Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

This is the week before Christmas, and up until this point, we haven't felt that Christmas would be here so soon. We began our week with a Christmas lunch at the office. Well, it wasn't really held at the office; we went across the parking lot to the church building. We seem to always want to call it a stake center when we refer to it, but we will have to wait until Bangalore becomes a stake. Hopefully, that will be in about a year's time. So, back to our Christmas luncheon. At this table we have Sunil, Sampath (President's driver), Sundar, Shankar, and Satish.


At this table we see Sam, Jonas, Gangadhar, Elder Mills, Elder Ravi, and Sreedhar (the former Elder Srigiris). Although this was a Christmas celebration, Santa did NOT come. He is "on the way." Most of you will not find that funny, but those who serve in India or live in India will understand.








Most of the food was provided. We had biryani (of course), KFC (with an Indian twist), and Dominos pizza. Sister Tiefenbach and Sister Smith contributed dessert. We all had an enjoyable time. Here we have President Berrett, Sister Berrett, Sister Smith, Elder Smith, President William, Shajan, and Elder Tiefenbach. Sister Tiefenbach was sitting in the chair that is empty. Obviously, she was taking the picture!




Tuesday was a busy day with missionaries dropping by the office. We had zone training. In reality, we did not attend. We are always invited and welcomed, but we have too much to do in the office to attend these meetings. We also had five missionaries arrive for their farewell dinner and devotional. We had missionaries all over the office that day. Here we have Elder Pilli, Elder Anderson, Elder Emrich (finishing his mission), Elder Bown (finishing his mission), and Elder Kullai.





Elder Rees (left) received a package that day. He was excited. Joining in his excitement were Elder Kullai, Elder Peck, Elder Kumar (finishing his mission), and Elder Sarkies.










Elder Stevens (left) and Elder Pydimala (right) are giving Elder Stoll some last minute encouragement and wishing him well as he finishes his mission.

Elder Tiefenbach ALWAYS has MANY missionaries visit him. And, they usually have their hands out just like this. They always want to see him regarding money matters, and usually they are asking for reimbursements, or they have questions about their debit cards. All these elders were actually in his office at the same time: (left to right) Elder Gottipati, Elder Manidhar (formerly Yellisetti), Elder Sarkies, Elder Dondipati, Elder Veera (formerly Potula), Elder Singh, and Elder Peck. Elder Tiefenbach had a hard time convincing them that he was not Santa Claus! He could not give them everything on their list. They had great fun with this picture.


Here we see Elder Hodgson (with glasses) and Elder Kumar (right) are the center of attention. Elder O'Dell (left), Elder Anderson (next to him; he keeps slipping into these pictures), and Elder Stevens (back) offer their pep talks as both Elder Hodgson and Elder Kumar prepare to return home.

The families of the missionaries who were going home certainly had Santa come early, as their sons were able to return home before Christmas. Many, including Elder Bown (our own Elder Bown), wanted to stay longer, but President Berrett thought that the mothers of these fine men would NOT be happy if they returned two or three days after Christmas. We think he was right!





We have come to know Elder Hodgson because he has been serving in Bangalore. He is/was the zone leader in Bangalore, and he liked to put on high tech training sessions for his zone training meetings, which meant that he often borrowed either ours or Smiths' computer. We knew that the computers were in great hands.

We first met Elder Emrich at the mission office when we first arrived in India. He was serving in Bangalore at the time. The minute we saw him, we thought he looked like and had many of the same mannerisms as our nephew, Christopher. We still have to shake our heads a bit to remind ourselves that this is not Christopher. We are sure that Elder Emrich's parents are very pleased with Santa's present this year.





Elder Kumar is also leaving us as he is finishing his mission. He will be returning to Delhi. We have come to know him a bit better because he has been serving in KGF for the past while. The elders from KGF often come into Bangalore because it is quite close to Bangalore and is part of the Bangalore Zone.

Finally, we say good-bye to Elder Stoll. We first met Elder Stoll when we were visiting Coimbatore several months ago. We were both impressed by his dedication and steadfastness. We enjoyed talking to him about his family and hearing about the great experiences he had working with his father. We are sure that he will continue to be a hard-worker and will contribute greatly to the church at his home.





So, life in India is pretty hard! Oops! Is this a picture of all of us having a farewell dinner at the Marriott???? Okay, maybe things are not SO difficult. We had a great time. The atmosphere was wonderful; the conversations were great; and the food was plentiful and good.








