Thanksgiving Celebrations

This is a new structure on our street. We believe it will house a family who will be working on the construction of the new building that will be built on the vacant lot. Usually, a  family builds a temporary house adjacent to the building that is under construction. We think only one family at a time lives in these houses, but we are not sure because we see several people working on a building at any given time. It is not very big, so we can't see that it would have enough space to house more than one family at a time. We are not sure which family has the privilege of living in the house. This is the second time the house was built. The first time it was built, the builders used what we think was sand and water to hold the bricks together. Well, the rain poured down in buckets the first night. Needless to say, the sand was washed away. We are sure that the soon to be occupants of the house celebrated when the house was constructed using cement to hold the blocks together.

 Elder Ramaraj, who served as one of President Berrett's assistants, arrived in Bangalore on Wednesday for his departure interview, dinner, and devotional. A member from one of the branches in Bangalore came into the office that day with a friend. The assistants and Elder Ramaraj were able to answer some of the friend's questions about the church. It was good to see Elder Ramaraj working as a dedicated missionary right to the last minute of his mission.




We enjoyed working with him when we were in Coimbatore and in the office. We pray for his success in the future. A departure dinner and devotional is a time to celebrate, as it is the end of one stage of life and the beginning of new opportunities and experiences.

We had a special dinner for this farewell, as it was the day before American Thanksgiving. We had stuffed chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and gravy. The chicken breasts were stuffed with the type of stuffing we would normally have with a turkey dinner. We also had green beans with bacon and, of course, Sister Berrett's dinner rolls. Dessert was pecan pie, apple crisp, and ice cream. Yummy! President and Sister Berrett expressed their sincere gratitude for Elder Ramaraj's great service. He has been a dedicated and committed missionary.



Seeing the beautiful, pink blossoms on the tree across the street from us always gives cause to celebrate. The tree spreads over to our side of the narrow street, offering a beautiful sight from the spare bedroom window.  We are not sure how long the blossoms will last, but so far they have been there for a week.

On Friday, we had another great celebration. We had our Bangalore Zone Conference, and our zone leader decided that we needed to have a Thanksgiving dinner as part of the conference. This is the turkey before it was cooked. It doesn't look quite like the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys were are used to in North America, but it was a turkey nonetheless.






Unfortunately, the turkey was not finished cooking when it was time to eat, so we went ahead and ate the rest of the meal without it. We certainly had a lot of food; all the missionaries contributed something to meal. We had North American dishes and Indian dishes. One of the best things was the stuffing! Everyone loved the stuffing (dressing). We can't really call it stuffing because it was not stuffed in the bird. Sister Berrett combined several spices/herbs to come up with a taste that was close to poultry seasoning. We will have to try her combination and make some for Christmas (or any other time when we are craving stuffing).

President Berrett, Elder Bown (to the right of President), Elder Vaiphei (to the left of president), and Elder Stevens (to the left of Elder Vaiphei) seem to be engaged in a very important discussion.  Elder Rees (left of Elder Stevens) is hanging on to every word they were saying. Well, it probably wasn't terribly important; it was probably something about who would be able to eat the most turkey (or something like that). Maybe, they were all saying that they hope there would be enough stuffing left for them by the time they got to it.


All the missionaries eagerly dug into the food.

For dessert, we had banana cake and chocolate cake. The cake was Sister Tiefenbach's contribution. We also served fresh strawberries with the cake. Surprisingly, we had cake left over at the end of the meal. The left over cake will be put to good use, as we will take it to the office on Monday to give away. We always like to take something to the office on Monday because many of the missionaries drop by the office to put in orders, drop baptismal records off, etc. The weekend was very busy, so we didn't have time to bake anything for Monday, so the extra cake will come in handy.









At long last, the turkey was finished. Elder Tiefenbach was elected to carve it. With the help of Elder Smith, the task was completed and the missionaries indulged!











Elder Vaiphei (left) and Elder Kocharla each had a drumstick or part of the leg.












Elder Mangum and Elder Morrill enjoyed the white meat. The turkey was a delicacy to all the missionaries; and the missionaries devoured it in short order. We had no left over turkey.










Elder Coombs will be transferred this coming week. He will be serving in Rajahmundry. We are impressed with his dedication to his companion. A few months ago, his companion spent several days in the hospital, and Elder Coombs stayed with him, making sure everything was okay. He went back to his apartment to shower a couple of times, but other than that, he remained with his companion.





Elder Mangum will also be going to Rajahmundry next week. We have enjoyed working with him. He is a very obedient missionary. Sister Smith, who does the apartment inspections in Bangalore, says that he keeps a VERY clean kitchen. Both Elder Mangum and Elder Coombs will need to come to the office this coming week to pick up their registration packets for their new assignments, and after that, we will probably never see them again. That realization was rather jolting!

We had another reason to celebrate and give thanks this week. Sister Pratheema is ready for her mission. Unfortunately, her Canadian visa did not come through in time for her departure. Now, the delayed departure is not the cause of celebration; however, we can celebrate because we now know that her new MTC date will give plenty of time in which to receive her visa. Her family will also enjoy having her home for one more Christmas before she leaves.




Today, we had the Bangalore District Conference. The attendance was great and the people were enthused to be there. This picture was taken after the conference session was over. Both President and Sister Berrett give talks (of course). Sister Berrett always give talks that cause one to reflect upon her words. President Berrett gave a powerful talk today; it is the most powerful that we have heard him give. People in the congregation were riveted to his words as he spoke, and we hope that people will be motivated and work hard to make Bangalore a stake within the next six months or year.  On Saturday night, President Berrett spoke about the purpose of coming together as saints. He referred to scriptures that tell us we come together to be edified so that we can bind ourselves (or covenant) to act on the things we have heard and felt.We were definitely edified, and we hope that everyone will bind themselves to act on the things they felt so this area may become a stake within the six months or year. Having a stake in Bangalore will indeed be a great cause to celebrate. We will keep in contact with the saints here so we may celebrate with them when the stake is formed. Although we feel a bit of sadness to realize that we will not be here when that happens, we will truly rejoice when Bangalore becomes a stake.


Sister Ravi (front second from right) had great cause to celebrate. Her mother (center) was baptized today after the Bangalore District Conference. Sister Ravi began her mission about four months ago. President Berrett gave Sister Ravi permission to come to Bangalore to see her mother baptized. Sister Ravi was thrilled to be able to be present to give support to her mother. This is one of many miracles that Sister Ravi has seen in her life since she joined the church and in particular since she began preparing for her mission.



We have feasted and celebrated this week. As we think of feasting, we think of the invitation to feast on the words of Christ. Alma, when speaking to the people reminds us that the Lord has said, "Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely" (Alma 5:34).