From Turning Over the Keys to a Royal Stay

On Friday, we had the official turning over of the keys to the office to the Sister Loewer, Elder McDonald, Elder Veera, and Elder Loewer. This was our last official day in the office, although since Friday, we have been available to answer questions via the phone.

That same evening, the same day that Danny and Krista arrived, President and Sister Berrett hosted a farewell dinner for us and our family. We were touched by their consideration and thoughtfulness. We went to "The Only Place," of course. The trip there took FOREVER because of the traffic!! At one point, we thought about turning around to go to a place closer to the office, but we were not able to pull a U-turn at the critical intersection, so we continued on. We also realized that we were basically half way to the restaurant, and if we turned around, it would take us just as long to get back to the area of the office as it would to get to the restaurant. We all had a wonderful dinner. Thank you President and Sister Berrett.

The next day, Saturday, we went to the waterfalls . . . hmmm . . . You may ask, "Where is the water?" That is the exact question we asked! Apparently, when it is not the rainy season or soon after, the falls are dry. This is the same spot that we went in the middle of last year, and water was cascading in torrents down the rocks, sending wonderful sprays up through the air.

After this first stop, we then drove to the second stop at the waterfalls where we saw a trickle of water falling down the rocks. We also climbed down the stairs (so many stairs) to the bottom of the falls to enjoy the scenery surrounding the pool of water. The only problem was that we had to climb back up the stairs. Now, that was a test of endurance. We all got a bit of a sunburn. Luckily we all had some sunscreen on, so they weren't nasty burns.













Danny stopped to enjoy a small conversation with a monkey who was perched on the fence rail watching people go by. This was about half way down the stairs. You can see how much farther we had to go to reach the bottom.









The area at the bottom was peaceful and beautiful. A beautiful daughter and two beautiful granddaughters enhanced the natural splendor of the scene.










Many people were enjoying the water, but we did not venture into the pool

After our short visit at the waterfalls, we made our way to Mysore. Of course, an elephant ride was a must. We did not go on the elephant this time, as we had already had that experience, and we knew that we would get a chance to ride an elephant at the Amber Palace/Fort in a few days. Everyone enjoyed the ride. Again, the driver of the elephant wanted a big tip.






Here we have the king and queen outside their palace at Mysore. We all enjoyed the audio tour, and we loved the beauty of the grounds.

This is a phenomenon that we are used to, but the rest of our family were amazed by it. The people from India love to have their pictures taken with foreigners. If we agree to have our picture taken with one person, all of a sudden, others run to join in the picture. We find this all a bit strange, but it is interesting. Everyone seemed to be taken with our granddaughters and with Danny. They loved Danny's muscles.





Visiting the lions that guard the palace gate was one of the last things we did in Mysore. By this time, everyone was very tired, but the girls managed to enjoy the idea of what could have been had the lions been real. We arrived back at the apartment late that night and went to bed quickly after our arrival.

The day went to the waterfalls and Mysore was Danny's birthday, but we did not have a chance to celebrate it that day. So, we had a birthday cake for both Danny and Elder Tiefenbach (his birthday was the day before Danny's) for breakfast the next day. We went to church and then got ready to travel to Jaipur.







Jaipur was wonderful. We stayed at the Diggi Palace hotel. It was an actual palace. What a great experience that was!!! We loved the architecture, the carvings in the wood and the stone, the grounds, and the wonder of it all. The rooms had been modernized, but they kept the character and romance of days gone by. We certainly felt like royalty during our stay there. The owners of the hotel live in a house on the grounds and have converted the palace into a hotel to help the area promote tourism. We were able to talk to the owners. They showed us the "hall" and pointed out the pictures of the husbands ancestors who occupied the palace. The husband talked about his memories of the green fields that surrounded the palace in earlier years. This picture was taken in the restaurant at the hotel.

Each night during the dinner hours, local traditional entertainment was provided. At first, we were exited to see it, but by the second night, we found it too loud. We had been busy all day, and we were tired. We wanted some peace and quiet. Fortunately, we were able to find refuge in the serene courtyard, where the music seemed far in the distance, giving a sense of authenticity to the experience.













We loved seeing the colourful birds singing in the trees of the courtyard. This tree was outside the window of our room.











