First Full Week at the New Location

Wow!! We can't believe that the first week in our new apartment and in the new office is over. Yet, in other ways, we feel that we have been here a long time. We have been busy in the office getting things organized and trying to get caught up on all the work we put on hold during the move. We finally were able to access our computer files on Tuesday. The "M" drive, where our files are stored, was not accessible and is still not, but the computer people from Hong Kong copied our files to a flash drive so we could access them. Sister Tiefenbach's  desk (shown before occupation) now sports a computer, a fancy VOIP phone, and a digital photo frame.

We had another farewell this past Tuesday, but we have no pictures. Because of the busy schedule everyone had, we had the farewell dinner at Chili's, and we had the devotional at the Whitefield Branch building. We did not have our camera with us. Obviously, that means no pictures. Sister Berrett took a picture of the elders after the devotional with her phone. Elders Higgins and Tracy left us to return home after completing their missions. On Wednesday, the Missionary Leader Council was held. It was held at Whitefield Branch because all the missionaries who came to Bangalore for it stayed with either the assistants or with us (the sisters stayed with us), and we are next door to the church. In this picture, we see Elders Kocharla, Alosias, Sampath (the president's driver), and Arthur.

Lunch was Pizza Hut pizzas and fresh veggies. Elders (left to right) Cunha, Kandukuri, and McDonald seem to be enjoying the food. Well, maybe Elder Kandukuri got momentarily distracted by someone.










Here we have (left to right) Elders Hodgson, Peck, and Kullai, with Elder Erupula in the back. The missionaries love to get together and visit, too. They learn a lot at these meetings and have their testimonies strengthened, but they also gain the benefits of socializing with each other.









Most of the elders drop by the office when they come to MLC. Elders O'Dell and Bown also visited us that day. They don't attend the MLC, but they came to the office so Elder O'Dell could meet up with the zone leaders who were going back to Chennai. Elder O'Dell had an appointment with the US Consulate in Chennai for his second passport. He is preparing to go to the Philippines so he can apply for his second visa for India. Getting a second USA passport is the first step in the process. Elders O'Dell and Bown show their very serious, dignified missionary look. This picture was taken in the waiting area of the new office.


Next, we see their more familiar look: relaxed and jovial. We're not saying that they are never serious or dignified. We could say that this look is their happy, contented missionary look. They are both great missionaries who are dedicated and who love to obey the commandments and the mission rules.







Here, we have Sister Gupta and Elder Singh. Elder Singh is usually always smiling, but not here from some reason. Sister Tiefenbach told him he is way too serious. Sister Gupta was in Bangalore with Sister Singh (no relation to the Elder shown here) and Sister Lama. They are all Sister Leader Missionaries.








President Berrett found two glasses of Sprite (or Seven Up) sitting in the office. No one knew who they belonged to, and no one knew how long they had been in the office. We know that the filled cups had been there since at least the day before. President Berrett wanted to know if there were any takers for it. Not surprisingly, missionaries are very . . . bold. He found several volunteers to drink the pop (soda pop for our American friends). We wouldn't touch it. Neither would he.



This is Elder Alosias (Elder Arthur in the back). This is the elder who had Dengue Fever. He looks like his old happy, fun person. But, when he was sick, he was not like this at all. We are so glad to see our old Elder Alosias back in his true form.








Here we have the fun group! Can anything be better than this? Okay, seeing all our family in the temple tops this, but being around wonderful missionaries is in the top favourites. Here we have (left to right): Elders Aeshamalla, Mills, Hodgson, Kullai, Vaddi, Rees, Ravi, Bown, and Peck (in the front). We LOVE to see the missionaries! We hope they love to see us, too.

This past week, we put up our Christmas tree. It is a bit of a Charlie Brown tree, but it still a wonderful tree. The top tends to lean to one side, so we could not put the star at the very top of the tree; it is put near the top.















On Saturday night, we attended a Christmas party at church. We were met first by Sister Laleetha and Brother Charles.

To begin the program, we met in the chapel to view part of the 2013 Christmas Devotional from the First Presidency. We then moved to the cultural hall where Santa joined us. This Santa liked to dance. Santa was actually from Coimbatore, and he picked us out to dance for a few minutes with him. He danced with Elder Tiefenbach, but we did not get a picture of that because Elder Tiefenbach had the camera. Santa danced and bounced to the music through most of the evening. We also played a few games, and then we ate. The food was definitely too spicy for us, but we enjoyed being with everyone.

