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.

Week of Celebrations

 Each week, when we unlock the doors to the office, we know of some of the things that will fill our days, but the days often give us some surprises. This week, we had many opportunities to celebrate and to feel the joy of serving here in India.

On Tuesday, we celebrated Elder Watson's 70th birthday. His actual birthday was on Wednesday, but he was leaving to go back to Hong Kong early Wednesday morning, so we celebrated a day early. Elder Ram and Elder Raja learned Tuesday morning that Elder Watson's birthday was coming up, so they bought a cake for him. He shared it with everyone in the office.








Elder Watson cut the cake and distributed it to everyone.












Elder Tiefenbach certainly enjoyed the celebration. The cake may have been small for the number of people in the office, but we all got a sampling of the delicious cake.











Of course, the Elders always enjoy having food associated with any celebration. This is Elder Aydelott, who recently transferred to Bangalore. He is assigned to work in the Convent Road Branch.









We continued our celebration by going to a Mexican restaurant, Habanero's, for lunch. The food was good. We particularly liked the vegetable fajitas. Some of the food was too spicy for us, but most of it was fine. This is the whole group: (left front and continuing toward the back and then going around the table) Elder Aeshamalla, Elder Solomon, Elder Aydelott, Elder Pace, the former Elder Sharma, Elder Raja, Elder Ram, Elder Tiefenbach (why is he working?), Sister Tiefenbach's chair, Elder Watson, and Elder Prakash. We think Elder Ram and Elder Raja may have won the prize for the most food eaten. They were still eating when everyone else was done. We have many reasons to enjoy working in the office. This is one - being with so many great missionaries and being in the presence of a wonderful leader.

Elder Aydelott (left) and Elder Pace just happened to be at the office when all this celebration was occurring. Normally, the elders outside of those working in the Indiranagar Branch rarely come into the office on days other than Mondays. They were glad they dropped by the office to pick up some extra supplies that day because they were able to join the celebration. One day a few weeks ago, Elder Pace asked Sister Tiefenbach if she would make another banana cake. Tomorrow (Monday) he will celebrate the arrival of a banana cake at the office. We always enjoy seeing the former Elder Sharma (right). He also happened to come to the office at "just the right time."

We have been so blessed to work with Elder Watson for a the past week and half. We have enjoyed his humour, his kindness, his gentleness, and his dedication to the Lord. He will be released as the President of the Asia Area later this summer. We not only celebrated his birthday, but we celebrated the opportunity to work with him. He mentioned many times to us that we helped him to know the things he needed to do while he was here, but, in truth, it was we who learned from him. What a great privilege we had to come to know him.


A great celebration we had this week was to send three new missionaries off to their missions! This send off was very different from most missionary send offs. These particular missionaries, (left)Elder Neelapu, Elder Dondapati, and Elder Michael, will be going straight to their missions without going to the MTC (which also means without going to the temple). The reason for this change is because the Philippines Consulate person in Chennai would not grant visas to these missionaries. In the past, we have always worked through the Delhi branch of the Consulate, but the policy changed, and we now must work through the Consulate in Chennai. The person working there does not know about the history of our relationship with the Philippines and thought that because these men were young, they likely would not return to India. Therefore, she denied them their visas. This has put a kink in getting our missionaries to the temple and to the MTC prior to them starting their work in the field. We have heard that someone from Delhi will be visiting the person in Chennai to help her with another request for a visa the Church has made. We are hoping that during this visit, the Delhi person will also talk about granting visas to our young men and women, as well. The problem is being worked on by several people, and we hope to have this issue resolved in the next few months. Despite the challenges, these missionaries are excited to begin serving the Lord.

Elder Tiefenbach was privileged to help President William (counselor in the mission presidency) with the settings apart for these missionaries. This is the second time Elder Tiefenbach has participated in setting apart missionaries. Serving the Lord always gives reason to celebrate.







Elder Michael attended BYU Idaho prior to serving his mission. His English is superb. Because he lives in Bangalore, his family was able to be present for the setting apart. His parents have been a great support and a source of encouragement to him. This was a great day of celebration for Elder Michael's parents. The others in this picture are his cousins. Sister Ranjini Gowthaman (second from left) will be leaving for her mission in June. Hopefully, we will have the visa issue resolved. We are not sure whether or not this next batch will begin serving without going to the temple and the MTC. Their start dates for their missions may be delayed until we can get them to the MTC and to the temple. We will have to wait for the decision of the new mission president.