Awwwww! This is such a romantic picture with the subdued lighting and the fire in the background. Nothing could be better than to be with the one you love in such wonderful surroundings.









On Wednesday, we went to the Thomas home. Elder Thomas had just been released the week before. We had a great time with them. They prepared the meal specially for us; they did not put spices (i.e., chili and corrinader) in the dishes they prepared. We were grateful for their consideration. Elder Thomas is not in this picture because he volunteered to take the picture. We enjoyed visiting with his brother (left), his father and mother, and his sister (right). If you look close, you can see Santa in the background. It looks like he found a spot to rest in their house.

 On Thursday, we had another Christmas celebration. We were invited to attend a Christmas function at the home of Brother Anand Sagar. This is his father. He and Brother Anand's mother were baptized in July. The function was held in the parkade of their apartment building. The question is: Has Santa Claus come to town, yet????






Santa Claus is coming to town! Santa Claus is coming to town! Santa Claus is coming to town! After helping with the fist cutting of the cake, This Santa danced up a storm.

Friday found us in Coimbatore. Of course, we visited with Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi. They wanted us to be in their home so badly on Christmas day, but we had other commitments at the office and on Christmas day. We think they were happy with Santa's gift of us coming a few days before Christmas. We have a similar picture from last year around this same tree.  Although we were all happy to see each other, we were also a bit sad because we all realized that we would have only one more visit after this one. It shall be hard to say good-bye.

Whoa!!!! What is this???? Santa is definitely in town, and Elder Tiefenbach is getting down and is in full swing of the Christmas celebration. We joined some members of the Church in Coimbatore for their night of carols. This was the first home the group visited.

This picture was taken outside the home of Brother and Sister Amalaraj. You can tell that we had great fun! The people here certainly know how to have a good time.










Here is the William family (left) with the Amalaraj family (with Santa). The Amalaraj's have one more son, but he is on a mission in Delhi. Oh, and in the back is Sister Latta. Sister Latta was in the MTC the same time as we were, and we had the great blessing of meeting her while we were there. Our meeting at the MTC was a little miracle in itself.






Here we see Sister Tiefenbach and Sister Punita Amalaraj - true friends. The next time we meet will be very difficult because we know we will have to say good-bye. We know our hearts will hurt.









President Alwyn and Sister Sonia and their sons are also good friends. We have grown very fond of their family. Sister Tiefenbach has many fond memories of getting together with Sister Sonia to share cooking ideas. We are so blessed to have so many good friends.

This was the last stop for us. There were several members of the church that live in this apartment that we visited. After we arrived and started singing, MANY people in the apartment came out on their balconies to watch us. Some of the children were terrified of Santa, and we are sure that they were wishing that he would NOT come to town. This is Brother Suresh and Sister  Bakalakshmi with their family. This is one of the families that came to visit us on their way to the Hong Kong temple in September.

The party continued on, but we needed to head home because it was getting way too late for us. Apparently, the caroling lasted until about 1:00 a.m. We are glad we bowed out when we did. We are grateful for good friends like Brother Renald (left) and Sister Deepa (right of Renald) and their two children who drove us from house to house that evening. We had a great time visiting with them. This family also visited us on their way to the Hong Kong temple. They and Brother Suresh's family travelled to Hong Kong at the same time.

At each home, the carollers left a bouquet of flowers, a card, and a few treats. When we were ready to leave the party, we were also favoured with flowers and a card. We had such a wonderful time. Although the party was filled with noise and dancing, along with the carols, we felt the spirit, and we had strong feelings of belonging and acceptance. The scene of watching all the saints having a good time with each other was heart warming. We could sense a great unity among the people. This is one of those experiences we had where we can't seem to find the right words to describe our feelings we had that night.

Santa also came to see Brother Augustine (okay, not a real Santa with a red suit). We gave him our Christmas tree we had in our Coimbatore apartment along with all the decorations. He was so excited to have a Christmas tree for his new house. He has been richly blessed to be able to build his own one room house.

Yes, Santa Claus is coming to town! We love the traditions that are associated with Christmas. We love the fun and excitement of Christmas. These traditions can bring us happiness and joy and can draw us closer as families.











But, in the midst of all these festivities and all this excitement, we remember that the reason we celebrate is to remember that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Let us go with haste, as did the shepherd, to seek Christ, for as the angel told the shepherds, "For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Let us join with "the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2: 13-14). We wish all our family and friends a Blessed and Merry Christmas.