The Tour Continues: Finishing Agra, On to Delhi, and Back to Bangalore

After a wonderful afternoon and early evening at the Taj Mahal, we arose the next morning to go to the Agra Fort. Just as we were impressed with the other forts and palaces we had seen, we were also taken by these massive historic buildings.









Here are the seven of us ready to enter this portal to the past where we could walk within the fort and palace where the emperor who built the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan, lived and ruled his kingdom.











The carvings and art of this fort were equally as impressive as all the other historic buildings we had seen. We continue to be amazed that such delicate, beautiful, and detailed work was done by hand held tools. We can't imagine the length of time the people needed to complete even a small area of work.







The knowledge they had and the technology they used also continues to astound us. This is an ancient jacuzzi.

From the Agra Fort, we had a great view of the Taj Mahal as it stood elegantly in the distance with its distinctive white marble contrasting against the green landscape through the misty air, still proclaiming Shah Jahan's love for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The towers (minarets) are angled slightly outward away from the main building so they would not fall and destroy it should an earthquake or some other disaster strike.  The Taj Mahal was as impressive that day as it was when we first saw it. We wonder how such a beautiful building could have been constructed so long ago in1632.

The arches in the Agra Fort continue to show the Mughal influence. Perhaps we were consumed with archways during our tour of India, but they are amazing. All the pillars are strategically placed so the emperor would be able to see everything in the areas.

You will notice the lighter coloured designs at the top of this arch. We like to think that it is the result of the radiance emanating from Elder Tiefenbach and his granddaughters, but alas, it is simply the light from the sun shining through the transparent marble. Who would have thought that light would be able to shine through marble?







After visiting Agra Fort, we drove to Delhi on a wonderful highway. This highway reminded us of the highways we have in Canada. It was a private highway, so there were several toll booths, but traffic was much lighter, and we were able to travel at a constant speed. We arrived in Delhi in good order, went to McDonalds for lunch, and then went shopping at a nearby market. We kick ourselves that we did not buy more items at this market. Things were VERY cheap here (the quality wasn't the best, but things were cheap).

Seriously?????? We were tempted to buy it, but we did not.











We flew back to Bangalore that day, arriving late at night. The next day Danny and Elder Tiefenbach returned to the tailor shop for a fitting for their suits they had ordered. Later when the suit was complete, Danny said it was the best fitting suit he had ever had.

Elder Tiefenbach your suit will look spiffy when it is complete!!!!
















On Friday, February 28, we attended an all mission conference with Elder and Sister Holland, Elder and Sister Halstrom, and Elder and Sister Funk in attendance. We were thrilled to be part of such an historic meeting and especially thrilled to shake hands with all of them. We will be forever grateful to President Berrett asking about our final travel plans for our India tour and suggested that we plan our trip so we could be in Bangalore on February 28. Following the meeting with the general authorities, we were able to visit for a short while with the former Elder Kumar and his fiance. We think they make a good pair. We wish them well in their upcoming marriage. Elder Kumar came to Bangalore to participate in a YSA fireside that the general authorities were speaking at. The fireside followed our missionary meeting. After our meeting was finished, we were talking to some missionaries. Elder Kumar was standing behind us, but we did not see him. We turned around, and there he was. We were so excited to see him! He will always have a special place in our hearts.

Because this was an all mission conference, we were able to see all the missionaries we have served with. We were delighted to see Elder Solomon (our special fellow Canadian) and Elder Aeshamalla. These are two more elders who will always be in our hearts. Our hearts have grown so big to accommodate all the missionaries and all the people who will be forever in our hearts.

We have the fortune to have two sets of batch mates. Our first set consists of all the missionaries who were at the MTC at the same time as us (although we didn't know any of them at that time); the second batch is all the missionaries who have the same release date as us. We have two sets of batch mates because our mission is for 23 months, while the young elders are on their missions for 24 months. So, we go home with the batch that was in the MTC a month before we got there. Elder Wadsack-Stewart (his arm is around his mom) is in our home bound batch. His parents came to India to pick him up. We were blessed to have them in our apartment for a short time while they did their laundry. They had asked us if we knew where a laundromat was located; we did not know where any laundromats were, but our apartment was close by, so we offered them the use of our machines. We enjoyed our visit with them.











Here are all the missionaries in our entire mission, as of February 28, 2014, along with the general authorities and President and Sister Berrett. We are privileged to stand with these amazing fellow missionaries in proclaiming, as did Nephi: "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).