Sister Tiefenbach loves to serve the Lord. She, too, celebrates the experiences and opportunities to feel and see the Lord's hand in this great work as the gospel rolls forth as a "stone cut out without hands   . . . [becoming] a great mountain [filling] the whole earth" (Daniel 2:34, 35).








The celebrations continued as we celebrated Elder Solomon's birthday on Thursday. He has left behind his teen years and is now the "very mature" age of 20. Sister Tiefenbach made him a chocolate cake. Elder Ram suggested that Elder Solomon would prefer a chocolate cake rather than a carrot or banana cake. We did not put candles on the cake because we were not sure we were allowed to light candles in the building. We all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. We think he felt a little awkward because we told him he needed to come to the office that day, and he "knew" I would likely make him a cake. But, he didn't want to "expect" a cake. This truly shows his humility.He first arrived at the office that day during all the hubbub of getting the new elders set apart and ready for the taxi to take them to the airport (except for Elder Dondapati, who is serving in our mission). We didn't have time to get the cake out at that time, so he had to come back later.

We adhered to the tradition in India of feeding cake to the person. Actually, we think that it should have been Elder Solomon who should have fed a piece of cake to all the guests attending the celebration. But, Sister Tiefenbach cut the cake, so she fed the first piece of cake to Elder Solomon. Elder Aeshamalla (left)volunteered to feed it to him, but Elder Solomon refused to let him do it. Hmmm . . . why do you suppose he didn't want Elder Aeshamalla to give him the cake? Let's just say that the night before, all the elders serving in Indiranagar Branch had some cake the night before. Need we say more?

Sister Smith had a saree made earlier in the week. One of the branches she attends planned to have a special Relief Society meeting on Sunday to celebrate Mother's Day. At this celebration, everyone was going to wear a saree. She received permission from President Watson to wear one during the Relief Society meeting. Of course, when the saree was delivered to the office, we all celebrated and made a big production out of the event.  When she went to buy her saree, she told the sales person that she didn't want anything with glitter, etc. on it. Despite her original thoughts, she bought this with all it's glittery, shiny adornments. Her saree is beautiful, and she looked gorgeous in it. Both she and Sister Tiefenbach agreed that they would wear a saree like that to a formal party in Canada.





We have many opportunities to celebrate the uniqueness of India. One day, we saw some men taking down some branches from a tree that was overhanging the street. One man was sitting in the branch that was to come down, and while he was sitting there, he was bouncing on that branch and twisting a nearby branch that was also to come down. We had never seen "pruning" like this in Canada.





Our travels to and from our shopping trip we made on Saturday also gave an opportunity to celebrate life in India. We went to an ultra modern mall. It was a huge mall that had all the brand name stores one could think of. After shopping in such an up-to-date mall, we drove by a boy riding on a cow, as a man (presumably his father) led the cow along the road.






These houses show a stark contrast to the modern architecture, air conditioning, and the very expensive items of the mall. This man's simple village dress is the antithesis of the designer clothes we saw many of the people in the mall wearing.

Whenever we travel the main roads to the shopping malls, we often see people wandering through the lines of vehicles selling various items, from toys and sunglasses to fruit. Each day we see things that help us to celebrate the diversity found in India.








Lastly, we celebrate Mother's Day. At this time, we celebrate our own mothers who raised us and taught us. We will ever be grateful for the influence they have had in our lives.

At this time, we wish our daughters, our daughter-in-law, and our soon-to-be-mother granddaughter a Happy Mother's Day. We hope your day will be wonderful.

Mother, I love you; Mother, I do.
Father in Heaven has sent me to you.
When I am near you, I love to hear you
Singing so softly that you love me, too.
Mother, I love you; I love you, I do.

May you hear these words resounding in your ears, in your mind, and in your heart whenever you feel overwhelmed and frustrated as you raise your children in the Lord.

After we posted this blog, we received some visitors. So, we had to make an addition to our original blog.

What a wonderful surprise! Here I am with my boys. How I love you all! Thank you elders for making my day complete. Your kind words in the card you gave me brought tears to my eyes. You will always have a special place in my heart.

I thank all the mothers of these elders for raising such caring, outstanding men.

 

 

 

Great Blessings to Begin May - and What about the Lost Passport?

