Dilitha, Shamitha & Sis Eashani

Monday was a holiday for many here in Sri Lanka. It was Maha Sivarathri Day.  All I know is that it is a Hindu Holiday.  Sister Eashani didn't have to  work so she called and asked if she and the boys could come over and make cookies. Of course we were happy to have them come. I helped the boys make chocolate chip cookies.  They don't have chocolate chips here so we used what they call Pebbles.  They are similar to our M&Ms.  When the first dozen got done, I placed them on the towel to cool.  When I turned around they were all gone.  The boys loved them and they disappeared quickly.  It was fun having kids around and hearing their laughter!
After our English class on Wednesday, we walked down the street and met Maljini.  We flagged down a tri-shaw and went to an Italian restaurant.  It was called, The Bayleaf.  It was great Italian food.  They were having a special catered event on the lawn.  They had set up a canopy and decorated with lights.  They were also playing some wonderful music.  We sat on the balcony and enjoyed our meal.  It is always nice visiting with Maljini.  After dinner we walked down the block and stopped at a chocolate candy shop.  As we were leaving Maljini ran into one of her former students.  She introduced us to her.  She was Stephanie  Siriwardhana, Miss Sri Lanka 2011. She was a very nice young lady and beautiful also.
For Christmas we gave President Anton and his family a card that promised dinner for all their family.  They were to pick the time and place.  We finally got them to go on Saturday.  We had nine go to dinner at Hotel 168. Papa K, Ann, Anton, Codi, Milli, Anjini, and Jared all came for dinner.  We enjoyed eating and visiting.
The Primary children were so excited today.  We had a Weird Scientist come for singing time.  I was the Weird Scientist.  I had some clear jars with water and vinegar and others with just water.  A child was chosen to choose a jar. Each jar had a number on the lid and that number told us to sing a particular song.  After singing the song, the child would choose a spoon.  The spoon contained food coloring and baking soda.  The children loved the experiment.  Some ran when the vinegar and water started to bubble. I love watching these children's faces as they experience new things!
Thought for the week:
D&C 11:20
Behold, this is your work, to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength.

Balcony view at dinner

Maljini & Miss Sri Lanka 2011-Stephanie

Papa K and Codi

Anjini and Milli



Jared and Ann

Garrett-Weird science in Primary



Sri Lanka has been hit with price hikes on their petrol.  As a result many people have been rioting and protesting off and on all week.  We went to Negombo on Monday to interview a ten year old girl for baptism.  When we got to the center of Negombo we could see a group of people and police all over the place.  We were unaware of what was happening.  We were detoured and as a result we got lost since we don't know Negombo.  The driver didn't know the roads in Negombo either and he couldn't speak English.  Elder Meyers finally found the ocean. When he found the ocean he knew his way to the church. We would go down a street and it would be blocked with upturned boats or burning tires or stumps or logs from trees. There were thousands of people in the streets .  Many of the men and boys had sticks and were hitting people if they didn't listen to them.  This is the first time that I have actually been scared since we have been on our mission.
Elder Meyers went into the church an interviewed Chakkrawarthige Ann Rashni Dilshani Fernando.  Her brother, Milan, is serving a mission in the Philippines.
While Elder Meyers was interviewing Rashni, I walked down the street and took some pictures of one of the roadblocks.  An older gentleman came out of his house and shuck his finger at me and yelled, "Don't you do that again."  The next day I asked our tri-shaw driver, Anura, why he would do that.  Anura said that the people of Sri Lanka are afraid when they see white people taking pictures.  They think that they will be turned into the police and then the police will come to that neighborhood and hurt or even kill the people. 
As a result of all of this rioting, we have stayed close to home most of the week.  We were able to visit a few people that lived close.  One of those families was the Wijendren family.  Anthony, the dad, Cristion, the mom, Steven and John the sons.  Anthony, Cristion, and John were baptized about 6 years ago but it took Steven another 3 years before he was baptized.  Steven said that every new missionary came to teach him.  Steven is a wonderful 23 year old young man.  He is the 2nd counselor in the Colombo Branch.  He is a spiritual giant!  We loved feeling the spirit that was in this beautiful families home.
Kyle and Heather gave us a wonderful present on Friday, February 17th.  Nathaniel Joel Meyers was born at 5:40 pm weighing in at 8 pounds 9 ounces.  He was 20 and 1/2 inches long.  We got to visit with him, Kyle, Wesley, and Jonathen this morning.  He is a beautiful little boy.  No, we are not prejudice!
Sister Premila got her financee visa paper work done this week.  She is going to marry a member of the church that lives in Alaska.  She is so excited that things are beginning to move.  We helped her fill out the paper work and took it to DHL and mailed it for her.  Hopefully in 6-9 months she will be able to go to America and be sealed in the Salt Lake Temple to her husband to be, Matthew.
The Colombo Primary kids acted out the story of Nephi being tied up by his brothers.  They did this for sharing time.  The kids here really like to role play.  They are shy but they get into the role playing.
After church we had a Young Single Adult Fireside at our home.  We watched a CES YSA Fireside given by President Packer and then we served lunch.  I made Mandarin Chicken, with the sauce, and fried rice.  We had German Chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert. 
Weekly message:
1 Nephi 17:3
"And if it so be that the children of men keep the commandments of God he doth nourish them, and strengthen them, and provide means whereby they can accomplish the thing which he has commanded them."
We will still have trials and challenges but He will help us through those!

