Things Familiar and Things New

The week began with Diwali (pronounced Divali). It is also called the Festival of Lights. Last year, we were in Coimbatore for the celebration, and we were looking forward to seeing Diwali being celebrated in Bangalore. This year, Diwali was on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. On each evening, we could see and hear firecrackers and fireworks going off. The biggest day of celebration was on the second day, Sunday. The son of the family that owns the house where we live enjoyed lighting firecrackers and these giant sparklers. By the end of Sunday night, we were tired of all the noise and smoke from the firecrackers and fireworks. It is indeed a great celebration here.

  

Last year in Coimbatore, we went up to the roof top of our apartment building to see a panoramic view of the Coimbatore sky lit up with fireworks. We were not able to go up to the roof of our house here, but we were able to see some of the fireworks that people set off from our bedroom and kitchen windows. We were also able to share some of the sights and sounds of Diwali with some of our children through Facetime. What a wonderful thing it is to share our experiences in India with our children the minute they are happening! We are so thankful for technology.

This picture, taken Monday morning, shows the remnants of the Diwali celebration. Many of the streets were littered with papers and canisters from the firecrackers and fireworks. For the rest of the week, the air was heavy with smog. Although unpleasant, it offered a constant reminder to us of the three day celebration.

Drawings in front of people's homes is a common sight every day, but we saw more of them during Diwali. The regular everyday drawings are always in white, but for Diwali, some of them were more colourful. This drawing reminded us of the beautiful artwork we saw in Coimbatore that was done during the Pongal festival.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we looked at apartments for the office couple, which happens to be us at the present time. This is the first apartment. The pictures make the apartment look not too bad, but, to be honest, when we first looked at it, we were quite discouraged. It was VERY dirty; the bedrooms were tiny, and the suspended ceiling in the bathrooms were . . . less than desirous. This is one of the bathrooms.

This picture is one of the bedrooms. We think that this is not the master bedroom, but it is the one that has the balcony.

 

This is another bedroom. Again, it has a balcony, but it is not the master bedroom. The bathroom off this bedroom has a vanity (at least a counter top) for the sink, so we might use this room as the master bedroom if we decide to get this apartment.







This is the kitchen. The cupboards are definitely nice looking. We were wanting to get an apartment where we could put a free-standing stove. The office couple may be getting the stove from the old mission home. Presently, we have a real stove with an oven, and we have come to appreciate being able to put a 9x13 pan in the oven. In Coimbatore,  we had only the microwave/convection oven, so baking a cake took longer because we could put only one of the two small pans in the oven at a time.



On Tuesday evening, we had a farewell for Elder Dass (left) and Elder Dangwal. Elder Dass is from Coimbatore, and Elder Dangwall is from Delhi. Both play the piano, so they will be an asset to their respective branches in terms of contributing to the music of their branches. Elder Dass' two sisters were baptized while he was serving his mission. He is grateful for that blessing.





One of the "treats" that we always look forward to at all the farewells is having Sister Berrett's homemade dinner rolls. She always has butter and jam available at the dinner table to accompany them. We had never had jam served with rolls at dinner before. It is a nice treat. Maybe, it is too much of a treat because we end up eating more rolls than we should. They are so yummy!






Elder Mills is weird! We have a lot of fun with him. What do you think? Would he make a good model? We think he should stick to missionary work for now.










 On Wednesday, we looked at a brand new apartment, but it is a lot further from the new mission office than the first apartment we looked at. Although we both loved the apartment, we weren't sure we or the couple that hopefully is coming to replace us will want to take an auto to the office everyday. This apartment is also "inside," which means it is a bit off the main road. Being off the main road may be good because it is quiet, but it is also a negative point because it means it is a fair walk to the main road to flag down an auto. No supermarkets are nearby so taking an auto will be an absolute necessity if one wants to go anywhere.

 This apartment was bright with lots of lights shining in the windows and the doors of the many balconies. Elder Tiefenbach and Elder Smith are enjoying the view.










Sampath (front left) is helping us by driving us to all the prospective apartments. Shankar (half of him is seen on the right), the office assistant, is extremely helpful by finding the apartments and setting up viewings.









