Elder and Sister Condie Mission Blog: May 15, 2016

Happy #59 Elder Condie!! He just keeps getting better and better every year!! We sure had a great week! It was Inokas birthday on Sunday so we visited her on Monday at her home! She was happy that we came! Later, we went with the Colombo branch presidency to the Cinnamon Grand hotel and ate at THE LAGOON! YUMMY! You get to pick out what kind of fish that you want and they cook it right there! We had such a great time! We celebrated anniversaries and birthdays that night! Great company! We got a call from Michael....a New Zealand RM that has been living in Qatar and working. He was back in Sri Lanka for a few days! He said he just needed to be around us/the missionaries....to have a good feeling and remember his missionary moments. I don't know that he is very active right now....but he is a great guy and wants to do good things! We later went to Darshani's and had a wonderful visit with her and the kids! Steve went with the elders on Wednesday as I had piano classes. Steve visited Richard at his home by himself first. He has been struggling and needed some love! After, the elders caught up with them and they went and visited Sister Gnana and her husband. Sister Gnana wanted Steve to give a blessing to her daughters new baby. So they went there to do that! On the way back, they stopped at Steve and Lauri's restaurant to have some lunch! They also stopped at Mali's to give her a blessing as she has been sick. I did a lot of computer work on Thursday while Steve went with the elders to buy some apartment things. We visited Brother Jeffry and his family that evening! They are a great family! The boys are all so sharp!! We were able to visit Harshi and Achula in Negombo! Harshi is in the district RS presidency with me! She is a returned missionary who married a non member. But just the other day, he told her that he wants to be baptized and wants Elder and Sister Condie to teach him! She is beyond excited! He is really a great guy as we have met him on several occasions. Steve Nugara came with us to be the translator!! Harshi's mom and dad were also there as they all live in the same house. They are members also. We had a great lesson with him. He asked questions and was honest in his feelings and desires. He wants to go to the temple....and wondered if he could just do that and not get baptized! He is getting a lot of pressure from family and coworkers in the fish business. We committed to come back and keep teaching and working with him! They then made us a scrumptious meal! Giant....and I mean GIANT prawns! Some kind of grilled fish that was really good...and other wonderful dishes! Such a fun visit with all of them!! Saturday was Steve's birthday!! We had invited Ru and her mother, Myrna, to have lunch with us. They have been struggling...not with their testimonies...but with other things. We felt like they needed some love and we wanted to make sure that we loved them and that Heavenly Father loved them too! They loved the chicken and the rolls...well, everything!! It was a great meal! They brought a cake for Steve's birthday! Fun visiting with them! We decided to go see a movie for Steve's birthday.....so we went and saw, Captain America, Civil War. The theater was packed! Luckily, Steve got the tickets earlier while I taught piano lessons!! It was a great movie and we had a great time together celebrating his special day!! Hagobians stayed the night with us so they could get to church early! Sunday brought tons of rain! I don't think it stopped all day! The meetings were really good! 2 of Kumar's kids came to church today! (our taxi driver)! Sheramy talked and befriended his daughter! They really hit it off. I think his son enjoyed the YM guys too! Great "kids"! We had Sherine and her family over for dinner. We have wanted to have Sherine's husband over for a long time and we were really glad that he came! Katie came too! We had a great dinner, lots of laughter and fun! We love their family so much! They are the best!! We are off to Kandy this week! Still so much missionary work to do!!