The peacocks are permanent guests in the hotel. We saw one fly up to sit in this tree. None of us had seen a peacock fly before. We weren't quick enough with the camera to catch him in flight, but his grace and majesty as he sat in the tree was a sight to behold.









This blog ends with a view of part of the outside of the palace. As we look at our children standing within a royal courtyard, we remember that we all have a royal lineage. We are truly sons and daughters of the "most high God," (3 Nephi 4:33) and we "shall be filled with his glory, and receive [our] inheritance" (D&C 88:107).

Farewell to Coimbatore and Touring Bangalore

After our daughter and granddaughters arrived on Saturday, February 15, we let them sleep for a few hours, and then we headed for Coimbatore. We had hired a driver to take us on the 6 hour trip to Coimbatore so we could go to the FRO and to apply for an exit permit and to say good-bye to Coimbatore. We took our daughter and granddaughters up on the roof of our apartment building. They enjoyed the view and the weather.





While we were on the roof looking down on the surrounding area, we saw a funeral procession, with many people following the ambulance/freezer box.

We attended two of the branches on Sunday, and then returned in the evening to say a final good-bye to some of the members. We also had the opportunity to have pictures taken with some of them. Here we are with the Amalaraj family. We hope to meet them again in this life.

Here we are with Brother Suresh and his family.












What is trip to Coimbatore without going to the bangle shop? The store owner is the mother of Elder Alosias, who is now one of the Assistants to the President. We all had a great time looking through all the bangles to make our choices of the ones we wanted to buy.

At one point in time, we were telling our daughter about the interesting objects we have seen carried on motorcycles and scooters. One of the things we mentioned was that we had seen a TV being transported that way. They thought it would be great if they could see that, and lo and behold, they got their wish when we headed to Bangalore on Tuesday. The driver and passenger were also carrying a lap top on the front and another package (the red and white one that can be seen here), as well as the TV.

On Wednesday, Sister Tiefenbach and the girls went to Bangalore Palace. After paying the admission fee, Sister Tiefenbach found out that she could have paid the fee for Indians. Sister Tiefenbach was delighted that she was considered an Indian. But, because the foreigner fee had already been paid, she could not get any money back, so the people in the castle said that we could take a few pictures inside the palace to make up for the extra money we spent on the admission fee. Normally, they charge an exorbitant amount of money (around $12.00) to take pictures.

Here we have our princesses outside the palace enjoying the beautiful grounds and the wonderful weather. We tried really hard not to laugh about all the poor folk back at home experiencing -40 degree weather.








The grounds were much drier than when we went to the Bangalore Palace with the Smiths, but we were still able to enjoy many beautiful flowers.

We love the bird of paradise flowers, but we think that our granddaughter is more beautiful than these colourful blooms.










We then made our way to Tippu Sultan's Palace. We had a lot of fun looking at the old architecture.

The pillars were great to see, and they also provided a great place to play. We wonder if the children many years ago played around the pillars.










The girls were so excited to see a cow outside the walls of the palace.

Carma (our daughter) and her girls loved their first auto ride as we toured these two palaces. Perhaps, they found the traffic from the view of an auto just as interesting as the palaces.










On Thursday, we had a cake that Sister Tiefenbach and Carma made the night before to celebrate three birthdays: Elder McDonald, Elder Veera, and Elder Tiefenbach. They all have birthdays within a few days of each other, so we grouped them together. This is the last cake that Sister Tiefenbach will be making in India. The chocolate cake was exceptionally good!

 We will miss Brother Shajan who works with the finances for the church. He has a great appreciation for Elder Tiefenbach.

We end our blog this week with the arrival of our daughter, Krista, and our son-in-law, Danny. Yes, Sister Tiefenbach's eyes are a bit teary. We were so happy to see them. We thought they looked exceptionally good considering they had been travelling twenty-four hours. Their arrival signals the beginning of a whirlwind tour that we will share with you next week. We are so grateful that some of our family have come to India to see us.

Travel to the North

Our regular blog is delayed because we travelled to Jaipur on Sunday evening. We began early Monday morning on our tours, and we will begin again early tomorrow morning as we make our way to a safari. We also did not bring our computer, so we will not be able to upload pictures to a blog until we return.

We hope to have a blog up by the end of this week.