Waterfalls greet us as we enter our apartment complex. The water is not always on; we wonder why. They often turn the fountain on at night. It looks beautiful with the lights shining on the falling water. It truly offers a soothing welcome to all those who enter and prepares visitors and residents for the tranquil, beautiful grounds awaiting on the other side of the waterfall fountain.

In contrast to the beautiful grounds in our apartment complex, this is the sidewalk that we walk on as we go to the church and our office each day. The sidewalk is the part with the pipe connecting the two separated parts. Yes, folks, this is the sidewalk. We cross three such canyons on our way to the office (and church). When we walk on the sidewalks here, we cannot look around; we must always keep our eyes on the ground. Oh, I guess we also have to watch out for autos and motorcycles on the sidewalks, too. We have so many interesting experiences in India.

We now come to the part in our blog where we take you on a short tour of our apartment. We welcome to our new home. This is the fourth apartment we have had on our mission - not bad considering couple missionaries are not supposed be transferred!








Upon entering our flat, you will see the living room at the end of the spacious entrance. You can see the old furniture from the mission office in our living room. We are actually thinking that perhaps this furniture is better suited for this space than the furniture we are slated to get from mission home.






Behind the couch you see on the left in the above picture is the dining area. You can also see that we now have a few pictures up on the walls. These pictures are from the old office. We have two pictures of the first vision (one above the two chairs in the living room and one on the wall at the far end of the dining area) and a picture of the Savior (to the left of the dining table).







This is the built in stove top. We love this stove. It makes great popcorn. This is the pot we use to make popcorn. It gets used a lot. We know it is a pressure cooker, but we use it for popcorn because it has a nice thick bottom. The bottom drawer here makes an excellent pots and pans drawer. It is big enough to hold most, but not all, our pots.













The counters are fairly low. You can see how much Sister Tiefenbach has to bend over to wash the dishes. We now have a geyser (water heater) for the kitchen. We had one in our other Bangalore apartment, so we suppose we became spoiled by it. We did not have that luxury in Coimbatore, where we had to get our hot water from the bathroom. We have a nice washing machine and dryer on the other side of the short wall (on the other side of Sister Tiefenbach). We have used the dryer a couple of times this week. We washed our sheets and needed them dry for the night, so we splurged and used the dryer. We will likely not use it much because it uses so much electricity.







This is the guest bedroom. It is much smaller than the guest bedroom we had in our other apartment, but it is large enough for a queen size bed. Guests using this room will get a decent view of Bangalore from the balcony. This room also has a built in wardrobe, which we use for storage purposes and to hang Elder Tiefenbach's suits.






This is the master bedroom. Again, it is somewhat smaller than the bedroom we had in our other apartment, but it is comfortable. The master bedroom does not have a balcony, but the view from the window is wonderful. Each morning, we look out to see who is coming and going from the apartment complex. We get up at 5:58 (yes, exactly at 5:58) to get ready for our walk. When we get up it is still dark, but by the time we go outside by 6:15 to 6:20, it is beginning to get light.



We also have a built-in wardrobe in our room. Sister Tiefenbach's half has a rod that goes the full length of the cabinet to hang clothes, but Elder Tiefenbach's half has a rod that is only half the length. Hence, he needs to hang his suits in the guest room.








We have a third bedroom, but we didn't take a picture to show everyone. Let's just say that it is . . . hmmm . . . not organized yet. We will buy a desk and then get things organized and presentable. We wanted to buy one on Saturday, but we couldn't find one in the short time we had to look for one. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, we can get one. Of course, we have the bathrooms. This one is the guest bathroom. It is between the guest room and the third bedroom. We have a bathroom off the master bedroom.

We miss our old neighbourhood. We don't see as many trees on the streets outside the apartment complex as we had in Indiranagar. We also don't have as many shopping options here. We will have to take an auto everywhere we go. Nevertheless, we are comfortable here, and we feel we have been blessed to have three bedrooms, which will come in handy when Carma and the girls and Krista and Danny come in two months. We are looking forward to their arrival so we can share part of our experience with them. We truly feel that the Lord has watched over us and blessed us throughout our time here. Words cannot express the feelings we have experienced and the closeness we have felt with many people here. We can truly testify that the Lord showers great blessings upon us, for he has said, " Wherefore, the blessings which I give unto you are above all things" (D&C 18:45).