Road blocks in Negombo

Rashni Fernando

Sis Premila with financee' papers

John, Anthony, Cristion and Steven

Primary role playing

YSA Fireside: Elder Meyers, Steven, Premila,
Shehara, Roddi and Hagobian

Drummers and dancers

Our dear friend, Maljini, invited us to attend the Colombo Nawam Maha Perahera on Monday with her and another friend of hers, Theona.  Theona has been teaching German here in Sri Lanka for twelve years.  She will be returning to her home in England in a few months.
We loved Perahera.  It was a huge parade.  There were thousands of drummers, dancers, fire twirlers, three legged men dancing, Buddhist monks, Buddhas, and anything else that you might think of.  There were 45 elephants in the parade.  It was awesome watching all the lovely sites and listening to so many sounds. Many that were foreign to us.
The parade took 3 hours once it got started.  This is the first time that we have been in such an enormous crowd.  I think this is the biggest crowd that we have ever been in in our whole life. It was a very enjoyable and exciting time for us to experience.
We visited with Sister Margaret on Tuesday.  She is a very small woman.  She is less than five feet tall.  She is always smiling.  She doesn't speak much English but you can tell what she is trying to say to you. Her home was about an hour away from us.  She had prepared some food for us to eat, Manoka (something kinda like a potato) and Sambal(coconut with chili powder and onions).  I really liked both of them.  Elder Meyers had problems eating the spicy Sambal.  We enjoyed our time with her and she was happy that we had made the trip just to see her.
We continue to teach Brother Kumar.  He has many problems in his life and is having a hard time committing himself.  He is reading and praying and coming to Church.  We are happy about that.
We are also teaching a family, Andrew, Ayoni, and Ann. They are a wonderful family. They feel they don't have time to read the Book of Mormon.  We all know that they must read and find out for themselves if they are going to be converted.  This week we gave The Plan of Salvation Discussion.  I shared our experience with the death of Asher and showed them his picture.  I told them that I knew our Heavenly Father lives, Jesus is the Christ and we have this wonderful Plan that will help us be reunited with those that have died.  I could feel Asher's spirit as I shared this with this special family.  We want to see them become an eternal family but they have to do their part in order for that to happen.
Saturday we had a terrible thing happen to our Sister Jasmine.  Her husband beat her and she was sent to the hospital.  We went to visit her.  She was talking about going back to him.  We encouraged her to pray and seek help from the police and her family.  Elder Meyers gave her a blessing and another lady in the ward saw this and asked if he would pray for her, so he did.  Sister Jasmine has two beautiful little girls. I worry about all of them but I guess this has been going on for years and Jasmine just keeps going back to him.  She must be strong and make life better for herself and her girls.  Our hearts are sad when we see things like this happening to those that we love.
After Seminary/Institute we had our monthly Faith in God Activity.  The 8-11 year old primary children learned the 4th Article of Faith and everyone of them were able to pass it off by the time the activity was over.  We also took all of the primary chairs outside and washed them as a service project.  They had a blast working, talking, and laughing together.  A few even got a little wetter than necessary.  The activity ended with German Chocolate Cake being served.  Everyone enjoyed the treat!  Many had never had German Chocolate Cake.
Our message for the week:
Believe in God; Believe that he is, and that he created all things both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.(Mosiah 4:9)