The FIRST of the LASTS

This past week begins the FIRST of the LASTS. Well, in reality, we began our first lasts a while ago, but purposeful long drawn out lasts can become a burden and a bore to the recipients of the first of the lasts narrative. So, we will begin the first of the lasts this week. (This sounds a lot like "Who is on First?") This week was Elder Anderson's LAST full week before he goes to Chennai for his appointment with the USA Consulate to get his second passport in preparation for his trip to the Philippines to await his second visa for the LAST part of his mission. (Well, this sounds more like the first of the seconds of the lasts!) He was in the office on preparation day doing his email while his companion was playing basketball.

The newly arrived Elder Wigington did his emailing after playing basketball. This is his FIRST time for doing his emailing in the office. The missionaries no longer do their emailing at an internet café. They all go to the church building closest to them to use the computers there. But, when they are in the office, they can use our computers if we, the Smith's, and the assistants are not needing them.





This is the LAST setting apart of a new missionary in which Elder Tiefenbach will be assisting President William. Whenever President William sets a new missionary apart, he asks Elder Tiefenbach to assist. This has been a great joy and a wonderful honour for Elder Tiefenbach. The LAST elder for Elder Tiefenbach to assist with the setting apart is Elder Sundarrajan from Chennai.

Along with the LAST setting apart is the sending off of our LAST batch of missionaries. We have absolutely loved preparing missionaries for the MTC to begin their missions. Elder and Sister Pedely (brother and sister) are from Hyderabad, so their stake president set them apart. Here is our LAST batch: Sister Pedely (next to Sister Tiefenbach), Elder Pedely, and Elder Sundarrajan (next to President William). All three of these new missionaries had been attending BYU Idaho together (along with Sister Katuka from Delhi who will be joining them in the Philippines) and had already attended the temple. They are well prepared to begin serving the Lord. We love to see the excitement of new missionaries as they set off for their flights to the Philippines MTC. This LAST send off was a bitter/sweet experience. It was sweet because of the great feelings we experienced and the great relationships we developed with these young people in such a short time; yet it was bitter knowing that this is the LAST of such experiences.

This past week has been the FIRST week of training for Elder McDonald (left) and Elder Veera (right). Now, many of you will say, "Hold on! I thought you were training Elder and Sister Loewer." Well, you are correct. But, Elder and Sister Loewer had to travel to the States to attend the funeral of their son-in-law. That means they would be missing ten days of training, so Elder McDonald and Elder Veera were brought in to get trained. Elder McDonald is learning Sister Tiefenbach's responsibilities, and Elder Veera will take over in the finance office. They will then help the Loewers with additional training after the Loewers return. Next week will be the LAST week in the office for us.

This is likely the LAST sunrise we will see during our early morning walk in Bangalore. The sun will rise again - don't worry, but this was probably our LAST time walking in the morning. We likely will not walk next week because we have special guests staying with us next week. We have had a lot of smoke and other pollution in the air lately, which caused the rising sun to be blood red. This picture does not do justice to the colour of the sun.




These are our special guests!!!!! We were so excited to see our daughter, Carma, and two of our granddaughters. They arrived at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, but they didn't get out of the airport until an hour later. Picking up their luggage took forever!!! We were beginning to wonder if they were having trouble clearing immigration. We were about to call them, but Sister Tiefenbach suggested that we wait another five minutes before calling. A few minutes later, we spotted them! When they came out of the arrival doors to the outside of the airport terminal, Carma looked a little overwhelmed as she saw a sea of people standing behind the barricade, many of them holding signs to greet passengers. Luckily, we were right at the front and a little to their left, so they saw us quite quickly after her initial look of "Woa - how am I ever going to find my parents in all these people?" Sister Tiefenbach wanted to jump over the barricade to get to them faster, but she decided to do the right thing, and she ran to the end of it where she could get to them to give them hugs. Elder Tiefenbach wasn't too far behind Sister Tiefenbach. He can move pretty fast. This is likely the FIRST and LAST flight to India for our daughter and granddaughters. We think they look pretty good considering they had been travelling for 24 hours. This is definitely a new experience for them.

After an hour trip to our apartment, everyone was ready for bed. We reached our apartment between 3:30 and 4:00 a.m. We think they were definitely glad to be away from airplanes for a while. We get to do this all over again in less than a week when our daughter, Krista, and her husband, Danny, come to India. The LAST countdown will begin on Monday.







