Pressures and Pleasures

What a week!!! We had transfers, missionaries leaving, and new missionaries arriving. Throw in some unexpected set backs, and we have the pressures of the week. The traffic always adds stress, especially on our way back to the apartment after we are finished our day at the office. The traffic with all the horns constantly honking passes us with only a few inches to spare as we dodge our way over the huge gaps, pieces of cement, and piles of rocks on the narrow, dusty sidewalk.



On Monday, our noisy, dusty walk back to our apartment was interrupted by a spot of sunshine as we met Elders Coombs (left), Ravi, and Vaddi. Even though we see Elders Coombs and Ravi everyday at the office, and we see Elder Vaddi often, our spirits were still brightened when we saw them walking that day. We took a few pleasurable moments to chat with them.

One way to deal with all the pressures is to get exercise. We continue to walk every morning, but in some ways that in itself is a pressure, as we get up early and walk fast. Despite our fast pace, we try to take pleasure in our beautiful surroundings. On Monday morning, the rising sun painted the clouds a peaceful pink, providing a beautiful background for the dark silhouettes of the trees.





The transfer flights began on Monday. We began receiving the elders transferred to Bangalore that evening. Unfortunately, one elder had a few problems at the airport. We always feel for the missionaries when they have problems. President Berrett decided that to avoid any other potential problems and pressures, the missionaries coming in the next day should dress casually. Elder Mills (kneeling) came wearing a green Hulk t-shirt. Elder Mattes was wearing a strange pair of shoes with toes. They looked like toe socks, but they were shoes, of sorts. We have to admit, we laughed out loud at them when they walked in. Elder Mills had "packed" his white shirt, and it was not presentable, so they improvised an ironing board and ironed shirts.

On Tuesday, we also received all the missionaries that were going home. We had seven great missionaries completing their missions: (left to right) Elders Mattes, Vaiphei, Singh, Massey, Sommer, Nelapati, and Kullai. Having all the missionaries in the office gives both pressure and pleasure. The activity level certainly increases when we have an influx of missionaries, but we get a LOT of pleasure interacting with them. They are a great joy in our lives.



We served with Elder Vaiphei in Coimbatore. He is a dedicated, obedient missionary. We wish him well as he goes home in Manipar.











We also served with Elder Massey in Coimbatore. After he was transferred from there, and we were in Bangalore, he called Sister Tiefenbach to ask her to send him some cookies. So, because Elder Massey is Elder Massey, she baked some cookies and sent them to him.









The farewell dinner was held at the Marriott again. President and Sister Berrett have still not moved into the new mission home, and  the distance from the office to the mission home is very far, so we are holding the dinners at the Marriott instead of the mission home. This arrangement lifts a lot of pressure from Sister Berrett's shoulders, but the food at the Marriott is not as good as the meals that she prepares. Going to the Marriott was also a great source of pleasure for us after the EXTREME pressure-filled day we had. At about 2:30 in the afternoon, we found out that the elder who was supposed to fly to Hyderabad in preparation for his trip to the Philippines did not make his flight. When American missionaries' visas are close to expiring, we fly them to the Philippines where they are given a temporary assignment as they wait for their new visas to re-enter India. Well, this elder did not get on his flight to get him to Hyderabad. Yikes!!!! He thought his flight was on Wednesday. Yes, elder, your flight to the Philippines was on the 15th shortly after midnight. That means you need to fly to Hyderabad on Tuesday! What were we to do? The pressure of the day escalated to new heights! We did not want to cancel his international flight, so we started to look to see if he could catch a flight to a different city and then fly to Hyderabad from there. Nope!!! No flights times would work for us.


