Yes, the week started off with SWEET chocolate chip cookies to take to the office. We took 3 dozen cookies on Monday morning, and by the end of the day, they were all gone. Hmmmm..... I wonder who ate so many cookies????? Missionaries perhaps?????? We recall Sister Tiefenbach using the word, "vultures" at one point in time that day.
We had a very SWEET experience this week as we said good-bye to two great missionaries. Elder Vinck and Elder Sodadasi have finished their missions and headed home this week. As a great send off, President and Sister Funk invited them, the Smith's, the Assistants to the President, and us to their place for a wonderful steak supper. The steak was so, so good. We also had pasta with a cream sauce, salad, and carrots. Dessert was a chocolate chocolate chip cup cake with ice cream. Mmmmm, good! Now that was one SWEET meal. This is the dining room at the mission home.
Just before we were to leave the office for the mission home, President Funk asked Elder Ram and Elder Barlow (the Assistants to the President) if they had the agenda for the farewell evening. We wish we had a camera at that time to capture the looks on their faces. Their eyes looked like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. For the first time since we have known them, they did not know what to say. Their jaws dropped; their voices were silent as they stared ahead with complete blank looks on their faces. Now, that was a SWEET, SWEET moment! The President jokingly said, "I guess not." The brilliant Elder Barlow said, "Ah . . . were we supposed to do that????" We all had a good laugh. Later on in the week, as we all reminisced about the incident, Elder Ram and Elder Barlow came up with a better response they can use for when they haven't develped an agenda. They will simply say, "Yes, President. We will get that for you right away." They will then simply go to the computer, find an existing agenda and change the names. Simple! By the time the Assistants arrived at the farewell dinner, they were mostly back to their regular cheerful selves.
Here are Elder Vinck (right) and Elder Sodadasi. We first met Elder Vinck when we were serving in Coimbatore. He was an Assistant to the President at that time, and was visiting Coimbatore for a few days. We were impressed with him then, and we continue to be impressed with him now. As part of the farewell, both elders had the opportunity to talk about a couple of things they have learned while serving their missions. Elder Vinck said that he learned that serving a mission was not about him; it is about doing what the Lord wants. He said he gave up his ideas about how he could continue to keep up his basketball skills while serving his mission and turned his thoughts to having a desire to do the Lord's will. We never cease to be amazed at the maturity of these young men. Hearing Elder Vinck's testimony added a wonderful, SWEET touch to the evening.
We were also touched by the SWEET testimony of Elder Sodadasi. We met him briefly several months ago at a multi-zone conference held at Coimbatore. He has contributed in great ways to the Lord's work while on his mission, and we are sure that the strength he has gained on his mission will be invaluable as he returns home to contribute to his own branch.
A crowning SWEET experience was seeing Brother Akash Amalraj. Akash is from Coimbatore and flew to Bangalore for an interview with President Funk in preparation for a mission. Akash is like a son to us. When he walked into the door of the office our faces and our hearts lit up. Sister Tiefenbach wanted to give him a great big hug, but she thought it might be a bit inappropriate, so she settled for a good solid handshake. We can't say enough good about Akash. He comes from a solid family who is dedicated to the Gospel, and his great parents have trained up their children in the way of the Lord. We know that Akash will be a great missionary. He carries with him a great air of confidence, but his confidence is wrapped with a SWEET sense of humility. His English is exceptional, and he would do well anywhere in the world. Most young men in India are called to serve in one of the two missions of India, but a few are called to other parts of the world. We can hardly wait to see where he will be called.
We took Akash and his family friend out for lunch (sorry, we can't remember his name). The man sitting with Akash is a family friend who served in the army with Akash's father. He has known and looked after Akash since Akash was a small child. He travelled several hours to meet Akash at the airport in Bangalore. This shows his respect and SWEET love for Akash and his family. When we came back from lunch, President Funk interviewed Akash. After the interview, Akash waited in the office until it was time for him to go back to the airport. Elder Tiefenbach took a few minutes from his busy work in his office to make some SWEET memories of our visit with Akash.
