Visa Renewal, Birthday, Engagement Function, and Baptisms

What a week! We spent a good part of 3 days at the FRO (Foreigner Registration Office at the Police Commissioner office) applying for a renewal of our visas. We have applied for a one year extension. Things are looking good for that, and we expect that we will be granted our request. We still have to return to the office on Tuesday to begin the registration process. Foreigners staying in India for more than 6 months must register in the city in which they will be staying. We have all our paper work in order, so the registration process should go well. The renewal process for our visas took a little longer because there was a bank strike. That meant that we could not pay the fee for our visas. Here, one must go to the Bank of India to pay fees such as visa fees. Had it not been for that, we could probably have spent only 2 days on our visas this week. Hopefully, things will go smoothly on Tuesday. This is the FRO. We could not take pictures inside the walls. The ground of the FRO were quite well manicured.

One of the junctions that we travelled to the FRO is the Sungam junction. This is the junction that we use most often.We want to get a picture that captures the business and craziness of the traffic at this junction, but the pictures we get never seem to show the real story.








We had the opportunity to attend another function in Coimbatore. This one was an engagement function. The bride-to-be, Sister Beena John, is from Coimbatore, and the soon to be groom, Rajan Tewati(can't remember the spelling of his last name) is from the USA. His father, who died before Rajan was born) was from India, and his mother is from the USA. He served a mission in India and spent some time in Coimbatore. He knew Sister Beena's family but did not know her at the time because she was serving a mission at the same time in the Philippines. When they both returned home, they contacted each other, and the rest is history. They are both happy and excited about their future wedding. They will most likely get married in the States. They have to work out the details with regard to a visa, etc. for her.

Many of the women attending the function had beautiful sarees or churudar (dress-like tunic with matching pants). The churudar are considered a dress even though they have pants or leggings and are commonly worn to church. Sister Suchitra, Sister Punita, Sister Deepa, and Sister Sonia are fine models for the beautiful outfits we saw that Friday evening. Sister Tiefenbach looked . . . well, like a missionary. Sister Tiefenbach asked the woman in the lavendar saree how many sarees she had. She said 35. She also told her the number of churuda, scarves, and American type clothes she had. Sister Tiefenbach was very surprised and promptly reminded Elder Tiefenbach that she (Sister Tiefenbach had only 5 skirts!! - hint, hint.)









Many of the women worked hard to make sure the bride-to-be looked perfect. She definitley looked perfect. Rajan is getting an absolutely gorgeous wife.

Beautiful!

Sister Mary William, the mother of the Branch president for 1st Branch, was a major helper in getting Sister Beena ready. Sister Mary is a wonderful woman. She is intelligent, poised, charming, and caring. She was one of the first people to warmly welcome us to Coimbatore.

We had another special occasion this week, as we helped Elder Jurial celebrate his birthday. We invited him and his companion, Elder Hodgson,  for lunch on Saturday for a spaghetti meal. We were able to have parmesan cheese and garlic bread. We were glad that we were able to have them over because Elder Jurial is being tranferred next week. He will be going to Hyderabad. We will miss him. He is always cheerful and is fun-loving and can lighten anyone's day.

Elder Hodgson enjoyed the meal as much, if not more, than Elder Jurial. When we suggested he have a second helping, he did not hesitate.











Of course, the best part was the chocolate cake.

We really enjoy having the missionaries over. Because Elder Jurial and Elder Hodgson are not assigned to the area of the city in which we live, they had to get permssion from the zone leaders to come to our apartment. The zone leaders, Elder Ram and Elder Racharla, were planning on coming for the cake cutting, but they ended up having an appointment. We had hoped they would be able to make it. We had them over for cake earlier in the week, so we had a chance to visit with them for a while.


Sunday was a long day, as usual, but it was longer than most Sundays. We left our apartment at 9:15 a.m. and returned at 8:45 p.m. We had some exciting activities occurring today. The most exciting were two baptisms: one for 1st Branch and one for 2nd Branch - well, 2nd Branch had four baptisms, but it was one meeting.

Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi's son was baptized this morning in 1st Branch. Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi were baptized about 4 weeks ago. Brother Raja received the priesthood the week after he was baptized, so he able to baptize his son. That was exciting for him. We feel very close to this family. They are a great family and are both eager to be involved in the activities of the church.

Their two daughters will be able to be baptized in January. The parents and the daughters are attending our English class. The girls go to a Tamil only school so don't speak English, but we believe they will begin to pick it up quickly. The son goes to a boarding school and is allowed to go home two week-ends per month so cannot attend the class.

