Welcome to Sri Lanka

We had the opportunity to meet with the rest of the dozen Latter-day Saint senior missionary couples scattered across southern India for a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka. We heard amazing stories (like that of Anton and Ann Kumarasamy, pictured here) of the sacrifices made by Indians of Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian backgrounds who, upon understanding God’s plan for our happiness through living by his instructions to become more godly people here and to inherit his lifestyle in the hereafter, requested baptism at the cost of rejection by family and friends, and how many of them persevered long enough to bring that understanding to their families as well.

While there we got to see a bit of the country and its 3000 year history, during which it has been known as Serendip, Ceylon, or Sri Lanka (literally, Honorable Green place, in Sinhalese).

Here at a monument to the nation's history we each deal with the locals in our own way.

This dragon looks so much like a Mayan Quetzalcoatl, but on closer examination it is really a general-purpose monster. It has a serpentine tongue, reptilian eyes, crocodilian fangs, tiger claws on its feet, and an elephant trunk curled up on top of its snout just for good measure.

Though it claims to be the site of Hindu classic battles of the gods 5000 years ago as recorded in the Ramayana, the country is now 80% Buddhist, and proud to be the homeland of Theravada Buddhism. The Buddha himself is said to have visited here three times in his life. Everywhere there are images of Buddha, magnificent temples, and stupas (shrines) purported to contain some sacred relic.

The capital city of Colombo is modern and clean. Our group stayed at the Hilton, next to the twin towers of the World Trade Center which houses the Colombo Stock Exchange along with other financial institutions. From our window we could see the docks in the harbor, the Parliament building, and many other government sites.

The surroundings are luxurious, and in this ruined economy only cost twice what I would be willing to pay, not the four to ten times that could be expected anywhere else. From the twelfth floor where we stayed we could look down on the gardens at ground level, surrounded by the six in-house restaurants in which we dined.

At the street level there were numerous shops catering to tourists. Here Sister Dosdall is being hustled by some helpful vendors who pulled a dress over her head to show her how well it fit her.

The other conspicuous presence on the street was military. 12% of the population is Hindu Tamil, who after centuries of oppression by the Sinhalese majority, formed under the leadership of a non-Tamil named Prabagharin, the LTTE or Tamil Tigers which has waged a terrorist civil war for 25 years. In this downtown area the security was intense. On every corner were sandbag emplacements with armed soldiers. Walking to their stations the automatic weapons were on their shoulders. In place, they were in hand and at ready. We were forewarned not to photograph them.

This link takes you to Sri Lankan defense forces images of the light plane coming in low past the World Trade Center and past our hotel window en route to its target, just before the barrage of anti-aircraft fire that induced me to open the curtain and see what the fireworks were about.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Exclusive-Footage-of-attack-on-LTTE-plane/videoshow/4169235.cms

Dateline: 21 Feb. 2009, Colombo Sri Lanka, by war correspondent Elder Dosdall

After two days of remarkable uplift in the Bangalore Mission Senior Couples Conference in which we heard marvelous stories of courage and devotion and were instructed in strategies for establishing the church in India and Sri Lanka, we were sitting in the lobby of the Colombo Hilton chatting with fellow missionaries about 9:30pm when the lights went off. This is normal in India though it had not happened yet this week in Sri Lanka. Within a few minutes the hotel was up again on backup generators, though security personnel were still scurrying about with some urgency. During the break in the conversation we decided it was time to retire to our room on the twelfth floor, where we settled down to read for a while. When we heard what sounded like firecrackers outside (though we were unaware of any local festival in progress) I went to the window where it was immediately apparent that the materiel in the sky going over the hotel was anti-aircraft tracers and the searchlights were frantically looking for something. We ducked behind the bed and Sister Dosdall suggested it might be a good time to pray. The thud of an explosion was our cue to retreat to the central hallway away from windows. There soon came an announcement to turn off lights in our room and proceed to the basement, which everyone did in an orderly fashion. When we took census of our missionary group, there was some concern over three couples: Elder Wood had been sick in his room with the flu and had not even been able to attend the conference meetings (though he is a retired Secret Service agent who could likely assess the gravity of the situation). Elder Mills, of the one missionary couple stationed in Sri Lanka, had gone to get Elder Wood some medication and was out on the street. Elder and Sister McKinney, a seventy-year-old couple stationed with us in Chennai, soon appeared dripping wet in their swimsuits. They had been outside in the pool when it all broke loose. During the next hour while we waited in the basement, the hotel staff kept us informed as they received news. Apparently the defense system (conspicuously present on the street in this neighborhood of government buildings, business centers, and port, with armed soldiers in sandbag emplacements on every corner) had detected the approach of three light planes flying low beneath the radar and had blacked out the city. The anti-aircraft barrage had taken down two planes, one which has dropped a bomb at a government building two blocks from the hotel, and a second plane at the airport. Though the news reports the past week were all about government troops finally mopping up the last LTTE (Tamil Tiger) strongholds on the Jaffna Peninsula at the opposite end of the island, this apparently was not the whole story. Today's (Sri Lankan govt.) newspaper report does not mention a third plane. After it was all over, we got a good night's sleep. The airport was back to normal today and this last paragraph is written in the peaceful sanctuary of our Chennai apartment after a comfortable flight home, on which we (equally unexpectedly) got bumped up to first class.

On the gentler side...

There is an effort to preserve the environmentally threatened elephants. In the forested central highlands the government has established a refuge for injured or orphaned elephants who would likely not survive in the wild. Here they live out their lives, have offspring, and hobnob with tourists.

This lame one is here because he lost his right front foot to a land mine. Another immense 70 year old tusker had both eyes shot out by poachers.

Meet 85 elephants on a hot day on their way to a cool river.

(I have a video of 85 elephants coming at you, but after wasting hours unsuccessfully trying to get it to load, I will just say, "Sorry, an elephant stepped on my blog.")

There they hang out, or just lie around.

The kids like to hang out together, and express their affection.

Family pose: Bull in the center, baby in front, with hangers-on (cows and young) around.

How would you like the job of giving this baby a bath?

Hi-yo Jumbo!

Near the preserve was a tourist spot where for $10 we could take one out for a spin through the palm and banana groves, and even to the car (or passenger) wash.

This young couple is getting drenched.