That day was a busy day with many people coming and going. Elder and Sister Smith came in to get a few things done. Sister Smith diligently comes in every day to see if more baptismal records have been delivered by the missionaries so she can enter them into the data base. Sister Tiefenbach is happy that Sister Smith so willingly does this job because if Sister Smith did not do it, Sister Tiefenbach would have to do it. Her SWEET contribution to the work in the office frees up time for Sister Tiefenbach to stay mostly caught up with other things that have to be done. Sister Tiefenbach wonders how Sister Wigg kept up with all the work.
And, of course the Assistants were busy at work, as usual. Ahem . . . Elders!!!! You could at least pretend to be busy the way normal people work! We love your SWEET, serious, studious, spiritual contribution to the work in the office.
We welcomed two new elders from the USA to our mission, Elder O'Dell (left) and Elder Thomas. Their arrival into our mission was delayed for several months as they waited for their visas. While waiting for their visas, they had many SWEET experiences serving in Arizona, so although they are new to India, they come to us with experience under their belts. They are excited to be in India. They will be in Bangalore for only a short time while they wait to be assigned to a branch in the mission. We wish them well as they continue to serve.
The day after Elder O'Dell and Elder Thomas arrived, they were welcomed to Bangalore with the leftovers of Holi. Holi is a holiday where people throw paint balls at other people. Hmmm. . . interesting. Holi was on Wednesday, but Elder Thomas was fortunate to be the recipient of someone's SWEET offering the next day.
We invited these SWEET spirits for dinner (supper) on Thursday this week. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and banana cake with ice cream and chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce was made by Sister Wigg before she left. Thanks, Sister Wigg for contributing to our meal in such a SWEET way. Interestingly, we had no leftovers. The bowl you see was once filled with mashed potatoes but is now empty.We love the missionaries. We enjoy the work we do in the office, but we LOVE the missionaries.
Each moring, when we go walking in the nearby park, we anticipate the SWEET refreshment the beautiful trees Banglore offers us. Sometimes the leaves of the trees diffuse the rays of the rising sun through fresh morning air, giving light at the end of the path ahead of us. As we see the sunrays steaming through the trees, we are reminded of the picture of the Joseph Smith's first vision. A feeling of SWEET wonder fills our hearts as we think about the majesty and splendor of that moment. The timing and the conditions have to be just right for the sunrays to be visible in the park. On this day, those conditions were not there. One day, we hope to capture it with the camera.
Saturday, is our preparation day. For this past Saturday, we decided that we wanted to get out and see a few sights in Bangalore. We called the Smith's to see if they wanted to join us, and they were delighted to be with us. We all crowded into an auto (driven by Baskhar) and began our SWEET outing at the National Gallery of Modern Art. We had a hard time finding the art gallery, but after going by it about three times, we finally arrived at the old colonial "bungalow," as they call it, where the gallery is housed. The building was indeed wonderful, and the art was interesting to see. We could take pictures outside, but we could not take any pictures inside. The reflecting pool provides a sense of SWEETNESS and peace to the majestic building.
The main grounds of the gallery are to the left of the above picture, which is the actual front of the gallery, where a fountain graces the grounds with beauty and refreshment. Elder and Sister Smith are enjoying the freshness of the fountain. Of course, the reflecting pool and the fountain remind us of the fountains and reflecting pools that are outside the Temples of the Lord. We are grateful that Heavenly Father has provided us with reminders of the Temple when we are so far away from the nearest House of the Lord. As we acknowledge and show gratitude for these reminders, we can feel the SWEET love our Heavenly Father has for us. He knows we love the temple, which is the source of the Living Waters.
The trees in the grounds of the gallery are wonderful. The trunks of many of them are massive. How SWEET is this picutre of two people in love standing under a huge rain tree? The only thing that is missing is a heart carved in the trunk of the tree with the inscription, "T W + W T." (Our children are probably groaning at this point.) There aren't many leaves at the bottom of these trees.
The leaves are wayyyyyy up at the top. The branches and leaves at the top of the trees offer lots of room around the trees on the ground and provide SWEET coolness from the hot summer sun. The weather has become hot here, with the temperature during the days rising to the mid-thirties.
Here we have the handsome Elder Tiefenbach surrounded by SWEET flowers and regal trees. He fits in well because he is both SWEET and regal. He is Sister Tiefenbach's SWEETheart, and he is a regal son of our Heavenly Father.
