We had an awesome week this week.
Monday night was an interesting evening.  It has come to be known as, "The Night of the Bat."  We were watching the Women's General Broadcast.  It was nice to has a few moments to just relax.  All of a sudden I noticed what I thought was a small bird flying around the living room.  As we watched we discovered that it was  a bat that had flown in through the open door.  I grabbed our two brooms and closed all the doors that led into the other rooms.  Elder Meyers and I tried to shoo the bat back outside through the open door.  He refused to have anything to do with that.  He would fly as close as he could get without hitting us.  Elder Meyers' broom handle bent and he grabbed my robe to use to shoo the bat away.  The bat finally flew into the ceiling fan in the living room and fell dead onto the couch.  I swept him into the dust pan and threw him over the balcony.  I'm glad there was no one around to take videos of this adventure.
It was time to do both home and visiting teaching so we had a week of trying to get those individuals visited.  We got a few of them and will finish the rest this week, we hope.
We were also able to see President Sunil and his lovely wife, Lilani.  President Sunil was the first district president in Sri Lanka.  His wife is presently the district primary president.  They treated us like royalty.  They had bought lots of sweets for us to enjoy.  What we didn't eat they insisted that we bring them home with us. They are definitely two of Heavenly Father's chosen servants! They were unable to have children of their own.  They always ask about our children and grandchildren.
Friday was Jared's birthday.  He was two years old.  He loves to come and visit us at our apartment because he knows that Elder Meyers will have candy for him. Jared is a relative of President Anton.  His family lives in the Anton home.  His parents had a birthday party for him on Friday.  It was suppose to start at 6pm so we were there on time.  The family came around 7pm and the rest of the guest showed up around 8:30pm.  It was interesting to watch their traditions.  The parents feed little bites of cake to the child and then their grandparents feed them more.  Next they sing Happy Birthday and take pictures with each family that is there.  Then they serve the cake, marshmallows, cutlets(which look like a donut hole but have fish and potato inside), and mints.  After everyone is through with that they serve a meal.  Their meal consisted of stringhoppers, sambol(spicy coconut), coconut potatoes, and spicy chicken.  I tried some of everything.  This was the first time that we have eaten with our fingers like the locals do.  Brother Namal was training us how to do it.  He said, "Use your thumb to push it together."  I tried but it didn't feel too comfortable. My lips were burning from all the spices when I had finished.  They topped the meal off by serving ice cream cones to everyone.  Jared entertained the crowd by dancing to the music that was playing. They also had face painting for anyone that wanted that. There were about 60-65 people in attendance.  It was a wonderful evening.  We walked home around 10pm.
Today was our primary presentation practice.  We were able to go through the program twice.  The practice was hard on the children but most of them were prepared.  They will present the program in Sacrament Meeting next Sunday.  I will be glad when it is over.  I am in charge of the music. 
Be grateful for what you have and acknowledge the hand of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in your life.  They love you and want you to be happy!

Sister Lilani & President Sunil Arsecularatne

Rylynn at the party

Mythily cutting Jared's cake

Jared the birthday boy!

Life is becoming pretty routine for us these last few weeks.  We have our normal every day activities with a few extra and exciting things sprinkled into the mix.
The big news of the week is that Kyle and Heather are having another little boy.  We are happy that Heavenly Father has blessed us to have another grand child.  We are looking forward to having this special little boy join our family. 
We were thrilled to be able to finally watch General Conference.  Here in Sri Lanka we view it a week after it is held.  It amazes me that so few people come and view all of the sessions. Saturday we met at the church and viewed the first two sessions.  After the first session we had a light lunch.  I had made homemade rolls which we served with peanut butter and jelly.  I also made a German Chocolate Cake and sliced a few apples.  The 15 members that were in attendance seemed to enjoy their lunch.
There were about 60 people in attendance for the Sunday morning session.  We had a potluck lunch. Only about four families brought food but we had plenty to feed everyone.  When the second session started there were about 30 people.  They kept getting up and leaving.  Many of them have an hour or more to get home.  It is sad to see them miss out on the words of the prophets. By the time it was over there were only about 12 people left.
Saturday night we had dinner with Brother Nihal, Sister Eashani, and their sons, Dilitha and Shamitha.  President Kolitha, Sister Primali and their daughter, Sonali joined us for the dinner.  We viewed some videos to see if they wanted to use them for an open house that the Elders Quorum is planning for November 10th.  Then we had a lovely meal.  We had noodles(like Top Romen), chicken curry, sausages(like tiny hot dogs), bread, tomato slices, onion slices and boiled eggs.  For dessert we had vanilla ice cream with Mango and Avocado topping.  I wasn't sure about the Avocado topping but it was very good! This is the fun part of our mission, getting to go into the homes of the people.  They are awesome!
There was a shooting during a political campaign yesterday and three people were killed.  Two men from the same political party shot each other.  One of them died and the other is in serious condition.  I think their body guards or staff members were also killed or injured.  Even though they are in the same party they are running against each other for the same seat.  A curfew was put into effect shortly after the killings.  It was lifted at 6:30 am this morning. 
As President Monson spoke today, I felt of the love of the Savior.  He is near all of us.  He is aware of us.  He knows our trials and our needs. May we each gain His peace and go forth with more faith as we face life.

