First Week in the Office at Bangalore

One of the things that we LOVE about being in the office is that we get to see many of the Elders as they drop into the office for various things. Whenever they come into the office, a feeling of enthusiasm walks in the doors with them. We were so excited to see Elder Solomon. He hasn't changed. He is still polite and humble. We met an investigator he is teaching, and this investigator praised him a lot. He said Elder Solomon was believable, considerate, humble, and polite. He said Elder Solomon was good boy. We agree.

We are excited to work in the office. We begin our day in the office at 9:00 a.m. and finish between 5:00 and 6:00, depending on the work that needs to be done that day. Right now Sister Tiefenbach is getting all the documents ready to register all the Americans that have been transferred within the mission. All foreign individuals must register in the city in which they live. We have had a big transfer, so we have a lot of work to do. Sister Wigg has been a great teacher. Elder Wigg has been teaching Elder Tiefenbach the ropes of the financial end of the mission. We have a lot to learn. With all that brain work going on, we have definitely worked up an appetite. Fortunately, we have a lot of restaurants close to the office. We have been going out for lunch every day this week. Pizza Hut was great!!!

 

Elder and Sister Wigg know all the great places to eat. They were with us when we first arrived in India. They are the ones that taught us how to cross the streets and what to expect in India. They relieved many of our concerns we had. They certainly have been great friends and teachers.

Thursday was Elder Tiefenbach's birthday. We had bacon, eggs, and fried tomatoes for breakfast. Pizza Hut was the destination for lunch, and we had supper (dinner) at the apartment. We invited Elder and Sister Smith to the birthday supper. They are also serving in Bangalore. Supper was lasagna, mixed vegetables, and some bakery bread. The meal was so delicious! Sister Tiefenbach made a chocolate cake for the special birthday boy. We went all out and bought ice cream for the cake, too. Unfortunately, we did not have candles for the cake, but we all sang Happy Birthday to him. Happy Birthday Elder Tiefenbach.

These are the Smith's (with Sister Wigg on the left); they are from the Kitchener area. They were born in England, but have been in Canada for many, many years. One of their assignments here is to look over several English language programs and determine what the best method will be to teach the members English. Sister Smith will also be in the office periodically to enter the convert baptisms into the computer so a membership record will be created for the person.



Okay, we admit it, we have eaten out for lunch quite a bit. Monday, we ate at KFC; Tuesday was at a wonderful place called Crisp, where Sister Tiefenbach had a waldorf salad and a veg club sandwich. Elder Tiefenbach veg club sandwich. It was so, so good. Wednesday, we went to Wanlee's, a Chinese food place. Thursday was our Pizza Hut day, and on Friday, we went to the Empire, which is an Indian buffet restaurant. Some of the food was very spicy - too spicy for us. The veg noodles, the butter chicken, and the fried rice was good. We invited the Assistants to the President (Elder Ram and Elder Barlow) to lunch that day, too. They often come into the office to get some work done that the president needs done. They bring a ray of sunshine into the office, as they liven and lighten things up. We love them.

We went into the office for a couple of hours Saturday morning to go over a few more things. We do not know everything about the office, but we are making progress. After being at the office, we went to Commercial Street, a major shopping destination. We bought a table runner set (with 6 placemats and 6 napkins). Elder Tiefenbach really wanted to buy a table runner set, but Sister Tiefenbach said that because we don't have a nice dining table at home, we really don't need one. So Elder Tiefenbach said that we could get a new dining set when we get home. Yipee!!! We saw many, many foreigners that day on Commercial Street. It seemed strange to us to see so many white faces. 

Speaking of food, Saturday was a highlight. We went to a place called The Only Place. We took the metro, which is a train that travels above street level. It is not complete, yet. It has only about 6 stops, but it gets us to a different part of the city very quickly. To go onto the metro, each person is scanned with a detector (like they use in the airports) and all bags go through an x-ray machine (just like in the airports). The trip cost each of us 12 rupees, which is about 24 cents. We are suprised that more people don't use the metro. It took us to a part of Bangalore that we have not seen before. It looked like a modern North American city. This was a night shot; we don't know why it looks like daytime. The moon was shining bright in the dark sky that night.