On the Move

This week was a week where we were on the move. Elder Tiefenbach took some down time before the hectic week began. Our week involved preparing for and carrying out the move of the office. The new office is about a half hour to one hour away from our old office. If traffic is light, the travel time is about half an hour; if it is heavy, the time is one hour.

We began doing some packing of the office on Monday, but we still had to carry on with our work, as well. Sister Tiefenbach was busy getting registration packets ready for nine missionaries who needed to register in their new areas, and Elder Tiefenbach was up to his elbows in making lease arrangements and making payments. On Tuesday, we had a farewell for three elders who completed their missions. The Berretts had decorated their home on Monday, and we had the pleasure of seeing the beautiful Christmas decorations. Sister Berrett had many nativity sets displayed. They had collected the nativity sets from various places around the world.

Here we see a blend of the spiritual part of Christmas and the fun part with Father Christmas.

The Christmas tree was beautiful. They had purchased the tree in Kong Hong when they were there, and they had it shipped over with the rest of their belongings.

The three missionaries heading home were (left to right) Elder Thomas (from Bangalore), Elder Watts (from Australia), and Elder Thanniru (from Vizak). We have worked closely with Elder Thomas and Elder Thanniru in Coimbatore. Elder Thanniru was one of our district leaders. He always made us feel part of the district by giving us assignments in our district meetings. We appreciated the way he worked hard to include us. We never felt like two old people sitting in on a meeting that was meant only for the young missionaries. We came to know and appreciate Elder Watts after he became a zone leader in Coimbatore (not while we were there). He would come into Bangalore for the missionary leader council once a month.





 This picture was taken on Wednesday morning, which was our last walk in the park. We took a picture with our walking friends. We only know the name of one of them, Santosh (beside Elder Tiefenbach). Santosh is the man who has given us many t-shirts. Both of us are wearing t-shirts made by his company. The man beside Sister Tiefenbach always arrived at the park before his other walking companions. We will miss seeing them every weekday morning. They were sad that we were moving away.




In this picture, you can see the other man that walks with them. There is often one more man who comes to the park with this group, but he usually walks ahead of them, so we didn't get his picture.

This is our old office on Wednesday morning. We still had work to do amidst all the boxes. By the end of the day, we were all packed and ready for the truck to begin transferring all the boxes to the new office. It was a hectic day, but we had to keep up our energetic mode so we could work hard for the next several days.







We both worked as long as we could before getting all our files and other things packed. Doing our work with chaos around us was challenging, but we successfully did it. We shall miss the old office with its many amenities.

We were at the new office by 9:00 a.m. ready to start unpacking. Unfortunately, all the boxes had been put in the president's office (much to his dismay), and the person with the key to the office did not arrive until between 10:00 and 10:30. We kept ourselves busy by washing the work stations. The office really was not ready for us to move in. We see President William (first counselor in the mission presidency and managing director of The Indian Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [the legal identity in India]). We are sure we were engaged in a highly profound discussion here!

 On Wednesday afternoon, we also met Elder Gottipatti who arrived early that morning from the States. He finally received his OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) card, so he was able to join us after serving temporarily in Arkansas. This picture was taken the next day at the new office building. Elder Gottipatti is serving in Bangalore, so we will likely see him several times. We hope the missionaries will still be able to drop by the office. The office is very far from most of the missionaries in Bangalore.




Sister D'Souza arrived late Wednesday night, and we were able to greet her on Thursday, as well. We always love welcoming the missionaries back home after completing their time at the MTC. This picture was taken prior to her leaving. Unfortunately, we neglected to take a picture of her on Thursday. Perhaps the busyness of unpacking through our routine out a bit. She will be serving in Chennai with Sister Peter.

We travelled to and from the new office to our Indiranagar apartment on both Thursday and Friday. What a commute!! We travelled by auto, which makes the trip even more exciting. We continue to be amazed as we watch the cars, autos, and motorcycles weave in and out of the "lanes." Sometimes, the vehicles are only a couple of inches apart. Nevertheless, the drivers don't seem to be stressed. During our commutes, we also became keenly aware of the pollution. First, the fumes of the vehicles was often choking. We developed sore throats on the two days we travelled by auto. Since we moved, our throats are fine. In this picture, you can see the setting sun. The reason the sun looks so diffused is because of the pollution.