Dilitha and Shamitha

Sonali, our hostess Sis Eashani, Sis Primali
and Pres Kolitha at dinner

In primary they have been talking about missionaries.  Sister Primali told the children that they could make a card at home and bring it to her and she would mail the card to one of the missionaries that were serving from the Colombo Branch.  Adithya is five years old.  She made a cute little card of a mouse and gave it to Sister Primali.  Sister Primali asked who she was to send it to.  Adithya said sent it to Sister Meyers.  She is my favorite missionary.  I love the card!  Today Adithya asked her Mom if she could go home with me.  I said sure you can come to my apartment.  Adithya said, "No, I want to go with you to your real home in America."  I told her I thought that would make her Mom and Dad sad.  She decided she should stay in Sri Lanka.  I love the children!
In English this week, we had role playing for our 6 pm class.  Marilyn and her daughter Arriane are shown in the picture.  Marilyn had hurt her head and Arriane was asking her how, what, when, where, who and why questions.  These kind of things are very hard for them to think of all by themselves.  It was a fun class and we had lots of laughs.
Sister Ann turned 50 on Thursday.  We had lunch for her.  She brought her husband, President Anton and her nieces, Codi and Milli.  Elder Meyers decorated the front door and the dining room area for the celebration.  I made her favorite food which is Tamale Pie.  Anton doesn't eat hamburger so I made some rice and stir fry for him.  I made a pudding cake for dessert.  They loved the pudding cake.  They had never had that before.  It was fun helping Ann celebrate her special day!
Yesterday was Sister Vinitha's (Vino's mom) birthday.  Her boss gave her a lovely bouquet of flowers.  She and her husband, Ramiah, brought them over to our apartment.  She said my house is too warm.  These flowers will be dead by tomorrow.  I want you to have these.  They stayed for about an hour and visited with us.  We loved their visit.  I had a loaf of banana bread in the freezer so I gave that to them as they left.  What loving, generous people!
The Colombo District did their 75th Anniversary Welfare Project on Saturday. They chose a Catholic school for 30 special needs children in Ragama. They cleaned, painted, and made some simple repairs. The teachers, a few parents, and even one of the children came to help. It felt good to be doing some physical work.  There were around 30 people assisting with the project.  Elder Meyers and I had to leave before the project was totally finished. We had a seminary/institute class to teach.
We continue to push forward daily.  We are happy serving the members and pray to teach someone soon.  We have had several referrals but most of them are out of our area. Today at church Nirma, a non-member, came up to us and asked to be taught.  We made an appointment to teach next Sunday.  Pray for Nirma to show up and feel of the Spirit.

