Critter Night

Tonight we visited a couple of homes with the Elders. Since we all can't fit unto Shantha`s 3 wheeler we call the prettiest driver in Kandy along with her daughter to translate. They aren't members but love hearing about the Gospel.

Here's a story problem for you. If you have 10 people in a room and one leech who will it attach itself to? You got it, ME! 😲 I don't know why because I put on extra bug repellant and they still like me. Going to try some balm called, siddhalepa. It has cinnamon and eucalyptus oil in it. Also, suppose to be good for headaches. We'll see.

Having a drink of hot Nestamalt. Sort of like hot chocolate but a lot sweeter.

After leaving a home this little bird decided to get out of the rain and stay warm in the 3 wheeler.

    The little girl now has a pet bird. She was able to take it home with her.

After we arrived back to Our room we found a lizard in our room running across my shoes. These moth balls are in the room to help keep the critters out. Guess we better take them out of the baggy. 😉

School Days!

Ok, let's practice our alphabet. This is a Sinhala alphabet chart. We've picked up a few words, but not whole sentences yet. I can count to three, eka, deka, tuna! We are still learning how to pronounce names and places. We make people laugh a lot with our pronunciations sometimes.

Schooling here is very important. Some children go six days a week. Some even attend classes on Sundays.

Every school that were know about wears uniforms. They all are white, which I feel bad for the moms trying to keep things clean. Parents provide their own transportation and send them with home lunches.

This picture is showing children praying. Most school starts at 7:00 am, but we've seen children at school earlier. School ends at 1:30. There are private schools, Government schools, International Schools, Buddhist Schools, Muslim Schools, Christian Schools and even some Home schoolers that we know about.

Today I learned that when I wash clothes I need to turn the water on. They won't get very clean without water.🤣 Good thing we are staying with people who are kind and can help me.

We had a District Meeting with the Elders and the Branch Mission Leader. Starting to plan what we can do for the week. After our meeting we took them out to lunch. This time we went to KFC. Chicken wasn't too bad.

Met with President Kumara, Branch President. We are excited to plan with him and support the Branch. He gave us permission to clean out the library. So we started to clean it up. After four loads of trash we can at least see the floor. I hope the librarians don't have hear attacks when they walk in Sunday. 😉 We still will visit with what they need to update their supplies.

We are getting ready for a baptism this Sunday.

Things are going well here. The hardest thing is missing family but we know we are needed here. Sure love my companion, couldn't be here without him. Love our family support and being able to talk to them often. They are Missironaries right along with us. Love them and our Savior Jesus Christ! ❤

Peradeniya Meeting

Meeting day at the University of Peradeniya. We have volunteered to teach English here. Still a lot of paper work to make it official. Meet with the Dean and his staff next Monday.

Some of the green hillside around the campus.

A building on campus.

More buildings.

More scenery.

Still raining here. This is monsoon season.

After our meeting at the University we went to an alms giving. A lady in the Branch lost her father three months ago. Alms giving involves giving to others as an act of virtue.  The basis of the practice is the belief that if the dead relative has been reborn in an unhappy existence he would expect his relatives to transfer merit in this manner as these departed spirits are incapable of performing any meritorious deed on their own such as eating and drinking.

This is the stream we crossed to get to her home.

These flowers and plants are hung from the ceiling. They are things that Buddha liked.

President Bandaris and his wife.

Brother and Sister Sansoni.

President Anton (gentleman helping us to volunteer at the University) and Kumar (Our wonderful driver).

Streamers outside the home letting others know about the Alms giving.

The white stuff is called curds. It has a texture like yogurt. It is made out of buffalos milk.

This sweet syrup you put over the curds. It is made from the coconut tree. Good stuff!

The lady in the middle is Rodeni, her father is the one that passes away 3 months ago. Sister Ilani is on the other side, she is a good help to me learning about the people in the Branch.

Monday Monkeys

This morning the monkeys were having fun around the place we are staying. Look closely and you will see a baby monkey. There were at least three mommas carrying their babies.

Monkeys are fun for us to watch but for the locals they can become a pest. The get into mischief and can ruin wires and homes.

                   One of the trails we found on our walk this morning.

You never know what you'll see along the trail. This is an old cobra nest. Even though they say there are no cobras we didn't dare get close enough to find out.

A yummy meal of noodles, soup and chicken. After every dinner we always get Ice cream with bananas, or pineapple or guava. Yum! Yum! 🍧🍨

Still raining outside. This is a view from looking out the window in our 3 wheeler.

With the rain today we stayed at the Guest House. Our host, Iroma, made a fry bread. It is made out of coconut and flour. It was a good snack. I'm going to try and make it some day.

#Light the World

Last Christmas Season, people around the world United to share their light by emulating Jesus Christ's example of service. This year, you can continue to #Light the World by putting one of Christ's teachings into action each day leading up to Christmas. Find a different teaching and new corresponding service ideas every day starting December 1. Go to LDS.org for more information if interested.

                          Setting the chapel up for church this morning.

         These are the stairs that lead to the library and other classrooms.

Door into the Branch President's office.

Still raining. The temperature was down to about 71 degrees Fahrenheit.  We loved it but the locals were all cold. This is a view outside the church.

Our mode of transportation coming and going today. 

It was a good day being in Kandy. We met a lot of people and got a lot of hugs. I can't remember everyone's name yet but I could feel of their love. I was able to talk in church about kidness and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Rainy Saturday!

Picture outside the place where we are currently staying. It's been raining most of the afternoon and evening. Luckily this morning we rode into town to get some shopping done before the rain started.

This afternoon we relaxed, read, and prepared our talks for tomorrow in Sacrament Meeting.

Even with the rain I did some laundry and hung it in our room with the new clothes rack we bought. I do miss our dryer at home.

The electricity even went out. It was probably off for about an hour.

                                            We even have blue thunder! 😉

House Hunting

Decisions, decisions! Today we looked at apartments to move into. We found some good places that are close fairly close to the church. Here are some pictures of different places that we looked at.

Bathroom

Kitchen

Living room. Some places come furnished and others we will have to buy the furnishings.

Bedroom

Another bathroom

Kitchen

When we make our final decision we'll post pictures.

Our day ended by teaching with the Elders two investigators. We had dinner together and enjoyed the evening.