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Well, we have had everything in May. We couldn’t have squeezed any more into this month. We had a District Conference and Zone Conference. We saw Sri Lanka celebrate the Visak Poya Day and end of a nearly three-decade war. Kate Sandrasagara got baptized and we have identified several others who want to be taught. We had our fifth Saturday CES fireside and Seminary scripture mastery super Saturday, culminating in a beach party, BBQ, and dance. We had one young lady get her mission call, another young man submit his papers, and still another young man start the preparation process. So we have been busy. Still we made time to help the District President and his wife celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.
First of all, District Conference was wonderful, although we started out miserable. We were supposed to initiate webcasting with this conference. We would set up in Colombo and webcast the meetings to Negombo and Kandy. It would reduce travel time and encourage more members to attend conference. We got all the Internet access set up (in Sri Lanka this is a major issue) and the final piece was to come from India. When the Brethren got here from India on the Tuesday before conference with the final piece of equipment to run the final test, they left the equipment and a lot of personal items (laptop, Ipod, money, etc.) in the trishaw that brought them to the church. Since they caught the trishaw on the street and not a stand, it was next to impossible to trace the driver. We felt that this poor trishaw driver had a huge choice to make. He could return the stuff and hope for a small reward or he could keep and sell the stuff and bring in more money than he could earn in a year. Although he made the wrong choice, we can understand how tough a decision this was for this poor fellow. After two days of searching and prayer, we decided we would have to cancel the webcast and have all the members come to Colombo. With conferences starting on Saturday and only two days to notify the members, we had a pretty good turnout for conference. Of course, the Sunday session was better attended than the Saturday session.
In any case, the conference was great. We heard from a variety of speakers, including President Nichols, Sister Nichols, President William (2nd Counselor in the Mission Presidency), and President Kumarasamy (the District President). We won't bore you with a lot of what was said, but we would like to mention one issue that is huge in Sri Lanka and we think it’s something we face throughout the Church. President Kumarasamy gave an outstanding talk on the subject. The subject is culture. Many of the issues the Saints face here are culture-related. Now the Church is big on culture expression, but he correctly pointed out that when we join the Church, the dominating culture in our lives is the Culture of Jesus Christ. We covenant to take on the name of Christ, to keep His commandments, to stand as witnesses of Him, and to live our lives by His example; that trumps everything else. One of the big issues here is arranged marriage. As a result, the relationship between husbands and wives isn’t as strong as the relationship between parent and child. We have run into a lot of families where the father lives with one child and the mother lives down the lane (less than ½ kilometer away). In the culture of Jesus Christ the relationship between husband and wife is the most important. “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” This practice continues to perpetuate itself from generation to generation. President Kumarasamy pointed out the direction given us by the Lord through His servants the prophets in the “Proclamation to the World on the Family.” He said Sri Lankans are to listen to the servants of the Lord on this matter and change the way they do things; that this generation needs to take a stance for culture of Jesus Christ and forsake the old culture.
Later President Nichols pointed out some personal things from his life to illustrate what President Kumarasamy was talking about. He told of his parents, who were both raised in dysfunctional families. He went into more details, but dysfunctional will suffice our purposes. Anyway, they met and fell in love. They married when he was 19 and she was 17 and both families provided no support to them. They realized for their marriage to survive they had to move away from their family and change some things. They moved to Alaska and were doing the best they could when they were introduced to the Church some 13 years later. Today with husbands and wives they have 57 folks dedicated to each other and the gospel from those two; because two took a stand, now 57 and counting have a chance. It was a very emotional and personal talk that reminded Elder Mills of his own life. The point is when you have the gospel you must forsake all other cultures to become a true disciple of Christ.
In you have forgotten, Poya Day comes on the full moon each month and celebrates some important points in Buddha’s life or his activity in Sri Lanka. Well May is the biggest of them all. It’s called Visak. It represents three important events in Buddha’s life. It celebrates his birth, his enlightenment, and his death. Instead of the one-day affair, it goes on for a week. There are lights decorating the city (like Christmas for us); all types of lanterns are made, and there is free food (curry and rice, ice cream, drinks, etc.). They have displays up and down the streets in certain areas of the city and they are judged by a competition committee. We were advised to avoid crowds, but we wanted to experience a little of the celebration. Our trishaw driver, Anurun, took us out one night and we were able to take in some of the excitement. The queue for the rice and curry was more than two blocks long and growing before they started serving. Most of the drinks were coffee or tea, so we did not partake. We did get to see some of the magnificent displays. One we loved in particular was a display of drawings celebrating events in Buddha’s life done by school children. We wanted to talk to somebody and ask questions about the art work, but we couldn’t find anyone. We remembered this holiday from last year, but we couldn’t remember it being this interesting. We guess 16 months in the country versus four months in the country changes your perspective on things. In any case, we enjoyed it so much more this time.
We went to India for Zone Conference and will go back one more time before we leave. In fact, we go back the last week of our mission. We will have our release interview at that time and pick up the new couple and bring them back to Sri Lanka. We will have nearly two days with them before we leave to come home.