After our trip to the art gallery, we headed to the Bangalore Castle. We did not go inside the Castle; we simply walked around the front of it. We think they were shooting a movie there that day. Bangalore Castle is designed after Windsor Castle. Seeing this castle brought back SWEET memories of our trip to England we made with Elder Tiefenbach's mother and specifically, our tour of Windsor Castle.
Today, is the fifth Sunday, so we had a combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting. President Anthony taught the lesson. Here in India, they would say, "President Anthony TOOK the lesson." He showed some videos of President Hinckley testifying of Christ and His Atonement. After the videos, some people had the opportunity to bear their testimonies of the character of Christ. Elder Solomon (this is an old picture) bore a SWEET testimony as he referred to a talk by Elder Bednar, who said that without the character of Christ, there would be no atonement. Elder Solomon said that he thinks the most important characteristic of Christ is that he always turned outward; He was always more concerned about other people than himself. He then applied it to himself and to all of us, saying that we, too, can turn outward and show this same characteristic. Elder Solomon has a sincere, genuine spiritual SWEETNESS about him. We do not like the thought that one day, he will be transferred to another place in India. We already had to say good-bye to him once.
One of the SWEET experiences we have here is to receive communications from home through the marvels of modern technology. Our daughter, Carma, and her husband, Rob, and two of their daughters made a trip to Salt Lake City for meetings with Rob's work (FamilySearch). Carma and our beautiful granddaughter attended the Young Women meeting at the Conference Center. They had a wonderful time, and we are so excited for them. This will truly be a SWEET memory for them.
We love the SWEET feelings we get when we see pictures of home, even if the pictures are filled with piles of snow. Somehow, even though we don't like snow, the snow makes us feel good. Maybe, the SWEETNESS comes from seeing our SWEET granddaughter experience a record amount of snow.
Elder Solomon's SWEET grandmother offered some SWEETNESS to end our week. She gave us an Indian SWEET today. We can't remember the name of it, but it is good. She always has a smile to greet us each week, and we look forward to seeing her and shaking her hand. The words "SWEET is the peace the gospel brings," comes to our minds when we think of Sister Solomon. We hope that your week to come will be filled with the SWEETNESS of the peace of the gospel.
Yes, the week started off with SWEET chocolate chip cookies to take to the office. We took 3 dozen cookies on Monday morning, and by the end of the day, they were all gone. Hmmmm..... I wonder who ate so many cookies????? Missionaries perhaps?????? We recall Sister Tiefenbach using the word, "vultures" at one point in time that day.
We had a very SWEET experience this week as we said good-bye to two great missionaries. Elder Vinck and Elder Sodadasi have finished their missions and headed home this week. As a great send off, President and Sister Funk invited them, the Smith's, the Assistants to the President, and us to their place for a wonderful steak supper. The steak was so, so good. We also had pasta with a cream sauce, salad, and carrots. Dessert was a chocolate chocolate chip cup cake with ice cream. Mmmmm, good! Now that was one SWEET meal. This is the dining room at the mission home.
Just before we were to leave the office for the mission home, President Funk asked Elder Ram and Elder Barlow (the Assistants to the President) if they had the agenda for the farewell evening. We wish we had a camera at that time to capture the looks on their faces. Their eyes looked like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming car. For the first time since we have known them, they did not know what to say. Their jaws dropped; their voices were silent as they stared ahead with complete blank looks on their faces. Now, that was a SWEET, SWEET moment! The President jokingly said, "I guess not." The brilliant Elder Barlow said, "Ah . . . were we supposed to do that????" We all had a good laugh. Later on in the week, as we all reminisced about the incident, Elder Ram and Elder Barlow came up with a better response they can use for when they haven't develped an agenda. They will simply say, "Yes, President. We will get that for you right away." They will then simply go to the computer, find an existing agenda and change the names. Simple! By the time the Assistants arrived at the farewell dinner, they were mostly back to their regular cheerful selves.
Here are Elder Vinck (right) and Elder Sodadasi. We first met Elder Vinck when we were serving in Coimbatore. He was an Assistant to the President at that time, and was visiting Coimbatore for a few days. We were impressed with him then, and we continue to be impressed with him now. As part of the farewell, both elders had the opportunity to talk about a couple of things they have learned while serving their missions. Elder Vinck said that he learned that serving a mission was not about him; it is about doing what the Lord wants. He said he gave up his ideas about how he could continue to keep up his basketball skills while serving his mission and turned his thoughts to having a desire to do the Lord's will. We never cease to be amazed at the maturity of these young men. Hearing Elder Vinck's testimony added a wonderful, SWEET touch to the evening.