Then, Elder Coombs received inspiration. He suggested that we look into the possibility of hiring a cab to drive the elder from Rajahmundry to Vizak where he could take a plane to Hyderabad and catch his international flight. We set the plan to work. We knew things would be tight time wise. We called the Rajahmundry zone leader, Elder Alosias, who made arrangements for a cab to pick the elder up. Within five minutes, the cab had picked him up, and they were on their way. That was about 3:15 p.m. The trip normally takes about three hours. That did not really give us enough time because the flight was to leave Vizak at 5:55. We also knew that the airports close the gates for flights at about 45 minutes prior to the flight. Despite this, we made the flight arrangements and emailed the ticket to one of the district leaders, Elder Smoot, in Vizak. We told him to be at the airport by 4:30 and wait for the elder. We were in frequent contact with Elder Smoot and with the travelling elder. We told Elder Smoot to go to the Air India counter on the outside of the airport building to plead our case. He showed them the ticket and explained the situation. They agreed to keep the gate open until 5:30 for the elder. Well, 5:30 came and went. Elder Smoot kept going back to the counter giving them updates as to where the elder was and to ensure them the elder was on his way and would be there. We are fortunate that this airport was cooperative with us. The elder arrived about five minutes before the flight was to leave. The authorities hurriedly ushered him through, and HE MADE HIS FLIGHT!!!! We all gave a sigh of relief and a prayer of thanks for this great miracle. Our travel agent was surprised and thankful that everything worked out for us. This was way too stressful, and the break at the Marriott was a welcomed relief!


Wednesday was a holiday for most people in India, but it was definitely NOT a holiday for us. Our day was busy and stressful. When we arrived home, we took time to admire the colouful drawing celebrating Pongal that decorated the floor in front of someone's door. We didn't see as many drawings here as we did in Coimbatore, largely because we don't walk through a residential area between our apartment and the office.





On Wednesday, we celebrated Elder Ravi's birthday. We didn't have time to bake him a cake, but we were able to buy him a cake from a shop in the Arcade (the mostly empty shopping mall that is within the Brigade compound).

















President Berrett, why are you looking so suspiciously at the cake??? Look, Elder Coombs has no problems with it. Go ahead! Dig in! 

On Thursday, Sister Matialagan (we know her as Pratheema) stopped by the office to do some final preparations for her mission. She will be serving in the Canada Vancouver Mission. We are SO excited about that. We would love to find out where she is serving when we get back to Canada. We don't know if we will be able to go all the way to BC to see her, but we would like to. She flies to the Provo MTC on Sunday night/early Monday morning. President Berrett is out of town, so President William will set her apart late tonight after he returns from the Coimbatore district conference.




Elder Mulampaka and Ravindran arrived back from the Manila MTC on Wednesday night and arrived at the office Thursday morning for their orientation before they go out to their first assignments. Elder Mulampaka will be serving with Elder Mills in Coimbatore, and Elder Ravindran will be serving in Chennai with Elder Taylor.






Friday was a quiet day. We were the only ones at the office in the morning. It was generally uneventful. We were grateful. Saturday was a very welcome P-day. We and the Smiths went to the Lalbagh Park to see the annual flower display. We had a great time. We left our apartment at about 9:30 and returned about 4:00 or 4:30. The park had wonderful displays of colourful plants and flowers. Elder Tiefenbach certainly looks good against the colourful background.




But, then Sister Tiefenbach looks great, too!!! All these plants are potted plants, and we think they were brought in specifically for this event. Neither one of us remember such beautiful plants the last time we were at this park. We came to this park the first time shortly after we arrived in India. Our memory of the park is that it was dry and brown looking. This is certainly not the case this time.

We saw a fire truck sitting outside one of the buildings. We don't know if it was there for display or there as a precaution. It is certainly not as elaborate as the fire trucks we see screaming down the streets in Regina. We have seen only one fire truck racing to a fire since we have been in India.







This is the part of the floral display we were waiting for. This is inside the Crystal Palace.

This is a the flag of India made of coloured rice.














The flowers were mounted on forms of different shapes. This was a fun part of the display. Sister Tiefenbach thinks that Elder Tiefenbach looks much better than the guy in the back with the big mustache!

This is the orchid display.



















This is the poinsettia display.
















Sister Tiefenbach thought this was  beautiful. We don't know what this is, but it looks great!













The last display we want to share with you contains a lot of familiar flowers: petunias, marigolds, larkspur, etc. It is always good to have reminders of the beautiful flowers we see every summer at home in Canada.









Now, what/who is older?? The 164 year old tree behind Elder Tiefenbach and Elder Smith or the combined ages of the two elders? The tree wins by a few decades.

