General Relief Society Pres comes to India

This is Sister Julie Beck, the General Relief Society President of the church, that came to Hyderabad to speak to us a few weeks ago. She is standing with our good friends Praveen and Sangeetha and their new baby Jason. This is the only picture we have and were glad to get it. She spoke a lot about her family and how important the family is in any country, no matter what your cultural differences are. We spent more time with her husband than we did with her. He was waiting for her before the meeting began and Elder Kasper sat and visited with him until the meeting started. (I had choir practice. It was the first time the Relief Society sang parts)

Video's of Hindu Holiday

If you listen closely to the noise....You will get a true Idea of what India is all about. We hear strange noises all day and all night long.We wake up to Muslim calling to prayer and we usually go to bed to drums or some kind of loud music or chanting of some sort. There is also chanting all day long from vendors. Beggars crying in the street and tapping on your arm. Auto's racing by and honking constantly. We even have planes flying over close enough that we think they are landing on the roof. Often I wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds that you would expect to hear in the jungle. Could be birds....could be monkeys....we're not sure what we are hearing all the time. It's interesting.....because we sleep good in spite of the noise.

Hindu Celebration

Sorry the first picture is sideways. This is a huge celebration in India that lasts for 2 days. Drums beating and Hindu music going all day and all night for 2 days. We didn't spend a lot of time there but we had a member friend who's home was on the 2nd floor so we could see some of the action. He took down in the middle of everything so we could get some of the closer shots. We didn't stay long as it seemed a little wild and crazy and sooooooo many people.
We would call this a float in the USA....I don't know what they call it.

This picture is how it looked in all directions. Tons of people.
Painted faces and bright colored costumes.
Notice the red tongue and the 8 arms.
I just called him the Snake Man. And yes....it's alive.
Why would you want to put a snake in your mouth?

Beautiful art work done in lights all over the street where we live. Just for your information, all of these pictures are within 2 blocks of where we live.

The paintings are of the Hindu Gods they worship. I asked the member we were with what he used to think before he joined the church. He said, "Crazy! It is a crazy holiday."

I think that sums it up.

Pioneer Day Celebration in 2nd Branch

Going on a mission and leaving his sweet wife behind!! She was going to have a baby.
Young Men gave their lives carrying the saints across the cold icy river

Dancing, Stick Pull, and more skits.

What is a SPOON??

In India we eat a lot of rice and
chicken Beriani.
And you eat it with your right hand unless you happen to be left handed like me!! People are understanding but they always laugh!!
These are some shots of eating with our fingers!!
Never, never do we use utensils......unless we are at our apartment! We're trying to remember how to use them so we can fit back in when we come home.

Backyard Monkeys

We just love the monkeys that play in our backyard!!!

Grown up and moved away from Home

Linda reminded me that I haven't finished the story of our baby pigeon. This is her. All grown up and moved away from home! She lived on our balcony until a few weeks ago. She flew to the ledge and Elder K. encouraged her off our ledge into the air. She flew to the apartment right across from us and on to their ledge. Then she flew away with her mom and dad. They come back to visit occassionally, but we don't encourage them to stay. They leave their little marks on the ledge and we're tired of cleaning up after them! It was fun.....but the funs over!

These elders planned a special little surprise for Nigendra's birthday after Family Home Evening on Tuesday night.
We taught 15-20 youth how to do the Virginia Reel that night. We had a hard time getting them to get up off their chairs but once they were dancing they had a wonderful time. They Kept saying "One more time!!" Tradition here is the birthday boy cuts the cake and feeds it to the people. Nigendra cut a little piece and took it to E. Kasper to put it in his mouth. E. Kasper opened his mouth. Nigendra shook his head and went back to the cake. Cut a bigger piece and brought it over to give to Elder K. Elder K opened his mouth and wiped out the cake in Nigendra's hand, right down to his fingers. It surprised Nigendra and he laughed and laughed

Couples Night

It's couples night for 2nd Branch. This is Praveen and Sangeetha and there 2 month old baby. We teach a family and marriage class and because of where we are we feel this is one of the most important things we do. We do a lot of praying and have a lot of concern for how we teach this class. We could write a book on the problems that are caused by parents picking out their sons marriage partner. Also kids getting married and living with their parents forever!!! These young people
never make their own decisions, their parents do it for them.


