People and Cleaning

This is Raju Joseph with Elder Tiefenbach. We met him at the fireside about temples that we gave on Sunday evening. He is a pioneer in the history of the church in India, having been baptized in 1971. He was one of the first missionaries from India to serve in his home country. Raju Joseph was the branch president of Semmedu Branch for about 18 years. He has a strong testimony. We met with him at the church the next day and listened to his many stories. One of the stories he told us was about the time he encountered a wild elephant about 7 to 8 years ago. He had gone down to the river to bathe and did not see the elephant until it was too late. The elephant picked him up with its trunck and threw him through the air into a bunch of bushes. He suffered broken bones, cuts, and bruises. He had about 20 stitched in his head as a result of this.

We had a district missionary meeting on Tuesday for District 1 (District 2 was on Wednesday for this week.) One of the missionaries (Elder Aruldoss) from District 1 received a transfer to Erode. An announcement was made that Erode would be getting another set of missionaries. That means that Erode would have its own missionary district. Presently, the missioanries are part of Coimbatore District 2. Elder Aruldoss will be the District leader with Elder Thom as his companion. Elder Thom is new to the Coimbatore area. Elder Dangwal, from Erode, is being transferred, and we do not know the name of his replacement. (Missionaries are divided into groups called districts. Each district is responsible for a particular area within their assigned branch. Several districts make up a zone.)

District 2 elders also showed up after the meeting. Here we are with Elders Ganaparam (next to Sister Tiefenbach) and Elder Massey. Elder Ganaparam is being assigned to Visakhapatman (also called Vizak). Elder Ganaparam was the District Leader for District 2. Elder Massey is great fun. He is always smiling. He will be turning 19 in July. He received special permission to begin his mission prior to age 19.

The entire zone posed for a picture before transfers. The zone includes: (beginning left of Elder Tiefenbach) Elder Massey, Elder Tiefenbach, Sister Tiefenbach, Elder Aruldoss, Elder Dangwal, Elder Ganaparam, Elder Hodgson (behind Elder Massey), Elder Kumar (to the back of Elder Hodgson), Elder Jurial, Elder Lara, Elder Bean, and Elder Braun.

The elders had great fun setting their cameras on auto to take pictures of the zone. Here Elder Jurial is excited for the picture. We all went to KFC for lunch one more time before those elders with transfers left.

On Saturday, we went to a village called Chavadi to help clean up the church building and yard. We waited on the front steps of the church in Coimbatore for our ride with President Allwyn (second counselor in the District Presidency). One of the security guards, Brother Prakash, and his son Hari enjoyed visiting with us while we waited. One of the youth (seated beside Sister Tiefenbach) from our branch also went out to Chavadi to help. President Solomon (Branch President of Chavadi) asked us to stop at a particular nursery to pick up some flower pots.


We arrived at the nursery and noticed that the nursery people had just laid some fresh sod outside the nursery and watered it. We stepped over the sod. The ground was muddy. Well . . . the skid marks are apparent. We are thinking of calling the accident reconstruction team to measure the skid marks to determine the speed at which Sister Tiefenbach was travelling before she hit the parked motorcylce.

This was the result - 3 stitches and a swollen eye. It was  a good thing that the KJ hospital was only one block away. So, we had the experience of going to the hospital in India. The purple is NOT eye shadow. Look at it this way, Sister Tiefenbach can save money on eyeshadow for that eye for the next week or so. Actually, this was not a good experience. She hit very hard and twisted her body very badly. She will be sore for several days.

This was a sign in the hospital. We thought it was quite funny, so Elder Kumar (left) and Elder Ram posed for a picture. The sign says that the lift is only for Patients, Elders, and Physical Handicapped. Elder Ram was just assigned to Coimbatore 2nd branch. He replaced Elder Lara.

 


We returned to the nursery to purchase the flower pots. Sister Tiefenbach stayed in the car. We continued to Chavadi.








This is the church building in Chavadi. It is a one-room small building. The large sign is in Tamil, the language spoken in the state of Tamil Nadu.

President Vincent Paul (District President), on the left, and President Solomon (Chavadi branch president) take a break to discuss church affairs. They worked extremely hard on this project. In the background are members of the branch cleaning up the yard.

Elder Tiefenbach is hard at work. The entire dirt area that is seen here was completely covered with weeds when we arrived. We were amazed at how quickly we were able to pull all the weeds. Sister Tiefenbach did not work hard. She moved slowly as she pulled weeds.

