The weeks are beginning to pass quickly.  We started the week with news that Sister Rosemary's father, Eric Carl Rozairo, had passed away. He was 89 years old.  They had his funeral on Wednesday at 4 pm.  We were unable to attend the funeral due to our commitment to teach  English class at that time.  We went to the funeral home and visited with the family and expressed our love and condolences.  Brother Rozairo was living with his son, who is a Catholic.  His son decided that he wanted to do a Catholic service so the LDS people weren't asked to help with the service in any way.  Rosemary said that she would have the grave dedicated later.
On Friday we went to visit with one of our institute students, Raj.  Raj has been a member of the Church for about eight years.  His sister, mother, and father were baptized at the same time as Raj.  Raj is the only one that has remained active in the Church.  He is 23 years old and a very dedicated member of the Church.  When we arrived at the humble home Raj was very surprised.  He was the only one home.  In a while his mom came home and we had a lovely visit.  I told her that we would like to invite her back to Church.  That the Lord loved her and He wanted her to come back.  She told us that she and the other members of her family were attending a church near their home because it was easier.  I said we each have choices to make.  Know that you are needed and missed.  She said that she couldn't come this week but she would be there in a few weeks.  The next day Raj came into institute class and said that his mom had asked that we come to dinner on Tuesday.  We said we would be glad to do that.  Raj said that his mom was very impressed with us and happy to see us.  Raj's dad is an Elder so they were active for a while.  It would be wonderful to see them reactivated!
Today we went to Negombo. Elder Meyers and I both spoke in Sacrament meeting. This is the first time that we had to have a translator.  It was very difficult to have a translator.  You can only say a sentence or two before the translator is repeating what you say.  I had to really concentrate on what I was saying.  After Sacrament I helped with music in the Primary.  Sister Fluckiger played and I helped them sing.  After Church we attended seminary/institute class.  It was taught in Sinhalese so we didn't understand most of what was said.  They do read the scriptures in English.  To complete the day we had lunch with Elder and Sister Fluckiger. 
HOORAY FOR ISRAEL!

One of our English classes

Sussiladevy and Raj

I'll begin today's blog by saying, "Happy Mothers Day!" to all you mothers.  Mothers day is not celebrated here in Sri Lanka.  When I went to look for a card for my Mom I couldn't find one.   So I purchased one that was a regular card that expressed my thoughts.  The children in primary made cards for their moms and then the moms came into primary and the children sang, Mother Dear.
We taught classes as normal this week.  We taught three English Classes, two Seminary/Institute Classes, a Missionary Preparation Class to Nadene from Kandy, and we finished the Temple Preparation Class at Church today. We also had inservice with the seminary teachers on Friday.  That is an all day event when we do inservice.  We always have lunch after inservice.  We enjoy having these sisters come to our home and getting to know them better.   We were suppose to teach our first Missionary Discussion today but our investigator didn't show up.  That happens a lot around here.  You arrange for things and the people don't come. It is disappointing but we just pray and carry on.
Elder Meyers did interview a brother for baptism on Wednesday.  He is from Negombo but he works here in Colombo so he stopped at the Church after one of our classes and was interviewed.  That saved us a trip to Negombo.  This brethren has been investigating the Church for over four years.  It is exciting to see him take the step to be baptized.

Bro Romesh

Some exciting things have happened this week.  We started out on Monday by going to Sister Eashani and Brother Nihal's new apartment.  Brother Nihal is a colonel in the Air Force here.  He came with his driver all dressed in uniform to pick us up. The driver jumps out to open my door.  I was very impressed.  We arrived at the home and Eashani, Dilitha and Shamitha were waiting for us.  Elder Meyers was invited to dedicate the home.  It was a wonderful prayer and you could feel the Spirit.  Eashani showed us around the apartment and then served refreshments to us. The driver drove us home and treated us like a king and queen.
We worked a lot this week in preparing for Saturday's activity with the seminary and institute students. We did a scripture treasure hunt.  The kids loved it!  We had 34 youth attend with 10 adults coming also.  Brother Sunil gave a talk after the treasure hunt on how the scriptures provide us with all answers in life and how the Savior is our true treasure.  After the talk lunch was served.  We had rice packs, cabbage salad and chocolate crinkle cookies.  I made the cabbage salad and the cookies. They ate all of what I had made.  They had never had the chocolate crinkle cookies before.
Today we only had Sacrament Meeting.  There were at least 10 protests going on in the city of Colombo.  It is Labor Day here and they were protesting the UN.  I guess it has to do with some war crimes that the UN is trying to look into.  All public transportation was shut down and the leaders were afraid that there might be some violence.  Everything went great!  No problems that I'm aware of. Elder Meyers and I were asked to attend a funeral for Sister Beatrice Matilda Liyanage.  We had never met her but we did as we were asked.  About a half hour before we were to leave Brother Muthu called and asked if Elder Meyers would give a short talk.  We took music that had been printed to sing with the group.  There was no piano so guess who got to start the singing, you're right, it was me! When we arrived at the home they escorted us into the room where the body was laid out on a brier.  The husband, daughter and a few other relatives were in the room.  Lots of people were gathered outside.  We greeted the family and then sang a couple of songs with the group.  Then Elder Meyers gave his talk.  I've  never been so hot and sweaty in my whole life!  Sweat was pouring off my face, arms, back side and everywhere.  My clothes were soaked through.  After singing another song, we went out and sat outside with the people.  After about 45 minutes, the family went inside, said their goodbyes and in a few moments the pall bearers came out with the coffin.  They put the coffin on their shoulders and walked all the way out of the neighborhood.  When they got to this point they put the coffin in a car and we all drove to the cemetery.  The coffin was lowered into the ground and relatives threw dirt on the coffin.  The grave diggers finished covering the grave. It was very hard watching the family as the grave was covered.  I'm glad we don't do that in America. Then Elder Meyers gave the dedicatory prayer.  We said our goodbyes to the family  and headed home. It was interesting to see how funerals are done differently.

