What a week we have had!  It has been filled with joy, excitement, and memories.
Monday was Sister Meyers' 59th birthday.  The celebrating started early that morning with skyping with most of our children.  After skyping the doorbell rang and there was Anura, our tri-shaw driver, with papaya, bananas, and sesame candy.  As he was preparing to leave, President Anton, Sister Ann, Codi, Milli, Anjeli, Mightily and Jared came bearing gifts and food that would last all week.  They also brought a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday.  We had a wonderful day visiting and answering phone calls.
Wednesday, our English Class threw a party after class.  The men planned, prepared and decorated for the party.  Dinuka, Gihan, Krishnan, and Nishanta were the party planners.  Nishanta is the baker so he did most of the food with the others paying for it.  Nishanta made a cake that said, Happy Birthday, Sister Meyers.  He made it in the shape of a book.  They all said that that was our English book.  On the other side of the book he wrote in Sinhala, Wishing you a long life.  As I rode away in the tri-shaw with tears in my eyes I thought, what will I be like on the last day when I have to say good-bye to them? It is just amazing how much love we feel for these people that we work with!
Thursday the Colombo Branch held an Open House.  The Relief Society and Elders Quorum Presidency planned and carried out this program.  They selected several clips and put them together to make one continuous video that showed the believes of the Church.  It was wonderful! There were 115 people in attendance.  65 of those were either less active members or non members.
We had invited several people to attend.  Four of our English students showed up.  They were Dinuka, Gihan, Susan, and Helen.  After the program was over I asked Susan and Helen what they thought about it.  Susan placed her hand over her heart and said, "It feels good inside."  I looked her in the eyes and said, " I know, that is because it is all true." Dinuka and Gihan came up to us and asked if it was ok if they came to church on Sunday.  We quickly replied, "That would be great!"
Elder Meyers continues to have pain from his kidney stones.  President Anton has kept him supplied in pain medication but he wants to have a scan done sometimes this week to see what is going on.  It is amazing how the Lord blesses Elder Meyers to do any assignment that he has and then when it is over the pain returns.
Today is Sunday and who should appear at the doors of the Church?  You are right, Dinuka and Gihan.  They stayed for all three meetings and attended our Gospel Principles Class.  They asked so many questions.  It was sooo exciting!  They had a hard time understanding about a God that had a body and on top of that he has a son, Jesus Christ.  We gave them a Bible and some pamphlets. Elder Biggs had given them a Book of Mormon earlier.  We assured them that we loved them and didn't want them to feel like we were pressuring them into the Church.  We told them we would always be their friends.  They left smiling and saying they would see us on Wednesday for class.
Sister Primali brought a surprise birthday cake to Primary.  At the end of Primary all the children sang Happy Birthday to me and we all enjoyed a piece of cake.  This is the first year ever that I have had three birthday cakes.
This week we have had memories of a year ago.  On the 6th was the 1st anniversary of Asher's accident and on the 8th was his death.  We have relived those memories.  Some good and some very unpleasant.  But we know that Asher lives today.  As we were reading the scriptures this week, we read what Alma said to his son, Corianton about death.  In Alma 40:11it says: Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection--Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.  Asher has been taken home to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Asher is happy.  I think he has probably learned not to use his favorite word anymore, honky.  He understands the total plan.  I'm sure he is cheering for us and all his family to be happy and live a good life so that we can see him again.

Sis Ann watching Deb open her present

Sis Meyers 1st Birthday cake

Sis Meyers 2nd Birthday cake

Wednesday's English class celebrating
Sis Meyers' birthday

Sis Eashani with family and friends
at the Open House

Sis Rosemary feeding her family members
at the Open House

Elder Meyers was so excited on Monday morning.  He got a shipment of 150 pieces of garments.  He had so much fun sorting and putting them into packages for the members.  He also received 200 pictures of the Hong Kong Temple.  A picture for each member of the district to have one for their home.
We got a call from President Anton one day so we dropped what we had planned and went to visit a member's home.  The mother was overwhelmed with her autistic 15 year old son.  He has never had any training and neither has his parents had any training on how to handle him.  He now climbs their fence and gets away from them.  The mother wants us to help figure out a way to get him into a home.  They don't have much so they want the Church to help if possible.  We told her we didn't know the answers but we would look into it.  It hurts our hearts to see such faithful people have such struggles.
At our Wednesday English Class the students brought goodies to celebrate Dinuka's 35th birthday.  We didn't know it was his birthday but Dinuka, Gihan, Nishanta, and Krishnan arranged everything.  We certainly enjoy this class!
We are planning on going to India in December.  We have been invited to attend Zone Conference, therefore we need to get an India Visa.  We finally got to the office after several changes and turned in our application.  We go back on the 14th of this month to turn in our passports and hopefully be granted the visa. 
Sister Funk's stake in Colorado made some materials for our primary to use.  Several of the items were for the music leader to use in teaching the songs to the children.  I loved that since music is my responsibility.  Some of the 8-11 year old girls made some friendship bracelets and also sent those.  Our girls loved receiving these bracelets.  They will become pen pals with the girls in Colorado.
Elder Meyers woke up this morning with pain in his right kidney.  We called our doctor, President Anton.  He was over at our apartment within the hour with pain medication.  Elder Meyers went to Church but still has some slight discomfort.

Realize what a blessed people we are.  The Lord loves us. Trust Him. Remember to be still and know that He is God!