 

Back to the food Saturday night at The Only Place.. .  We had steak!!! Well, Sister Tiefenbach had steak. Technically, Elder Tiefenbach had steak, too. He had steak sandwich. The food was absolutely wonderful! It was so, so good!!!!! YUMMY!

 

We had apple pie with ice cream for dessert. Obviously, the crust was not as good as homemade, but it was actually good. The filling was delicious. This is what was left of the pie. We had a wonderful time with the Wigg's Saturday night. Bangalore has a lot more  restaurants that serve western foods than Coimbatore. We are loving Bangalore, but we miss all our friends in Coimbatore.

We went to a small farewell for the Wiggs at their Branch Friday night. The Wigg's are well loved by all the people in many of the branches here. They served Chinese style noodles and fried rice. We were happy that they did not serve birianni. Many, many people like birianni, but we don't care for it. The food was served outside the church building, as usual.

 

This is Brother Johnson and Sister Shirley (on the back) with their two children. They all fit on the motorcycle to go to and from church as a family. This is quite common in India. The most we have seen on a motorcycle at one time was a family of five. This is so different from Canada. Notice that only the father has a helmet on. Apparently, the law is that people are to wear helmets, but most people do not.

 

We attended our first Sunday meetings today. This is the front of the church building. It is not as big as the Coimbatore building, and it doesn't have our friends at Coimbatore. But, it has wonderful people that we will get to know.

 We mentioned that our friends in Coimbatore are not here. Well, that was not entirely true today. Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi came to visit us and Elder Solomon. We were so happy to see them. Our hearts were filled with joy when we saw them arrive. We invited them over to our apartment while they waited to go to Elder Solomon's uncle's place. They boarded a train last night and travelled all night. They are heading back to Coimbatore tonight by train.

 

Tonight, we went to President and Sister Funk's apartment for the Wigg's farewell dinner. Sister Funk prepared a wonderful roast pork, mashed potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower salad, carrots, fresh peppers, gravy, watermelon, grapes, and chocolate cherry cake. It was wonderful. We are so glad that we are here in Bangalore so we were able to attend their farewell. The Assistants to the President were also at the farewell, but they were taking the pictures.

 

We don't want everyone thinking that all we have done is gone out to eat, shop, and have parties. We have worked hard this week. Each day, we worked until 6:00. On Friday, the Wigg's officially turned the office keys over to us. We are a bit nervous about working at the office without the Wigg's there. They know so much, and we are just beginning to learn. We hope that we can be of service to the President. We never knew of all the work that was needed behind the scenes to make sure the mission runs smoothly. Because of the efficiency of the office missionaries, the young missionaries are able to go out and do their work of proclaiming the gospel. Sister Wigg has a saying that she has developed while in India. She often says, "It's all good service." This is so true. We all need to remember that where ever we serve and whatever we do to serve the Lord is all good service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Week Leading to Bangalore

Our week started in the usual way; it started with Monday (or Sunday, if you prefer). We did some cleaning in the apartment, visited a sister in the afternoon. While visiting this particular sister, Elder Tiefenbach and our driver, Augustine, purchased something called sweet apple. They are not apples at all, and they don't taste like apples, either. They grow inside a hard shell. Each shell has 3 - 4 of these fruit pieces inside. They are rather bland in taste. They probably taste better if they are refrigerated, but people in India don't drink or eat very many things that are really cold. You can see the shell being held in a man's hand on the left side of the picture. The white fruit is on the red tray in the center.


While in that same area, we stopped by another Sister's home so Elder Tiefenbach could give her a blessing. On the main floor of her apartment, we saw a small bakery, so we stopped in to have a look at it. We also bought some buns (rolls, for our American friends).

