Amazing Sights

The first amazing site this week was the sight of a new mattress purchased at this store. We have not slept well on the foam mattress that we received when we arrived here, so we decided that a good night's sleep was important.

We put our old 4-inch foam mattress on top of the new mattress, and we now have a nice soft, comfy bed. We also received two free pillows and a bed spread type of cover with two pillow cases with the mattress.




While we were walking around the streets looking for furniture shops, we came across this sign. Pretty amazing sign, right? Somehow, we don't think we will frequent this establishment. But, if someone is looking for the best and cheapest place, we will be happy to give you directions.








This is our amazing Wednesday English class. Some of the people speak English quite well, while others struggle. From left to right, we have Brother Abraham, Brother Raja, Sister Tiefenbach, Sister Sumathi (with her two daughters), Sister Shanthi, Sister Latta (with her two daughters), Sister Sumathi, and Sister Bindu. Sister Bindu's 16-year-old daughter also attends the English class, but she was out in the parking lot playing basketball. All the people attending this class are members, except Sister Bindu; her family found out about English classes from a leaflet that the missionaries were handing out. Her English is very good, but she wants to be completely fluent. We hope that as she associates with us, she will see her English improving. We have become good friends with her family. Elder Tiefenbach is taking the picture.

One day this week, we drove up a mountain to look at a Hindu temple. Some people walk up to the temple on the stairs. We can't imagine climbing way up to the temple using the stairs. We get an amazing view of Coimbatore from the temple. This picture shows how high we are up from the city. 









 The temple is situated part way up Maruthamalai Mountain. For those who are particular, the word "mountain" is redundant because "malai" means mountain. The picture on the right shows the top of the stairs. Seeing these people arriving at the top of the stairs was amazing. Many of the people walking up were not young. Amazing!










 The temple is called the Murugan temple. It is considered a famous temple. The picture on the left is not the temple proper, but is more like a foyer. The temple proper is actually quite small. They are building a new part that is bigger. The man behind seems to be keeping an eye on us.

We visited with Brother Suresh and Sister Shanthi at their home again. Of course, she fed us. We had a chick pea dish, paratha (also spelled baratha), chicken curry, chipote, and rice. Needless to say, we were fed a lot of food that day. Paratha is an Indian bread. It is yummy, probably because it is deep fried. It puffs up as it cooks and then falls when it is served. Yumm!!! When we were making plans to attend their home, Sister Tiefenbach asked them to invite the girl who does classical dancing. She gladly enternained us. Her mother, seen the back, was happy that we asked her daughter to come and dance for us again. She is obviously proud of her daughter, as she brought a photo album of some of the competitions she has been in. This is a totally amazing sight!!!

We were also entertained by Brother Suresh and Sister Shanthi's son, who has an orange belt in karate.


We have enjoyed meeting this family and have seen their joy and the changes in their family as they have accepted the gospel in their lives.







We also had two other dinner appointments this week. Sister Mary always like to feed us, and we enjoy being with her. She has a great interest in us and likes to look at the pictures we have of Canada. The other dinner appointment we had was with Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi. One of the dishes she served us was vada (or wada). They are so amazingly good - again probably because they are deep fried. They look like little donuts, but are made from lentils and some kind of flour - gram flour, according to the internet - and some spices.

 

We would like to introduce the amazing tenor and bass sections of our Christmas choir. From left to right, we have Brother Akash, Brother Reynolds, Brother Joseph, and Brother Augustine (our driver). In the back, we find the basses, President Solomon (left) and Brother Britzer. Britzer is actually part of the tenor section, but for this practice, we had only one bass come. So, Britzer moved to the bass section to give added strength. He can sing either part, but is more comfortable with the tenor. The other basses, Brothers Amalraj and President Vincent Paul, were not able to make it to the practice. The tenors and basses are truly amazing! Sister Tiefenbach is impressed with them. Many of them have fantastic voices and are able to pick up their parts well. They get a little frustrated because they can do their parts well when no one else is singing, but as soon as we combine all the parts, they can't remember their parts; they fall back to the melody. But, we have just begun our practices, and I know they will pick up their parts very soon. The two branches in Coimbatore are having a joint Christmas celebration, and Sister Tiefenbach has been asked to conduct the choir and to plan the program.

Our entry this week would not be complete without a picture of two of our amazing missionaries. Elder Augustine (left) was transferred to Coimbatore a few weeks ago, but we kept forgetting to get a picture of him until now. He is here with his companion Elder Thanniru. We have been truly blest to be associated with good missionaries. We can see the Lord working with them.





And last, but not least is we share the amazing view we have every morning at breakfast. Our apartment is high enough that we can see the open sky and the distant trees. This view is somehow very refreshing and inspiring. It takes us away from some of the views we see on the street, like the garbage and the dead rats (which we suppose are better than live ones). This view helps us realize that the Lord has truly blest us to be able to meet so many wonderful people in Coimbatore. We have grown very fond of so many people here, and we will cherish them always.