Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we went to Sister Basthiyan's grandfather's funeral. In Sri Lanka they feed everyone first. When we first arrived we were greeted by these cute children. Sister Jayarathne taught them some English. She taught them to greet us and tell us their names. They were so cute! The just loved Sister Jayarathne and followed her around.

This is a banner honoring the deceased. Instead of sending flowers the put up banners.

Streamers are hung down the driveways letting others know that someone has passed away.

Here's another banner from another company sending their condolences.

One more banner.

While waiting for the funeral to start we walked around the area. This is a well that was close by but almost empty.

Very beautiful place.

This funeral was held at the home. Many people stopped by to pay their respect. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So they started with a LDS funeral from the Branch he attended. Then he was a former Catholic so they preformed a service honoring him. 

Seven days later the family will participate in Alms Giving. They prepare food to give to the poor and others. This happens again in 30 days and then a year later.

No matter what religion it is hard to have a death. I am so grateful that I know we have a Loving Father in Heaven. That through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can return back to Our Father in Heaven and live with our families forever.

Visas, Pastports, Documents, Oh My! - November 22, 2017

Had to buy a printer so we could copy lots of documents. Bought it at the Singer store. I now know that Singer makes more than just sewing machines.

Our driver, Shantha and his family are going to the LDS Temple in the Philippines. To fly over there they have to get their visas and documents ready before they go. We found out that the church has a Temple fund. When someone is going to the temple for the first time the funding will cover their expenses. What a blessing for them. So Shantha, his wife and son will get to go. Their daughter served her mission in the Philippines before being transferred here in Colombo. Their son will serve in the Philippines Mission.

This is what a tuk tuk looks like inside. You can see the handle bars he drives with.

The back seat that we sit on is covered in pictures from Pirates of the Caribbean.

The sides also have pictures. Don't be jealous that we have a fancy tuk tuk. Tuk tuks can also be called a tri-sha or 3 wheeler. We are so blessed to have a great driver that we trust and helps us in so many ways. 🤗

Transfer Day! - November 21, 2017

We are officially here in Kandy! We left Colombo to work in Kandy.

While we are looking for an apartment we are staying at a nice Bed and Breakfast. They cook our breakfast and dinner. I may not want to leave here because we are very spoiled. 😉

Going to Galle - November 20, 2017

Today is Sister Jayarathne's birthday. One of the things she wanted to do was go and explore Galle. We left at 6:15 in the morning so we could explore all that is around here.

                Galle is a jewel. The seaside of Galle is 116 Km away from Colombo.

                    Driving down the south coast of Sri Lanka is very beautiful!

We were lucky to be able to see the scenery by van. Our driver was the best and knew about so many places to stop.

One place we stopped was the Galle Fort. Walking up to the fort we met this man. He had his boa, a monkey and a cobra.

Before I knew what was happening he had the boa around my neck! 😲

Hey Sisters! You were suppose to be by my side. Leaving me all alone with this boa around my neck! 😞

He also had a cobra snake. I didn't get close to that one.

On top of Galle. Galle Fort is in the Bay of Galle on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka.

It was built first in 1588 by the Portuguese, then it was extensively fortified bt the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards.

Did you know that the Galle Fort is a world heritage site and the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers? 🤔

                    After visiting the fort we stopped at this place for lunch.

                                                    Very nice ocean view.

                                                 I ordered fried fish and chips. Yum!

Elder Lathen had fish and chips. Ken had chicken fried rice. All the meals were huge.

                    After lunch we took more pictures of the ocean by the lighthouse.

                                             The Galle lighthouse was constructed in 1848.

                                       Building by the lighthouse.

Street down Galle.

Ken by the ocean.

Statue of Buhdda.

Stairs inside Buhdda.

Notice the beautiful painting. Even on the stairs.

Beautiful carvings!

Elephant outside the Buhddist Temple. A Buhddist ritual is for children to go under the belly, then under the trunk, then under the belly of an elephant. When they are finished they kiss the elephant which is to help them grow strong.

Very big Buhdda!

Stopped by a turtle sanctuary. They help raise 5 different types of turtles.

Turtle eggs that aren't going to hatch.

Two turtles enjoying the water.

This is an albino turtle named Micheal Jackson.

Isn't he cute!

Isn't he cute!

Some of the turtles they have have been hurt or are handicapped.

What a neat thing they are doing to help keep the turtles alive.

Played in the ocean for a while.

Temple out in the ocean.

More of the ocean.

Going on a boat ride with Sister Jayarathne, Sister Basthiyan,  and the Lathens.

The boat ride took us through many mangroves.

Boat Safari In Madu River

Men fishing

Fishing boats

Beautiful scenery 

Heading towards Cinnamon Island.

He is taking the bark off of a cinnamon branch. It smells so good! Couldn't resist. Had to buy cinnamon oil, cinnamon sticks and cinnamon spice. 😊

Making rope from hairs off a coconut.

Flower on the island.

They have the most beautiful flowers.

More scenery 

Clouds starting to roll in.

Getting darker!

Starting to rain.

Before we made it back to shore we were all very wet, even with a cover over the boat. Good thing it was warm. Once we landed they had towels for all of us to dry off. I wore jeans and it took two days for them to dry. 😄

The last thing we did was to sing happy birthday to Sister Jayarathne. Happy Birthday!

We had a super fun day and were so happy to share this day with some wonderful missionaries here in Sri Lanka!