This is an example of a house in the village. Not all the houses had straw roofs.

Coconut groves are common here. Here is one near the church in Chavadi.

The entire area around Coimbatore is surrounded by mountains. This is one mountain as seen from Chavadi. The mountain ranges are different here. In Canada, the Rockies are massive, and they are all connected. Here, we will see one mountain, then flat landscape, then another mountain later.

Roof Construction, Food, and Celebrations

Last week, we told about the roof that was being removed. This week, they built the peak and the walls higher.

Then, they began using lumber (4x4's) to form the framework. Previously, the framework was made from poles.

Lastly, they put the tiles back on. They look like the old ones. The ends are still open. We are not sure how they are going to finish the edges. We are assuming that no one lives in the house, yet. We don't think anything has been done on the inside.

We bought curtains, a coffee table, and two end tables. Now, the livingroom looks like a real room instead of a cement area with a couch and two chairs thrown in it. We even have the family picture up now. This all makes the apartment feel more like a home. The coffee table is hard to see. Only the left hand side is seen in the picture. The table has three levels, and the top level is made of clear glass, making the table more difficult to see. The coffee table is also very small, but it is the right size for the space, and the price was right.



We had a local shop owner make the curtain rods. They were very cheap, cost wise. He came to install the rods. Because the walls are all made from cement, a special drill needs to be used to drill holes. In an earlier post, we mentioned that electric tools do not have plugs at the end. This is the way they plug in their tools. The simply stick the wires into the holes.







  We had a great week of cooking. We made chicken and pineapple pizza. It was yummy.

 We made jumbo raisin cookies for the missionary district meeting on Tuesday.

   Do you think they liked them?

All the elders seemed eager. Elders Dangwal, Hodgson, and Bean (above) are typical of all the elders' eagerness. The elders hung around for a while enjoying the treats. In the picture on the right, we see (left to right) Elders Ganaparum, (Elder Braun is hidden), Bean, Jurial, Kothangi, Lara, and Aruldoss.



 
 
We also made oriental chicken with beans and boccoli. This is the first time we tried this recipe. It was very good.


 Sister Tiefenbach made bread this week, but we did not take a picture.

We thought the kids next door might like some of our new dishes, but they were not interested. They seemed to prefer the paper on the walls.

On Saturday night, we had the opportunity to go the our first Indian "function." A function is any kind of celebration. This celebration was to acknowledge that a 13-year-old girl had "come of age." We shall leave it at that about what that means. This custom originated a long time ago. At that time, the family of the girl used this as a way to announce to the world that their daughter and the family was now ready to begin taking possible suitors. Interested families would then have a couple of years to get ready for the negotiations. They no longer use this as a time to announce they are ready for suitors.

We have accompanied the elders on several of their visits this week. We enjoy being with them. Some have "stopped by" our apartment just before they have to report in to their apartments. Could it be that they drop by because they always get something to eat??? We love it when we can be with them.

At about 9:00 tonight, we heard loud bangs. We often hear fireworks in this area, so we didn't take a lot of notice, except that there seemed to be more. The noise got louder and louder, and we heard music. We investigated, and found that a parade was going by our apartment. The security guard for our apartment said that it was some kind of Christian celebration. We do not know how wide spread this was throughout Coimbatore.

  

 We were at the church from 9:40 a.m. to 8:15 p.m. today. Normally, we are not at church that late, but tonignt, we presented a fireside about temples. All the people seemed to enjoy it, and we enjoyed the time with the people. The members of the church here do a good job of taking care of us. They are always appreciative of the help we give.

 

As Summer Draws to a Close in Coimbatore

As summer draws to a close and the schools re-open their doors from the one month break, work begins on re-doing a roof before the monsoon rains come. These men are almost finished removing the old roof. They later built up the centre peak so that only one roof covers all four sections. Previously, the roof had two peaks. We do not know whether the home is one house or two. We have tried to figure this out, but we have not been successful. The week has now ended, and the new roof has not been started. The rains are supposed to begin late next week, so hopefully, they will finish before that. We can monitor their progress from our apartment balcony.

Some men were cutting the grass in the green space in our apartment complex. These men worked several hours cutting the grass with their shears. This is not the way we plan to cut our grass when we get back to Canada.

