More Apartment Hunting and YSA Conference

Our Sunday dinner last Sunday was wonderful. We had roast beef, mashed potatoes, beans, carrots with butter and dill, and gravy. The gravy was WONDERFUL! We used one of the gravy packages that Sister Ram sent. Yummy! The only thing missing from our Sunday dinner was the rest of the family.







On Monday, we celebrated Elder B. Singh's birthday. Actually, his birthday was the week before, but we did not know about it. So, we had cake for him this week. Sister Tiefenbach made banana cake. Of course, it was good. This is the recipe she received from her daughter Sheri. It is easy to make, and is always delicious.














Here we have Elder Singh with his companion Elder O'Dell.






















On Monday morning, we went looking at apartments again. The apartments we looked at on Monday were VERY nice. This is the first apartment we looked at. We had decided we wanted to get this apartment, but unfortunately the landlord would not negotiate on the rent, so we let it go. Standing with us is the real estate broker, Mr. Ganesh.

The apartment was on the sixth floor of this building on the corner closest to the camera. It is one of several tall apartment buildings in a huge complex next to the new mission office and home.
















We went back to the same complex in the late afternoon and looked at three more apartments. The grounds in the complex are beautiful. We ended up having to wait for quite a while for one of the brokers.















This is the apartment we have negotiated to rent. It is on the tenth floor. Yikes! We are getting higher! This is the view as we enter the front door of the apartment.










All the rooms are off the main hall (living room) of the apartment. A door on the left closes the kitchen off from the living/dining area. Two bedrooms and the guest bath are on the right side of the room. The master bedroom is off to the left. This apartment is the reverse of the first apartment we looked at that day. The landlord was asking the same price we offered for the first apartment we saw that day.

The cupboards and wardrobes are not finished, yet. The countertop that is shown here will need to be removed before the cabinets are installed. We are not sure why the countertop was installed already. Perhaps the flat initially came with the countertop. We will be the first tenants in this apartment. The owner purchased this flat when the building was first built, but the flat is only now ready for rent.

We went back to the flat on Wednesday so the landlord could show us the plans for the kitchen cabinets and the wardrobes in the bedrooms. This view from our apartment shows the front of the complex. It is behind a huge business complex, seen on the right. On the left is a series of shops, a few restaurants (mostly Indian), and some other small businesses. The store will not provide us with all our groceries, but we will be able to pick up a few things. The location is definitely not as convenient as our present apartment. We will need to take an auto to a grocery store to get most of our supplies. We will be able to walk around the complex for our morning exercise, so that will be good.


The building in the centre is our apartment. It is on the front left corner of the building, tenth floor.

The missionary leader council met this Tuesday. After the meeting was over, we invited Elder Watts (from Australia) and Elder Erupula (from Hyderabad) for dinner. We went to McDonalds. That was their choice. We enjoyed our visit with them.

On Thursday, we attended the YSA conference on Thursday. It was held at the Confident Cascade Resort in Bangalore. The conference was for all the young single adults from Bangalore, Chennai, and Coimbatore Districts. We drove to the resort with President and Sister Berrett. They are always such good company. We enjoy being with them. The Berretts conducted a workshop, and we conducted an activity.





We had a great time! One of our favourite parts about this conference is that we were able to see SO many friends from Coimbatore and former missionaries. Elder Aruldoss served with us in Coimbatore. We were excited to see him. His brother attended the conference with him. They both served missions at roughly the same time. Elder Aruldoss' brother served in Delhi, and they were released within a week or so of each other. We can't remember the exact time difference.

The activity we conducted was called "Getting to Know Your Neighbour." For the first part of the activity, we had the YSA sitting in two rows facing each other. The had two minutes to talk to each other and get to know each other. At the end of two minutes, one row shifted down one seat. Then the two new friends had two minutes to get to know each other. The process continued until each person had the opportunity to talk to everyone. This is a take off of the 2 minute speed date. The next part of the activity was playing "Do You Love Your Neighbour?" Everyone had a blast playing the game.












We were excited to see President Allwyn Kilbert and his wife, Sister Sonia. Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of Sister Sonia. Here we see President Allwyn at the dessert table.










We were able to get a picture of one of their sons. When their sons saw us, they came running up to us to greet us. We were thrilled to see them running to us. Seeing them run to us, made us think of when our own grandchildren will hopefully run to us when we return home. We have so many substitute grandchildren here, and we are so grateful that so many parents share their children with us.






Here is the former Elder Sharma (left) and the former Elder Raja (center). We have the fortune to see both of these elders several times in the office, as they often drop by. President Vincent Paul, the district president from Coimbatore, was enjoying the food and conversation with them.








This is a picture of Brizer Paul (President Vincent Paul's son) and Sister Christine (President Vincent Paul's wife). We had a good conversation with Britzer. He was relating to us about all the progress Coimbatore District is making with music and with people learning more about music. We are grateful for being able to be a small part of their progress in music. Brother Britzer is thrilled that he has been able to progress in his musical ability. He indeed has a natural talent.



We also saw Sister Sathiya and Sister Blesy from Erode. Sister Blesy is in the Young Women Presidency.

Elder Chelladurai returned from his mission in the India Bangalore Mission a few months after we arrived in India. We met him a few times while we were in Bangalore as we waited to go to Coimbatore. It was good to see him.

The grounds of the resort were beautiful. Unfortunately, the purple flowers on this vine are not very visible in this picture. This was the "fence" between two parts of the grounds. Elder Tiefenbach thought it would be great if we could have a fence like this instead of a painted wooden one. There is a chain link fence here, but it is covered with the vine.

Today, we had a baptism at our branch. Elder Mills baptized Brother Anthony Dass. Elder Ravi (right) is obviously thrilled with the baptism.










We have met many wonderful people in India. We love visiting with all our friends we have made in the past in India, and we love to meet and fellowship with new friends. As we saw old friends and met new ones at the YSA conference, we were reminded of Paul's words: "Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19). We may be foreigners in the land of India, but the people here do not see us this way. They indeed see us as fellowcitizens with the saints, and we see them the same way. We do not feel like foreigners.