As part of our class we decided it was important to teach them how to continue the courtship so we planned a date night and we danced and we played games and we ate. I'll bet you will never guess what we ate????
CHICKEN BERINJI of course!!! It's a given. If you go to someones home you will have rice and curry or rice, curry and chicken berinji. I took banana bread (their favorite) and some muffins. The power went off about 45 minutes into our party. So we stopped dancing and played a fun song game, men against women. The women sing a song and the last letter of the song (like Moon River would be r...the last letter of river) the men have to think of a song that starts with that letter in so many seconds. Then back to the women. It was fun to see the personalities come out as they sang in Telegu!! They often switch modes and speak or play in telegu! We could tell they were having fun but that's about it.

Ultimo Fashions

This is where I have my clothes tailored. Many of the clothes I brought are to warm or have worn out from washing them so many times.
One of my cotton shirts has a bleach stain on the front so I need to discard it. This is one of the more elite places to have your clothes tailored. I will take a picture of another tailoring shop near our home where I am having a button shirt made. It's just a little place on the street. This one as you see by the 3 pictures is in an under ground mall. You can see the steps leading up to the busy street. When I first went their I wasn't sure if I should be there. This shop has beautiful italian fabrics and silk ties. He specializes in mens clothing. That's my tailor I'm doing business with.

Shanti's orphanage

These are some of the Young adults from 4th branch. From left to right.....Sudhakar, Sangeetha, Neelima, Katura, & Jenga. Jenga just returned from a mission. This is 5 of 20 that usually come. This is the orphanage for handicapped children.



These tables and chairs and the educational toys were donated by the LDS Church and have been such a blessing to these children.
4th branch youth gathered bags full of things that we took to the orphanage. Shanti was pleased.
I also think there was a young man with us that will help them find ways to sustain themselves financially. Right now they are trying to sell candles and greeting cards that are made by the children. He thinks he can help them put together other items that will bring in more revenue. The 4th branch kids were so impressed that first they cried, and then they said they would come back and volunteer their services to help. Shanti so needs volunteers to come in and help.

Village and more dedication ceremonies

This man looked so good. I had to take a picture. He attended one of the dedications

Farming in India

Dedication of the well. Elder Kasper gets to do his share of dedications. The villagers are always surprised when these white men know how to do the dedication. It pleases them that we understand their customs.

Kids that live in the construction on our street

These kids have parents that help with the construction of a building that is taking place right next to our apartment. They play in the sand and dirt all day and help their parents carry bricks and sand to the top of the large construction that is taking place.
The camel frequently comes to our street. The boy who owns the camel let the kids on. The little girl cried at first....Then when the brother got on she was happier. I ran and got my picture and snapped these pictures so I could give them a copy. I'm sure they've had very few opportunities to see or have their picture taken.
One day as I passed by this construction place there was a tiny baby, maybe 2-3 months old, sleeping on a tiny blanket on top of the sand pile. Not an unusual sight.

These kids call me "Auntie" and ask for Chocolate all the time. I'm sure someone who is white gave them chocolate. We have very strict rules in our mission and can not hand out to the people ever!!

The boy who owns the camel is quite the businessman. He wanted 100 rupees to let me take the picture and he wanted 1000 rupees to let me get on the camel.

Humanitarian

It's fun because we get to be on both ends of what happens to the humanitarian aid that takes place by the church. These are a few of the kids that gathered to make 1000 Hygiene kits. After putting them together we got to deliver them to some of the surrounding villages near Hyderabad.