banished to her room.  She is not to look in the mirror, bathe, or comb her hair.  She also has to eat certain foods. One of the worst things she had to do was drink a raw egg from the egg shell and then drink Sesame oil.  After those 3-4 days the women in the family give her a purification bath.  I am told that they put flower petals in the water.  They dress her and comb her hair and make her look beautiful.  I was told that Milli has a multi cultural background.  She has Sinhala and also Tamil in her family.  The Tamil people tend to do more in public than the Sinhala side.  After all this she is given a huge party.  We were invited to the party.  She had a least three

Big Girl Party

First outfit

different outfits that she changed into during the evening.  One dress was Sinhala, one Tamil, and one more modern day.  The party had a catered meal.  This event was a big as a wedding reception.   Relatives showered Milli with gold jewelry.  Milli lost one of the gold rings, that cost $160, at her party.  Milli sat on the same chair all evening. 

Second outfit

Third outfit

She greeted each of her guests as they came to visit with her.  She loved it when someone her own age came and spent some time with her.  Just when I think I know what is going on around here they throw us a curve like this Big Girl Party!
Now back to Wimala.  We gave the rest of the discussions on Saturday.  Sister Lilani and Wimala treated us to a delicious meal after we were done.  Wimala was baptized today by Elder Meyers.  President Sunil has a back problem so he was unable to perform this ordinance.  Elder Meyers was thrilled to do this! There were about 50 people in attendance at the baptism.  Sister Visaka made a cake to share with everyone after the baptism.  Wimala said she felt very

Elder Meyers & Wimala

Wimala

clean after she was baptized.  She is anxious to attend church with her family every week. 
We just got a call from the assistant to President Funk.  He asked if we had a baptism.  We told him that we had, he was so excited!  The mission had 30 baptisms for the

Enjoying cake after baptism

week with our baptism, this is the highest number of baptisms in one week for the India Bangalore Mission.  Yeah, we broke the record!!
Our hearts are full from this great experience that we have been blessed with this week. We know that Father does hear and answer our prayers.
Message for the week:  3 Nephi 27:20
Now this is the commandment:  Repent, all ye ends of the earth and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.