After that visit, Sister Tiefenbach taught a piano lesson. This was pretty much a routine Monday. We had already prepared the treat for the missionary district meeting, so we did not have to bake anything that day. We had prepared cinnamon buns on the Saturday before so we could take a treat to the Erode elders when we inspected their apartment on Sunday. By the way, the cinnamon buns were fantastic! We used the yeast that our daughter, Chantel, sent to us in the mail. The yeast made a world of difference in the final product. On Tuesday, we attended the district meeting in the morning. In the evening, we held a choir practice and visited the Sekar family at their home. Brother Sekar is in the branch presidency in 2nd Branch. We have visited them many times before. This is Brother Sekar and Sister Shanthi. They are holding the baby of Brother Renald and Sister Deepa. The Sekar's have two adult children. Their daughter Sujithra is getting married in June. We may go to the Hong Kong temple with them. We are excited about that possibility.

 

Wednesday started out being very typical. We were getting prepared for lessons, writing a letter to the newly called mission president, etc. when we received a phone call from President Funk. He asked if we would go to Bangalore for about 2 months to take over the mission office assignment. The missionary couple presently working in the office will be going home at the end of the month, and the President needs a couple to work in the office until the new couple arrives at the end of April. Well, that was a surprise!!! We were to fly to Bangalore Sunday evening. The rest of the week was a blur as we prepared for our trip. We had a lot to take with us.

 

We managed to visit several people before we left. That was so, so difficult. Our new friends were shocked and extremely sad when we told them we would be going to Bangalore for two months. Many tears were shed by them and by us, especially by Sister Tiefenbach. We wonder how much more difficult it will be when we actually leave to go home. One highlight of our visiting with friends was going out for supper with the Amalraj family (Brother Amalraj, Sister Punita, Abhishek, and Akash. We had a great evening with them. We have said it before, and we will say it again: this is a rock, solid family. We are so glad they are our friends in the gospel.

 

We also visited with the Raja family. The night we visited them was the night that their drinking water was available. Sister Sumathi was down in the hole getting water from the tap. They fill up with enough water to last them 10 - 15 days. This time, they had to get enough water to last 20 days because of repairs that were to be done to the water pipes. The water is used for drinking, cooking, and personal washing. The tap is located just outside the house about 4 to 4 1/2 feet below ground level.

 

The water is on for only a short time, so they had to work quickly to get enough water for that time period. After filling up all the containers, Brother Raja carried them into the house.

 

The family recently purchased a brand new treddle sewing machine. They are so pleased that they have been able to purchase this "luxury." Most people still use treddle machines.

 

Our driver is sad that we are leaving. He was thinking about us so much that as he was driving, he wasn't watching well and he ended up damaging one of his doors. We were not in the car when this happened. He had been wanting us to visit his home, so he insisted that we take a few minutes to see where he stays. This is his sister's place, where he has a room in a flat on the top floor.

 

Sometimes, he stays at his parent's old house. It is in very poor condition and is really not habitable. Whenever it rains, he cannot stay there. Also, he always goes to his sister's place for meals. This is his parent's house. If you look closely, you can see the cracks in the wall on the left side of the house that run from the roof to the bottom of the house.

 

We have been trying for some time to get a good picture of the traffic in Coimbatore. We finally did it. This is a picture of an intersection on Trichy Road. Generally, the side street traffic and pedestrians inch forward a bit at a time, slowly creeping closer and closer into the main street. Eventually, the main street stops for the side street traffic. This is all done without lights. It is really quite amazing to see and even more amazing to be a pedestrian in the middle of all of this.

 

The tree in the church yard has finally lost most of its leaves, showing that fall does come to Coimbatore. Most trees do not lose their leaves. This one has not lost all of them. The people here have told us that soon the new leaves will be coming. Just as this tree is moving on to a new stage in its life, we, too, are moving to a new stage in our mission. Our new responsibilites may last only a short time, but we are sure we will have many wonderful experiences.

 

One of the experiences that we are excited about is that we will be able to see many, many missionaries, including some with whom we have worked in Coimbatore and are now in Bangalore. Hello Elder Ram and Elder Solomon!!!! We are SO SO excited to see you. (Sorry, we don't have a picture of Elder Solomon. We saw him today, but we forgot to take a picture.) Elder Ram is now an Assistant to the President, but he is still just as goofy as he was in Coimbatore.

