Wow!!! Another week has flown by. In some ways, the time seems to be going too fast, but other times, we feel that time is dragging, and we feel we have been gone for a year. This week was also a bit slower. Some of our plans fell through or did not materialize, so we ended up having a few days with too much spare time on our hands, which maybe was good because neither one of us were feeling 100%.
We went to our local photcopy center to get some photocopying done for our English class. Often, while we wait for the photocopying to be done, we watch the traffic and other happenings on the street below from the second floor copy business. This time, we happened to get the photocopying done at night, so we decided to check out the night view. We have mentioned in the past that the people in India don't engage in many high risk activiites like sky diving because they can get their adrenaline rush by crossing the streets. This is an example of the traffic when we cross the street. We need to get very good at judging the exact time to cross so we can get in between the oncoming motorcylces, buses, trucks, and cars (oh and yes, cow driven wagons). The traffic on the near side was not as busy as the far side that night, but we had to cross both sides. We cross one side at a time. We are fortunate that this street has a median in the middle. Some streets we cross have no median, but we still cross one side at a time. We cross one side, then wait in the middle of the traffic to cross the second side with vehicles whizzing around us. This is definitely an experience.
We had lunch with Brother and Sister White. They are one of only a few couples that have a surname. They have been members of the Church for many years. We had chicken curry and a rice dish and ice cream for dessert. We can't remember the exact menu because we also had lunch this week at Brother Raja and Sister Renuka's place, and we can't remember what we had at which place. We had supper (dinner) at President Allwyn and Sister Sonia's house, as well this week. There, we had barotas stuffed with mashed potatoes, another flat bread that was made with some kind of green leaf, vegetables with lemon and Italian herbs, salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions), mashed potatoes, and homemade chicken nuggets. We enjoyed visiting with all our wonderful hosts. Here, in Tamil Nadu (we are not sure whether or not this is common in all India), when someone invites someone for a meal, the host and hostess generally do not eat with the guests, although both Brother White and Brother Raja ate the same time we did. Generally, the hostess serves each guest and makes sure each one has everything he/she needs. We are still not used to this, and we often feel awkward eating while the host/hostess watch.
If you get frustrated trying to find what you want at The Home Depot, try finding something at the hardware stores here. The drawer pull broke on our drawer in the closet, so we needed to buy another one. We had to go to about 5 or 6 stores before we could find the replacement. This whole street is lined with a variety of hardware type of stores. As you can see, their merchandise often flows out into the street. This makes finding things at The Home Depot look easy!
We finally did it!! We put up not one, but TWO pictues in our apartment. One is of the Salt Lake Temple (above the couch) and the other of the Hong Kong Temple. Yes, we know that the picture of the Salt Lake temple looks small and lonely above the couch. Maybe, some day we will get a few other things to keep it company. Brother Raja (the same Raja whose home we had lunch at earlier in the week) came over to help us put them up. We had to schedule his help around the power outage. We originally scheduled him to come over on Thursday morning, but the power was out ALL DAY, so he could not come, as his drill is electric. Brother Raja has been very helpful to us. He is the brother that helps us with our visa renewals, as well.
Today, we drove out to Erode Branch, which is about 2 hours away (about 100 km). Well, actually, we did not drive; we hired a driver. It takes much longer to drive in India than in North America. There are very few places that one can drive at highway speeds because of the high density of the population, the heavy traffice, and the condition of the roads. They are building a highway between the two places, so the travel time will be significantly reduced because the highway will bypass all the smaller communities. Today, the traffic was not too bad. Elder Tiefenbach spoke in Sacrament meeting. After the meeting, someone asked Sister Tiefenbach, "How many apostles are there?" She answered, "Fifteen." He then said, "I think there are now sixteen." He then pointed to Elder Tiefenbach. Sister Tiefenbach laughed. The people praise us a lot here, but we think that was stretching it "just a bit." Erode Branch meets in a rented space on the second floor (3rd floor according to North American terminology) in this building. They had 137 people attending today.
The Branch has a spacious room in this building to hold sacrament meeting. They also have several classrooms and other rooms for the branch president and the branch clerk. Although they have a great space for their meetings, they hope to build their own building in the near future.
Following the church meetings today, we attended the baptismal service for Prakash (center). Of course, they wanted a picture taken with us. Taking this picture prompted many other people wanting their picture taken with us. The people here are so happy when we visit. The people here definitely make us want to return.
Elder Tiefenbach taught the Elder's Quorum class, and Sister Tiefenbach taught the Young Women class (for teenage girls aged 12 - 18 years). They have a large Young Women group in Erode. This is the Young Women and their leaders. The Young Women president is Sister Blessy (on the right with the long braid). Her two counsellors are on the left.
We returned to Coimbatore just before the meetings for Second Branch were over. We visited with the members here for a while before going to our apartment. We found Sister Tiefenbach's piano student, Sister Shanti, taking advantage of some quiet time to practice the piano. Speaking of playing the piano, Sister Tiefenbach has played the piano/organ for two Sundays. She does not like it because she gets so scared that she makes MANY mistakes. She ends up playing only the melody notes. Elder Augustine, a new missionary in 2nd Branch, played today, as Sister Tiefenbach was in Erode. He, too, was scared to death. He also plays only the melody notes with the right hand, but he is able to play chords with his left.