Adithya and her card

Flower Bouquet

Arriane and Marilyn role playing

Celebrating Sis Ann's 50th Birthday

Working on Welfare Service Project

Painting the school rooms

This week started out with an evening with our Chinese students.  They attend our English class.  They had us over to their place several weeks ago for an awesome evening filled with Chinese food and a wonderful visit with them.  We had them over to our place for some American food.  Susan was so funny.  When they walked in I had the table sat.  We visited for a few moments and then invited them to come to the table.  Susan was overwhelmed!  She asked if it was ok to take a picture of the table and food.  I said, " Of course you may take a picture."  Before she was done she had taken a picture of every dish on the table.  When dessert came out she had to take a picture of that too.  We had a wonderful, fun filled evening.  They asked lots of questions about our family and a few about the Church.  They loved looking at the pictures of the grandchildren.  We were proud to share our family with them.  We really enjoy these wonderful people!
Thursday Sister Ann took us to visit a couple of families.  One was the Dias family.  The husband, Nishantha, is in Dubai working.  Nadi, the wife, Devidu, the son, Pipuni, the daughter, and Senidu, the little son is here in Sri Lanka.  They have been working on their visas so they can join Nishantha in December. Nadi was happy to see us and we enjoyed getting to know her and the children better.  We were able to talk to Nishantha also.  Nadi skyped with him while we were there.  He has lost lots of weight and is anxious for his family to join him in Dubai.  Nishantha was a counselor in the branch presidency when he left.  We miss him!
Sister Ann also took us to a less active family.  The father's name was Ottula.  He has been abroad working.  He has only been home a few weeks.  He will leave on Wednesday to go to Dubai to work with Nishantha.  His wife is away working so he will leave his two teenage children with his mother in law.  This is the way many families live.
Today we attended Negombo's Branch Conference.  The district leaders take over whatever organization they have been called to.  Since I am in the district primary I was asked to do sharing time, music, and also teach the older children's class.  Sister Lilani, our district primary president, was unable to attend.  She normally teaches the class. It was a wonderful conference but I was exhausted after church.
The Kellerstrasses invited the Meehans, a couple serving in Hong Kong called as welfare missionaries, and Elder Meyers and I  to have lunch with them at their apartment. It was great being able to talk with so many people that really speak our language.
Life is good!  We love the Church and our testimony grows each day.  It is true!!!

Helen, Guobin, and Susan

Three Chinese students with us at dinner

Pipuni, Senidu, Devidu & Sis Nadi

Elder & Sister Meehan

We had an interesting experience before our Wednesday afternoon English Class started.  Krishan, Gihan, and Dinuka come an hour before class starts just to talk and visit with us. They are three business men that have attended the class for almost three years now.  They have been with three sets of senior missionaries.  Elder Meyers was in the clerk's office working on records and I was across the hall visiting with these men.  Out of the blue, Gihan asks if I have read the Bible all the way through.  I reply, yes several times.  He asks, "How big is your Bible?" I answered, It is very big and went to the closet and brought in the Bible and showed it to him.  He said, "That is bigger than Mr. Biggs' Bible."  I walked back to the closet and brought in the Book of Mormon.  The men all chimed in with, "That's Mr. Biggs' Bible."  I said, "This is what we call the Book of Mormon."  It isn't our Bible but it goes along with the Bible and testifies that Jesus is the Christ.  One of them said, I have tried to read it but I can't understand it.  I told them that we would be glad to read it with them if they would like.  I did have a chance to explain the basis outline of the Book of Mormon and we talked a little about the prophet, Joseph Smith. Hopefully they will ask again or I can ask them if they have decided to let us read with them sometimes when we aren't in English since we aren't to speak about religion in our class.
We've talked with Elder and Sister Biggs several times but they never told us that they had given all three of these men a Book of Mormon.  I guess they gave them to Krishan, Gihan, and Dinuka the last time they saw them and told them that we would need to help them learn about this book.
After class, the same evening, Dinuka comes up to Elder Meyers and ask him what does resurrection mean?  They have a nice discussion about resurrection.  Brother Anura, our tri-shaw driver, heard that conversation. As he was driving us home, we were talking about the experiences we had had at class.  He said, "I will pray for them to open their hearts."  Anura has such pure faith.  We love being around him.
Yesterday we held Family Home Evening with Brother Harold and Sister Rosemary's family.  They wanted us to meet their older children, Amy and Robbie.  Robbie was called into work and Amy was planning on going on a date.  Her father told her that she had to come out and visit with us before she left.  She was a little reluctant.  Amy is 21 and hasn't been active in church the last few years.  When she first came out she did only what was expected.  Then she returned to her room and prepared for her date.  After she got dressed she came back into visit with us and her attitude was better.  As our children always say, FFF, Forced Family Fun! We enjoyed visiting a little with Amy and meeting her boyfriend, John.  Jessie is a special needs child.  He keeps everyone on their toes.  Kate is almost 12.  She is a very kind and giving young lady.  Harold served a mission in Arizona.  Rosemary is a hard working, loving woman, who wants to raise her family to love and serve the Lord. We were just told by the Brother Nihal, the Elder's Quorum President, that no one has been able to go home teaching at their house for ten years.  I guess they would come to church but won't let anyone into their home.  This made us feel good that they let us come and participate in their family home evening.  They also allowed us to come home teaching last month.
Elder Meyers wasn't able to attend church today.  He was having a little problem with his stomach.  He is feeling better this afternoon.  President Anton, who is  a doctor, said he would come after he is done at church and make sure he is OK.

