Life in India

This past week has been quite typical of life in India. Our Sundays are much more leisurely here in Bangalore compared to the Sundays we experienced in Coimbatore. We have much more time to prepare a decent meal here. Last Sunday, Elder Tiefenbach took charge of the preparations for our orange chicken meal. Our daughter, Brenda, had posted a link to the recipe, so we thought we would try it. We do not have a slow cooker, as the recipe calls for, so we simply cooked it in the oven. We also had to change a few other things in the recipe. For example, we don't have access to frozen concentrated orange juice in India (from what we have seen), so we used regular orange juice in a tetra pack. The result was that the flavour wasn't quite as orangy as it should have been, and although we cooked it for an hour, the carrots were a bit too crisp for our likes. But overall, the Orange Chicken tasted good.

 Every morning (Monday to Friday) we go for a walk. This is a great way to give us a kick start to our day at the office. We mostly sit in front of the computer all day, so walking each day keeps us fit. To get to the park from where we are standing, go to the end of the street and turn right; then take your first left. Walk down that street for about two blocks. Voila! There is the park.












It is summer time in India right now, so we are experiencing hot weather. Mind you, the temperature in Bangalore is much more moderate than places like Chennai, Hyderabad, Rajahmundry, or even Coimbatore. We feel less hot here in Bangalore compared to other places because of the lower humidity, which make the higher temperatures during the summer more tolerable. We use the word "tolerable" because we still feel very hot, even in the early morning when we walk, although the morning walks are far cooler than when we walk somewhere during the afternoon. We are fortunate to have many trees in Bangalore to shelter us from the heat of the sun. The trees here are wonderful. The bad thing about the trees is that there are always leaves falling to the ground. It seems that this happens all year round. People are constantly sweeping leaves from in front of  their houses. One interesting thing we have found about India is that we have rarely experienced a windy day (if at all) in the heart of the cities. At most, we feel a light breeze, which is usually "spotty." That means that the breeze will be present in one spot, but it will be gone only a few feet further down the street. We are intrigued by this phenomenon.

We don't see garbage trucks being driven in the residential areas for curb-side garbage pick up as we are used to in Canada. Instead, people, many of whom are women, push around small carts like this one, stopping at each home to pick up the garbage. The person sorts through the garbage from each home and separates the recyclable items from the rest of the trash. Then the person picking up the garbage will take the garbage to another site (possibly only to a designated spot on the side of a different road). We really don't know where the garbage is taken once it leaves our street. We see many places on other streets where large piles of garbage accumulate. This woman pushing this cart seems to be finished her area and is heading somewhere else. Perhaps she may be going to dump this load so she can begin collecting in another area. These people must get up very early, as our garbage is often picked up before 7:30. This particular street is a fairly busy street, so the cars just manoeuvre around her.

Our office is on the second floor of the building. In North American terms, we would say we work on the third floor. In India, the main floor is called the ground floor, and the next floor up is the 1st floor. We are so used to this now that we are often confused as to which way of reference is from here and which one is from Canada. We most often take the stairs up to the second (third) floor. Some days, those two flights of stairs seem a long way, and the nearby elevator is very tempting. But, we usually ignore the temptation, unless perhaps we are so tired from walking a long ways. The Church uses the two floors above the Lotus diagnostic Centre for offices: the Mission office and the Service Centre Offices.

We have a couple of security guards watching the building all the time. This one is stationed at the underground parking. We caught him fulfilling his duties one day! He is a great guy. He always says hello to us and often asks us if we have had our breakfast or lunch and asks us what we had for that meal. They put in VERY long days.






We celebrated Elder Smith's 66th birthday at the office. Sister Smith made the chocolate cake. She is a very creative/crafty person. She didn't bring the cake in the cake pan like Sister Tiefenbach does. She decorated the top AND sides of the cake. She put crushed cookie crumbs on the icing on the sides of the cake.














The office has been very quiet for the last part of the week because Elder Ram and Elder Raja, the Assistants to the President, went to Hyderabad to take care of some missionary business there. To help liven things up, we invited all the people from both floors to Elder Smith's birthday celebrations. Actually, we usually include them in any treats that Sister Tiefenbach or Sister Smith bring to the office. Seen in this picture are (left front, then continuing to the back and then up to the front): Sam (Physical Facilities), Gangadhar (Physical Facilities), Sathish (Accounting), Steve (Finance Manager), and President Robert William (Managing Director). The other people, Shankar, Thomas, Sundar, Sunil, and Prem were behind the camera. Sister Judy was away at Youth Conference in Hyderabad.