We went to our local photcopy center to get some photocopying done for our English class. Often, while we wait for the photocopying to be done, we watch the traffic and other happenings on the street below from the second floor copy business. This time, we happened to get the photocopying done at night, so we decided to check out the night view. We have mentioned in the past that the people in India don't engage in many high risk activiites like sky diving because they can get their adrenaline rush by crossing the streets. This is an example of the traffic when we cross the street. We need to get very good at judging the exact time to cross so we can get in between the oncoming motorcylces, buses, trucks, and cars (oh and yes, cow driven wagons). The traffic on the near side was not as busy as the far side that night, but we had to cross both sides. We cross one side at a time. We are fortunate that this street has a median in the middle. Some streets we cross have no median, but we still cross one side at a time. We cross one side, then wait in the middle of the traffic to cross the second side with vehicles whizzing around us. This is definitely an experience.
We had lunch with Brother and Sister White. They are one of only a few couples that have a surname. They have been members of the Church for many years. We had chicken curry and a rice dish and ice cream for dessert. We can't remember the exact menu because we also had lunch this week at Brother Raja and Sister Renuka's place, and we can't remember what we had at which place. We had supper (dinner) at President Allwyn and Sister Sonia's house, as well this week. There, we had barotas stuffed with mashed potatoes, another flat bread that was made with some kind of green leaf, vegetables with lemon and Italian herbs, salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions), mashed potatoes, and homemade chicken nuggets. We enjoyed visiting with all our wonderful hosts. Here, in Tamil Nadu (we are not sure whether or not this is common in all India), when someone invites someone for a meal, the host and hostess generally do not eat with the guests, although both Brother White and Brother Raja ate the same time we did. Generally, the hostess serves each guest and makes sure each one has everything he/she needs. We are still not used to this, and we often feel awkward eating while the host/hostess watch.
If you get frustrated trying to find what you want at The Home Depot, try finding something at the hardware stores here. The drawer pull broke on our drawer in the closet, so we needed to buy another one. We had to go to about 5 or 6 stores before we could find the replacement. This whole street is lined with a variety of hardware type of stores. As you can see, their merchandise often flows out into the street. This makes finding things at The Home Depot look easy!
We finally did it!! We put up not one, but TWO pictues in our apartment. One is of the Salt Lake Temple (above the couch) and the other of the Hong Kong Temple. Yes, we know that the picture of the Salt Lake temple looks small and lonely above the couch. Maybe, some day we will get a few other things to keep it company. Brother Raja (the same Raja whose home we had lunch at earlier in the week) came over to help us put them up. We had to schedule his help around the power outage. We originally scheduled him to come over on Thursday morning, but the power was out ALL DAY, so he could not come, as his drill is electric. Brother Raja has been very helpful to us. He is the brother that helps us with our visa renewals, as well.
Today, we drove out to Erode Branch, which is about 2 hours away (about 100 km). Well, actually, we did not drive; we hired a driver. It takes much longer to drive in India than in North America. There are very few places that one can drive at highway speeds because of the high density of the population, the heavy traffice, and the condition of the roads. They are building a highway between the two places, so the travel time will be significantly reduced because the highway will bypass all the smaller communities. Today, the traffic was not too bad. Elder Tiefenbach spoke in Sacrament meeting. After the meeting, someone asked Sister Tiefenbach, "How many apostles are there?" She answered, "Fifteen." He then said, "I think there are now sixteen." He then pointed to Elder Tiefenbach. Sister Tiefenbach laughed. The people praise us a lot here, but we think that was stretching it "just a bit." Erode Branch meets in a rented space on the second floor (3rd floor according to North American terminology) in this building. They had 137 people attending today. 
The Branch has a spacious room in this building to hold sacrament meeting. They also have several classrooms and other rooms for the branch president and the branch clerk. Although they have a great space for their meetings, they hope to build their own building in the near future.
Following the church meetings today, we attended the baptismal service for Prakash (center). Of course, they wanted a picture taken with us. Taking this picture prompted many other people wanting their picture taken with us. The people here are so happy when we visit. The people here definitely make us want to return. 
We returned to Coimbatore just before the meetings for Second Branch were over. We visited with the members here for a while before going to our apartment. We found Sister Tiefenbach's piano student, Sister Shanti, taking advantage of some quiet time to practice the piano. Speaking of playing the piano, Sister Tiefenbach has played the piano/organ for two Sundays. She does not like it because she gets so scared that she makes MANY mistakes. She ends up playing only the melody notes. Elder Augustine, a new missionary in 2nd Branch, played today, as Sister Tiefenbach was in Erode. He, too, was scared to death. He also plays only the melody notes with the right hand, but he is able to play chords with his left.
Ahhhh . . . popcorn on Sunday night!!! What better way can we end our day?
I miss having grandpa make up a big bowl of popcorn and sharing with me with watching a movie!!
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