One of the things that we LOVE about being in the office is that we get to see many of the Elders as they drop into the office for various things. Whenever they come into the office, a feeling of enthusiasm walks in the doors with them. We were so excited to see Elder Solomon. He hasn't changed. He is still polite and humble. We met an investigator he is teaching, and this investigator praised him a lot. He said Elder Solomon was believable, considerate, humble, and polite. He said Elder Solomon was good boy. We agree.
We are excited to work in the office. We begin our day in the office at 9:00 a.m. and finish between 5:00 and 6:00, depending on the work that needs to be done that day. Right now Sister Tiefenbach is getting all the documents ready to register all the Americans that have been transferred within the mission. All foreign individuals must register in the city in which they live. We have had a big transfer, so we have a lot of work to do. Sister Wigg has been a great teacher. Elder Wigg has been teaching Elder Tiefenbach the ropes of the financial end of the mission. We have a lot to learn. With all that brain work going on, we have definitely worked up an appetite. Fortunately, we have a lot of restaurants close to the office. We have been going out for lunch every day this week. Pizza Hut was great!!!
Elder and Sister Wigg know all the great places to eat. They were with us when we first arrived in India. They are the ones that taught us how to cross the streets and what to expect in India. They relieved many of our concerns we had. They certainly have been great friends and teachers.
Thursday was Elder Tiefenbach's birthday. We had bacon, eggs, and fried tomatoes for breakfast. Pizza Hut was the destination for lunch, and we had supper (dinner) at the apartment. We invited Elder and Sister Smith to the birthday supper. They are also serving in Bangalore. Supper was lasagna, mixed vegetables, and some bakery bread. The meal was so delicious! Sister Tiefenbach made a chocolate cake for the special birthday boy. We went all out and bought ice cream for the cake, too. Unfortunately, we did not have candles for the cake, but we all sang Happy Birthday to him. Happy Birthday Elder Tiefenbach.
These are the Smith's (with Sister Wigg on the left); they are from the Kitchener area. They were born in England, but have been in Canada for many, many years. One of their assignments here is to look over several English language programs and determine what the best method will be to teach the members English. Sister Smith will also be in the office periodically to enter the convert baptisms into the computer so a membership record will be created for the person. 
Okay, we admit it, we have eaten out for lunch quite a bit. Monday, we ate at KFC; Tuesday was at a wonderful place called Crisp, where Sister Tiefenbach had a waldorf salad and a veg club sandwich. Elder Tiefenbach veg club sandwich. It was so, so good. Wednesday, we went to Wanlee's, a Chinese food place. Thursday was our Pizza Hut day, and on Friday, we went to the Empire, which is an Indian buffet restaurant. Some of the food was very spicy - too spicy for us. The veg noodles, the butter chicken, and the fried rice was good. We invited the Assistants to the President (Elder Ram and Elder Barlow) to lunch that day, too. They often come into the office to get some work done that the president needs done. They bring a ray of sunshine into the office, as they liven and lighten things up. We love them.
We went into the office for a couple of hours Saturday morning to go over a few more things. We do not know everything about the office, but we are making progress. After being at the office, we went to Commercial Street, a major shopping destination. We bought a table runner set (with 6 placemats and 6 napkins). Elder Tiefenbach really wanted to buy a table runner set, but Sister Tiefenbach said that because we don't have a nice dining table at home, we really don't need one. So Elder Tiefenbach said that we could get a new dining set when we get home. Yipee!!! We saw many, many foreigners that day on Commercial Street. It seemed strange to us to see so many white faces. 
Speaking of food, Saturday was a highlight. We went to a place called The Only Place. We took the metro, which is a train that travels above street level. It is not complete, yet. It has only about 6 stops, but it gets us to a different part of the city very quickly. To go onto the metro, each person is scanned with a detector (like they use in the airports) and all bags go through an x-ray machine (just like in the airports). The trip cost each of us 12 rupees, which is about 24 cents. We are suprised that more people don't use the metro. It took us to a part of Bangalore that we have not seen before. It looked like a modern North American city. This was a night shot; we don't know why it looks like daytime. The moon was shining bright in the dark sky that night.
Back to the food Saturday night at The Only Place.. . We had steak!!! Well, Sister Tiefenbach had steak. Technically, Elder Tiefenbach had steak, too. He had steak sandwich. The food was absolutely wonderful! It was so, so good!!!!! YUMMY! 
We had apple pie with ice cream for dessert. Obviously, the crust was not as good as homemade, but it was actually good. The filling was delicious. This is what was left of the pie. We had a wonderful time with the Wigg's Saturday night. Bangalore has a lot more restaurants that serve western foods than Coimbatore. We are loving Bangalore, but we miss all our friends in Coimbatore.
We went to a small farewell for the Wiggs at their Branch Friday night. The Wigg's are well loved by all the people in many of the branches here. They served Chinese style noodles and fried rice. We were happy that they did not serve birianni. Many, many people like birianni, but we don't care for it. The food was served outside the church building, as usual.
This is Brother Johnson and Sister Shirley (on the back) with their two children. They all fit on the motorcycle to go to and from church as a family. This is quite common in India. The most we have seen on a motorcycle at one time was a family of five. This is so different from Canada. Notice that only the father has a helmet on. Apparently, the law is that people are to wear helmets, but most people do not. 
We attended our first Sunday meetings today. This is the front of the church building. It is not as big as the Coimbatore building, and it doesn't have our friends at Coimbatore. But, it has wonderful people that we will get to know.
We mentioned that our friends in Coimbatore are not here. Well, that was not entirely true today. Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi came to visit us and Elder Solomon. We were so happy to see them. Our hearts were filled with joy when we saw them arrive. We invited them over to our apartment while they waited to go to Elder Solomon's uncle's place. They boarded a train last night and travelled all night. They are heading back to Coimbatore tonight by train.
Tonight, we went to President and Sister Funk's apartment for the Wigg's farewell dinner. Sister Funk prepared a wonderful roast pork, mashed potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower salad, carrots, fresh peppers, gravy, watermelon, grapes, and chocolate cherry cake. It was wonderful. We are so glad that we are here in Bangalore so we were able to attend their farewell. The Assistants to the President were also at the farewell, but they were taking the pictures.
We don't want everyone thinking that all we have done is gone out to eat, shop, and have parties. We have worked hard this week. Each day, we worked until 6:00. On Friday, the Wigg's officially turned the office keys over to us. We are a bit nervous about working at the office without the Wigg's there. They know so much, and we are just beginning to learn. We hope that we can be of service to the President. We never knew of all the work that was needed behind the scenes to make sure the mission runs smoothly. Because of the efficiency of the office missionaries, the young missionaries are able to go out and do their work of proclaiming the gospel. Sister Wigg has a saying that she has developed while in India. She often says, "It's all good service." This is so true. We all need to remember that where ever we serve and whatever we do to serve the Lord is all good service. 
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