In India we got to stay with the Asplunds. They are a wonderful couple from Utah by way of California. They moved to Utah after retiring from education careers. They are Seminary and Institute missionaries so we had a lot to share with each other. While we were there we went to a five-star hotel to have a snack at one of the eateries and walked around the grounds. Of course we did some shopping. Sister Asplund is a world-class bargainer so she was helping us negotiate some purchases. Every time we asked the shop keeper how much, he would point to Sister Asplund and say, "Don’t worry, she’ll set the prices." We must say she helped get some outstanding deals. They also took all the couples out to a BBQ restaurant called BBQ Nation. What an interesting concept. Everything is a buffet. They have a pit at each table where they place the hot coals. They bring what they call the appetizers—shrimp, chicken, peppers, potatoes in every variety. They keep bringing it until you say enough, and after that you get to eat from the buffet of side dishes and desserts. We all enjoyed it.
We always have great talks during conference, and we would like to share part of one. Sister Nichols gave an excellent presentation on the reformation to the restoration. She used a timeline and pointed the contribution made by the reformers. She identified the things that had to be in place before true reform could be made (such as the printing press), and talked about the perfect timing it took to prepare the world for the restoration. Many of the things she discussed we knew, but it still gave us pause. It is always good to reflect on Heavenly Father’s plan and how He uses weak things to confound great things.
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Sister Premila Hewawasam received her mission call to the Brisbane Australia Mission, and she was so excited. It was special to see how excited her family was. They are all Buddhist, but wanted to share this important moment in their daughter's and sister's life. President Nichols brought her call from India, but he got his flight information wrong.
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The WAR is over. When we came to Sri Lanka on January 18, 2008, we had just read that the cease-fire was over and the government planned to bring all its resources to defeat the LTTE. Now, seventeen months later, they have officially defeated the LTTE. That’s a good thing. The only down side is the hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians still being held in internment camps with little or no sustaining aide getting to them. We fear that thousands will die before the international community can get in to help. We invite your prayers for all the displaced people in the internment camps. The conditions are horrible.
All the folks here are glad that it’s over. There were all types of celebrations, both spontaneous and organized. The government ordered all schools and government agencies to organize a celebration to honor the war heroes. There was a massive parade and program involving more than two hundred thousand people. Everywhere you went there were smaller but just as exuberant parades and parties honoring the soldiers. We were told to avoid the crowds again. This time we did. Anyone that calls on the government to let aide groups in the internment camps are considered LTTE supporters. They already have had attacks on the British and Canadian embassies. So far the US embassy hasn’t been hit. There has been all kinds of rhetoric in the paper. Still they love the Americans and want their support.
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We had our last Seminary and Institute fifth Saturday activity on May 30. There was a CES fireside featuring Elder Hales and Seminary scripture mastery games. Elder Hales spoke on “Seeking the Spiritual High Ground.” While that is important everywhere, it is especially important here. Most of our members are first-generation members in a country that is officially the only Buddhist nation in the world. There are many countries where Buddhism is the major religion, but this is the only one where it is the official religion. Our young people are faced with ridicule and many are disowned by their families. They need a high place to withstand the attacks and temptations of the adversary. The Seminary age youth competed in several games for various types of chocolates and other tasty treats.
We went to the beach and a good time was had by all. The black flag was up so we couldn’t do anything but put our feet in the water. We had several games including volleyball, cricket, and rugby. Sister Mills walked in the water and tossed the ball around with some of the young people. Elder Mills played rugby with the young men. He tackled some young kid and drove him into the sand only to find later they were playing touch rugby and no tackling is allowed. We think the kids could have stayed at the beach forever, but we came back to the dhurch to eat and dance. The food was great. The young people grilled it using coconut shells. We had chicken and hot dogs (real stuff), baked beans, and salad. All the food preparers were outstanding. We danced a little and bid farewell until the next time—only it was our last time. We will truly miss working with the young folks; they are a joy.
For anyone who may be interested, these are our travel plans. We leave at 12:20 a.m. on June 30 and arrive in Utah at 6:30 p.m. the same day. We plan to stay in Utah until July 8, and plan to have a Mills family reunion there. We pray that most of our kids and grandkids can be there. We will also celebrate a grandson’s birthday; Malachi is a great kid. The last time we celebrated Malachi’s birthday he turned 7 on 7/7/07. We missed last year; we were here. After leaving Utah, we will arrive in St. Louis on July 9. We stay in Denver overnight on July 8. We plan to visit family and friends for about a week and then go to Baltimore. We will be there for a week and head for Florida. We will be there for two weeks relaxing and house hunting. Following that it will be back to Baltimore to load up furniture and move. We don’t have a phone or an address at this time. As soon as we get vital information we will let you know.
This has been a great trip. We thank God for the opportunity to share our humble testimonies with the people and Saints of Sri Lanka. We will forever have a place in our hearts for them. We love them and pray for their well-being. The beauty of the gospel is love. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God Bless you all, and we will see you in a few days—at least, it seems like a few days to us.
—Elder and Sister Mills
The Mills are serving in Sri Lanka and can be reached by mail at:
N Mills
2 Anderson Road
Colombo 5, Sri Lanka