Visit To Coimbatore and Back to Bangalore

The weather has turned a bit cooler now. Today, the temperature was only about 26 degrees C. The breeze is also much stronger now and is most refreshing. This week, we made a trip to Coimbatore for our residency requirements and to attend a wedding that fortunately occurred at the same time. We inquired about the status of our visa while we were there, but, as expected, they couldn't tell us anything because the application has gone to New Delhi. But, we were able to pick up a copy of a letter that arrived for Sister Tiefenbach that was addressed to Delhi recommending that she be granted an extension of her visa. Now, both of us have this letter, so it is a matter of more time before we get the visas. The second order of business was to clean up the apartment a bit and buy a few groceries so we could eat while we were in Coimbatore. We went to the newly opened Big Bazaar. It was being built while we were living in Coimbatore, so we were interested in seeing the inside of the store. We were able to purchase a few items that we needed, but we ended up going to our familiar Nilgiris Store to get everything on our list.

We arrived early at the church for the wedding of President Solomon (Raja) and Sujithra (Suchithra). Sometimes, the names can be confusing here. Sujithra's name is really Sujithra, but her school records have her name spelled differently, so the spelling with the ch instead of the j is used for things like weddings. We think this is the story of her name. President Solomon has chosen to be known by Solomon; the name Solomon does not appear in his legal name at all. You can see the stage set up in the parking lot of the church. This is the stage where the bridal couple receives the guests. After the ceremony, everyone made their way out of the church to the parking lot for the meal and to greet the happy couple. The guests started eating right away, and then at any time during the evening, they can go up and greet and give gifts to the couple.

This is Sister Shanthi (left) the mother of the bride. To Sister Tiefenbach's left (right in the picture) is Sister Shanthi Appasamy. On the far right of the picture is the grandfather of the bride. We were able to meet several people before the wedding began.











This is the happy bride. We were surprised to see her before the ceremony began. This is actually the third "ceremony" for their wedding. The first "ceremony" was a gathering at the home of the bride where a small ceremony was performed. Following this small ceremony, the couple went to the registration office, which was the second "ceremony."  This occurred some where around May 15. This all has to do with what India recognizes as a legal marriage, which we don't quite completely understand. Christian clergy do not have the legal authority to perform marriages. The "ceremony" at the church was their public ceremony. She was certainly beautiful. Sister Tiefenbach had the privilege of being the chorister for the wedding ceremony. They are looking forward to the most important part of their marriage, which is being sealed in the Hong Kong temple for eternity. They left today (Sunday), and will be sealed on Monday or Tuesday. In India, civil marriages are required before the temple sealing, so they are able to go to the temple immediately following the civil marriage.

This picture was also taken prior to the ceremony. We were honoured to have been at their wedding. The timing of the wedding was not the most convenient for us because we had a lot of work to do at the office. Six missionaries were making the trip to the Philippines to the Missionary Training Center to begin their missions. Actually, two of them began their missions prior to their MTC date because of difficulties we were having with obtaining visas for the Philippines, but that has all been worked out now. Having the wedding on Thursday evening would have fit our schedule better, but Elder and Sister Smith and the Assistants, Elder Ram and Elder Kumar, covered for us quite effectively.

Here are Brother Sekar and Sister Shanthi (left) - parents of the bride and the parents of the groom (right). We do not know their names. They are from a small village in Tami Nadu.

The meal was served on a plate that was covered by a rounded banana leaf. Banana leaves are typically used at weddings and other functions in Tamil Nadu. It was buffet style with servers, which is different from many of the other functions we have attended. At other functions, the guests take turns sitting at long tables, and servers dish the food up on banana leaves that are placed on the table in front of each guest. The wedding meal consisted of several dishes, including biryani, which is a favourite food of many people from India. There was an Indian sweet that was very tasty and ice cream for dessert. We had the opportunity to greet the bride and groom and have our picture taken. Notice that the bride is no longer in her white wedding dress. This saree is typical of the Indian wedding dress. As part of the tradition, they exchanged wedding garlands.

During the evening festivities, we were able to meet with many of the members of the church. Here we are visiting with Brother Kanniyappen and Sister Ranganaykai (husband and wife). He was baptized shortly after we arrived in India, and she followed several months later.










