From a Fun P-Day to a Wonderful Sunday

All the missionaries in the two districts in Coimbatore went on a "field trip" to Malampuzha (pronounced Malampula) Dam Garden in the state of Kerala, which is about an hour away by train. This was our first train ride in India. We enjoyed riding with the rest of the missionaries. Elder Tiefenbach took this picture, so he is not in the picture. Starting on the first row from left to right, we have Elders Solomon, Thanniru, Ram, and Racharla.In the back row from left to right, we see Elders Smoot, Augustine, Thomas, Challa and Sisters Jebamani, Tiefenbach, and Madabuthala. This outing was particularly for Elder Racharla because he will be finished his mission this coming week. He was happy that we were all able to go on a trip together before he leaves for home.

No one knew exactly which platform on which we were to catch the train. We went to what we thought was the right one, but after a short while, we began to think that we were at the wrong place. After a few inquiries, we found at that, indeed, we were not on the right platform. We headed to the right one and found our train. The train was mostly filled. We all found seats, except for our trusty Zone Leaders. So, they sat up in the luggage racks. The sacrifice SO much for us! Actually, Elder Racharla sat there for a short while. He stood by the door of the train to watch the scenery. He did not want to miss anything.


You will notice throughout these pictures that we are not wearing our name tags and that the elders are not wearing ties. This was under the direction of the mission president. With the number of missionaries we had together, he thought it would be best if we looked more like tourists.







We disembarked at Palakkad Junction. We had to go down to the main level to leave the train station.

 

While at Palakkad Junction, the elders decided to buy some breakfast. The Sisters and Elder and Sister Tiefenbach did not want anything to eat, so we waited outside the restaurant for them.
After the elders finished their breakfast, we took an auto to the Malampuzha Dam Park.









Elder Solomon (our fellow Canadian) made the sacrifice this time to take the group picture.

The weather was hot, bright, and sunny. It was a perfect day for our outing!








The first fun place we found was the playground, but the elders were very disappointed!! We were very proud of them! They didn't play on the equipment at all. We are sure they were tempted, but they saw the sign, and they obeyed.

In case you cannot see the writing on the sign, it says that "Elders are requested not to use the playing equipment." We see so many signs here that are specifically for the elders!



Elder Ram, you are definitely WEIRD!!!!

We found a vine covered archway. It was welcome relief from the hot sun. It was also a great place to take pictures. Here we have a fine group of good looking missionaries: Elder Tiefenbach, Elder Thanniru, and Elder Racharla.








We thought we would have a nice quiet, romantic time together under the vines. Elder Ram!!!! How did you get in this picture? Better yet, WHY are you in this picture???










Sister Jebamani and Sister Madabuthala are quiet, but they had fun, too. We went on these swings. They were further down from the playground, but were probably still part of the playground. We didn't think of that when we decided to swing - besides, the sign was for elders, not sisters.











Sister Tiefenbach cannot pass up an opportunity to swing. She had a wonderful time with the wind blowing in her face as she came swooping down on the swing. Swinging is SOOO refreshing! She needed help from Elder Tiefenbach to get going. He was a great pusher. How does she swing so high and still keep her purse with her?

Elder Solomon is following the example of Elder Ram. He needed coaching from Elder Ram to get the pose just right. A beard would definitely improve the likeness, but we think President Funk might have something to say about that!









As you can see, the park was a great place to spend the day. We are taking a little break from walking here, and we stopped to look out over the park. There is Elder Ram again wanting to be the focal point!









Elder Tiefenbach is pausing for a moment on our way up to the top of the dam. On the other side of this dam is a LOT of water.












We made it up the steps to the top of the dam. The view was worth the climb. Looking out on a body of water is always inspiring. Elder Tiefenbach is enjoying the view. What is he thinking about? He can't be thinking about sailing off to a far away distant land because we are in a far away distant land. While up on top, we saw an eagle soaring with the winds. It looked like it was having fun playing in the air currents. We thought how wonderful it would be to be able to be so carefree and soar up in the sky. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a picture of the eagle.

Back down in the park, we were standing close to the lily pond, looking into the water with the Sisters when Sister Tiefenbach suddenly said, "What would happen if a snake suddently jumped out of the water toward us?" Needless to say, the sisters did not enjoy Sister Tiefenbach's humour.






This slide was calling to us to do a group picture. This time, Sister Tiefenbach made the sacrifice, but the two ground positions were taken, and she really did not want to go up on the slide, so it wasn't much of a sacrifice.

We took a bus back to Coimbatore. Actually, we took a bus from the park to the nearby town to catch the bus that would take us to Coimbatore. The nearby town wasn't so nearby. It took about 40 minutes to get to it. Then, we had another 1 1/4 hour bus ride to Coimbatore. The trip back seemed long, but the day was great. Everyone commented that it was nice to get away from the regular routine and away from the noise and congestion of the city. We enjoyed the open spaces and the quietness of the park. What a great day!!

The next day, we took Elder Racharla to subway for lunch. Well, we took Elder Ram, too, but it was for Elder Racharla. Subway is his favourite western type restaurant that is in Coimbatore. We will miss him when he leaves this week.

Tuesday was Divali. We were to stay in our apartment after 6:00. That was okay because we were able to go up on the rooftop and enjoy the fireworks. We could see far out into the city, and all around us (the full 360 degrees), we could see fireworks. Everyone seemed to be setting off either fireworks or firecrackers for over 3 hours that night. It was quite amazing to see.






The fireworks and firecrackers were also going Monday night, as well. We had two nights of great displays. On the morning after the festivities, the streets were littered with the remains of the firecrackers.

On Friday, we invited Elder Thomas over for birthday cake. Obviously, we invited his companion, Elder Challa, too. We invited Elders Solomon and Smoot, but they wanted to go to the apartment and get it ready for a surprise birthday party for Elder Thomas.

We were also able to visit several families this week, as well. We actually do other things than have fun all the time. Today, we went to Erode to meet with the members of the church there. We were fortunate to be visiting on a day that a baptism was scheduled. We were able to attend the baptism of Calevani Rajesh, She was baptised by her husband, Duraisamy Rajesh who was babtised last week. Just prior to the baptism Elder Tiefenbach had the opportunity to ordain Rajesh to the priesthood. We also had several assignments to fulfill at the Branch, as well. We returned to our home Branch at about 4:30 so we could attend some leadership and planning meetings.


This week was also transfer week so we had to bid adieu to our friend and District Leader, Elder Thanniru. He has always made sure he included us in the district meetings. We have never felt like we were outsiders or old people that the missionaries have to "put up with." They seem to actually like to be around us. We truly have been blessed to be associated with many great missionaries.







To end the blog this week, we want to let everyone know that we have had a few snags in our visa renewal process. At the end of the week, we were told that our visa extension application had been declined and we would have to leave India immediately. We went immediately to the FRO to talk with them. We clarified a few points that seemed to be a problem. They are re-sending our application to Chennai with a recommendation that the applications be approved, so hopefully this time, we will have good news about our visas. We ask for your prayers that we will be able to get our extensions so we may continue to work with the members of the church here in India.