 Here is a picture that shows the closeness of the vehicles. Seriously, many times, we would be able to reach out and touch the passengers in the auto driving next to us.











Saturday was the day we moved to our new apartment.We are ready to move the apartment! We could not believe the amount of things we needed to move. Going home will be so much easier. We will simply pack our suitcases and walk out the door.

 We had a lot of help. President Berrett gave permission for some of the elders to help  us. We could NOT have done it without them. In the truck, we have (left to right) Elder Potula, Elder Bown, and Elder O'Dell. On the ground is the truck driver, Elder Gottipatti, Elder Singh, Shankar (office assistant), Sampath (Presdent's driver), and Baskar (the auto driver we and the Smith's use). They all pitched in and made our move easier.




We fed everyone Dominos pizza after we got the first truck load unloaded. Thank you so much for all the help!

This is our new apartment. We have the old furniture of the old mission office temporarily until the mission home moves into its new location. We (or the new office couple) will then get some of the furniture from the mission home. We have a gas leak in the stove, so some of the drawers are out until the leak gets fixed. Making meals is getting a bit tricky without the stove. Mind you, making meals is getting tricky because we don't have food left. We cut down on our grocery shopping before the move so we wouldn't have a lot of food to take. The down side of that is that we didn't have time to go shopping on Saturday. Consequently, our meals have been inventive.

No matter where we move, we always seem to be able to make it our home. We are always warmly welcomed into our new branches where ever we go, and the people are excited to see us. We also have the gospel of Jesus Christ, which binds us together and gives us a feeling of belonging. Our family also is united with us. These are the elements of home. As we are on the move from one place to another, we can always feel at home when we remember the Lord's promise when he tells us, "I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up" (D&C 84:88).

Thanksgiving Celebrations

This is a new structure on our street. We believe it will house a family who will be working on the construction of the new building that will be built on the vacant lot. Usually, a  family builds a temporary house adjacent to the building that is under construction. We think only one family at a time lives in these houses, but we are not sure because we see several people working on a building at any given time. It is not very big, so we can't see that it would have enough space to house more than one family at a time. We are not sure which family has the privilege of living in the house. This is the second time the house was built. The first time it was built, the builders used what we think was sand and water to hold the bricks together. Well, the rain poured down in buckets the first night. Needless to say, the sand was washed away. We are sure that the soon to be occupants of the house celebrated when the house was constructed using cement to hold the blocks together.

 Elder Ramaraj, who served as one of President Berrett's assistants, arrived in Bangalore on Wednesday for his departure interview, dinner, and devotional. A member from one of the branches in Bangalore came into the office that day with a friend. The assistants and Elder Ramaraj were able to answer some of the friend's questions about the church. It was good to see Elder Ramaraj working as a dedicated missionary right to the last minute of his mission.




We enjoyed working with him when we were in Coimbatore and in the office. We pray for his success in the future. A departure dinner and devotional is a time to celebrate, as it is the end of one stage of life and the beginning of new opportunities and experiences.

We had a special dinner for this farewell, as it was the day before American Thanksgiving. We had stuffed chicken breasts with mashed potatoes and gravy. The chicken breasts were stuffed with the type of stuffing we would normally have with a turkey dinner. We also had green beans with bacon and, of course, Sister Berrett's dinner rolls. Dessert was pecan pie, apple crisp, and ice cream. Yummy! President and Sister Berrett expressed their sincere gratitude for Elder Ramaraj's great service. He has been a dedicated and committed missionary.



Seeing the beautiful, pink blossoms on the tree across the street from us always gives cause to celebrate. The tree spreads over to our side of the narrow street, offering a beautiful sight from the spare bedroom window.  We are not sure how long the blossoms will last, but so far they have been there for a week.

On Friday, we had another great celebration. We had our Bangalore Zone Conference, and our zone leader decided that we needed to have a Thanksgiving dinner as part of the conference. This is the turkey before it was cooked. It doesn't look quite like the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkeys were are used to in North America, but it was a turkey nonetheless.






