Independence Day and a Trip to Chavadi

Wednesday, August 15 was Independence Day in India. The local area decorated the street with flags and drawings on the street. On one of the side streets from this one, it looked like they had set up some games. They also had loud speakers blasting music into the streets. In the evening, they put up a stage that blocked the street. We did not watch any of the activities because we were on our way to an appointment with the missionaries and then we had a Young Single Adult activity at the church.

The activity at the church involved water games. We were spectators not participants. We had a good time laughing at the YSA's. President Allwyn, 2nd counselor in the District presidency, and his wife, Sister Sonia, were in charge of the activity. For one of the games, the participants were formed into two teams. One member from each team had to run to the chair, put a balloon filled with water on the chair, and sit on the balloon to break it. Many of the people had trouble breaking the balloons. The balloons would pop out from underneath them. It was all pretty comical.



I was glad we had decided that would be just be spectators. But, they all seemed to have a great time.










They played several other games that involved getting wet, as well. Before the games began, President Allwyn gave instructions about making sure they take medicine if they start to get a cold as a result of getting wet, especially because the weather was beginning to get cooler as the evening approached. Elder Tiefenbach and I have to laugh because it is still very warm. On an evening that is about 25 degrees (C), parents put winter hats on their children. Temperature is all relative.

Every once in a while our little friend comes to the church for a visit. This little critter wanted to stay for awhile this time. It looks like he was checking out Elder Tiefenbach as he was taking the picture.






We hope our grandchildren like these pictures. He appears to have a scruffy beard.












Today, Sunday, August 19, we went to visit the Chavadi branch. We had 12 members of the church attend the meetings with us. Both Elder Tiefenbach and Sister Tiefenbach gave talks in Sacrament meeting. These are 3 of the church members in front of the church building. This is the same building where we went to help clean up the weeds (the time Sister Tiefenbach had an unwanted meeting with a motorcylce).





The building has a tiled roof. The inside of the ceiling is open, so we can see the underside of the tiles when we are inside the building. The top sections of the windows (shown to the right) are open during the meetings. We enjoyed listening to the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees. We do not get to hear that sound very much where we live. We hear horns honking and other traffic noise when we are out and about in our area.

There were two or three sets of windows on each wall, so we feel a bit of a breeze, as well. This is the room after the meetings we over. The members put the chairs away and close the windows very quickly as soon as the meetings are over. The building has a sound system even though the room is quite small. The congregation would probably have no problem hearing the speakers, except right next to this building is a Pentacostal church that meets at the same time. They worship with drums, cymbals, and loud singing that is broadcast over a speaker system. The sound system in our building, therefore, is a necessity.

We stopped at a couple of homes before we left the Chavadi area. We don't have pictures of the one home. Normally, the houses in India are almost on top of each other, but this one is quite far from its closest neighbour. This area is just beginning to be developed, so in a few years it will be filled with houses that are much closer together. This house is also a bit larger than many of the houses we have been in. We stopped at this home to visit a young man (20 years old) who had just recently been in a motorcycle accident. He was fortunate. He has a broken collar bone, had some stitches in his head, and had a concussion. The other three people are still in intensive care. None of them were wearing helmets. Most people here do not wear helmets when they ride motorcycles.

Next to this house is a house under construction. This is a good example of the way houses are constructed. The walls are formed using this red brick. Afterward, plaster is put on the outside walls and the inside walls and painted. The result is the type of exterior walls as in the above house.

 Although the population of Chavadi is about 150,000, it is considered a village. At home, a place with that size of population would be considered a big city. Despite its population, Chavadi is a rural setting and is surrounded by mountains. We left our apartment at 9:00 this morning to drive out to Chavadi. We returned to Coimbatore in time for the 2nd Branch meetings. We returned to our apartment at about 8:15 tonight. This is a typical Sunday for us.