Great Re-Unions

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.

A few hours after lunch, we had a re-union of sorts when we all got together again to share birthday cake and ice cream. Sister Tiefenbach made the chocolate cake. The cake was only one of the baking projects for this past week.











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.

Most days, Elder Tiefenbach carries his bag he got at a Canadian Radiation Protection Association Conference several years ago. We also brought a CRPA umbrella with us to India, and we have used it many times in Bangalore. He is already planning his re-union with all his friends at the next conference when we return back to Canada.






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.

Here we are waiting for our driver, Augustine, after all the meetings on Sunday were over. He was also hired by President and Sister Berrett to drive them to and from the church and to and from the airport. He is always so concerned about us. We miss him when we are in Bangalore. We always enjoy our re-union with him.






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.



























 

Forging New Frontiers

While we may not be talking to you about new frontiers that no one has discovered, we will tell you about frontiers that are or have been personally new to many people. On Wednesday, we had the privilege of sending off nine new missionaries to begin their training at the Manila MTC. Although many other people have made this same trip and faced the same experiences, this is a new frontier for all nine of these amazing people. Most of them had never flown before; their flight into Bangalore was their first flight, and many were nervous about their long flight to the Philippines. Fortunately, they were a big group so they could help each other. Also, one of the young women had a lot of experience flying internationally. Having someone who was familiar with big airports brought some comfort to many of these novice travelers. We have been working with these young people for several months in preparation for this day. This is the group of them just before they were to leave for the airport.

Sister Fernanes (left) and Sister Kalra (right) were the first ones to arrive. They are from Goa (incidentally, Goa is a place we would like to visit while we are here). They arrived Tuesday night because the affordable flights the next day would have brought them in too late for all the things that needed to be done on Wednesday. We were excited to have them stay with us Tuesday night. We found out about Sister Kalra coming on a mission rather late because she had been attending school at BYU and began her mission application online while she was there. So, we never saw her application or her mission call packet in our office. She had the good sense to call the office to inform us that she had been called on a mission and would be serving in India. We were glad she called because we were then able to arrange for her setting apart and her travel to Manilla. Sister Kalra is the sister who has done a lot of international travelling. Both these sisters are wonderful and will contribute a lot to their missions. Sister Fernandes will be returning to us, and Sister Kalra will serve in the Delhi Mission.

This is our own Elder Amalaraj. He is from Coimbatore, and we knew him and his family well from when we served there. He is like a son to us. We were thrilled to help him forge his new frontier. He will be a terrific missionary in the Delhi Mission. He was so happy to be going to Delhi because it gets colder there than southern India. He gets so hot all the time, and he loves the cooler weather. He hopes to one day come to Canada to live. When we said our last good-byes, he said, "We might not ever see each other again." That possibility was so hard for us. Fortunately, he has plans to eventually live in Canada, so there may be a possibility that we would see him again. We told him that if things work out for him to be in Canada, we would come to where ever he is. We were blessed to sit in on his setting apart. Actually, Elder Tiefenbach assisted with the setting apart.

With nine missionaries preparing to leave, President Berrett decided to divide the missionaries into two groups for the temple recommend interviews and the settings apart. President Berrett looked after one group, and President William (counselor in the mission presidency) looked after the other group. President William asked Elder Tiefenbach to assist him. What a great honour and privilege that has been. Sister Ravi is from Bangalore. She called the office often to see how things were progressing on her missionary application, on her visa application, and on other things pertaining to her call. As she began forging new frontiers in preparation to serve the Lord, she has seen many miracles, including financial miracles. Each time she had the thought that she needed to talk to Sister Tiefenbach, Sister Tiefenbach "just happened" to call her. This in itself was a miracle for her. It was amazing. She will be serving in our mission.

 Elder Nakkapalli is from Hyderabad, and he, too, was a last minute addition to our list of missionaries we needed to prepare. Because Hyderabad is now a stake, we will not know when a young person from Hyderabad applies for a mission. With Elder Nakkapalli, we did not get the mission call packet in our office, either. It went straight to the stake. Since then, we have received a couple of call packets in our office that we then send out to the missionary in Hyderabad. We found out about Elder Nakkapalli when we received a notice of missionary arrival in our email. It took us a while to figure out that we knew nothing of him because he was from Hyderabad. We arrange for the travel and visas for all missionaries living within the geographic area of the India Bangalore Mission, so we need to know when missionaries from Hyderabad are called. In reality, we did not need to bring him into Bangalore to fly to the Philippines, but he was very happy to be forging new frontiers with his batch instead of by himself. Elder Nakkapalli will be serving in our mission.