 

 

So, here we are in Bangalore. We are amazed that it looks so modern and beautiful. This is a totally different image than the one we had when we first arrived. The area that we will be living in is a well-to-do area, and it definitely looks different from the area where we live in Coimbatore. It is interesting how our perspective changes as we spend more time in India. This will be our home for the next 2 to 2 1/2 months. We are grateful to the Wigg's for letting us stay at their home while they train us in the office. They have always been helpful to us, and we are glad to count them as friends.

 

Hello beautiful Bangolore - the Garden City. During our short stay here, we will have many fond memories of the people and beauties, such as the flowers in the church garden, we found in Coimbatore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Farewell and Funtimes

We said farewell to Elder Smoot, as he was transferred to Vizak this week. We shall miss him and the conversations we had with him. This was the last District Meeting we had with him. We love the way he appreciates our cakes we take to the meetings.








By  the way, did we mention that he really likes the cakes?











We are not sure what we are going to do without him. Who is going to volunteer to clean up after the cake is gone? Elder Smoot really takes his cleaning assignment seriously, and as you can tell he puts all his effort into doing a great job.









After the District Meeting, we had Elder Smoot and his companions, Elder Justesen and Elder Samaria, over to our place for hamburgers. Elder Smoot had not had a hamburger since he came to India. He really appreciated the lunch. Does there seem to be a theme going on here with Elder Smoot?????

We took a picture of both the districts as of February 5, 2013. We expect that 1st Branch will be receiving two more missionaries in the next few weeks. Until then, Elder Justesen and Elder Samaria will continue to meet with our district.

On Monday evening, we went to Brother Suresh and Sister Shanthi's home for Family Home Evening. We enjoyed our visit with them. We taught them lesson 3 of Preach my Gospel, which is The Gospel of Jesus Christ. This was done as part of the new member discussions. We are late in teaching that particular lesson. We had several appointments set with them, but Brother Suresh kept getting called into work, so we had to cancel. We were able to keep the appointment on Monday. We love to see newly baptized members progress so well in the gospel. Brother Suresh's father was visiting that day. We tried so hard to get Sister Shanthi to smile. She always smiled right after the picture was taken. She has such a wonderful smile.

 

We often have a fun time by simply watching what is happening outside our balcony window. We have been watching the progress of the painters as they worked on this house since last week. They were putting the final touches on. From what we could tell, this was a husband and wife team that was hired to paint this house (husband on the left; wife on the right). All the painting was done with a brush. This house likely houses more than one family. Often, the house owner lives on one of the floors and rents out the other floor(s).

 

On Friday night, we had an Elder's Quorum/Relief Society activity. The Elder's Quorum presidency taught a lesson about the lds.org website. After a demonstration, we were divided into groups. Each group was to use the website to find an article on the topic of "Love Thy Neighbour" as a basis for a short talk. We were to use two quotations from the article, one experience from one of the members of the group, and one experience from the article in the small talk.

Then, one member of each group was to give the talk. This is Sister Shanthi (the same one as above). We were so pleased with her because she gave the talk in English, mind you, she simply read the talk, and she probably didn't understand everything she read, but this is a great step for her. She wants to learn English so badly. We could tell that she was very pleased. Her husband was beaming! He was so proud of her.

 

Of course, food was part of the activity. The church is the same everywhere. Food is always a part of getting together. This is typical of the type of food that is served at church activities (and is typical of the type of food that is served to us when we go to people's homes). The larger portion here is parotta (often spelled barotta), made from maida (white flour). At the top of the plate is idly, which is made from rice flour. Different "sauces" are served with these: dahl, coconut chutney, sambar, and something else that we can't remember.

 

Today, we went to Erode. Elder Tiefenbach gave a talk in Sacrament meeting, and Sister Tiefenbach taught a family history lesson in Sunday School. The traffic was heavier than the last time we went, so it took us a little longer. We were a bit rushed because we had to be back in Coimbatore by 3:10 to teach a temple preparation class. Consequently, we did not have the opportunity to talk with many members there today. We made it back just in time for the class. Then, Sister Tiefenbach did music time in Primary. After the meetings in Coimbatore, we stayed for a practice for a choir that Sister Tiefenbach is conducting and for a training meeting for all the branch presidencies in the District that Elder Tiefenbach attended. Many people were at the church while the choir practiced and the training was going on. It was like a big family reunion or party. Here we have (left to right) Sister Shanthi (different one from above), Brother Akash, and Sister Christie (District President's wife).