Brother Suresh and Sister Shanthi and their son were also baptized today (2nd Branch). She has been SO excited about being baptized. She seemed to be so happy that she could almost not contain herself. Although this picture doesn't show it, she is always smiling and laughing. This is another great family that is fully embracing the gospel. Sister Shanthi and Brother Suresh (when he is not working) also attend our English class. Again, we feel very close to this family, too. We can already tell that leaving these families when we go back home will be difficult. Elder Thanniru (left) and Elder Oraun were the missionaries who baptized this family. By the way, the older woman in the picture is the mother of John Raj Kumar, who was baptized the last week of July - the same day as Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi.

Last week, we mentioned that we wanted to get a picture of a young child with a winter hat. Well, today, we were able to get the picture. This is an example of the types of hats that parents put on their children when it gets "cold" here. Today, the temperature was in the mid to high twenties. This picture was taken today at church. When we see the children wearing these hats, we think that they must be very hot.






As we close another week in Coimbatore, we hope you can review your week and find blessings and experiences amidst the day to day hussel and bussel that will make good memories for you and those you love.










 

Independence Day and a Trip to Chavadi

Wednesday, August 15 was Independence Day in India. The local area decorated the street with flags and drawings on the street. On one of the side streets from this one, it looked like they had set up some games. They also had loud speakers blasting music into the streets. In the evening, they put up a stage that blocked the street. We did not watch any of the activities because we were on our way to an appointment with the missionaries and then we had a Young Single Adult activity at the church.

The activity at the church involved water games. We were spectators not participants. We had a good time laughing at the YSA's. President Allwyn, 2nd counselor in the District presidency, and his wife, Sister Sonia, were in charge of the activity. For one of the games, the participants were formed into two teams. One member from each team had to run to the chair, put a balloon filled with water on the chair, and sit on the balloon to break it. Many of the people had trouble breaking the balloons. The balloons would pop out from underneath them. It was all pretty comical.



I was glad we had decided that would be just be spectators. But, they all seemed to have a great time.










They played several other games that involved getting wet, as well. Before the games began, President Allwyn gave instructions about making sure they take medicine if they start to get a cold as a result of getting wet, especially because the weather was beginning to get cooler as the evening approached. Elder Tiefenbach and I have to laugh because it is still very warm. On an evening that is about 25 degrees (C), parents put winter hats on their children. Temperature is all relative.

Every once in a while our little friend comes to the church for a visit. This little critter wanted to stay for awhile this time. It looks like he was checking out Elder Tiefenbach as he was taking the picture.






We hope our grandchildren like these pictures. He appears to have a scruffy beard.












Today, Sunday, August 19, we went to visit the Chavadi branch. We had 12 members of the church attend the meetings with us. Both Elder Tiefenbach and Sister Tiefenbach gave talks in Sacrament meeting. These are 3 of the church members in front of the church building. This is the same building where we went to help clean up the weeds (the time Sister Tiefenbach had an unwanted meeting with a motorcylce).





The building has a tiled roof. The inside of the ceiling is open, so we can see the underside of the tiles when we are inside the building. The top sections of the windows (shown to the right) are open during the meetings. We enjoyed listening to the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees. We do not get to hear that sound very much where we live. We hear horns honking and other traffic noise when we are out and about in our area.

There were two or three sets of windows on each wall, so we feel a bit of a breeze, as well. This is the room after the meetings we over. The members put the chairs away and close the windows very quickly as soon as the meetings are over. The building has a sound system even though the room is quite small. The congregation would probably have no problem hearing the speakers, except right next to this building is a Pentacostal church that meets at the same time. They worship with drums, cymbals, and loud singing that is broadcast over a speaker system. The sound system in our building, therefore, is a necessity.

We stopped at a couple of homes before we left the Chavadi area. We don't have pictures of the one home. Normally, the houses in India are almost on top of each other, but this one is quite far from its closest neighbour. This area is just beginning to be developed, so in a few years it will be filled with houses that are much closer together. This house is also a bit larger than many of the houses we have been in. We stopped at this home to visit a young man (20 years old) who had just recently been in a motorcycle accident. He was fortunate. He has a broken collar bone, had some stitches in his head, and had a concussion. The other three people are still in intensive care. None of them were wearing helmets. Most people here do not wear helmets when they ride motorcycles.

Next to this house is a house under construction. This is a good example of the way houses are constructed. The walls are formed using this red brick. Afterward, plaster is put on the outside walls and the inside walls and painted. The result is the type of exterior walls as in the above house.