Dilitha, Shamitha, Nihal and Eashani



Carrying the coffin out of the
neighborhood



Treasure Hunt

Treasure Hunt

Sis Lilani

Today in Sacrament Meeting Elder Meyers was sustained as District High Councilman in the Sri Lanka Colombo District.  Sister Meyers was sustained as Second Counselor in the Sri Lanka Colombo District Primary Presidency .  Sister Lilani was sustained as the president.  President Anton set us apart after meetings.  He gave both of us a powerful blessing.  He also blessed our family to have all that they needed while we were here in Sri Lanka.  It was a beautiful blessing for all of us!
It is Easter today but they don't celebrate much here for Easter.  We stuffed plastic eggs that we found.We were going to have an egg hunt but it was raining so we just rolled them and let each kid get one.  They thought that was great!
It has rained over four inches here in Colombo in the last twenty four hours.  When it rains it comes down so hard.  I love watching it rain.  I have to learn to take my umbrella with us more often.
Our English Class with the Sri Lankan Air Force men started on Tuesday.  There were only two men in attendance but we enjoyed the class.  I guess they went back to work and told all the men that it was great.  Brother Nihal, their boss, says that more should be in attendance this week.
President Anton called Tuesday morning and asked us to go to the hospital and give Sister Rosemary's father a blessing.  President Anton  had called Anura and asked him to pick us up and take us to the hospital.  Anura helped Elder Meyers give the blessing.  Anura has only been a member of the Church for four years.  He always gets a little nervous about doing things like that but he does fine. Rosemary's sisters were there and thanked us for coming.
We also went to a few more stores this week but didn't find anything that was any better than where we already shop.  We did discover the lake that Elder Meyers took a picture of for our blog.  The country is beautiful and we want to do a little more sight seeing as we get things situated.

Colombo Primary egg roll

Lake Beira in downtown Colombo

We were so busy this week.  We were able to get out and visit some of the members.  We visited with Sister Sherin and her family.  We are her visiting teacher and home teacher.  We were told that her less active husband doesn't let many people in his home but we met him and he seemed to be okay with us being there.  He didn't stay but he welcomed us and left. Sherin has been a member for 17 years, I think that is what she told me.  She served a mission to the Philippines.  She has two children, a 14 year old son, Shanuka and an 11 year old daughter, Shamendri.  We had a fun visit.  Shumendri calls her brother the walking encyclopedia. They loved the banana nut bread I took them.
This week is New Years for the Sri Lankans.  New Years was on Thursday.  That was the day that we traveled to Negombo to interview a family of 5.  Four of them were getting baptized. They were a lovely family.  Some didn't speak too much English so we had to have a translated go with us.  He was the Branch Mission Leader from Negombo.  It was very difficult to get a driver to take us on New Years.  Ajith said that everyone wanted $70.00 to make the trip.  He rearranged his scheduled and took us himself for $45.00.  The Lord takes care of his servants.
President and Sister Funk came to Colombo late Thursday night.  On Friday they met with Elder and Sister Fluckiger and Scott and I for training.  I wasn't looking forward to the training but it was wonderful.  We got so many questions answered. We truly felt of the Funks love for us and our family.  When President Funk interviewed us he asked about each of our children and how they were doing.  We could feel the Spirit so strong as we talked about our love for our family and the great desire to be the Lord's servants here in Sri Lanka.  
After our training on Friday, the Fluckigers came and spent the night with us.  We had a great time visiting and getting to know them better.  Elder Fluckiger is a big teaser.  He reminds me of my Dad.  They told us that their replacements had been called.  They are from Reno and their names are Kellerstrauss.  The Fluckigers will be leaving the first of August and the new couple will be arriving the middle of August.  We are glad to know that they have another couple coming.
Saturday we attended the Priesthood/Auxiliary Training for the District.  After the training we had lunch and waited around for seminary/institute class at 3 pm.  Then at 6 pm we attended a fireside for all prospective missionaries. A wonderful day of training for all.
Today was Sunday.  We taught out Temple Prep Class.  Sister Funk attended our class.  Then she went to Primary with me and helped with the music.  All I had to do was just play the piano, not play and led at the same time.  It was great!  The Funks came home with us and had lunch with us.  We have come to really appreciate them as our Mission President and his wife.
Know that we love you and think of you often but we are happy and know that we are where we need to be at this time of our life.  We love busy weeks!!