 

This is Sister Punita, one of Sister Tiefenbach's good friends. She and Sister Tiefenbach have many things in common, although Sister Punita is MUCH younger than Sister Tiefenbach. Sister Punita is Brother Akash's mother.

Sister Gigi and Brother Paramesh are engaged and will be married on March 6. This is the reason for the choir practice. Sister Tiefenbach was asked if she would get a choir together and have the choir sing for the wedding. They will be married at 5:00 p.m., will have the reception and dinner at 6:00 p.m., and will fly to Hong Kong later that night so they can be sealed in the temple.

We might as well add a baptism to all the activities that were going on this evening at the church. Brother Shan was baptized by Elder Sambaria.

 

We often enjoy taking random pictures of the streets of Coimbatore. This is a good view of a typical pharmacy in southern India. This picture shows clearly that the counter is right on the street. A customer simply walks up to the counter and asks for whatever it is that s/he needs. One does not even have to open a door and walk through aisles of merchandise to get his or her prescriptions. It is defintely different from pharmacies back home. Because we don't walk into the store, there is no browsing. One asks if they have a product one is interested in.

This is a typical street in Coimbatore. It shows all the tiny shops lined up on the street. When we first arrived here, scenes like this looked so different and strange from home; now this looks normal to us. We have begun to think that things don't look so different from home.

 

We were very busy this week and worked hard, but we also tried to find the fun in all that we did. Let us all remember that the Lord has said that He sent us here "that we might have joy."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Treasured Moments in Time

Sister Tiefenbach had a chance to hold a baby on Monday night. She thoroughly enjoyed it. Brother Renald and Sister Deepa invited us for family home evening and asked us to give the lesson. We used our ipads for the lesson, and needed our hands to move from one screen to the next, so Sister Tiefenbach had a little difficulty doing this. But, she would not give up the baby. This little one is two months old and likes to be held upright. She had been a bit fussy, but Sister Tiefenbach quickly calmed her down. Sister Tiefenbach loved every minute of it, and did not share with Elder Tiefenbach. Of course, she imagined holding her own new granddaughter. Elder Tiefenbach was able to pay a lot of attention to their other daughter. He certainly enjoys playing with the children of the families we visit.

Here are Brother Renald and Sister Deepa and their two children (on look! Sister Tiefenbach is STILL holding the baby). Brother Renald does medical transcriptions for doctors in the US. Both Brother Renald and Sister Deepa have excellent English. This is another family in the Church in Coimbatore that is strong and dedicated to the gospel. They, too, are eager to learn and follow the gospel culture. They are planning to go to the temple this year. The closest temple is in Hong Kong, so families have to prepare for a long time in order to make the trip. We feel so welcome in the homes of the members here. Many of the members here have truly become our family. Words cannot describe the closeness we feel to so many people here.

 

On Tuesday, we had our regular missionary district meeting. We and the zone leaders forgot to bring a marker for the white board, and they and Sister Tiefenbach needed a marker for the meeting, so the zone leaders, Elders Mills and Vaiphei, raced to a nearby stationary store to buy a white board marker.  Every week Sister Tiefenbach takes 10 to 15 minutes to teach the missionaries to lead (or conduct) music, so she needed a marker to draw pretty pictures of notes on the board.

 

We wish we had a picture of the closest stationary shop; it does not look anything like a stationary shop in North America. One day, we will get a picture and post it. Many of the stationary shops are very small and look similar to these small shops that are seen on the left. Likely, one of these shops is a stationary shop. The streets are lines with small shops.

 

 

After the meeting, we accompanied the zone leaders to Sister Jebamani's and Sister Gupta's apartment to investigate some strange noises they were hearing. Of course, the noises weren't there when we were there. In the end, the noise turned out to be a bird. By the time we were finished at the sisters' apartment, it was well past lunch time, so we and the zone leaders stopped at Domino's Pizza for lunch. Having lunch with the missionaries is always a treasured moment.