 Although the population of Chavadi is about 150,000, it is considered a village. At home, a place with that size of population would be considered a big city. Despite its population, Chavadi is a rural setting and is surrounded by mountains. We left our apartment at 9:00 this morning to drive out to Chavadi. We returned to Coimbatore in time for the 2nd Branch meetings. We returned to our apartment at about 8:15 tonight. This is a typical Sunday for us.

Visiting, Shopping, Saying Good-bye

We continue to go to the Anand family to teach English. We have gone three times now and enjoy meeting with them. When we went there this past week, we again noticed the quietness of this rural looking area. They always give us a glass of mango juice when we arrive. This picture is taken outside their home. In the upper left hand corner of the picture is a cage with love birds in it. Every time we leave their house, the love birds are chirping. This picture was taken the first time we went to their home. We think they would think we were strange if we took a picture every time we went to see them. The man in the front and the two older girls are from a different family.

This week, we also went to Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi's home to teach them about family home evening. The man standing in the front of the Anand family picture is Brother Raja. Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi have three children. Elder Jurial likes to have his picture taken, too. This picture was taken in their "front" room. They have a double bed on the right side of the door, which also serves as a place to sit for guests. We imagine the children sleep on the floor. Brother Raja took the day off to prepare for our arrival that evening. Their home looked freshly cleaned, and Sister Sumathi prepared dinner for us. She is a very good cook, and we ate well - probably too much. She made vegetable biryani, vada with white chutney (coconut), and dosa with a curry. We had told her ahead of time to prepare only a small amount of food as a snack for family home evening. Apparently, the amount she prepared was small in comparison to what she usually prepares for guest. They live fairly close to the Anand family.

We went shopping at Town Hall for music book, but did not find what we were looking for. We were looking for music books for teaching piano lessons. Apparently, they are not available in Coimbatore. We will have to go to Chennai or Bangalore to get books for teaching piano. Town Hall is an area, not a specific store. It comprises of an area that is several blocks. Although we were not able to find music books, we found many other things to buy.


We found a wonderful store that sells interesting things made in India. We found this fruit bowl. It is made from one piece of wood and is cut in concentric circles. When legs are put on the bottom, the center of the wood falls down, forming a bowl. The bowls come in a variety of shapes.

This is how the wood looks when it is flat. We had been looking for a fuit bowl for quite some time, but we never found one that we particularly liked. We had thought that we would leave the bowl in our apartment when we go back home, but this will travel well because it can be flattened to fit in our luggage. What a great find!!!

We also found elephants. Sister Shanti, our friend who took us shopping was curious about why everyone from North America wants carvings of elephants. She finds it a bit strange. Sister Tiefenbach wanted a wooden elephant carving to put on the second shelf of our little coffee table. We can see the elephants through the top glass shelf. We found many wonderful things at that store, but we controlled our spending. Mind you, we will likely go back before we leave Coimbatore.

Sometimes for a break from our shopping, meetings, visits, or housework, we take a look out our balcony. One day, we saw this woman doing laundry on the roof of one of the apartment buildings we can see from our balcony. Many people do laundry on a block similar to this. Most of the stone blocks we have seen are much smaller than this. They use the stone block much like women used scrub boards long ago in North America. They also hit their clotes against the stone as if they are knocking the dirt out. One young man who was doing a field study program from BYU had to do his laundry this way. He said he broke most of the buttons on this shirts slamming them against the washing block. We are thankful we have an automatic washing machine for our laundry.

Hmmm.... We are not quite sure what this is, but we saw it scurrying across the parking lot at the church and up this tree.
If anyone knows, let us know.








We say good-bye to Elder Kumar. His departure was delayed for two weeks because the new elders from the USA had not received their visas to come to India. We have a special place in our hearts for him, and we shall miss him greatly. We wish him well in his new assignment in the Vysak area. Hopefully, our paths will cross while he and we are still on our missions. He has about one year left on his mission. We hope to visit him at his home just before we fly back to Canada. We have three new missionaries that arrived two weeks ago.



The mission president decided that we should have a zone meeting once a month and district meetings the other weeks in the month. We held our first zone meeting Friday, August 10. We have a picture of all the missionaries except Elder Thanniru and Elder Challa (new in Coimbatore).

To the left are Elder Smoot and Elder Aruldoss, who are serving in Erode.








Elder Oraun, new missionary in Coimbatore, is on the left.



 Our zone leaders are Elder Ram (left) and Elder Racharla (taking the place of Elder Kumar). We continue to be impressed with Elder Ram. He is a natural leader and seems to be able to understand people well and is sensitive to their needs. Sister Tiefenbach is also impressed with his great spelling ability!