The first great blessing we have on our mission is that we have wonderful missionaries to help out whenever we ask for assistance. One of the lights above Sister Tiefenbach's desk was flickering (most annoying), so she asked Elder Aeshamalla (reaching into the light fixture) and Elder Solomon to fix it. You know that sometimes when parents ask their children to do something, they say something like, "Why do I have to do it?" Well, these elders did not say anything like that. They didn't even roll their eyes! The immediately began the task. They both had their turn on the chair to reach the light. They stood on a swivel office chair, so the other elder definitely had to hold the chair for the one reaching for the light. In the end, they took the bulb out so it wouldn't flicker any more.

Having the missionaries over for pancakes on Monday evening was the second blessing this week. Interestingly, Elder Solomon mentioned that this is the second time we invited them over to our house for something to eat when they had no food left in their apartment. We did not know they had no food in their apartment. That is what made it so interesting. We are blessed to help the missionaries even when we don't know we are really helping them. By the way, they were out of food because they had just had MANY elders staying at their place because of transfers, etc. We made Dream Whip (courtesy of the food left in the cupboard from Wiggs) for their pancakes, which they loved. We also made applesauce to compliment the pancakes, and of course we had bananas, as well. At the end, but before they were finished, we provided ice cream and chocolate sauce (thank you, Sister Wigg), which they put on their pancakes. Elder Ram looks full; he should be. They all ate well. Elder Solomon patted his tummy several times that evening. Elder Raja (end of table) shows how desperate he was for food, and Elder Aeshamalla looks so happy to experience pancakes with Dream Whip and ice cream. We are so blessed to work in the office and be with the young elders. They bring great joy to us.

We have been blessed to have Elder and Sister Loewer stay with us for several days. They received their assignment on Saturday. The choice was to go to Chennai or Coimbatore. Their assignment was Chennai. They were also told that they will visit Coimbatore, too. We are not sure how that is all going to work out, but they are glad to be on their way with a specific assignment. They were given two priorities: 1) get the family history center organized in Chennai and 2) work with the young single adults and the youth. The first day they arrived (Tuesday), they attended a YSA Conference. What a great blessing it was for them to have an activity so geared to their specific assignment right away!

We are also blessed to have Elder and Sister Smith in Bangalore. We invited them for lunch on Tuesday so they could spend a bit of time with the Loewer's before they left. Both Elder and Sister Smith jumped right in and helped carry the Loewer's luggage downstairs. This was a great blessing because Elder Tiefenbach is not supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds because of his operation. Elder Loewer hurt is leg when he first arrived (hence the cane), so his ability to carry the luggage down two flights of stairs was quite limited. Here we are waiting with the Loewer's for their taxi to take them to the airport.

We have been greatly blessed to work with Elder Watson (Asia Area President) in President Funk's absence. We are continuously amazed that we are working so closely with a general authority every day. What a great blessing this is! He has a great sense of humour and is very warm and kind. He will be leaving early this next week. Elder Berrett will not be arriving until next Sunday, so we will be without a "leader" for several days. Elder Smoot (working in Vizak right now) was hoping that Elder Tiefenbach would be given authority to do temple recommends during that time, so he could get his from Elder Tiefenbach. He really likes Elder Tiefenbach. Elder Smoot is so funny. In this picture, Sister Tiefenbach is talking with Elder Watson and Elders Kandikuri (front) and Thanniru.

Each day, we are blessed to cross 100 Feet Road safely. Here we are waiting in the middle of the street to cross the second half. We will dodge between the motorcycles and the autos.

One of the great blessings we have working in the office is to receive mission calls for missionaries from southern India. This is Sister Peter. Sister Tiefenbach phoned her at about 3:00 in the afternoon to tell her that her mission call came. She was SO excited. She was laughing and filled with so much joy that she could not contain herself. She lives in Bangalore, so she IMMEDIATELY came to the office to collect it. She did not want to wait for us to courier it to her. She was so excited that she opened the letter right in the office. She has been called to serve in the India Bangalore Mission.

We all clapped our hands and cheered for her when she read the letter. She has not been able to erase the smile off her face since that day! She will be a very enthusiastic missionary. (Sorry, the picture is not good). How many people in Canada would give such an enthusiastic reaction to be called to serve in the mission in which one already lives? It wouldn't happen in Canada, but would we be just as excited to serve in the province next to us? These young people want to serve - anywhere. Many are called to serve right in the mission in which they reside. We need missionaries from India. We are so blessed to see such enthusiasm!