While we were in the neighborhood, we stopped by to look at the progress of the new mission home and mission office. This will be Sister Tiefenbach's new work station. It looks very modern and bright, but it is away from everyone else in the office. She will no longer be able to look up from her desk and see into Elder Tiefenbach's office. Even the assistants to the president will not be within her view. She is not quite sure what she is going to do to keep herself entertained while she is working. Ahhh . . . look at that wonderful air conditioner vent on the ceiling above her desk. It is a tough life!!


This picture is taken outside the new mission home/office. The mission office should be finished by the first week in December, but the mission home will take a bit longer. Hopefully, President and Sister Berrett will be able to spend Christmas in their new home, but the builders aren't positive it will be done in time.

On Thursday, we and the Smith's went to Coimbatore. We went shopping to buy food for our stay there. Washing the fruits and vegetables in bleach solution and rinsing them always take time and is a regular task, but we are rewarded for our efforts when we stand back and look at the clean fresh vegetables and fruit. They look so fresh and new!

The last time the Smith's were in Coimbatore with us, we forgot to go up to the roof to show them the view. The view from above is always refreshing. We feel like we can see forever, at least in the direction this picture is showing. The mountains in the other direction stop our "forever" view. The mountains were not as impressive looking this time because the air was heavy with pollution. We could still see the mountains, but some of them were fuzzy from the pollution. 



 We saw a few changes from our last stay in Coimbatore only a few weeks ago. The area that you see littered with stones and bricks had many "shanti" houses. The houses were in VERY poor shape, and we often wondered how they could still be standing. Well, they are no longer standing. All the people living here had encroached upon the land. The government had them all torn down. We don't know where the people are living now. Having the houses gone certainly changes the view.



From the roof, we were able to see another amazing cloud and sun picture. Although seeing the sun rays diffused through the clouds is beautiful, we realize that much of the splendor of this view is the result of the pollution. Although sun rays streaming through clouds is a familiar sight lately, we are always attracted to it.

We took the Smiths with us on visits to several members of the branches in Coimbatore. We visited with the Lawrence William family, the Amalaraj family, with Sister Vincey and her mother Esther, with Raju Joseph, with the White family and of course we visited with Raja and Sumathi and their three children.We enjoyed our visit with them. We probably stayed too long with the Amalaraj family, but we know that we will not have too many more visits with them before we go back home. We also took a drive up one of the mountains to look at a Hindu Temple. The two of us had visited this temple last year, so we wanted to share this with the Smith's. We stayed only long enough to look at the temple from the car. We did not stay longer because MANY people were pouring into the area. As it turned out, there was some kind of celebration, and hundreds of people ended up being there.


On the way to church today, we saw a familiar site - cows eating garbage. But, this time, they had a treat of fresh greens. We were not sure what the greens were, but the cows seemed to be enjoying them.









We saw a new sign at church today. This is the name of the church in Kanada (we think that is the correct spelling). The English sign is still there, but this has been added. All the signs in Bangalore must also be in the native language as well as English.








This is a familiar sight. After church, many people stay around to visit for a while. Elder O'Dell and Elder Singh are visiting with the former Elder Srigiris (now Brother Sreedhar) and one of the young men. This picture was taken from the second floor of the church building. In India, it would be referred to as the first floor.







So many things are familiar to us, yet each time we experience them again, they become new to us. We go to the same church building week after week, but each week, we have a new experience. We say our prayers daily, but each time, we have a new experience with our Heavenly Father. We read the scriptures every day, but each time, we gain new insights and are reminded anew of the doctrines of salvation. The gospel was taught to Adam and has been taught in times of old by all the prophets, and it has been restored anew in our day. The Lord reminds us, "blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fullness of my gospel, sent forth unto the children of men, that they might have life and be made partakers of the glories which are to be revealed in the last days, as it was written by the prophets and apostles in days of old" (D&C 66:2). We are grateful for the restored gospel. We bear testimony that the fullness of the gospel has, indeed, been restored to the earth once more through the prophet Joseph Smith and that we continue to be led and directed by a prophet of God, President Thomas S. Monson.