Elder Jurial (left) and Elder Hodgson continue to serve here in Coimbatore. Elder Hodgson is the longest serving missionary in Coimbatore. When he gets transfered, we will have been in Coimbatore longer than all the other missionaries.

 Elder Vaddi (left) and Elder Thomas are serving in Erode.

We have seen another week in Coimbatore filling our days with colourful experiences.

Coimbatore Ground Level and Skies

Before we look to the skies, we will begin on the ground level. This week has been a slower week. Missionary transfers took place this week, so that seems to make things a bit slower for them, and that seems to filter down to us for some reason. This week also follows a busy weekend from the Coimbatore District Conference, so many people are catching up from that. Not all the missionaries made their transfers. Elder Kumar has to remain in Coimbatore until the new American elders can get their visas for India. The expectation is that Elder Kumar will leave Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Before the transfers took place, we all went to KFC for lunch on Tuesday of this week. Our eyes were directed upward, but they stopped at the KFC sign.


We went out for lunch with Elder Kumar and the 1st branch missionaries this week (August 3) to Adavaas Restaurant. After lunch, our eyes were directed upward to the sky. We saw a strange phenonemon. Rainbow colours encircled the sun. It was a bit eery. The space between the ring and the sun was a grey type colour. All the people we spoke to said they had never seen anything like it before. Of course, we looked it up on the internet, and the coloured ring was simply the result of the sun shining through the ice crystals that make up a particular type of cloud. We have a hard time thinking of ice crystals in India, but high up in the air, ice crystals form.

At the ground level, we don't notice the skies a lot because the ground level is so busy. We are constantly watching ahead and behind us for traffice, so the skies are often neglected. We are grateful that the restaurant is on a quieter street  so we had the opportunity to see this.

Our eyes began to go upward to the sky here, but they stopped when we noticed the name of this apartment building - Ram Apartments. We had to take the opportunity to take Elder Ram's picture in front of it. He must be famous to have a building named after him!

Coimbatore doesn't have many tall buildings, so we don't often have the opportunity to lift our eyes up very far. We mostly see the homes of the people here. This is the Alexander family with a friend (standing on the right). We are amazed that a family of 5 or 6 can live in a small house like this. The house basically has one small room about 9 ft. x 9 ft. Once inside the door, there is room for a bed on either side of the door. This building contains several houses. The Alexander family is taking the missionary discussions, and the younger sister (in front) and her friend (on the right) are also attending our English class.

Thursday was some kind of celebration or holiday. We think it is called Raksha Bandhan, which has to do with the tradition where sisters tie a piece of thread around their brother's wrist, and the brothers give their sisters a present to show that they will protect their sisters throughout their lives. The local Hindu temple was busy all day long. We could hear drums and chanting from early morning to about 3:00 in the afternoon. We were busy in the apartment, so we couldn't go out to see what was going on until 3:00. When we arrived at the temple, all the drumming, etc. stopped, but all the people at the temple joined together for some food.

We moved on to a different temple, but we found no evidence that any celebrations had occurred there. We were lifting our gaze up to look at the temple, and we saw the elephant in the front of this temple. Everyone here calls this the elephant temple.








With our gaze on the temple, slightly above ground level, we almost missed seeing these two women sleeping at the bottom of the temple steps. We were very close to them before we noticed them. They were not necessarily homeless people; they may be women who are hired to do cleaning at the temple, and they were simply taking an afternoon nap. We have seen this before at our church building. Two women are employed to keep the grounds at the church; we have seen them stop in the afternoon to take a nap on the steps at the back entrance. This reminds us that because so much is going on in the streets and because everything is so crowed together, we can easily miss many things.



In order to truly lift our eyes toward the skies, we must completely leave the ground level where we can be free from distractions - well almost free from distractions. This the the view we have of the sky from the top of our apartment building. This is 5 levels above the ground. Looking at this view, one would never suspect the constant business and distractions found at ground level. This view is facing south as the sun began to set.





If we turn slightly to the right of the above picture (to the west), we see an entirely different view. We would never see this at ground level. We see mountains when we walk on the Sungum By-pass, but the view is not so spectacular as this. From up here, we see a much larger mountain chain than when we walk on the street. We never knew so many mountains surrounded Coimbatore. When the sun sets, it becomes dark very quickly, which is very different from home. The colours of the sunset may not as spectacular as at home, but the view is still inspiring. We can understand why the prophets of old went to the mountain tops to receive revelation and inspiration, for there they could be in a different world above the commotion and noise at ground level.