We were also touched by the SWEET testimony of Elder Sodadasi. We met him briefly several months ago at a multi-zone conference held at Coimbatore. He has contributed in great ways to the Lord's work while on his mission, and we are sure that the strength he has gained on his mission will be invaluable as he returns home to contribute to his own branch.
A crowning SWEET experience was seeing Brother Akash Amalraj. Akash is from Coimbatore and flew to Bangalore for an interview with President Funk in preparation for a mission. Akash is like a son to us. When he walked into the door of the office our faces and our hearts lit up. Sister Tiefenbach wanted to give him a great big hug, but she thought it might be a bit inappropriate, so she settled for a good solid handshake. We can't say enough good about Akash. He comes from a solid family who is dedicated to the Gospel, and his great parents have trained up their children in the way of the Lord. We know that Akash will be a great missionary. He carries with him a great air of confidence, but his confidence is wrapped with a SWEET sense of humility. His English is exceptional, and he would do well anywhere in the world. Most young men in India are called to serve in one of the two missions of India, but a few are called to other parts of the world. We can hardly wait to see where he will be called.
We took Akash and his family friend out for lunch (sorry, we can't remember his name). The man sitting with Akash is a family friend who served in the army with Akash's father. He has known and looked after Akash since Akash was a small child. He travelled several hours to meet Akash at the airport in Bangalore. This shows his respect and SWEET love for Akash and his family. When we came back from lunch, President Funk interviewed Akash. After the interview, Akash waited in the office until it was time for him to go back to the airport. Elder Tiefenbach took a few minutes from his busy work in his office to make some SWEET memories of our visit with Akash. 
That day was a busy day with many people coming and going. Elder and Sister Smith came in to get a few things done. Sister Smith diligently comes in every day to see if more baptismal records have been delivered by the missionaries so she can enter them into the data base. Sister Tiefenbach is happy that Sister Smith so willingly does this job because if Sister Smith did not do it, Sister Tiefenbach would have to do it. Her SWEET contribution to the work in the office frees up time for Sister Tiefenbach to stay mostly caught up with other things that have to be done. Sister Tiefenbach wonders how Sister Wigg kept up with all the work.
And, of course the Assistants were busy at work, as usual. Ahem . . . Elders!!!! You could at least pretend to be busy the way normal people work! We love your SWEET, serious, studious, spiritual contribution to the work in the office. 
We welcomed two new elders from the USA to our mission, Elder O'Dell (left) and Elder Thomas. Their arrival into our mission was delayed for several months as they waited for their visas. While waiting for their visas, they had many SWEET experiences serving in Arizona, so although they are new to India, they come to us with experience under their belts. They are excited to be in India. They will be in Bangalore for only a short time while they wait to be assigned to a branch in the mission. We wish them well as they continue to serve.
The day after Elder O'Dell and Elder Thomas arrived, they were welcomed to Bangalore with the leftovers of Holi. Holi is a holiday where people throw paint balls at other people. Hmmm. . . interesting. Holi was on Wednesday, but Elder Thomas was fortunate to be the recipient of someone's SWEET offering the next day.
We invited these SWEET spirits for dinner (supper) on Thursday this week. We had chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and banana cake with ice cream and chocolate sauce. The chocolate sauce was made by Sister Wigg before she left. Thanks, Sister Wigg for contributing to our meal in such a SWEET way. Interestingly, we had no leftovers. The bowl you see was once filled with mashed potatoes but is now empty.We love the missionaries. We enjoy the work we do in the office, but we LOVE the missionaries.
Each moring, when we go walking in the nearby park, we anticipate the SWEET refreshment the beautiful trees Banglore offers us. Sometimes the leaves of the trees diffuse the rays of the rising sun through fresh morning air, giving light at the end of the path ahead of us. As we see the sunrays steaming through the trees, we are reminded of the picture of the Joseph Smith's first vision. A feeling of SWEET wonder fills our hearts as we think about the majesty and splendor of that moment. The timing and the conditions have to be just right for the sunrays to be visible in the park. On this day, those conditions were not there. One day, we hope to capture it with the camera.