So, Sister Tiefebnach did something dumb! She can't remember what it was, but it involved Elder Bown (center). True to their nature, the elders whipped out the sign. Elder Bown got right into the spirit of it all.

We were blessed to have a quieter Saturday this week. For the past two weeks, we have worked at the office everyday, including Saturday and Sunday. We didn't mind going into the office to help President Funk, but it was nice to have a break this Saturday. We went shopping for groceries in the morning. In the afternoon, we had time to bake some chocolate chip cookies and BREAD!! Mmmmmm . . . homemade bread. This was the closest to the bread that Sister Tiefenbach makes in Canada. She is so blessed to have daughters who sent her some North American yeast. The yeast made all the difference in the world to the end product. The flour is a bit different in India, so that made a difference, too. But, this was SO close to the bread back home. Sister Tiefenbach was even able to bake both loaves at the same time. She is blessed to have a gas oven in this apartment, although it made the apartment a LOT hotter than it already was. Who bakes when the temperature outside is in the high 30's anyway??? It is all for blessings!

Elder Tiefenbach is blessed to teach the youth Sunday School class each week. He is remembering all their names, so that is always a positive sign. They are responsive to his questions, so that is another good sign. Some of the youth in his class are not members. All the girls in the back row are members.

We had another missionary, Elder Prakash, come to Bangalore to serve for a while. He is serving with Elder Solomon and Elder Aeshamalla. Welcome Elder Prakash. We are blessed to serve with Elder Solomon. He blessed the Sacrament today, which he often does. Both Elder Aeshamalla and Elder Solomon do a wonderful job. We noticed this week that when Elder Solomon blessed the water, we felt an added measure of the spirit. Elder Solomon is truly a humble, spiritual elder.

We are blessed to know many people in India. We are becoming more familiar with the people in our branch. Our branch is very small, with Sacrament meeting attendance around 45. Most of the women serve in Primary or Young Women, so unfortunately, getting to know them is taking a little longer. Here is the the Sunday School president and his family going home after church.

SO, you may be wondering about the lost passport! And, how was that a blessing? Well, it involved Elder Smoot. Yep! Our good friend Elder Smoot had a very big problem. This is a long story, but we will try to make it as short as possible. Four elders flew to Hyderabad last Thursday for an appointment with the American Consulate to apply for 2nd passports (it all has to do with going to the Philippines to get a visa for the second year of their missions). So, Sister Tiefenbach called the four elders MANY times to make sure they took all their paperwork with them and to make sure they knew the times of their flights so they wouldn't miss their flights (which occurred TWICE with the last batch of missionaries). Elder Smoot had his paperwork in a folder, went on the plane, put the folder in the pouch in front of him . . . well, you have guessed correctly. The folder did not make it off the plane. The folder had all his documents, including his passport, that he needed for his appointment the next afternoon. Around 5:00 Thursday evening, Sister Tiefenbach answered the phone. It was Elder Smoot. He said, "Sister Tiefenbach, this is Elder Smoot; don't kill me." Sister Tiefenbach immediately put her head in her hand. "What now?" she thought. He proceeded to tell her of his predicament. ("At least he made his flight!" she thought. But, that would have been a more simple problem to solve.) He also did not have a driver's license because it had been stolen a while back, so he couldn't even get into the Embassy to explain his lost passport. A person must have government issued ID to get through the gate. Security is TIGHT. Sister Tiefenbach told him to check with the airline, and that we would figure something out. While he was doing that, Sister Tiefenbach received a phone call from a doctor who sat in the same seat as Elder Smoot when the plane flew on to Mumbai from Hyderabad. The doctor found the documents. He realised the importance of the documents and called the number that was found on some of the documents, which was Sister Tiefenbach's office number. We talked about a few possibilities for getting the documents. In the end, this doctor saw another doctor friend of his who was flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad, so he gave his friend the documents to take back to Hyderabad. We got all the phone numbers of these doctors, and we called Elder Hatch (missionary couple in Hyderabad). Elder Hatch went to the airport to meet this second doctor to get the documents. By 10:00 that night, Elder Smoot had all his documents in his hand. This was a miracle! The Lord's hand was so obvious in this. This was the great blessing in the lost passport. The next day, Elder Tiefenbach thanked Elder Smoot for the opportunity to have such a spiritual experience in witnessing a miracle. Thank you Elder Smoot (we think).