We were thrilled to visit with President Arul (left) and his wife Shanthi and with a dear friend, Sister Punitha (beside Sister Tiefenbach) that evening. Warm hugs were exchanged between the women and between the men, and hearty handshakes were exchanged between opposite sex pairs. We had to put that in so everyone knows that we are keeping the mission rules. Okay, maybe, just maybe, there may have been one or two hugs between opposite sex pairs. We were able to visit Sister Punitha and her husband, Brother Amalaraj and their sons, Akash and Abhishek in their home before we returned to Bangalore. They are such good friends, which meant that Sister Tiefenbach and Sister Punitha shared some tears again before we departed. They really need to stop doing that. They were fine until the prayer we had together; then, the tears started flowing.

On Thursday, we made our regular Thursday evening visit to the home of Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi and their three children. They have made great progress in the gospel and strive to implement regular daily family prayer and family scripture study in their home. They have literally been showered with blessings since they joined the church and started paying tithing. They recently purchased a table with four chairs and a plastic tablecloth to cover the table. They are thrilled with their purchase, and we rejoiced with them, as they have never had a table before.

 Our driver, Augustine, was so happy (elated) to invite us to his home for lunch and to meet some of his family on Friday. He comes from a family of 14 children. He is the youngest of the family. He is only a few weeks younger than our oldest son, Shayne. So, we often think of our son when we are with him. Augustine (left) has been a good friend, a helper, a photographer, a translator, and much more. We have developed a strong bond with him. His nephew, Charles (to Elder Tiefenbach's left), made the meal. He made a creamed chicken soup; coconut chicken, which was really, really good; butter chicken; chicken fingers (wieners - but they were presented beautifully), and a rice dish. He made custard with fruit for dessert. It was very good. Charles is holding his cousin's (in the pink) son. The other women are three of Augustine's sisters.

We finished our Friday with a visit to Brother Suresh's (red shirt) and Sister Shanthi's (beside Sister Tiefenbach) home in the evening. Brother Suresh had to leave to make a trip with his work. His co-worker, Shankar, (far left) accompanied him. The girl in the picture is a neighbourhood friend. Of course, they fed us, too. We ate so much on Friday that we thought we wouldn't have to eat again for a couple of days.

For some reason, we felt compelled to bake something while we were in Coimbatore. We made pineapple upside down cake. It made more than one cake, so we ended up with more cake than we expected. We shared the cake with Brother Raju (from Semedu), who came to our home Friday at 12:30 before we went to Augustine's house for lunch. We also gave a piece to Augustine, and we took some to the Amalaraj home when we visited them in the afternoon (the same place where the tears took place). We didn't take our computer to Coimbatore with us, so we relied on the internet for a recipe.  It turned out good. We will likely make it again. We took the extra cake back to Bangalore with us Saturday morning as carry on. When we arrived in Bangalore, we went to the office and shared the cake with the Smith's and the Assistants.

The Assistants arrived in Bangalore from their trip to Rajahmundry late Saturday afternoon. As they were on their way to the office, Elder Kumar was thinking that he was very hungry, but he never thought to stop to get something to eat. One of the first things they saw when they arrived in the office was the cake. They are so spoiled!! But, we love to spoil them. They work hard. On Saturday night, we invited them to our apartment for a spaghetti supper. We served ice cream with peanut butter sauce for dessert. For those of you who have not had peanut butter sauce, you are missing out on something fantastic. Elder Ram said that it is so good that he could swim in it. (Recipe: Heat in a pan over low to medium heat - 1 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup milk, 1/4 cup light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon butter. Heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add 1/4 cup peanut butter and whisk until smooth. It can be used warm or cooled. Store unused portion in refrigerator. - YUMMY!!!)

We attended Indiranagar Branch, as usual, on Sunday. This is (left) Sister Usha, the branch president's wife and the Sunday School president's wife (sorry, we can't remember her name).









These are the two girls (sisters) who are taking piano lessons from Sister Tiefenbach. They are sweethearts!











Of course, we are always happy to see Elder Aeshamalla and Elder Prakash. Elder Aeshamalla ALWAYS has a big smile for us. He is the elder that has fixed a few things for us in the office.

Mango season is upon us once again. Mangos are everywhere. We are not particularly mango lovers, but we are starting to acquire a taste for them. We like to freeze the mango fruit and make mango banana smoothies. Now, those are GOOD!!! We often have fresh mangos on our cereal in the morning, too. The sweetness of the mangos remind us of the sweetness of the experiences we are having on our mission. We can truly say, "sweet is the peace the gospel brings." We have seen it in our own lives and in the lives of many people here in India as they tasted of the fruit of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ "which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet" (Alma 32:42).