Saturday, is our preparation day. For this past Saturday, we decided that we wanted to get out and see a few sights in Bangalore. We called the Smith's to see if they wanted to join us, and they were delighted to be with us. We all crowded into an auto (driven by Baskhar) and began our SWEET outing at the National Gallery of Modern Art. We had a hard time finding the art gallery, but after going by it about three times, we finally arrived at the old colonial "bungalow," as they call it, where the gallery is housed. The building was indeed wonderful, and the art was interesting to see. We could take pictures outside, but we could not take any pictures inside. The reflecting pool provides a sense of SWEETNESS and peace to the majestic building.
The main grounds of the gallery are to the left of the above picture, which is the actual front of the gallery, where a fountain graces the grounds with beauty and refreshment. Elder and Sister Smith are enjoying the freshness of the fountain. Of course, the reflecting pool and the fountain remind us of the fountains and reflecting pools that are outside the Temples of the Lord. We are grateful that Heavenly Father has provided us with reminders of the Temple when we are so far away from the nearest House of the Lord. As we acknowledge and show gratitude for these reminders, we can feel the SWEET love our Heavenly Father has for us. He knows we love the temple, which is the source of the Living Waters.
The trees in the grounds of the gallery are wonderful. The trunks of many of them are massive. How SWEET is this picutre of two people in love standing under a huge rain tree? The only thing that is missing is a heart carved in the trunk of the tree with the inscription, "T W + W T." (Our children are probably groaning at this point.) There aren't many leaves at the bottom of these trees.
The leaves are wayyyyyy up at the top. The branches and leaves at the top of the trees offer lots of room around the trees on the ground and provide SWEET coolness from the hot summer sun. The weather has become hot here, with the temperature during the days rising to the mid-thirties. 
Here we have the handsome Elder Tiefenbach surrounded by SWEET flowers and regal trees. He fits in well because he is both SWEET and regal. He is Sister Tiefenbach's SWEETheart, and he is a regal son of our Heavenly Father.
After our trip to the art gallery, we headed to the Bangalore Castle. We did not go inside the Castle; we simply walked around the front of it. We think they were shooting a movie there that day. Bangalore Castle is designed after Windsor Castle. Seeing this castle brought back SWEET memories of our trip to England we made with Elder Tiefenbach's mother and specifically, our tour of Windsor Castle. 
Today, is the fifth Sunday, so we had a combined Priesthood and Relief Society meeting. President Anthony taught the lesson. Here in India, they would say, "President Anthony TOOK the lesson." He showed some videos of President Hinckley testifying of Christ and His Atonement. After the videos, some people had the opportunity to bear their testimonies of the character of Christ. Elder Solomon (this is an old picture) bore a SWEET testimony as he referred to a talk by Elder Bednar, who said that without the character of Christ, there would be no atonement. Elder Solomon said that he thinks the most important characteristic of Christ is that he always turned outward; He was always more concerned about other people than himself. He then applied it to himself and to all of us, saying that we, too, can turn outward and show this same characteristic. Elder Solomon has a sincere, genuine spiritual SWEETNESS about him. We do not like the thought that one day, he will be transferred to another place in India. We already had to say good-bye to him once.
One of the SWEET experiences we have here is to receive communications from home through the marvels of modern technology. Our daughter, Carma, and her husband, Rob, and two of their daughters made a trip to Salt Lake City for meetings with Rob's work (FamilySearch). Carma and our beautiful granddaughter attended the Young Women meeting at the Conference Center. They had a wonderful time, and we are so excited for them. This will truly be a SWEET memory for them.
We love the SWEET feelings we get when we see pictures of home, even if the pictures are filled with piles of snow. Somehow, even though we don't like snow, the snow makes us feel good. Maybe, the SWEETNESS comes from seeing our SWEET granddaughter experience a record amount of snow.
Elder Solomon's SWEET grandmother offered some SWEETNESS to end our week. She gave us an Indian SWEET today. We can't remember the name of it, but it is good. She always has a smile to greet us each week, and we look forward to seeing her and shaking her hand. The words "SWEET is the peace the gospel brings," comes to our minds when we think of Sister Solomon. We hope that your week to come will be filled with the SWEETNESS of the peace of the gospel.
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