Elder Peddinti (left) is from Vizak, and Elder Stephen (right) is from Chennai. They both have interesting and wonderful stories of their journey to the church. Part of Elder Peddinti's journey toward his mission was to improve his English. Although his English skills were somewhat limited, he has forged ahead and improved significantly. This will assist him as he continues to forge his new frontiers. Elder Peddinti will serve in the Delhi Mission, and Elder Stephen will serve in our mission.

And of course, we have our smiling and cheerful Sister Peter (left). She is from our branch in Bangalore. She faced many challenges in her preparation for her mission, as she waited six months for her mission call. She was so thrilled to labour in the India Bangalore Mission. We look forward to her return to our mission at the end of the month. Sister Peddinti (sister of Elder Peddinti above) is from Vizak. She will not only be forging new frontiers as she travels to Manila, but she will be forging new frontiers as she learns to speak English. Her English is not as good as her brother's, and she sometimes relies too much on her brother to explain the things people are saying to her and to speak on her behalf. We know the Lord will bless her as she devotes time to studying the gospel in English. She will see miracles as she focusses on serving the Lord. She was very touched with her setting apart. She had tears in her eyes when we took her picture following her setting apart.

The Assistants to the President, Elder Bown (left) and Elder Kumar (back right) were a great help that day. They helped several of the new missionaries get signed up on the missionary portal (internet site for the missionaries) and on their missionary email accounts. They also helped keep the missionaries busy after the settings apart by showing some church videos until it was time for them to get ready for the taxis to pick them up and take them to the airport. They also went to pick up the pizza at about 6:30 that we ordered for everyone . We were all hungry. We have known Elder Bown for only a short time, but we have already come to appreciate his dedication and his obedience. Both he and Elder Kumar are exemplary missionaries and take their assignment seriously.

Although we go to the same park every week day morning for our walk, we like to forge new frontiers by noticing differences in the park each day. We notice when we see different people, and we notice when we see changes in the plants. This plant has changed colour. It was completely green not long ago, but has changed to variations of reds, yellow, and greens. Plants and trees change colour at different times of the year. We never see all plants and trees changing at the same time together.

The park was established and is maintained by a group in the community. They have erected a stone commemorating this. Of course, Elder Tiefenbach is better looking than the plaque.

We went grocer shopping on Saturday to Auchan. We go there at least once in every six weeks or once a month to do a "big shop.' Now, what does going shopping for groceries at a store that we frequent have to do with forging new frontiers? Well, we went a different route!! The traffic was horrid. It took over an hour to make the usual 20 minute auto ride. Our auto driver, Baskar, decided to go a different way. This was definitely a new look from the regular scenery. This was a new frontier for us in Bangalore. It reminded us a lot of the areas we walked in Coimbatore, with small shops  all along the narrow crowed street.

We saw women hauling bundles of wood and other things on their heads.

Many small fruit and vegetable stands dot the street. We wonder how so many of them can earn money. There may be two or three of these shops within a couple of blocks of each other. Next door, we can see a clothing shop. We saw a shoe shop and wondered how long some of the shoes had been in the shop. Some of them looked very old. We weren't sure whether or not this "short cut" turned out to be any shorter because MANY other people got the same idea as our auto driver, and the street was crammed full of vehicles. Forging a new frontier didn't work out in terms of time this time, but we were able to see a different view of Bangalore from the view we see on our daily walk to and from the office or to and from church.

On Saturday evening, our branch celebrated the early pioneers of the church as they forged new frontiers as they were driven from place to place and finally arriving in the great Salt Lake valley where they found peace and refuge. We are touched by the desire of the branch president to help the members of the branch understand the sacrifices that were made by the early members of the church and to help them recognize that they also are forging new frontiers as they come to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and establish a legacy of faith for their posterity. Following the more serious and spiritual part of the celebration, the branch held a "talent show." We had a young woman in Elder Tiefenbach's Sunday School class show some artwork. We saw a group of children perform a dance from Fiji. The primary president recently returned from her mission from Fiji. The children had a great time performing this dance. It was great fun!

We even had a Michael Jackson performance.  How do people do the moon walk???? We can't figure it out. Part of his act was to do a robot imitation (just like Michael Jackson) where his head looks like it is rotating on his chest. He was amazing!

Adults, youth, and children all joined together to have fun with games. Elder Ravi (from Utah) [his back is to us] conducted the games. We might add that we won one of the games. The game required cooperation between the husband and wife - and a little balance as well. But, we did it and beat the other couple. We had several investigators at the activity. It was good for them to feel so welcome as the branch honoured all those who forged new frontiers as the pioneers laid a foundation of faith for countless generations in the future.

And of course, plenty of food was served. Elder Kumar enjoyed the food.