That same day, we went out for lunch with the Smith's to an Indian restaurant called Kund Restaurant. President Funk and/or Sister Funk had taken us and the Smith's there (on separate occasions), so we thought we would give it a try again. This time, however, we did not have the Funk's there to order for us. We told the waiter we wanted the chicken dish that was like butter chicken. We also ordered tandoori chicken. Sister Smith ordered a chicken/onion dish. That one was the least spicy of all. The butter chicken type dish tasted a bit different from the time that President Funk ordered it for us. We assume it was the same dish, but this one seemed far more spicy. We prefer the butter chicken at the Laajawaab Restaurant across the street from the office. Both of these restaurants serve mostly north Indian type of food. One nice thing about the Kund Restaurant is that at the end of the meal, we were given a bowl of warm water with a lemon in it to clean our hands (seen in front of Sister Smith). The warm water feels so, so good. In this picture, you will also see a bowl with some white stuff in it (a spoon is in the bowl). This is served after meals in many restaurants. It is a licorice type of treat. It is supposed to aid in digestion and is quite tasty. It is made from fennel (or maybe anise) seeds. Each seed is coated with a sweet white coating. Anise and fennel are both known by the same name in India: saunf). We don't know the name of the "candy." Some of the missionaries said that it is called saunf, the same name as the spice.

This past Saturday, we went to a different Nilgiris store just to check it out, specifically to see if they sell baking soda there. We can't get baking soda at the Nilgiris store near us. The new one we went to did not have it, either. Interestingly, we could always buy baking soda at the Nilgiris store in Coimbatore. We find this interesting because Coimbatore is a much smaller city than Bangalore, and it is not nearly as modernized. Last time we were in Coimbatore, we bought several boxes of baking soda. Baking soda is very important in all cookie recipes, so we can't possibly be without it. We can find cooking soda in many stores, and we imagine that it is the same thing, but Sister Tiefenbach is not willing to take a chance on using it in her cookie recipes.

We also went to a store called the French Loaf to buy some bread. We bought a loaf of multigrain bread. This particular store is fairly close to our apartment. We have been told that they make great sandwiches. They serve sandwiches for lunch from Monday to Thursday. Someday, we will try it. It is a bit farther from the office than our apartment, so we are not sure how we will manage that.





This is the way we do dishes here. We don't have a dishwasher - groan! Sister Tiefenbach is going to kiss her dishwasher and her washing machine when she gets back home (the washing machine is a different story). But, we have HOT running water in the kitchen (we think we have mentioned that before).We need to use basins in the sinks because we don't have plugs for the drains. We wash the dishes in ordinary water from the tap with dish detergent and bleach. Then, we rinse them with purified water (you can see the water purifier on the wall). Obviously, we then put the dishes in the drainboard and then dry them AND put them away. Doing dishes doesn't usually take a long time, but if we have made a large meal and have been baking at the same time, the dishes pile up. Elder Tiefenbach often fills up the water bottles at the same time we are doing dishes. This particular water purifier has a hose attached to it, which makes filling the bottles and the rinse basin easier.

Elder Ram and Elder Raja both spoke in Sacrament meeting today. They both did wonderful jobs - we would not expect anything less from them. Elder Ram spoke about obedience and told several stories from his younger years that helped him learn to obey particular commandments. One commandment was about obeying and honouring your parents. He told the story of taking the car to go to McDonalds after his father told him not to take the car when they were out. It was a good story. All his stories were good. Elder Raja told of a spiritual experience when he was first called as a missionary and working in Hyderabad. Both he and his companion were knocking on doors, and at one door was sharply turned away. Despite this, they both felt impressed not to leave. As they slowly walked away, the man came back out and called them back. The man had been preparing to end his life, and they were the "angels" that God had sent to him. His talk was about honouring the sacred priesthood which he and other worthy men in the church hold. The spirit was strong in both their talks. They never cease to impress and amaze us.

This is Sister Rosaline. She is a member of the Whitefield Branch, but she attended Relief Society in our branch today. Her husband is in the District Presidency and had some business to look after during our meetings. She is strong in the church and has a sound understanding of the restored gospel. Sister Tiefenbach taught the Relief Society lesson today, and she was happy to have Sister Rosaline in the class because Sister Rosaline was able to add additional comments to other sisters' answers to many of the questions, which helped the other sisters in their understanding of the topic.


After the meetings each Sunday, we and the missionaries usually talk with the members for a short while before we head for home. We caught Elder Solomon encouraging a young man to give a talk. Elder Solomon is always so positive and supportive in his exchanges with others.







The restored gospel of Jesus Christ brings joy to the lives of those who embrace it and keep the commandment of the Lord. You can see the in the eyes of these missionaries of the joy they feel as they serve the Lord by teaching others of the great plan of happiness that our Father in Heaven has provided for all his children, whereby we may all return to live with him and become joint heirs with the Savior, as we inherit all that He has. Their countenance shows that they have taken to heart the scripture: "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life" (3 Nephi 5:13). This is the vision statement of our mission. We feel of the strength and power of this scripture as we do our work here in Bangalore. We are so blessed to be part of such a great work.