Theona and Maljini

Buddhas to start the parade

Elephant dressed for the parade

More elephants

Monks & more monks-young and old

Fire twirlers

Sister Margaret

A country scene

Primary "Faith in God" activity

Rose from Sis Ann-family we are teaching

This week we have had the opportunity to teach a family.  The family has a son serving a mission for the Church in New Zealand.  We taught them their 1st discussion on Monday evening.  It was a special time for us and think for them also.  Ayoni, the mom, doesn't speak English but she understands what we are saying to her.  The Spirit was very strong as Elder Meyers told the Joseph Smith story. I invited them to read the Book of Mormon and they all agreed.  We gave Andrew, the dad, and Ann, the daughter, an English copy of the Book of Mormon.  Then we handed Ayoni her copy, it was in Sinhala.  She gave us a big smile as we said you can read it in your own language.  We have another appointment with them this week.  Pray that the Spirit witnesses to them the truth of what they are being taught.
Wednesday after English we met with Kumar.  He has had three discussions but is at a stand still.  We read 3 Nephi chapter 18 with him and discussed it.  Then we shared two of the commandments with him.  We talked about keeping the sabbath day holy and the word of wisdom.  We had been told that he drinks by his friend that introduced him to us.  Kumar was concerned with no being able to drink tea.  Tea is really big with almost everyone around here.  He did come to church today.  We were happy to see him and he stayed for all the meetings.
Friday was Inservice for the seminary/institute teachers.  Sister  Nimeshi from Kandy came at 9:45 but Sister Sharon didn't show up until 11:30.  The meeting was suppose to start at 10:00.  This was the first time that we had met with Sister Nimeshi so it gave us time to train her in record keeping and we also got to know her better.  When Sharon came Elder Meyers gave the lesson and then we had lunch.  Sister Nimeshi left and Sister Sharon and her baby, Whitney Rochelle (I call her Charlie), stayed another two hours until her dad came for them.
Today we set up the Distribution Display one more time.  The members that were unable to attend earlier were happy that we gave them another chance to order church items.  Elder Meyers has been working all afternoon to organize the order and prepare it to send to India.

In 3 Nephi 18:15 it tells us to: "Watch and pray always lest ye be tempted by the devil." Prayer is a protection to keep Satan from us. Prayer will also bring us all closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!