The background to this picture is behind a short cement wall and is a part of the park that is in its more natural state. Or, we could say that it is in its more wild state, a fitting place for Elder Tiefenbach to show his "wild" side. Does Elder Tiefenbach have a wild side???







We were celebrities with the many school children who were at the park. A few of them asked if we could take a picture of them. Once a couple stood beside Sister Tiefenbach and Sister Smith, the rest swarmed in to take advantage of being photographed with two famous people. How lucky we were!








This picture is taken looking up the trunk of a Royal Palm tree.


















And, what floral display would be complete without a rose garden? This one is huge. The fragrance of the roses filled the air, making the world a fresh, clean, invigorating place.









We were also favoured by seeing some wild life at the park. The monkeys put on a great show for us. This man comes to the park everyday to feed the monkeys. They were very friendly to him. He spoke to them as though they were his children. The man put some food on his head, and this monkey reached down to take the food.  The man began to walk away, but the monkey saw some food left on the man's head. Realizing food was still available, the monkey reached out and grabbed the man's hair so he couldn't walk away. It was cute.










We saw quite a few hawks flying around. We think these are hawks. If any bird experts, like a couple of our grandsons, knows better, please enlighten us. We tried several times to get pictures of them with their wings spread wide as they came swooping in for a landing or as they began their flight, but we could never click the camera fast enough. We had to settle for the birds perched in the trees.






This is another hawk, we think, but it looks different from the other one. We need the help of our bird expert grandsons to identify these types of birds. We look forward to hearing from them.
















This tree was interesting. It looks like bricks were placed inside the tree to keep the tree standing. The trees in Bangalore are amazing. We wonder how old this tree is, and we wonder what stories they have to tell.















Here is another amazing tree. The branches spread out forever! The branches look bare, but they are not. Leaves grow at the tops of the branches, providing a delicate, lacey canopy. You can compare the size of the tree to Elder Tiefenbach and Elder and Sister Smith.









Again, we see another amazing tree. The trunks of so many of the trees are so big! The roots spread on top of the ground, giving the appearance of feet and legs. Trees give so much pleasure. They provide shade and clean air. They provide a sense of stability and belonging.















On one side of the park is a huge rock outcropping. The sun felt so much hotter here than down in the park amidst the trees. Again, we were celebrities.










This picture is for our son, Shayne! That is all we have to say.



















We are so thankful that we were able to spend the end of our week in a much more pleasurable way. As we view Bangalore from the top of the rock outcropping, we can reflect upon the many pressures, with one HUGE one, throughout the week. From this vantage point, we have a broader view of things, and the pressures seem to diminish. We know that Heavenly Father and The Saviour have a broader view, for "the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words (1 Nephi 9:6). Neal A. Maxwell expands on this and tells us that "God, who knows the beginning form the end, knows, therefore, all that is in between" (All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience [1997], 6-7).

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).

Good-Bye 2013; Hello 2014



We have shown pictures of autos many times before, but this picture and the rest of the pictures of autos in this week's blog represent an "interesting" experience we had. On Monday, December 30, we received a call from Sister Berrett inviting us to go to lunch with them and the assistants. It was an opportunity to say thank you to Elder Mills for all the work he did as an assistant. He was transferred to Coimbatore, and Elder Coombs is now one of the assistants. Okay, we will return to our story. The Berretts were on their way back from the airport with Elder Coombs, and they were going to take him to the assistants' apartment where Elder Mills and  Elder Ravi were waiting. The Berretts and the assistants would be driven to the restaurant (Chili's) with the Berretts, and we and the Smiths would take an auto. We walked the short distance from the office to where the autos wait outside our apartment complex and hired an auto.

The driver started the auto, and we were on our way. (This is obviously not the auto we were in.)The four of us were in one auto, as it wasn't very far to the mall. Sister Tiefenbach sat on Elder Tiefenbach's knee, and Sister Smith sat slightly forward of Elder Smith so we could all fit in. The seating arrangement is important in the events that followed. Within the first few minutes of our trip, we knew something was wrong. Because Elder Tiefenbach's view was obscured by Sister Tiefenbach, he did not see the extend to the "wrongness" of the situation, but Sister Tiefenbach saw it ALL. The driver began veering off to the left, drawing closer and closer to the curb. Sister Tiefenbach almost called out the driver to tell him to get away from the curb when the driver steered right into the curb. We were definitely jarred by the impact. We thought the auto was going to tip over (remember autos have only three wheels). Well, we did not tip. The driver then began driving again. Sister Tiefenbach thought he was in the process of making a U-turn on the street to head back to the apartment complex to let us off. Ha!!! NO such luck!

