Green Park Hotel

We have had an exciting week!  It started with our arrival in Hyderabad, India.  We stayed in a wonderful five star hotel called the Green Park Hotel.  The staff catered to our every need. 

Lobby of hotel

After we arrived and unpacked we were able to assist the other couples serving in the India  Bangalore Mission with whatever needed to be done to prepare for the arrival of the youth.  These are the names of some of the couples, most of them are from Canada.  The Allisons, Hatch, Wigg, Teefenbach, Zobell, and Kellerstrass(from the USA).  It was fun to talk, laugh, and work with these wonderful men and women.      

Couples working on YSA packets

On Friday the youth arrived from all over India.  Many of these youth had never traveled out of their area.  Some came by bus, others by train and a few by plane.  Many traveled for hours.  One group traveled 31 hours by train to attend this wonderful event.  They were so tired as they they walked off their buses but anxious to get going and start having fun!

The YSA Conference began with a devotional.

YSA registration

Elder Dallin H. Oaks, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom, and Elder Anthony D. Perkins were the visiting general authorities.  Of course our beloved mission president, President Funk was also part of the devotional.  They each spoke and then we were all invited to form a line and shake hands with the brethren.  I thought about the Nephites when they waited to greet the Savior.  I was overcome by those thoughts and tears flowed freely not only by me but many others.  We were not allowed to take snaps(pictures) of the brethren.  If you want to see pictures of them at the conference you can go to this website.  http://www.allindiaysaconference.webstarts.com/

YSA Choir

Sister and Elder Sharma

During the day we met other couples.  One was Elder and Sister Sharma.  They are the first senior couple to serve a mission from India.  They were amazing.  Sister Sharma has only been a member for three and a half years and Elder Sharma for two and a half years.  They are from Delhi but serving in the Bangalore India Mission.  They invited us to go to Delhi before we leave.  They told us they would have their kids show us around.  We loved them for their kindness.
The rest of Friday was spent in assisting with whatever activity we were assigned.  Some of the activities were family history, games, social media, service project, workshop on eternal marriage, speed dating, and line dancing.

Line dancing



Speed dating

Service project

Marigold Hotel where YSA Conference was held

On Saturday we were excited to have the privilege of listening to Sister Kristen Oaks, Sister Diane Hallstrom, Sister Christine Perkins,and Sister

Sister Oaks

Andrea Funk speak at a devotional.  This was probably my most fun activity.  Sister Oaks spoke about her life. She and Elder Oaks have only been married for 12 years.  Elder Oaks' wife died and after a couple of years Sister Oaks and he were married.  She was 52 years old and had never been

Sister Hallstrom

married.  She continued to be faithful in the church even though it was hard.  She went on a mission and had a companion that would butter her bread and then put it in the toaster and the toaster would catch fire.  She said I wondered why people were so weird like that.  She pause and smiled and said

Sister Perkins

now I know, Elder Oaks does the same thing, but don't tell him that I told you.  The youth were able to ask the sisters questions at the conclusion of their talks. As the sisters were leaving, Sister Oaks stopped by Elder Meyers and I and thanked us for serving.  She went on to tell us that Elder Oaks had given her a blessing that morning to help her through this event.  She also told us that they had received a phone call and something had happened in the family to worry her.  After she left I thought, no matter who we are we have our trials and challenges.  We  just follow Sister Oaks example, have faith, move forward and the Lord will bless us and give us the strength to do whatever we need to do.
The rest of Saturday was filled with activities that were done on Friday.  If the youth didn't attend those activities on Friday they participated in them on Saturday.
Sunday was an historical event.  We went to the Novotel Hotel to

Loading buses for Stake Conference

attend conference.  This is when the Hyderabad Stake was created.  It is the first stake in India.  Of course Elder Oaks, Elder Hallstrom, Elder Perkins, and President Funk were all there with their wives.  The former district president (Brother Gudae, spelling is probably wrong) was ordained as the Stake Patriarch.  He is such a humble

Arriving at Novotel Hotel

loving man.  You can tell that his people admire him.  The stake president looked to be around 40 years old (Brother Gudi, spelling probably wrong).  He organized the travel for the YSA Conference.  He is very capable of carrying out his new responsibility.  There were 1,519 people in attendance at this historic event.  Once again we were not allowed to take snaps of the brethren.  Elder Meyers took a picture of the overhead screen

Elder Oaks greeting the saints

before they made that announcement.  As Elder Oaks left the stage he stopped and waved to the audience.
We left for the airport early Monday morning.  It was a good thing that we left early because Hyderabad was going to have riots throughout Monday.  Some beloved politician was arrested and accused of fraud so the locals were rioting.  When our group of youth tried to leave Hyderabad by bus, they were stopped three different times.  They finally made it out of Hyderabad and to Chennai where they met us and we traveled back to Sri Lanka.

Most of the Sri Lankan YSA group