Andrew, Ayoni, and Ann Seneviratne

Sis Nimeshi and Sis Sheron

Sri Lankan sunset

It seems our weeks are getting busier and busier.  We love it!
On Monday we were invited by our dear friend, Maljini, to go to High Tea.  She was a little apprehensive about inviting us to tea.  She quickly explained that tea and coffee would be served but there would be other drinks to choose from also. 
When we arrived at Galle Face Hotel, we were amazed at the atmosphere.  They had a live saxophone player that played lots of songs that we even recognized.  High Tea started at 4 pm and ended at 6 pm. We were there a few minutes before 4 and all the tables were full except for one.  There were 72 tables in the area.
There was a sign with names of all the important people that had visited. Among those names were Richard Nixon, Gregory Peck, Prince Charles, King George, and many others. We figured our names would be added after we left.(ha ha)
Along with drinks there were all sorts of food to eat.  Some were western foods such as pizza, hamburger, pastas, and others were Sri Lankan foods such as cutlets, curries, and etc.  They also had a wide variety of desserts.
It was beautiful to sit under the covered area of the hotel while eating and watching the ocean with the sun starting to set. We had to leave the area at 6 but we walked out and sat in the chairs on the lawn and finished watching the sun set as a cruise ship sailed in front of the sun.  We are grateful to be here and partake of such beauty!
Brother Kumar is having many difficulties as he is taking the discussions.  We have taught him his third discussion and will meet with him again on Wednesday to review some of the things that we have discussed with him.  He drinks and needs to overcome that before his mind is clear enough to do what he really needs to do. He is unemployed and needs to find work but his drinking is getting in the way of finding and keeping a job.  He is the only one that can stop the drinking and commit to the gospel.  We are doing what we can to help.  We ask for your prayers for him to overcome this addiction.
Friday and Saturday we were involved with the Distribution Center Display.  Brother Sunil and Brother Sundar came from India to set up the display and train the clerks in each branch so that they could do the ordering for the members.  Right now Elder Meyers is the Distribution Center in Sri Lanka.  He does all the ordering of books, pictures, DVDs, garments, or anything else that the Distribution Center sales.
On Friday we traveled to Negobo.  We left here at 10 am. Many of the members came and ordered lots of items.  Elder Meyers attended the training and worked with Anura, the clerk, to help the members fill out their orders. We finally got home around 10:30 pm.  We started all over on Saturday and did the same display and training in Colombo. 
After the display we attended the wedding dinner of Shilo and Niranji. In Sri Lanka the bride and groom to be go and register with a registrar and they are considered married.  I think this couple registered in March of 2011 but didn't perform the ceremony until Saturday. They are going to be sealed in the Philippines Temple on Monday. 
We just skyped with the Kellerstrasses who are still in India.  They want to come back to Sri Lanka but their visas have not been granted yet.  They are very discouraged.  The lawyers are now involved and they say the only way to overcome this is to get the Church recognized as a church in Sri Lanka. That will happen but the Kellerstrasses will probably be reassigned somewhere else in the process.  It could take a year or more to get the Church recognized.
Pray for the Kellerstrasses, the country of Sri Lanka, and the wonderful people who live in this area of the world.  May God bless us all!

Live saxophone player

Sri Lankan chef

Galle Face Hotel

Looking south along the ocean front

Beautiful sunset

Cruise ship in the sunset

Wedding dancers at Galle Hotel

Bro Sundar & Bro S.V. Sunil from India

Shilo & Niranji at wedding dinner

Bro Shilo & Sis Niranji with cake

Where has January gone?  We have been very busy and the time is flying.  We love it when that happens!
This week we were able to visit several families.  Some of them are families that we have already seen but we did visit a few new families and were able to take their pictures. 
We saw Sister Emily Mary Amerasckara.  She is 86 years old and lives in an elderly home.  She has been a member about 26 years but is now less active.  She enjoys us and we love our visits with her.
Brother Jeffry took us to one of his friend's home for a visit.  The mother is Nancy Fernando.  As we walked into the small neighborhood, young children were all over.  They stared as we passed them and then they began to wave, smile, say hello, and follow us.  We felt like we were on parade. When we found the small home, we went inside and the children stood in the doorway until they were told to leave. Nancy and her three children were home.  Her husband came in for a few minutes but had to get to work driving his tri-shaw.  We enjoyed our visit with Nancy and the children.  We invited them to come to seminary.  Since we are teaching the Old Testament, Brother Jeffry thought they might come.
Sister Ann took us to Sister Munjubhani's home.  Sister Munjubhani is a member of the Church.  She has two daughters and a son.  She loves animals and has at least 3 dogs and 2 cats.  She is a marriage registar.  In Sri Lanka when you register to marry you are considered legally married. 
Elder Meyers was asked to run Mutual for the Colombo Young Men since their leader couldn't be there on Saturday.  He helped the young men make cookies.  They loved it!  The fun part was watching how fast the cookies disappeared.  It was like magic! 
The big event this week was having Matthew Wilkinson come from Alaska.  Matthew was introduced to Sister Premila, our primary president, through face book and they are now engaged to be married.  Matt arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday.  He and Premila toured several sites in Sri Lanka on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday they called to see if Matt could stay here for the night.  The heat was unbearable for him at Premila's home.  He stayed here Friday night and Saturday.  He loved having an air conditioner in his bedroom.
Saturday evening we were invited to Premila's home for dinner. Premila, her mother, and aunts provided a feast for Sister Ann, Sister Sherine, Matt, Elder Meyers and Sister Meyers.  We enjoyed meeting Premila's family.
While at Premila's we had Matt demonstrate how he proposed to Premila in a small cafe here in Sri Lanka. It is hard to see Matt and Premila struggle with the cultural differences.  Matt tries to be a gentleman by opening doors, pulling her chair out, and using his manners.  Some of these things clash with the Sri Lankan culture.  Premila has a hard time holding his hand, hugging him, or showing any kind of affection toward him.  She wants to but it is so hard because Sri Lankans just don't show affection for their mates in public.
Matt and Premila have had a great visit! Matt will leave this evening and return home.  Now the waiting begins. After Matt turns in the paper work for Premila's visa to the USA government, it could take up to a year for Premila to get to the United States.  Once she is allowed to enter the United States they will have 90 days to get married.  They hope to be married in the Salt Lake Temple by this time next year.
It is wonderful to be the Lord's servants here in Sri Lanka!

