Things Don't Always Turn Out the Way We Expect

This is what happens when the sugar is left out of the banana cake recipe. The question is: how can anyone forget to put the sugar in a cake recipe? Sister Tiefenbach is not sure, but she did it, or didn't do it, as the case may be. After mixing up the batter, she put the cake in the oven. As she watched it rise, or not rise, she noticed that the surface became cracked and dry. She wondered what happened to the cake. When the cake was almost finished baking, she realized that she did not put sugar in the cake. Panic!!! The time was now almost 9:00 at night, and the cake was for all the missionaries coming to zone training in the morning. Aghh! Start again and make another one! So, what can a person do when the cake turns out flat? You cut it into smaller pieces so it will fit in the freezer, and you defrost it later so you can eat it for lunch as thick pancakes with strawberries, bananas, a sprinkling of icing sugar, and pancake syrup. YUMMY!

This is the result of the second attempt. It turned out great! Yes, there are six holes on the middle of the cake. The holes are from toothpicks that Sister Tiefenbach inserts to hold up the plastic wrap that she puts over the cake to keep it fresh.

This is a common sight as we walk each morning in the apartment grounds. We see it out our balcony windows, as well. Laundry is always on display. One day, we noticed that someone had a clothes dryer sitting out on the balcony, so we know at least one other person in this apartment complex has a dryer. We don't use our dryer very much. We hang our laundry indoors, though. Most people have some type of drying rack (clothes horse) on their balconies. Some drying racks are portable, while others are attached to the roof of the balcony. The permanently mounted type can be lowered with a rope when hanging the clothes up and then raised by pulling on the rope to allow more room on the balcony.

The grass is has turned a bit brown over the winter, but many flowers are still blooming. The grounds of our complex are beautiful and are a sharp contrast to the busyness, the dust and pollution, and the noise of the street outside. Once we step into the apartment complex, we sense a feeling of peaceful and tranquility.

In the center of about seven or eight of the apartment buildings, we find a reflecting pool. The pool adds to the peaceful atmosphere of the grounds. It reminds us of the reflecting pool by the Salt Lake Temple. We miss attending the temple on a weekly basis, and we look forward to attending again when we return to home.













Everyday we step outside our apartment building, we see the large display of bird of paradise plants. It is really quite amazing to see. One would think that it is a common flower, perhaps as common as the dandelion. But, don't think for one minute that we are comparing a bird of paradise to a dandelion. We are just pointing out that we see MANY of these plants. They are not a nuisance like dandelions are because they do not crop up in the lawns or in other places they are not welcome.

This past Tuesday was a commemorative day. On Tuesday, President Berrett used technology to hold the monthly Missionary Leader Council meeting. President Berrett, Sister Berrett and the assistants (Elder Coombs and Elder Ravi) all thought the video conference was a success. We believe that the plan is to hold an in person meeting one month and then a video meeting the next month. This technology will save the mission a lot of money because we will not have to fly all the zone leaders and sister missionary leaders to Bangalore every month.


 Shankar is busy scratching his head probably trying to decide which of his many assigned tasks he should do next. He is invaluable to us in the office. Sometimes, we think he has too much to do, and we see that he is often stressed about how he will get everything done. Elder and Sister Smith continue to come to the office about twice a week. She is still entering the baptismal records into the system and getting most of our courier letters and packages ready.

We went grocery shopping Wednesday evening after we were finished at the office. As a result, we did not have time to make supper, so we treated ourselves to McDonalds. You may notice that Sister Tiefenbach is wearing a jacket. The evenings and early mornings are fairly chilly now. The weather has been cool for about a month now, but we realize that it is not as cold as it has been back at home. But, it is cool here. The nights and early mornings get down to about 15 degrees C.




Elder Pydimala finally received the scriptures he ordered in July. Elder Tiefenbach decided to celebrate and wrap them up as a gift for him. Elder Pydimala was so happy to get his new scriptures. Sometimes, shipments take months and months to get here. We are not sure why some take so long.

Elder Pilli also received his scriptures. His scriptures were a gift from Elder Bown, who was Elder Pilli's trainer. Oh look, there is Elder Anderson in the back!
















Elder Stevens and Elder Bean were in to see Elder Tiefenbach to get reimbursed for FRRO expenses. Most of the elders dread going to the FRRO, so seeing Elder Tiefenbach at the end of the visit helps to make it not too bad.









 
So, back to the cake story. With the cake that we made and the cookies that Sister Smith made, the missionaries were well treated after the zone training on Friday. Sister Smith uses melted butter instead of softened butter in her cookie recipe. This difference makes a big difference in the end product. They are delicious.






The elders loved the cake. Here we have Elder Sarkies (back), Elder Newbill (left), Elder Anderson (center), and Elder Yardley.

Here we have Elder Newbill, again on the left. It looks like he may have had too many treats! Then of course we have Elder Peck next to him. It seems that many of the pictures we have of him show him with food in his mouth. Next (in the back) is Elder Gottipati, then back to the front, we have Elder Dondipati, Elder Singh (in the back), and Elder Veera (formerly Pothula).






On Saturday, we walked to Phoenix mall. It is about a ten to fifteen minute walk along a busy, dusty, and obstacle laden road/sidewalk. As soon we step into the mall, we step into a whole different world. Looking down on this mall from this view, we forget that we are in India. This mall has many high end Western stores and is a reminder of the contrast between the rich and the poor here.

These are breadsticks. Last Sunday, Elder Tiefenbach made biscuits to go with our supper (dinner). He found a recipe online and decided to try it. The recipe called for yeast in addition to baking powder and baking soda. That recipe sounds much like the angel biscuit recipe that we have, but this new recipe used oil instead of butter. The recipe called for 5 or more cups of flour; it ended up taking about 9 cups of flour. Needless to say, we had more biscuit dough than we needed for biscuits. We left about half of the dough in the fridge and used it to make breadsticks a few days later. We sprinkled them with the oregano seasoning from Dominos Pizza and with parmesan cheese. They were yummy!

 At this time, we divert from our usual ending of our blog and take time to honor our bishop, Bishop Walter, who died on January 4, 2014. We were shocked and saddened by his sudden passing. We pray for the Lord to strengthen his wife and his six children during this difficult time. We are all sad when someone we know and care about passes from this life to the next. Although we have hope in the resurrection and in eternal families, we are still sad about the loss. Jesus also showed sadness at a friends death. When Jesus saw the people weeping when Lazarus died and inquired where they had laid him, "he wept" (John 11:35). May we all lean on the Lord and gain strength from him and accept his invitation: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light" (Matthew 11:28-30).