Instead, he drove directly into the center median where we experienced the second crash.

By this time, Sister Smith was loudly exclaiming to the driver, "What are you doing?!!!!" We all joined in demanding an answer from him. He said that "someone came out." Hello????? There was no one around - no pedestrians, no other vehicles - no one. The driver was obviously under the influence of something if he was seeing something that wasn't there. Well, we jumped out of the auto; the auto driver was shaking. A huge crowd gathered within seconds. (We never cease to be amazed at how quickly huge crowds gather here.) The crowd was yelling at the auto driver, and people motioned to us to move on to the sidewalk. We moved to the sidewalk and left the auto driver with his auto. We are not sure how or when he left, but he must driven his auto away or pushed it away. We are sure it sustained a fair bit of damage. Back to the sidewalk: While we were on the sidewalk one man started to "scold" us about taking an auto. He was asking, "Why are you taking an auto?" He then told us that autos are dangerous and that we should always take a cab, NEVER an auto.

We told him we were going a short distance to the mall so we just grabbed an auto. He then told us that we should walk then. We are sure he wasn't angry with us; he was concerned for our safety. So, we decided we had enough with autos for the day, and we began walking to the mall. Meanwhile, President and Sister Berrett had been waiting a long time for the assistants to come out of their apartment. President Berrett suddenly had the impression to go to the restaurant and have the elders follow later in an auto. President Berrett thought he should come so we wouldn't be waiting for them at  the restaurant, but in reality, he was inspired to come so they could pick us up. Shortly after we began walking, Elder Tiefenbach saw their car. They saw us and stopped to pick us up. Sister Berrett was wondering why we were walking. They were shocked when we told them why. We are so grateful for an inspired mission president who came to our rescue.

Sister Tiefenbach and Sister Smith bore the brunt of the crashes, as their positioning in the auto protected both Elder Tiefenbach and Elder Smith from any injuries. The sisters, on the other hand, sustained a few bruises on their hips and legs (huge bruises, we might add) and received some scrapes. Sister Smith's lip was hit on something in the auto, so her lip was bleeding for a short while. As you can see from the pictures, autos do not have sides. We were lucky that we were not thrown from the auto. We were also lucky that a big truck or big bus was not barreling down the street when the auto driver turned around on the street before he crashed into the center median. Despite the scary experience, we had a good lunch and continued on with our work day. What an interesting way to end the year.

The next day, we were back to work as usual. My, Sister Tiefenbach has such a nice neat, clean desk!

We had company on Tuesday night. Three sisters from Rajahmundry came to Bangalore to be set apart for their missions. Because of the flight schedules, we had to bring them in Tuesday evening for their Wednesday setting apart. Sister Gujju (left), Sister Mucherla, and Sister Boddupalli were so excited to be leaving for their missions. What a great way to welcome the New Year!

The next day, they joined us at the office, along with Elder Mulampaka from Vizak (who also arrived Tuesday evening - he stayed with the assistants). Here they are viewing some videos that are part of the pre-MTC online training.

Elder Ravindran from Bangalore (beside Sister Tiefenbach) joined us in the afternoon. This is the last larger batch of missionaries that we are sending off to the MTC before we leave; although we have one more batch to get ready before we leave. The batch will consist of only two missionaries. Realizing that these will be our last batches is a very sobering thought. Getting missionaries ready to leave is an exciting part of our work. Receiving them back into the mission (for those returning to our mission) is also wonderful. Well, they are ready to go, and now, we worry a bit, thinking about whether everything will go well for them as they make flight connections and find their way to the appointed pick up location at the Manila airport. Being a parent of so many children is hard work!

