The bees may be looking for the re-union of this missing piece of their hive. We saw it lying on the ground in the park during our walk on Monday. We didn't have a camera that day, so we made sure we took it with us on Tuesday to get this picture. We decided not to take the piece of beehive home with us to extract the honey.
The beehive piece must have fallen from the tree. This tree has many huge beehives attached to it's limbs. Interestingly, we have never noticed any bees in the park despite the presence of several hives. We think that because they are so high in the trees, we don't notice them. Maybe, they just avoid people. We don't really know why; we just know that we don't see the bees.
On Tuesday, everyone joined together to celebrate President William's birthday. He ordered lunch, and we all enjoyed the food. He ordered chicken biryani, mutton biryani, and other Indian side dishes that are often served with biryani. Because we don't care for biryani, President William ordered some Chinese food. Actually, President William ate more Chinese food than biryani. He gets ill if he eats spicy food, so he avoids it. Of course, more food was available than we could eat. Sister Smith (left) doesn't mind spicy food, but Elder Smith does not eat it. Next to Sister Smith is Sister Judy, Shankar (in the back), and Sundar.
President William began cutting the cake, but he soon asked Sister Tiefenbach to finish cutting it. We did not do the traditional cake cutting where the birthday person holds a piece of cake feeds it to all the guests.
The second baking project we had this past week was blueberry cheese cake. The only part of the cheese cake that was baked was the crust, so we are not sure whether or not this really qualifies for baked goods. The cheese cake was a no-bake cheese cake. It was really good. This qualifies for a re-union because the taste of the cheese cake was re-united with our taste buds!
The assistants (Elder Bown and Elder Kumar) enjoyed the re-union. Elder Bown likes cheese cake a lot! The assistants quickly accepted the offer of a second piece. They did not hesitate one bit.
The greatest re-union was returning to Coimbatore for a few days and seeing all the people in Coimbatore on the week-end. Elder and Sister Smith accompanied us. Elder Smith has been called as the branch president of the India Bangalore Mission Branch. That means he is responsible for all the members of the church who do not live within the boundaries of the organized branches and wards. He was going to meet with a few people in Coimbatore to get information about members who live in the state of Kerala and in a few other towns in Tamil Nadu. We were fortunate that the Coimbatore district conference was being held when we were there. We were able to see so many people, and they were so happy to see us. Whenever, we return to Coimbatore, many people ask us if we are coming to stay. They are always disappointed when we tell them we will be in Bangalore for the rest of our mission. We have told them several times that we will not be back in Coimbatore permanently, but they ask us the same question each time we visit. Elder Wong from the Seventy as the visiting general authority. He lives in Hong Kong.
We, the Smith's, and the Berrett's were blessed to be invited to join him for lunch. (Sorry, we have no pictures of that). We had such a good time talking with him. Unfortunately, President and Berrett had several temple recommend interviews to do, so he joined us near the end when most of the visiting was finished. Elder Wong also invited the Smith's and us to stay for the Priesthood and auxiliary training session after our lunch. While we were in Coimbatore, we were able to go to several members' homes. Of course, we went to Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi's home. We called them from Bangalore to let them know we were coming, and when Brother Raja said he wanted to feed us, Elder Tiefenbach told them that Elder Smith and Sister Tiefenbach did not like spice. When Sister Sumathi served the food, Elder Smith was absolutely delighted to see that she had prepared toasted fried egg sandwiches. This made Elder Smith say that he loves Coimbatore Indian food.
We visited with many people at the church on Sunday, but didn't get pictures of everyone. Here we are with Brother Reynald and Sister Deepa with their children.
Of course, we love to have a re-union with the missionaries. We made chocolate cookies (third baking project) for them and took them as carry-on luggage to Coimbatore. They expressed appreciation for the cookies. Here we have (left to right) Elders Arthur, Mills, Stoll, Higgins, Pydimalla, and Dondipati. We gave them the cookies Friday morning during their zone conference meeting. Of course, we had some of the cookies, as well.
We are always excited to see Sister Jebamani (beside Sister Smith) and Sister Madabathula (beside Sister Tiefenbach) and be re-united with them. Sister Jebamani has just been transferred to Hyderabad. She was SO excited. Until now, sisters served only in Coimbatore and Chennai. Because she is from Chennai, she was only allowed to serve in Coimbatore. She thought she would be spending her whole mission in Coimbatore. But, two more areas have been opened up to sisters, and she was able to be transferred. Sister Jebamini will be going home in October. Sister Madabathula is so much fun to see because she always calls us "mommy" and "father." We love her! She has recently been assigned to be the Sister Missionary Leader and is being transferred to Chennai.
As we talk about re-unions this week, we can't help but think of the great re-union we will have when we return home to see our family and friends. When we think of this re-union, we also think of the great re-union that Alma had with the sons of Mosiah as he journeyed from the land of Gideon southward to the land of Zarahelma for he "did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God" (Alma 17:2). We look forward to feeling the same added joy when we return home.
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