We stopped on the way home from picking up a few groceries to check out the trucking business here. We see many small trucks that deliver goods to stores, but we also see this type of delivery system. Interestingly, the drivers do not tie up their cows. They simply leave them as they go into the shops to conduct their business. As soon as the driver jumps back into the wagon, the cow begins to move. 

We spent one afternoon in a part of Coimbatore called Vadavalli. We went with Elder Aruldoss and Elder Bean. Elder Aruldoss is from India, and Elder Bean is from Utah. This area is more rural than the part of Coimbatore where we live. We took the bus there. It was our very first bus ride in India. We do not take the bus  on our own, but we had the elders to make sure we didn't get lost. We met with a family in Vadavalli and left a gospel message. We saw some wild peacocks while we were there, but we did not take pictures.

We were fortunate to get a seat on the trip there and on the way back. Each way cost 13 rupies per person, which is 26 cents. The trip there took about 45 minutes, and the trip back took a little over an hour. Buses are very cheap here.

Elder Tiefenbach decided that his second haircut was needed. This barber charges the young missionaries 50 rupies ($1.00), but he must think we have more money because he charges Elder Tiefenbach 60 rupies ($1.20). Very nice looking harircut!

One of the assignments we have been given by the mission president's wife is to inspect the elders' apartments to make sure they clean them. The day we went to this apartment happened to be Elder Hodgson's birthday. We knew before hand, so we made a cake for him. He was happy to have something special for his birthday. His last birthday was spent flying to India from Utah, and he felt sick. He was born in Australia. His mother is from India, and his father is from England. They have lived in the United States for the past 14 or so years, so he considers himself to be an American. We were happy to make this day a better day than his birthday last year.

This past week, we began to teach English classes. We hope that more people will come as they come to know about the classes.

The Week After Conference

This week is a short post for the blog. We were busy, but we spent more time doing the blog for the conference.

I made carrot cake for the district missionary meeting on Tuesday (May 29). This is all that was left. I can't get cream cheese here, so I had to go with plain icing. The butter here is a bit darker than in Canada, so the icing was not as white as it normally is. The cake disappeared very quickly. If I had made three cakes, they would have all been eaten. The missionaries  really appreciate the homemade treats. Sister Funk, the mission president's wife, told us that the missionaries told her that they are happy that Sister Tiefenbach makes treats for them every week. Elder Tiefenbach enjoys eating the baked treats, as well.

We went shopping on Wednesday afternoon. We hire Brother Augustine to take us shopping when we have several places to go or when we know we will be buying a large quantity of groceries. His car is quite old, and it does not have air conditioning, but Brother Augustine knows where all the places are that we want to go to. He also waits for us while we do our shopping. In fact, he always comes into the stores with us, which has been helpful many times when we have communication problems with the people in the stores.

On Wednesday evening, we attended a family history meeting at the church. Elder and Sister Gibb (the area family history advisors) were in Coimbatore and wanted to meet with the consultants, the director of the family history center, and us. We were at the church from 4:00 to 8:00. After the meeting, we went out for dinner with the Gibbs and Sister Shanthi (the director) and her husband President Arul (president of Coimbatore 2nd branch). We went to an Italian restaurant - yes, Italian. It was very good. We will go there again sometime.

Sister Tiefenbach has been helping a girl learn to play the piano. That is right!! Sister Tiefenbach cannot play the piano, but she is teaching other people to play. This girl has a good ear for music. Sister Tiefenbach taught this girl lessons on Thursday and Saturday.

Speaking of ears, Elder Tiefenbach bought Sister Tiefenbach some garnet earrings for her birthday on Friday. She likes them a lot. Sister Tiefenbach asked Elder Tiefenbach not to bake a cake because she had eaten cake two days during the week and did not want any more.

On Friday afternoon, we met with the Mission President to talk about the work we are doing here, and he also gave us some more ideas of things that we could do. We had a wonderful visit with him and his wife.

Tonight, we made mango/banana smoothies. Mmmmmmm.

YSA and Stake Conference - Hyderabad, India

We had the great experience of participating in an all India YSA (Young Single Adults) conference in Hyderabad from May 25 - 27. This group is for young single adults between the ages of 18 and 31. For this conference, singles up to ages 37 and 38 attended. On the same week-end, we also were privileged to be part of a conference for the church where the first Stake of the church in India was organized.

 

On Wednesday, May 23, we began our journey by having our picture taken with the two women who clean the apartment building and look after the plants. They are wonderful women who love to have us say hello to them. They don't speak English, but they are thrilled to associate with us. They make our days fun. Taking these pictures gave us something to do while we were waiting for the taxi to pick us up to go to the airport.