The scriptures remind us that as we forge new frontiers, we must constantly be "pressing forward . . . and [catch] hold of the end of the rod of iron . . . clinging to the rod of iron, even until [we] come forth and partake of the fruit of the tree" (1 Nephi 8:24) and immerse ourselves in the fountain of living waters and drink freely of the water that Christ shall give. The Savior reminds us that the water that he gives us "shall be in [us] a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).

Comings and Goings

Our mission in Bangalore seems to be a series of comings and goings. The office, in particular, always seems to be in a state of motion several times a month with missionaries coming into the office for various reasons, missionaries coming to say good-bye as they move on to new assignments, missionaries arriving in the mission, and missionaries returning home after serving an honorable mission. This week, we said good-bye to Elder Aeshamalla. We shall miss him. He always had a bright smile for us. He also helped us many times when we needed something fixed in the office. He has been assigned to work in Chennai. He was quite sad to be leaving Bangalore, but he also is happy to be able to see Elder Solomon again, as Elder Solomon is in Chennai, as well.

This past week on Tuesday, we had the Missionary Leader Council (MLC - formerly known as Zone Council), so the missionaries always come into the office. They come to pick up the mail for their zones, to give Elder Tiefenbach their materials orders, and to conduct other business. They also get a cookie or some treat from Sister Tiefenbach. They seem to really enjoy being together in the office. Here we have the Three Amigos, (left to right) Elder Aeshamalla, Elder Solomon, and Elder Ram. They certainly got along with each other very well when they all served together in the Indiranagar Branch here in Bangalore. We are happy to be able to see Elder Solomon every month. We wish he would be here longer so we could take him out to eat somewhere or feed him at our apartment. We are so sad to say good-bye to Elder Ram. This was the last day we saw Elder Ram before he left for his assignment in Vizak.


Of course, we love to see Elder Barlow (left), as well. We worked in the office with him for a very short time, but we grew to love him and enjoy his enthusiasm, his "wise" sayings, and his "weirdness." We miss him in the office. We would love it if all the missionaries we have worked with in the office could stay, but obviously, the office would soon be too crowded. Elder Ramaraj (center) worked with us in Coimbatore, and we are happy to see that he is now a zone leader. We have just met Elder Morrill and look forward to seeing him when he comes to future MLC's.

Sister Bathula (left) is the missionary leader for the sisters, so she comes to the MLC each month. She will be returning home in August, so this is her last MLC. Sister Jackson is her companion, so she also attends the meeting. In the past, the sisters have stayed at our apartment when they have come in to the MLC, but this time they stayed at the mission home. Staying at the mission home makes a lot of sense because the meeting is held at the mission home. That means that the sisters don't have to get up as early as they would have to if they stayed at our place in order to get ready on time.

Elder Worton (left) (serving in Bangalore) is not a stranger to the office. He will be going home next month, so this, too, is his last MLC.  His parents were planning to come to India to pick him up, but they have had a delay in getting their visas. We hope they will be able to get their visas so they can come. We had made arrangements with them to stay with us while they are in Bangalore, and we are very much looking forward to meeting them and being with them. The delay of their passport has put a snag in Elder Worton's travel home plans because we have not booked a ticket for him. When parents come to pick up their missionary, the parents make the flight arrangements and then get reimbursed for the missionary's flight home. We may have to make some last minute flight arrangements for him. Elder Randall (right) is another one of those missionaries that you can't help but love. He is so polite, kind, gentle, and patient. We are impressed with him. He has just been transferred to Vizak, so we are sad to see him leave. Elder Kullai (center) was recently made a zone leader in Rajahmundry, taking Elder Bown's place.


We were also able to see Elder Augustine (left), who was one of our District Leaders in Coimbatore. He is a good listener and knows how to respond to people's concerns. He says that he never used to be able to do that before his mission. He attributes this ability to his experiences and training he has received on his mission. Elder Augustine is now a zone leader in Vizak. Elder Prakash happened to be in the office when all the zone leaders came in after the MLC.



Elder Wadsack-Stewart (left) is a zone leader in Chennai with Elder Solomon. We were able to get to know Elder Wadsack Stewart a few months ago when he came to our apartment with Elder Kumar for a visit. When we first arrived in Bangalore, we only knew of Elder Wadsack-Stewart. He was only a name, as he was in the Philippines getting his second visa for India. We are always happy when names become people that we know.