 

You may wonder why a picture of workers at a construction site is a treasured moment. Well, it is treasured because it will always remind us of India. In particular, it will remind us that India is a country of contrasts. Here we see the labour intensive view of construction. The workers are lifting sand to the upper floor (we presume to use in the mortar for the bricks). They made a human conveyor belt, putting sand in a basin-type container then passing it to the next person and so on up to the top person. Notice that the women construction workers wear sarees with a shirt over top of it. This would be comparable to construction workers in the western world wearing long dresses on the construction site. This particular building is not a tall modern building where cranes would be used, but we marvelled that they were not using some kind of pulley system to make the work more efficient. Several blocks away we saw a complete contrast to this where huge cranes were used to aid in the construction of a much larger building.

 

We will always remember the street markets in India. Every Tuesday, the streets close to our aparment turn into a huge market, where farmers sell their produce. The local Catholic church has a special service every Tuesday, so the sellers of produce use this day as an opportunity to catch all the people going to the services. The farmers simply lay out their produce. Many of them have scales to weigh the customers' purchases. The prices are cheaper here than in the shops and stores, but the markets get EXTREMELY crowded. Shoppers need to be aggressive. Also, remember that all this produce is on the street. Therefore, the shoppers need to make their way through the crowds of people and through the cars, motorcycles, bicycles, and animals that are on the street. We prefer the quieter more Western type stores.

 

Ahhhh! What a wonderful treasured moment! One day, when we left our apartment building, we saw a new floor mat. Although we are Canadians, seeing this floor mat everytime we leave our apartment building or enter the building, makes us feel a bit closer to home. We wonder where they found this mat. They were probably able to purchase it at a great clearance price!

We made visits to seven families this past week. One of the families was the Relief Society president, Sister Saraswathy, and her husband, Brother Rajendran. They made lunch for us, and they did not put any chilies or coriander in any of the food. It was great to not have our mouths burning after we ate. Their daughter is attending a prominent college where she is earning a degree in Aerospace technology (or something like that). She hopes to end up in NASA. We like to visit the members in their homes because get to know them better than when we casually see them at church. There is something about being in a person's home that draws people together.

 

 

Another treasured moment occurs on Satuday when we get to see many members when they come to the church to do the weekly cleaning. We are usually at the church late Saturday afternoon, or evening as they call it in India. Anything after 4:00 p.m. is considered evening. We think that many of the men particularly like to clean the floors because they get to play with this wonderful toy.

 

Now this is a great treasured moment! Where in Canada can anyone buy six ripe tomatoes for 18 cents????? Most vegetable are so cheap here compared to Canada or the States. We are amazed at the quantity of vegetables we can buy for only a few dollars. Well, in actual fact, the price is in rupees, but most people will relate more to dollars than rupees.

Baptisms are always a treasured moment. Today, Brother Sivasubramaniam (Siva for short) (left)and Sister Latha's (right) daughter (father is touching her arm) was baptized. We haven't really had much contact with Brother Siva; we see him at church, but we have never heard him say anything. He keeps to himself. But, today, we found out that he speaks excellent English. He did a great job of baptizing his daughter and confirming her. We were amazed at his English ability. He was confident in performing the ordinances. We were impressed with him! The woman beside Sister Latha is Brother Siva's sister; the woman beside her is her mother-in-law. The girl in the front is the other daughter of Siva and Latha. The other children belong to Brother Siva's sister.

Of course, they always want a picture with us.

We heard today that Elder Smoot is being transferred to Vizak. We are sad about this, and we wish him will in his new assignment. We will treasure our memories of being with him. We have had some very good discussions with him. He always appreciates the food we have shared with him. He especially likes the frosting that Sister Tiefenbach makes for her cakes.




 

Some of the great treasured moments in our lives come when we receive pictures from our family; receive messages from them on facebook, emails, and imessages; talk to them on skype or facetime; and receive cards or packages from them. We treasure every moment with our family.


As we all take time to treasure moments in our lives, we will be aware of the blessings that our Heavenly Father has given us. We will understand that He loves us, that we are His children, and that He wants us to be happy and return to him. May the Lord bless you all as you hold on to those things that bring you joy.