 

The hotel had two buildings: Green Park Hotel and the Marigold Hotel. This is the outside of the Marigold. All the meetings and activities for the conference were held in this building. Our hotel room was in the Green Park part. All foreigners had to stay in the Green Park.

All the missionary couples worked a long day on Thursday getting all the packets ready for the YSA. We had approximately 600 attend the conference. The missionaries here are [right front] Elder Zobell(Warner, AB), [left front and then going back] Elder and Sister Meyers (USA - serving in Sri Lanka), Elder Hatch (Cardston, AB), Sister Allison (Cochrane, AB), Elder Tiefenbach (Regina, SK).

 

We had computers working to get name tags, etc. ready for the registration packets.

 

 

Sister Wigg (from Calgary) was the official photographer. She was busy everyday documenting the conference. She had the wonderful experience of being with the General Authorities of the church throughout the week-end.

The young single adults arrived throughout Friday morning, beginning at about 4:30 a.m. We did not get up that early, but Sister Wigg and Elder and Sister Kellerstrass (from the USA and serving in Sri Lanka) were up early to meet the first train. They deserve a special thanks. Elder Kellerstrass and Sister Tiefenbach are talking with Rooben from Coimbatore.

The highlight of the YSA conference was the devotional on Friday morning when Elders Oaks (from the Quorum of Twelve), Hallstrom, and Perkins spoke. Their wives also spoke, and the wives spoke at a devotional on Saturday morning while Elders Oaks, Hallstrom, and Perkins were busy with the organization of the stake. This picture shows the YSA as they wait for the devotional to start. If you look way at the back, you will see Sister Tiefenbach (dressed in black and white). She is checking the sound quality/balance of the choir. Elder and Sister Allison from Cochrane, AB are seated in the front row.

The participants in the conference had time for some fun and games. Elder Tiefenbach and I were in charge of this part of the conference. This game is called "Return of the Ring." They formed two lines and had to pass the ring up and down the line. Which ever team finished first was the winner.

Here, they decided to play the same game while standing in a circle and holding hands. They had to pass the "ring" from person to person without breaking the hand clasp. Two rings were going around the circle in the opposite direction. The person who ended up with both rings had to step out of the circle, so no one wanted to be caught with both of them. They had a great time.







Elder Tiefenbach and Sister Tiefenbach had some helpers from an organization called Help International. They conducted the games under our direction. This is Brooke, from Utah, giving instructions for a "get to know you" game.












These are two YSA women from Coimbatore, Sister Beena and Sister Shaymala. They recently retured from missions in the Philippines.

The YSA loved the "Giants, Wizards, and Elves" game. Giants beat elves; wizards beat giants; elves beat wizards. Then the race begins to capture members of the "losing" category. They had a great time with this game.

 

Many of the participants took part in a family history workshop. We had many computers available, so everyone was able to have personal time as they began their family trees.

 After the dance on Saturday night, many of the young single adults grouped together for pictures. They had a great time posing for their pictures. The YSA especially enjoyed watching the couples dance. Sister Tiefenbach helped demonstrate a line dance.

This was the view outside our hotel room window. These men are constructing a new building. They have a unique way to build things here, and as you can see, safety measures are not the same as we experience in Canada.

After the YSA conference, we attended the Stake Conference where the first stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in India was created. The Stake Conference was held at the Novotel, which is a huge conference centre and hotel. The formation of a stake was a significant event for the members of the church in India. With a stake, the local members have more responsibility and authority. It also prepares them to have a temple in India. Presently, they have to travel to Hong Kong to attend the temple, which takes a considerable amount of time and money.

Sister Gibb and Elder and Sister Sharma are taking time out after the conference to talk about family history. Elder and Sister Sharma are from New Delhi, and are serving as family history missionaries in Hyderbad. Elder and Sister Gibb are from the USA and are serving as Area Family History Advisors for the Asia area. They are serving out of Hong Kong. (Elder Gibb is not in the picture, obviously.)

Elder and Sister Sharma have been wonderful to us. We first met them when we had our couples conference shortly after we arrived in India. She could tell that we were not used to the new culture, etc. and simply showed us a lot of love. They brighten our hearts whenever we see them. If we have time left on our visas when our mission is over, we plan to take an additional 7 or 8 days and go to visit them in Delhi so they can show us around that area.