We wonder if this is the LAST time this chicken will cross the road. We wonder why it was wanting to cross the road. Whether it was this chicken's last time or not, we do not know. But, we know it was definitely the LAST time we will see this particular chicken. We saw this chicken while we were on our way to Coimbatore. Back track a bit: After sleeping for about three hours, we all got up, had breakfast, and got into the vehicle we had hired for our trip to Coimbatore.

This is the LAST time we will have to stop here for a bathroom break on the way to Coimbatore. We will likely stop there on the way back, though. Here we are waiting our turn to experience the unknown condition of this gas station bathroom. Let's just say that it wasn't great, but it could definitely have been worse. At least, it was a western style toilet. The girls would definitely had problems with an Indian style toilet.




This was the LAST time visiting the Amalaraj family in their home. This is a picture of all the girls.











The girls decided to let the boys join them for the next picture. Brother and Sister Amalaraj's son was not home when we visited them, so he is missing. We have become close friends with the Amalaraj family, and they are very dear to us. They are gracious hosts and true friends. We shall miss them, but we will have them in our hearts forever. We hope this will not be the LAST of our meeting with them, apart from seeing them eternally.





We attended church on Sunday, of course. Many people were surprised that we would be leaving for home shortly; they thought the time had gone by far too fast. We also are surprised that the time has passed so quickly. Both of us had the opportunity to say a few words in the 2nd Branch meeting, and Elder Tiefenbach was also asked to say a few words in the 3rd Branch meeting. We did not attend the 1st Branch Sacrament meeting because we thought two sacrament meetings was enough for the girls, considering their bodies had not yet adjusted to the change of time. This is a picture of Brother and Sister Abraham.

Sister Shanthi and Brother Suresh were SO sad that this would the LAST time seeing us. We loved working and visiting with them when they were investigating the church and after they were baptized. They have become eager learners of the gospel. Their children love being involved in primary and other activities. Saying good-bye was difficult. Sister Shanthi hugged Sister Tiefenbach so tightly! Brother Suresh gave Elder Tiefenbach a big hug, as well. We hope they will work hard to go to the temple where they can be sealed for the eternities.


Of course, saying good-bye to Brother Raja and Sister Sumathi for the LAST time was painful, as well. From the time they were baptized to the time we left Coimbatore, we visited them every Thursday (or an alternate day if Thursday did not turn out). We read scriptures, sang hymns, and shared testimonies, and they always fed us. They are so giving. We visited them last night, but Carma and the girls were too jet-lagged to go with us, so we did not take a picture of us together that night. We made sure we got a picture of them with our daughter and granddaughters. We have seen the Vargise family receive so many blessings since they joined the church. The windows of heaven have definitely poured out a blessing in such a great abundance that they do not have room enough to receive it. This is literal as well as spiritual. They bought a fridge. This is the FIRST fridge they have owned. Sister Sumanthi opened the fridge to show us, and her face lit up with excitement and joy as she shared this wonderful news with us. Their house is literally getting filled with blessings. What is absolutely wonderful about all these blessings is that they always acknowledge the source of these blessings. They are truly a humble family. They are preparing for the temple, and we await news from them for when they will be going.

The FIRST of the LASTS has prepared us well for our departure. We are so excited to see family members, and we are grateful for the great experiences we have had in India. Saying good-bye to people who have been part of our lives is difficult. We knew when we started our mission that we would have difficulty saying good-bye. The people in Coimbatore welcomed us into their lives with open arms, and they have loved us from the first time they saw us. They continued to love us when we were transferred to Bangalore. Saying good-bye was difficult for them because they know they likely may not see us again. We plan to attend the open house of the first temple in India when it happens, and we hope to see many of the saints from Coimbatore there where ever it may be, but we will not see everyone. Coimbatore is the FIRST place we fell in love with the people of India, and it is the FIRST place we began to say good-bye; it is the LAST time we will be in Coimbatore while serving in India. We also fell in love with the people in Bangalore, and we will say good-bye to them. They shall receive our LAST good-byes. In being our LAST, they will lead us into our FIRST step into our life at home. Thus, we see that "many that are FIRST shall be LAST; and the LAST shall be FIRST" (Matthew 19:30). (We expect that no one has ever interpreted that scripture in that way.)