Our Daily Walk and Other Activities

Every day, we walk these streets from our apartment to the church at least once. We are about .7 km from the church. We walk by other apartment buildings, shops, and homes. Some apartment buildings are modern, while some of the homes are small and less than modern. We think that many of the homes here do not have running water, as we see many people going to the taps on the street to fill their vessels. The streets are usually very busy, no matter the time of day we are out.

On this stretch of the walk, we tend to walk quite quickly. The mounds of garbage along with the sewage in the gutters leaves this area . . . well, you can imagine.











This stretch looks very quiet. Normally, many cars, motorcylces, and people are coming and going here. We have to be constantly on our guard to make sure we don't get in the way of the vehicles. When we took the picture, everything must have stopped momentarily. Again, the street is lined with all types of shops and people's homes. Some of the shops include barber shops, stationary shops (not the kind we think of in Canada), small food shops, motorcycle repair shops, etc. We particularly like to walk this part of the street on hot days because the trees provide welcomed relief from the hot sun.





We see a lot of construction in Coimbatore. This apartment building has been under construction since we arrived. Construction is a much slower process here. The support beams are very different than the ones we are accustomed to. When a construction site has debris to be hauled away, they do it by hand. They fill small bowl type containers, lift it up on their heads and take it away. We wonder what all that weight is doing to their spinal cords.

The main street is just ahead. As we approach the main street, the traffic gets very busy. Some days, we feel we are going through an obstacle course.

 On the main street, we see everything from modern trucks to donkeys.

This week was a typical week, and we walked this path several times, as we went to the church to teach our English classes, attend planning meetings, missionary district meeting, and accompanying missionaries on their appointments.

On Thursday, a brother from 1st branch took us to meet a friend of his who has a tailor shop on a street close to us. He is apparently a famous tailor for women's blouses (the blouse part of the sarees). He also took us to see a friend of his who owns a cylce repair shop on the same street as the tailor. His family was out of station (out of town), so we could not go to his house that day. We made arrangements to go to his house next Sunday.


This past Sunday, we left our apartment at 9:15 a.m. and did not return until 7:45 p.m. We spent an extra long day at the church.

One of the reasons, we had a longer day was because the 2nd Branch had a fireside/activity after the meetings. The idea was to help the members of the branch get to know each other better.  Not everyone was able to stay. This activity was helpful because the branch has several new people in the branch.

For the activity, the men and the women were divided into separate teams. Within each section, the participants were divided into pairs. We then talked to each other about 10 pre-assigned topics. Following the discussions, each pair stood and received questions from a pair on the opposing team. If the question posed was about information for Sister Tiefenbach, for example, her partner would have to answer the question.

 Today (Monday) was a fun day. We spent the afternoon bowling with the missionaries. Elder Tiefebnach did not win this time. That honour goes to Elder Bean, with a score of 112 (above: second from the left). Sister Tiefenbach . . . well, she does NOT want to discuss it. Elder Tiefenbach came in second, with a score of 109. The Elders (above, left to right: Ramaraj, Bean, Ram, Jurial, Hodgson, and Kumar) had fun. So did we.

 Elder Ramaraj, Elder Ram, Elder Jurial

After bowling, we went home to make pizza for supper. We have interesting pizza pans. But they do the job.

We invited Elder Ram and Elder Kumar (the zone leaders) for pizza after they were done their work for the day. They also had salad, so they were able to get their veggies for the day. They had to eat quickly so they could get back to their apartment on time. Both Elder Ram and Elder Kumar are hard working, obedient missionaries. We have always been impressed with Elder Kumar when he was with Elder Ganaparum. We are equally impressed with Elder Ram. We are thankful that they live so close to us. We enjoy inviting them over. We appreciate their interest in us and their care for us.