You may wonder why we don't put up more pictures of ourselves doing the things we do. But, these missionaries play a major role in the things we do in the office. They are the essence of our mission experience here. As you can tell, we had a lot of comings and goings in the office that day. But, the comings and goings were not limited to the missionaries attending the MLC. No! Why, you ask, do we have a picture of Elder Head and Elder Aydelott in with all the MLC missionaries when they are not zone leaders? Granted, you would only be asking that question if you knew they weren't zone leaders. So, now that you know they are not zone leaders, you are now asking why they are in the office at the same time as the MLC missionaries. Well, it is a LONG story. Let's just say that Elder Aydelott and Elder Head were preparing to leave the next day (early morning) for the Philippines to get their second visas. Elder Aydelott had been having major problems getting registered in Bangalore after his transfer here in May. Because of those difficulties, he did not have his registration permit that is necessary to turn in to the authorities at the airport upon his departure from the country. So, he needed to get an exit permit, which was a long drawn out process. He finally got his exit permit at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday evening. The taxi was scheduled to pick him up to take him to the airport two hours later. So many things seem to be drawn out until the last minute. We are sure we are grayer and have more wrinkles because of the worry about visas, etc. We all clapped and cheered when Elder Aydelott came triumphantly into the office that evening. Bon Voyage Elders! We will see you in a couple of months when you return and begin the registration process all over again!

Elder Head was in the office that evening because Sister Tiefenbach made arrangements to give some final instructions to him and Elder Aydelott about their trip to the Philippines. The meeting was to take place at 4:00, but as you are aware, Elder Aydelott did not make it back until almost 6:00. In the meantime, Elder Head was able to visit with the other elders. Here we have him with his "twin" brother, Elder Hodgson. They are not actually twins, but many people mistake them for each other - probably because of the glasses. They thought about trading passports to see if anyone would notice. Sister Tiefenbach strongly suggested that they not try it. The office was a buzz of excitement and noise as more and more missionaries arrived Tuesday afternoon and evening. It was a good day.

The next day was filled with comings and goings, as well. We welcomed two new missionaries: Elder Dusara (right) (from Washington) and Elder Willis (left) (from Utah). Elder Dusara will be trained by Elder O'Dell, who arrived a few months ago. Elder Willis will be trained by our very own Elder Ram. Both Elder Dusara and Elder Willis looked like most missionaries when they first arrive - they weren't sure what was going on. They are both tall elders. We suspect that people will get them mixed up, as they have some similarities. When missionaries first arrive, they go to the mission home for an orientation, and then they come to the office for some processing by both of us.

The comings and goings continued into the evening. We got Elder Ashton ready for his farewell that night, as he has finished his mission. Elder Smith also plays a role in the processing of a missionary going home, as he conducts a workshop to help returning missionaries prepare for their future. For the farewell dinner, we had a most delicious dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, rainbow salad, and corn. That sounds almost exactly the same as the farewell dinner we had for Elder Edens, but this time it was held a the mission home. Sister Berrett also made some wonderful rolls. They were so light and tasty. Sister Smith made her famous apple crisp with ice cream and custard sauce. We enjoyed Elder Ashton's report of his mission and his testimony. He talked about choosing to look on the bright side of things despite the circumstances we find ourselves in and that the difficulty we are facing at any point in time is but a small moment in time. We wish you the best, Elder Ashton, as you return home.

Elder Bown conducted the farewell that night. This was the first farewell for Elder Bown to conduct. Elder Kumar has moved to become Assistant A, and Elder Bown has come to Bangalore to be Assistant B. He arrived in Bangalore on Monday. We know we will enjoy working with him. His appearance and some of his mannerisms  remind us somewhat of our son-in-law Danny.

Friday evening, we attended a missionary farewell for Sister Jennifer Peter. She will be leaving for the MTC early this coming Thursday morning and reporting to the India Bangalore Mission at the end of the month. She is so excited to be serving here. We have enjoyed working with her to help her be ready for her mission. The Smiths have also worked a lot with her by teaching her the missionary and temple preparation classes. Both of us miss that aspect of the work we did in Coimbatore. We loved to teach the temple preparation classes. The spirit was always so strong in those classes.








As with most activities, food is always served. The food is almost always served in the courtyard and most often consists of chapati, some kind of curry, and rice.











The young children learn to eat the spicy food at a young age.

So far, we have talked about the comings and goings of all the people around us. Today, we attended Whitefield Branch again, as Elder Tiefenbach was asked to perform the ordination of confirmation for Brother Elisha Kommuguri. We take an auto when we go to Whitefield Branch. This is part of our drive. We tried to upload a video, but it didn't work. So, we are posting a few of the pictures taken on our ride back to our apartment. The traffic was light compared to the traffic on that route from Monday to Saturday between 4:00 and 9:00 at night.

In all our comings and goings, let us remember the words of Alma to his son Helaman when he said, "Let all thy doings  be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever" (Alma 37:36).