The Harold Sandrasagara family.  Kate, Sis Rosemary, Bro Harold, Amy and Jesse.

As I begin our blog today, my mind is carried back to ten years ago.  All of you in America realize that is what we all call 9/11.  I am so grateful to be an American and be able to enjoy the freedoms that we have. The other day Sister Ann came over to cut our hair.  As she entered the apartment I commented on how nice she looked.  She replied that she had just been in court.  She told us that it is a law that you have to wear white or black to court here in Sri Lanka.  She had on a white blouse with a black and white skirt.  She also said that a woman has to either pull their long hair back in a pony tail or pin it up when she appears in court. I just thought that was interesting. America has its faults but we are blessed to make choices for ourselves. 
On Saturday Elder Meyers and I held our monthly Activity Day for the 8-11 year old primary boys and girls.  We had four attend this activity.  We are trying to learn the Articles of Faith.  We zoomed in on numbers 1,2,3,4,6, and 12.  Most of the children were able to repeat at least three of the ones that we worked on.   We played games, put puzzles together and repeated the Articles of Faith as a group.  It is rewarding to see how excited the children get studying and learning the gospel.
We have been looking all around for a Banana Tree.  The other day Elder Meyers comes into the room I was in at the Church and announces that he has seen a Banana Tree.  I follow him and he takes me to the back of the Church and points to the Banana Tree.  Hopefully the picture shows how pretty it is.  Look carefully and you can see lots of bananas.  They have many different kinds of bananas here.  My favorite is called Sour Bananas.  They are very small but so tasty!

Regno and Haran doing puzzles

Banana Tree

This week has been a rather down week for us.  We were all fired up after our visit with President and Sister Funk.  We had arranged for some visits with members and wanted to see some less active members.  Our week was planned out on Monday and we were ready to get started.  It seemed that no matter what we had planned  it fell apart.
Elder Kellerstrass called and asked us to come to Negombo on Thursday.  They had a sister that was ready for baptism and Elder Meyers needed to interview her.  We were suppose to leave here at 10 am but Elder Kellerstrass called at 9 am and said that Chandi was out of town and wouldn't be home until 4 pm.  We called Sister Ann who was going to drive us and she was able to make arrangements to drive us later.  When Ann showed up she wasn't in her car, she had borrowed a friend's car because hers had broken down. We just had to laugh because that was how our week went.  Anyway we got to Negombo and Sister Patirannahelage Chandima Lasanthi Weerasingle (Chandi) was interviewed.  Her baptism was suppose to be on Saturday and she was to be confirmed today, Sunday.  She flies back to her home in Rome, Italy on Monday.  The Kellerstrasses were so excited.  This was their first baptism. They have only been here three weeks. We were excited for them. Chandi walked into church the first Sunday they were there and asked for the lessons. 
We went shopping on Saturday.  We had planned on going to the beach but it was raining.  I needed some new sandals.  I was able to buy two pairs for 1600 rupees or about $16.00.  While shopping we saw a pool of fish in the mall.  It was nice to get out and enjoy ourselves.  Afterwards we stopped by Baskin Robbins for an ice cream cone.
Today, Sunday, was filled with our normal activities of church.  The pianist didn't show for Sacrament so I got to play.  Sister Premila, our Primary President, was sick so I got to teach her class. Sister Nimali didn't come to play the piano in primary so I had the opportunity to play and try to get the children to sing at the same time.  It all worked out.
We know that the Lord loves us and we are learning how to handle different situations when things don't always go the way we had planned.  The main thing is we must keep smiling and never give up.  We know the Lord will provide for His work to move forward!

Sister Kellerstrass, Sister Chandi and
Elder Kellerstrass

Pool at Majestic City Mall filled with fish