This Page is Dedicated to my Grandchildren

On Wed. The Mills arranged for a bus to take us to the Elephant Orphange. It's about 2 1/2 hours by bus on the road to Candy. We spent the entire day and enjoyed every minute of it. This photo shows a 3 legged elephant. You can see the hump on his back developed from carrying the weight on 3 legs.

Some of the missionaries walking to the river. Every day at about 10 a.m. they run the elephants to the river to bath and drink.

There was a large field spotted with elephants when we first arrived. We were fascinated. This is Sister Asplund that serves with her husband in Bangalore. They are CES missionaries.

There was only one elephant with big tusks. He's blind.

This baby elephant was hovering close to mama but didn't seem to be afraid of us.

It's the time of year when the water is low so the elephants didn't do a lot of bathing. There were a few that laid down in the water and a few that blew water.....Mostly they just wondered around in the water. We noticed a few of the work guys throwing water at the elephants and bathing them. The elephants loved the attention.

Another mama with her baby.

I was behind a rail or this boy would have run right over me. He came by so close that I could touch him.

We left the orphange and drove a few miles to this place where we had to cross the swinging bridge to get across the water.

Bamboo tree.

So now we can say we've ridden an elephant. For those of you who know Elder Kasper well.....You know that he gave up riding horses because they always buck him off or just lay down when he is on. With a little coaxing he was a good sport.....He was tense....I had fun!!

We took a little ride through the tropical scenery. He was hoping the elephant would not put his head down to eat. He was afraid he would slide right off. Everytime the elephant took a step you would feel like you were being pulled to that side. That made him nervous too!!

They gave Elder this stick for a picture.....It took everything he had to let go. I think I laughed the entire ride.

It wasn't just a fun ride but a beautiful ride.

Independence Hall and more

We spent a fabulous week in Sri Lanka. Beautiful beaches. Fantastic sunrises and sunsets. (My kids think we are on vacation....not a mission) It was a vacation....We are so blessed with a wonderful mission president who believes in enjoyment along with the work. It also gives us an appreciation for all sides of India and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is part of our mission. There were visa problems last August and all missionaries had to leave the country accept for the native missionaries and The Mills!

Kids playing at the science museum. They love their picture to be taken.

This is Independence Hall!! a tribute to the history of Sri Lanka and their liberty. We loved this place.

This is a picture of a few of the 13 couples that met for a mission conference. We really did have a great conference with Pres and Sister Nichols. We met on Thursday and Friday and discussed and learned from each others experiences. The president shared some of his plans for the mission with us.

More photo's of Independence Hall.

Intricate art on tiles of the building. We said "This is the mormon pioneers crossing the plains!" It looks like that huh???

Pictures like this high on the wall tell a story of some of the history of Sri Lanka.

You see dad gazing up at the picture above.

Looks like they are all very interested in that craft work. You can see the tiles on the pillars. Each one is different and hand carved.

Nothing plain about this place. Intricate art work everywhere.

It looked like a good place to rest.

Elder Dosdall showing off his teeth to the lion. Sister Fairbanks is taking his picture.

Buddha

We spent the whole week in Sri Lanka. 85% of the people are Buddhist. In India you see Hindu temples everywhere. In Sri Lanka you see Buddha statues everywhere.

Every side of this little temple had a window with 4 little Buddha dolls like this.

Another beautiful temple that was very near to our hotel.

The Nielson's serve in Visak. We were out shopping and walked by a Buddhist temple. This nice man asked us if we would like to go in. We had a nice visit with him and he told us to take our shoes off and we could go into the temple.

This is the statue we saw inside the temple

This statue was outside the temple.

Sister Linton on the left. Our tour guide for our city tour. Elder Fairbanks and his wife are over Humanitarian work in the mission. Sister Asplund on the right. This was Independence Hall.

Beautiful tropical country and statues everywhere.

Another Buddha finished in gold. Tropical island spells vacation.

This was one of my favorite Buddha's.

Colombo....Sri Lanka

This is the church house in Colombo. We had a tour and it's a beautiful building.

Elder & Sister Mills are the couple serving in Sri Lanka. They are from Baltimore Maryland. Great people. Ann is on her right and she is the wife of the district president. I can't wait to tell you his story. He has a beautiful story of how he came to know the church.

I wish I had taken more shots of the beautiful flowers here.

Hilton Hotel Swimming pool. We didn't bring swimming clothes so we just sat by the pool.

Sitting around the pool on Friday. It's the end of the week and we were all trying to take in this little bit of fun we were having together.

The building on the left is where we ate breakfast most every morning. Tropical Beautiful Sri Lanka.

Everywhere we go the people love Obahma. What can I say????

This is one of biggest buildings in Colombo. We shopped inside and found some fun pillow covers and a Sri Lanka Flag for Elder K.

This building was built by the Dutch. Sri Lanka has had many influences on it. Portuege, English and Dutch.

Pictures of Colombo, Sri Lanka

Huge business buildings and outside markets.

The women in Sri Lanka dress different from India. More western type clothing. They wear skirts and tops or pants and a top and you see more immodest clothing. It was unusual for us as in India we see nothing but Chudeedars and Sari's and never anything immodest.

Museum that we went to. It was full of old things to look at.

The Fruit bats in the tree near our hotel. They are so still during the day but come dark they fly all over the place.

A Fruit market in the bazaar area of Colombo. There are lots of outside markets. This one was well displayed and I had to catch a photo. Always plenty of fruit in this part of the world. And it tastes so much better than USA fruit!! (sorry...but it's true)

Clock towers everywhere we go. This one is in Colombo. I haven't taken a picture of the one in Hyderabad yet. Behind this and more to the right we were not allowed to take photos. Again, High security going on in this city because they are trying to finish up a war.

Our view out the Hilton Hotel. 11 floors up!! The tree in the upper left corner was filled with huge fruit bats. I have a close up above.

Banyon Tree.

Colombo has beautiful beaches.
You can see a beautiful sunset is about to happen. I want this picture for my wall when I get home.

Soldiers with guns all over the city and some of the beach area was shut off for security reasons. Also parts of the city.

More beautiful beach.

You can see a piece of the city in this photo. Colombo is a big place.

This was President protecting the McKinley's from my Camera. They were in the swimming pool when Colombo was attacked. They crawled out and hid under a table. Cute couple serving in Chennai.

Better picture of the two of them. We had a good laugh about them being in the pool when the gunfire started.

Waiting downstairs for the OK that all was well in Colombo. We were in good company.

The end of an exciting trip. Waiting in the airport at Bangalore.

Weary Road Warriors.