Unfortunately, the turkey was not finished cooking when it was time to eat, so we went ahead and ate the rest of the meal without it. We certainly had a lot of food; all the missionaries contributed something to meal. We had North American dishes and Indian dishes. One of the best things was the stuffing! Everyone loved the stuffing (dressing). We can't really call it stuffing because it was not stuffed in the bird. Sister Berrett combined several spices/herbs to come up with a taste that was close to poultry seasoning. We will have to try her combination and make some for Christmas (or any other time when we are craving stuffing).

President Berrett, Elder Bown (to the right of President), Elder Vaiphei (to the left of president), and Elder Stevens (to the left of Elder Vaiphei) seem to be engaged in a very important discussion.  Elder Rees (left of Elder Stevens) is hanging on to every word they were saying. Well, it probably wasn't terribly important; it was probably something about who would be able to eat the most turkey (or something like that). Maybe, they were all saying that they hope there would be enough stuffing left for them by the time they got to it.


All the missionaries eagerly dug into the food.

For dessert, we had banana cake and chocolate cake. The cake was Sister Tiefenbach's contribution. We also served fresh strawberries with the cake. Surprisingly, we had cake left over at the end of the meal. The left over cake will be put to good use, as we will take it to the office on Monday to give away. We always like to take something to the office on Monday because many of the missionaries drop by the office to put in orders, drop baptismal records off, etc. The weekend was very busy, so we didn't have time to bake anything for Monday, so the extra cake will come in handy.









At long last, the turkey was finished. Elder Tiefenbach was elected to carve it. With the help of Elder Smith, the task was completed and the missionaries indulged!











Elder Vaiphei (left) and Elder Kocharla each had a drumstick or part of the leg.












Elder Mangum and Elder Morrill enjoyed the white meat. The turkey was a delicacy to all the missionaries; and the missionaries devoured it in short order. We had no left over turkey.










Elder Coombs will be transferred this coming week. He will be serving in Rajahmundry. We are impressed with his dedication to his companion. A few months ago, his companion spent several days in the hospital, and Elder Coombs stayed with him, making sure everything was okay. He went back to his apartment to shower a couple of times, but other than that, he remained with his companion.





Elder Mangum will also be going to Rajahmundry next week. We have enjoyed working with him. He is a very obedient missionary. Sister Smith, who does the apartment inspections in Bangalore, says that he keeps a VERY clean kitchen. Both Elder Mangum and Elder Coombs will need to come to the office this coming week to pick up their registration packets for their new assignments, and after that, we will probably never see them again. That realization was rather jolting!

We had another reason to celebrate and give thanks this week. Sister Pratheema is ready for her mission. Unfortunately, her Canadian visa did not come through in time for her departure. Now, the delayed departure is not the cause of celebration; however, we can celebrate because we now know that her new MTC date will give plenty of time in which to receive her visa. Her family will also enjoy having her home for one more Christmas before she leaves.




Today, we had the Bangalore District Conference. The attendance was great and the people were enthused to be there. This picture was taken after the conference session was over. Both President and Sister Berrett give talks (of course). Sister Berrett always give talks that cause one to reflect upon her words. President Berrett gave a powerful talk today; it is the most powerful that we have heard him give. People in the congregation were riveted to his words as he spoke, and we hope that people will be motivated and work hard to make Bangalore a stake within the next six months or year.  On Saturday night, President Berrett spoke about the purpose of coming together as saints. He referred to scriptures that tell us we come together to be edified so that we can bind ourselves (or covenant) to act on the things we have heard and felt.We were definitely edified, and we hope that everyone will bind themselves to act on the things they felt so this area may become a stake within the six months or year. Having a stake in Bangalore will indeed be a great cause to celebrate. We will keep in contact with the saints here so we may celebrate with them when the stake is formed. Although we feel a bit of sadness to realize that we will not be here when that happens, we will truly rejoice when Bangalore becomes a stake.


Sister Ravi (front second from right) had great cause to celebrate. Her mother (center) was baptized today after the Bangalore District Conference. Sister Ravi began her mission about four months ago. President Berrett gave Sister Ravi permission to come to Bangalore to see her mother baptized. Sister Ravi was thrilled to be able to be present to give support to her mother. This is one of many miracles that Sister Ravi has seen in her life since she joined the church and in particular since she began preparing for her mission.



We have feasted and celebrated this week. As we think of feasting, we think of the invitation to feast on the words of Christ. Alma, when speaking to the people reminds us that the Lord has said, "Come unto me and ye shall partake of the fruit of the tree of life; yea, ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely" (Alma 5:34).