Kate, Milli, Codi and Shamindri with
friendship bracelets

Dinuka's birthday party


 

Rail yard

We've seemed to stay busy this week but not lots that you would probably be interested in. It has rained almost every day this week.  It rains usually in the evenings.  You can hear thunder. Then the rain starts and before it is over the lightning begins.  The thunder and lightning are fierce.  I thought it was bad when I was a child in South Carolina but this is even worse.  They say it is rainy season and it will last for a few more weeks.
We spotted an antique car in our garage.  Elder Meyers took a picture for us to remember.  President Anton told us that it was a some kind of French car.  We see lots of old cars around here, many models that we have never seen before.
Thursday we were able to visit with Hycinth and Timothy.  They have been members of the Church for about six years now.  They are wonderful people.  Their daughter, Deandra, is serving a mission in England.  She will be home in five months.  She is their only child and they miss her terribly.  Timothy had been to the market before we arrived and I think, bought out the store.  They had pop, pizza, cutlets, and ice cream for us.  What we didn't eat they sent home with us.  They also sent a pineapple and papaya home with us.  We usually don't care for the papaya but this one was wonderful! At least I had made banana bread to leave with them.
On the way to Hycinth and Timothy's home we passed the railroad yards. People were getting off of work and headed either to the trains or the buses to get home.  That is their basic transportation around here for most people.  Elder Meyers shot the railroad yard as we were riding in our tri-shaw.
After leaving Hycinth and Timothy, we stopped by President Kolitha's home.  He was in Kandee but his wife, Primali and daughter, Sonali were home.  Sonali had a tutor working with her so we dropped off the banana bread we made for them and headed home.
Today,Sunday, we had a broadcast from Salt Lake.  It was the Asia Area Conference.  We really enjoyed it.  It is always nice to hear from our leaders.  Brother Osguthorpe of the Sunday School Presidency, Sister Dibbs of the YW presidency, Brother Burton of the Presiding Bishopric, Brother Perkins of the Asia Area Presidency and Brother Scott a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke.  It lasted for two hours so we got out of church early.  Elder Meyers conducted the meeting since they had requested that someone in the district leadership conduct and everyone else was gone. No one came to play the piano so I got selected to play the opening song.  I played, "Let Us All Press On."  As I was playing and listening to the few people singing, my mind thought about when I was a little girl and learned to play that song.  I had tried over and over to play that song but I was so frustrated.  I kept making mistakes and finally I yelled, "I can't play it!"  My mom, who was sitting beside me, yelled back, "You can play it!" At the same time she slapped me in my face.  I was so stunned that she had done that.  Through my tears I began to play that song and I have been able to play it ever since.  Thanks Mom for believing in me.
After church we had a YSA Fireside at our apartment.  Only three young men came but we had a great time together.  We listened to Sister and Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk that he had given to all YSA. We also enjoyed lunch together.  I had made mashed potatoes, gravy, fried chicken, deviled eggs, cabbage salad, pineapple, papaya and brownie cake.  Hagobian was happy that I had made what he calls, smashed potatoes.  He is getting married the end of February and he wants his wife to learn how to make smashed potatoes.
May you be happy and know that Father and Jesus are aware of you!  They bless our lives daily.

Antique car

Hycinth's house




 



Sis Hycinth and Bro Timothy

Bro V, Bro  Hagobian and Bro Raj at
YSA Fireside

Elder Jack and Sister Pamela Kellerstrass invited us to join them for a visit to the Colombo National Museum.  They had hired a van and came from Negombo.  They picked us up at our apartment on Monday.  We had a wonderful time together.  We enjoyed the museum but we especially enjoyed the visiting with each other.  It was nice to actually be able to understand everything that was being said.  Elder Kellerstrass is not a museum person so we went through the museum rather quickly.  There were some very interesting ancient items. After we left the museum we went to lunch at Hotel 168.  It is a Chinese place.  The food was delicious.  It was an extra good day for us all!
Elder Meyers was a little frustrated this week.  He is in charge of the distribution center here in Sri Lanka.  He had orders that had been out for over three months.  He kept asking Sundar in India if he needed to do anything to get his orders.  Sundar never answered.  On Thursday he got the Liahonas for the area.  He was short 23 Liahonas.  He came unglued.  He wrote Sundar and asked him why he was short so many.  Sundar didn't answer as normal.  Elder Meyers waited a while and decided to email President Robert William, second counselor in the mission presidency.  Within a few moments he got a response.  By Saturday morning DHL delivered all 23 of the Liahonas and several other items that had been ordered.
Friday evening we were out doing our home teaching.  Anura was our tri-shaw driver.  After we left Brother Jeffry's home in the middle of a thunder and lightening storm we ran through the down pouring rain, we discovered that the tri-shaw had a broken cable.  Anura and Brother Jeffry worked for a while and got it running enough to get us home. 
Today was the Children's Sacrament Presentation.  There were 13 children participating in the program.  The children knew their parts and they sang wonderfully.  President Kolitha gave the closing remarks.  He bore his testimony. With tears streaming down his face he pointed to the children and said, "You have just heard from the future of the Church in Sri Lanka." The Spirit was very strong! Many in the audience had tears as the meeting ended.
At the end of our singing time the children were treated to chocolate cake, candy, pop, marshmallows, and ice cream.  They were so excited about how well they had performed their presentation. We enjoyed singing some fun songs today.
Sometimes we wonder why we are here in Sri Lanka but after the program we felt like we knew why!

Sri Lankan cavemen

Oil lamps

Golden manuscripts

Skeleton of a Blue Whale



Dutch carriage



King's crown and throne




Cloth Paintings

Singing fun songs after the presentation



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