Niccoliyan, Nancy Fernando, Sarana & Asha

Sister Munjubhani. Harith and daughter

Emily Mary Amerasekara

Elder Meyers teaching YM to bake cookies

What a spread of food!

Matt, Premila and her family

Matt proposing to Premila

Matt & Premila

The great news of the week is that we have another religious visa in our hands!  President Anton has worked very hard to make this possible.  When he delivered them to us he jokingly said, "Now you are called to extend for another six months so you can use up all the visa."  He has put much time, effort, and prayer into our visas.  He and his wife, Ann, were both fasting for our visas to come quickly.
The Kellerstrasses are still in India because their visa hasn't been granted yet. We are grateful for the Lord's tender mercies in our behave.
We have experienced a busy week.  All our classes are back in full swing.  We have four English Classes this year.  One is held on Sunday after church for the Relief Society Sisters.  We hold two on Tuesday and one on Wednesday.  There are two seminary/institute classes.  One on Friday, that one is usually just one young man that can't make it to our regular class on Saturday because of his work.  Saturday is the main seminary/institute class.  We were excited to have eight students there on Saturday.  We have a few others that have asked to come.  Some are older than institute age but we welcome all who want to attend. This years course of study is the Old Testament.  We are excited to learn more about the Old Testament for ourselves.
Thursday we delivered a Book of Mormon to a young man that had requested one online.  We located his address and discovered his mother was the only one home.  We couldn't speak the language so Anura, our tri-shaw driver, repeated what we said to the mother.  As we were walking back to the tri-shaw he said, "You are like angels."  I replied, "We are definitely no angels."  He went on to explain that this might change this young man's life forever, so he considers us angels. Just as Anura made us feel special for doing what we needed to do, all the members encourage and help us daily.
Saturday, Sister Kanthi and her daughter, Sandreen, invited us out to their home for lunch.  They live about an hour out of Colombo.  Sister Kanthi had gotten up early to have lunch ready by noon.  She had so much food.  She kept dishing more and more food on our plates. We were so full when lunch was over.  They all enjoyed looking at my Grandma photo album.  While we were there Sister Kanthi's daughter-in-law who isn't a member of the church asked  Elder Meyers to give her son a blessing.  He isn't speaking at all.  He is only a two and a half years old but she is concerned. Elder Meyers gave Shanilka a blessing and told his mother to relax, that the Lord would bless her son. As we went to get into the tri-shaw Aveesha, Sandreen's year and a half old son, climbed into the tri-shaw and snuggled up to me.  He waved bye to his mom.  After a few minutes Sandreen took him out. He had tears in his eyes because he wanted to go with us.  Sandreen told me at church today that he cried really hard after we left.
At church today we both spoke.  I spoke on how the scriptures are important in our lives and how they can be personal revelation to us.  I want to thank my children for giving me experiences to speak about today.  Many people in the audience were touched.  Elder Meyers spoke about seminary and institute. It is wonderful to see how meek, mild, and Christlike that Elder Meyers is in the mission field.  He has always been that way, at times, but he is constantly that way now.
Know that Heavenly Father lives.  He wants us to be happy.  He provided us with Jesus Christ to help us return to Him. 
Love those that are around you.  Forgive those that have hurt your feelings.  Life is too short to be angry and upset.  Forgive, forget, and move on in your life. Remember the Lord is always there for you.

First Seminary/Institute class of 2012

Aveesha and Shanilka

Sister Kanthi

Sis Kanthi's daughter-in-law and Sis Sandreen