Our week started with teaching the final temple preparation lesson to two young people, Brother Prabakaren and Sister Sathya, from Erode who are preparing to go on their missions. They are excited to be going on their missions. Brother Prabakaren is going to the India Delhi mission, and Sister Sathya has not received her assignment, yet. We ejoyed teaching them, and the spirit was always strong in the class. Teaching about the temple reminded us how much we miss the temple. We look forward to attending the temple when we return home.
After the lesson, we went to the missionaries' apartment to do an inspection. Elder Aruldoss (right), Elder Massey (centre), Elder McDonald (not in picture), and Elder Vaddi's (not in picture) apartment was in good shape. It was much better than the last time we inspected it. Right after the inspection, we took the missionaries and our driver, Brother Augustine (left), out for lunch at a place called Boom Boom. It is similar to Kentucky Fried Chicken. We had chicken burgers and fries; lunch was yummy.
On a previous blog, we showed a picture of some sod that had been put down and had mentioned that it was there temporarily. It has now been put in its proper place. We knew they divided the large pieces into smaller pieces before laying it, but we had no idea of how small the pieces were. This is a section that has the sod layed. Each small piece of sod is about 2 inches across. Apparently, within 3 months, the grass will have grown together. They do it this way because sod is too expensive to lay the entire stips down the way we do in Canada.On Thursday, we had a multi-zone conference with our zone and Chennai's zone. We had 35 attending, including President and Sister Funk and the Assistants to the President. We have been blessed to have President and Sister Funk in Coimbatore three times in the past three weeks. Sister Tiefenbach made cinnamon buns (or rolls for those who prefer that name) to serve during the morning break. Making the cinnamon buns was a day long job because of the lack of power, but in the end, it was worth the time because all the missionaries appreciated them. They all eagerly lined up to receive them. Although the training is meant specifically for the young missionaries, we always learn something and gain new insights into the gospel.
Here we see the elders in Coimbatore Second Branch (left to right): Elder Justesen, Elder Augustine, Elder Vaiphei, and Elder Ram. We not quite sure what Elder Ram was doing when this picture was taken. Elder Ram conducted the meeting. Of course, he did a good job, as usual.
The Elders in Coimbatore First Branch are, from left to right, Elder Thomas (barely seen), Elder Challa, Elder Solomon (Canada!!!), and Elder Smoot. Interestingly, Elder Smoot's grandparents served in Coimbatore several years ago.
Of course, we have the sister missionaries, who serve in both branches. We enjoy having Sister Madbuthala (right) and Sister Jebamani in the district. Sisters always add a new dimension to the area.
Today, Sunday, was a typical Sunday. We spent about 11 hours at church today. Elder Tiefenbach attended a Branch Presidency training meeting after all the church meetings today, and Sister Tiefenbach helped with the practice for the Christmas program that will take place on December 22. A highlight of the day was the baptismal meeting for two families (7 people) for Second Branch. Brother Kanniyappen was baptized when we first arrived in Coimbatore in April. He had the privilege of baptizing his wife, Sister Ranganayeki, and children today. It was great to see him perform these ordinances. 
Elder Ram and Elder Vaiphei baptized Sister Christie (3rd from left) and Sister Bhuvenswari (2nd from right) and Sister Bhuvenswari's two children.
We have had a UPS (uniteruppted power supply) for the past few weeks. It has been great!!! It allows us to use fans during the day. That is a big relief. We can now do our preparation during the day without sweating. The UPS will not operate the oven, so we still have to wait until the power is on to do any baking or any cooking with the microwave/convection oven. It doesn't work well with the generator the apartment building uses at night, so we have had to bypass the generator. This situation has a few minor inconveniences, which we may be able to sort out. But, if it can't be resolved, we will be happy to put up with the few small inconveniences in order to have the UPS provide us with power when we have power cuts. Between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., we continue to generally have power from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. That means that for most of the daytime hours, we would have no power if we did not have a UPS. In the evening and night, the power often goes out every other hour. The rest of India does not experience power outages to the same extent we do. Many other states experience one or two hours of power outages per day. The battery for the UPS is in the cabinet.
When we are outside, we do not think a lot about the Christmas season. The sun is shining; the grass and trees are green; and the temperature is in the low 30's. Although, we see a few signs of Christmas, we see nothing like we see at home. We don't hear Christmas music in the stores here like we have at home, but that may not be a bad thing because the type of Christmas music played in the stores back home are no longer centered on the birth of Christ and are usually played too loud. 
Once we step into our apartment, however, and we see our newly purchased Christmas tree, we are reminded that this is the time we celebrate the birth, the life, and the resurrection of the Saviour. There is something magical and wonderful about the sight of a Christmas tree, as it can fill the soul with hope. This is the smallest Christmas tree we have had in our entire married life, but it still gives us pleasure when we look at it, and it still brings the Christmas spirit into our home. We will look for a few small ornaments to add to the tree. We hope all your preparations for Christmas are going well and that you will take time in your busyness to think about the Saviour and the hope and light that He offers to the world.
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