Meanwhile, the bruises have become very colourful! Sleeping on only one side or on the back is a must. Ahh!!! the sight of a crane is always great to take one's mind off of accidents and bruises. This crane (not the bird type) sits outside our apartment complex, and we can see it everyday from two of our windows. A LOT of building is going on in Bangalore, and we see many cranes along the skyline around here. These are going to be  tall buildings. Many new tall apartment complexes are being built. The buildings that we saw under construction in Indiranagar were smaller buildings, so cranes were never used.

This is the construction site next to our building. We are sure that in the not too distant future, we will have a crane in our own "back yard." In the construction sites in Indiranagar, where the buildings were smaller, we never saw the workers wearing boots or hard hats, or any other protective wear. Here, at this construction site, we see a lot of hard hats and boots. They may not be steel toes boots, but they are boots instead of sandals.





 This is the security entrance to our apartment complex. We don't know how the security guards know who is or is not a resident, but they seem to do a good job of it. They know us well; and they always seem to be thrilled when we say, "Good morning!" They always have big smiles for us when we return.








We have a good view of the entrance, and we see people coming and going. We think that almost everyone in the apartment complex has at least one maid. Everyday when we go for our walk early in the morning, we see them coming. We also see many coming later in the evening to prepare for the evening meal. The woman in green is likely a maid. We receive "ads" through our email from fellow tenants. We see many ads requesting referrals for maids. We quite enjoy having someone coming in twice a week to do some of the housework. We would love to have the same luxury in Canada, but we know that will not happen.

 We can see our office from one of our bedroom windows. The mission office and mission home is the white building on the right side of the picture with a red roof (no, no NOT the left side of the picture - look on the right side). We have thought that we should build a zip line joining our apartment with the mission office. Okay, picture in your mind Sister Tiefenbach whipping down the zip line toward the office. Well, maybe no one can picture that. Or, maybe you picture the look of horror on her face as she screams the whole way down. Elder Tiefenbach would probably not scream as loud. The problem with the zip line is that we can't figure out how we could bet back to the apartment using the zip line. We would have to motorize it to make that happen.

Today, is a beautiful sunny day. In one area of the grounds, we have a playground for the children. The complex offers a safe environment for children. This is such a contrast to the poorer areas where children are playing in the constructions sites where their parents are working, or where children are manoeuvring through the traffic begging for money (their parents send them out to beg). The difference between those with money and those without money is stark here.

According to Indian traditions, men and women should never make affectionate physical contact with each other. We rarely see men and women holding hands or walking arm in arm, but we are beginning to see it more often, especially among the younger people. We have also seen it more in Bangalore than in Coimbatore. Here we see a young couple walking arm in arm in the grounds below our apartment window.






Just outside the actual apartment grounds, we have a "mall" called The Arcade. It is mostly empty now, but it has a few places that we use. On the corner closest to us is a small grocery store. We often buy our groceries there. We also go to a bread store farther down the mall called "Daily Bread." The main thing that we can't get nearby is meat. We still need to go into Indiranagar for that.





We found a beauty salon in The Arcade. Sister Tiefenbach got her hair cut there. She was a bit nervous to change her hairdresser. She had found a great stylist in a place called "Bounce." But, this haircut turned out to be good. The stylist knew what he was doing. Whew! What a relief! What do you think?








Elder Tiefenbach also got his hair cut, but not at the same place. He got his haircut at a small barbershop where the assistants go. It cost him less than a dollar. The haircut is okay, but the place is not the cleanest. Sister Tiefenbach's haircut cost about $8.00.

These are the first white foreigners Sister Tiefenbach has seen in the apartment complex. Elder Tiefenbach saw some a few days ago. Someone said that many white foreigners live in our complex, but we haven't seen any until the past few days. We often forget that we are foreigners, and when we see other foreigners, we say, "Hey, look there are some foreigners."







As we begin the New Year, we can look back on the year and learn from the past, but we must always look forward to the future with faith because faith always points to the future. Our faith and hope is in Christ, as Paul in his letter to the Philippians says, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland teaches us: "Faith is for the future. Faith builds on the past but never longs to stay there. Faith trusts that God has great things in store for each of us" (Ensign, January 2010, p. 27). He reminds us that Christ truly is the "high priest of good things to come" (Hebrews 9:11).