Collin(father), Udeni(mother) and two daughters
Shalomi and Kaushalya who were baptized, with
little brother Iron



Nishan & Sandy with Riley and Garrett

 We had our first invitation to dinner from one of the local members.  We had a lovely dinner with Nishan, Sandi, Riley and Garrett.  Nishan and Sandi are both return missionaries.  Nishan is a counselor in the Branch Presidency.  We had a lovely dinner of salad, curried potatoes, shrimp and hoppers.  Hoppers remind me of Top Ramon noodles.  We had ice cream for dessert.  We enjoyed the dinner but especially enjoyed being with this special family!
On Wednesday we were invited to a Family History Training Session.  A missionary couple serving in Hong Kong, The Gibbs, came and trained us with three other sisters from the Colombo Branch.  The Internet kept closing down on them so they were frustrated and unable to do all that they wanted to do. 
The last two days we have had the opportunity to hear General Conference.  It was wonderful to hear the Lord's servants and to listen to their advice and warnings.  In seminary and institute we have been talking about how the prophets warn us.  The last few days we made a list of the warnings.  It is interesting to look over that and review what they are really telling us.  Now the hard part is to listen and do what they tell us so that we will be protected.
One thing that really touched my heart this week was a simple act of kindness that Anura, our tri-shaw driver did on Friday.  He took us to the bank and on the way home he pulled to the side of the road and said, "I'm not hungry today."  He reached behind us and got his lunch.  He walked over to an old lady sitting on the side walk begging.  He gives her his lunch and jumps back into the tri-shaw and takes off.  As Elder Meyers and I talked with each other, we both commented on that Christ like act that Anura showed us.
On Thursday we went to Negombo so that Elder Meyers could interview a young couple for baptism.  They were really excited.  They have a three year old daughter that couldn't quit smiling.  It is wonderful to participate in these wonderful activities that bring God's children to Him!

Family History Training

Jonsan Napoliyan and wife Naranjala
Joseph with daughter Shalami Jonsan,
 Elder Meyers interviewed for baptism

We were able to go out this week and visit with one of the families that were baptized in November.  Sister Sherin and Sister Premila went with us.  Ajith is driving for a movie production company the next month so he arranged for another driver to drive us.  When we picked up Sister Sherin she was suppose to know where these people lived but she didn't.  The driver called Ajith and he gave him directions and we finally arrived at the home, way out in no mans land.  We had a wonderful visit with Mary Elizabeth and her sister, Indrani.  They asked Elder Meyers to give their mother a blessing.  Their mother wasn't aware of anything around her.  She just lays in bed all day.  Her hand is withered like she has had a stroke.  We left a loaf of homemade banana nut bread with them and invited them to come back to church.  Indrani said that she has a son that is studying on weekends but when he finishes he wants to take the discussions.  From the time we left our apartment to the time we arrived back home took us under four hours.  We felt good about the visit and the sisters were so happy to see us.  Indrani was at church today.  I made sure I went and gave her a hug.
A Chinese lady, Helen, attended our English Class on Wednesday.  She was looking around the Church from the moment she entered it.  We met in the Relief Society Room.  There was a poster up with the Relief Society Theme.  Helen was writing that down during class.  After class she came up to me and was asking questions about the poster.  I answered her questions.  I thought she had left but she had walked into the Primary Room and found a Bible and the Book of Mormon.  Sandi, a church member, started telling her about the books.  Sandi asked her what religion she belonged to and she said Buddhist.  Sandi said, I used to be Buddhist before I converted to this church.  They continued to visit.  In a little while they both came out  and Sandi said that Helen wanted a Bible and a Book of Mormon.  We gave her both.  We are anxious to see if she comes back to class this week. 

We are looking forward to seeing General Conference next weekend.  They always get conference the week after there is conference in the United States.  We have been going on the Internet and listening to a few of the talks.  We were excited to hear the announcement that there will be a temple built in Meridian.  People here in Sri Lanka dream of the day when their country will be able to have a temple. Many of them want to go to the temple but it cost so much for them to go to Hong Kong.  They diligently take the Temple Class and save as much as they can so that maybe one day their dream will come true and they can attend a temple. We that live near a temple are indeed blessed to be able to attend when ever we want.  May you all take advantage of attending the temple and give thanks that you can! 


Indrani and Mary Elizabeth



Premila and Sherin