Deli at the Grocery Store

There are many grocery stores in Hyderabad. A lot of smaller local markets and some bigger super stores. Some of the local markets as well as the super store have a bakery and a deli. I took a picture of this deli while shopping at SPAR a few days ago. It's different from home. A lot of what you are looking at in this picture are what they call pickles.

I'm betting you don't recognize much of anything you see.

Maybe the eggs on the bottom shelf.

Food in India is very different from America. We've grow accustom to some of their dishes. I hope when we go home we remember not to eat such junky food! I do believe that is one thing that has been better for us here. We eat healthier. Less meat..

We do drink more pop here because we get so dehydrated in this hot weather. I could just say...."We drink more here."

HEADLINE NEWS: MONKEYS ROB STORE

On our way walking to church one day we saw 2 monkeys go bounding across the road and into the door of a small store. We couldn't believe what we saw. We looked at each other and said, "Did you see that?" Then we looked back at the store and the monkeys came running out of the store carrying a bag of popcorn and looking over their shoulders as they raced across the street and jumped up on the top of an auto and then onto a fence. Meanwhile 4 people came out of the shop, 1 carrying a big stick and hollaring at the monkeys. The Monkeys looked at the 4 people like, "I dare you!!" The guy with the stick thumped it on top of the auto and the biggest monkey came leaping across the top of the auto snarling and spitting and scared all of them back into the store.
We stood wondering if we had really visualized that scene and wishing we had our camera.
The one monkey with the popcorn opened his prize and proceeded to eat. At that point, even the store owner was chuckling at the theives.

ZONE CONFERENCE April 2009

We had Zone Conference this week. These are all the missionaries in Hyderabad. Branches 1-2-3-&4. We love working with this fabulous group of Elders and Sisters. The sisters leave Next Monday. Sister LaFevre left will be finishing her mission and returning to Utah. Sister Yadav, right, will be going to be with the only other 2 sisters in the mission in Coimbeture.

This picture includes President and Sister Nichols. Left are the LaDukes from Snowflake Arizona, The Fullmers from California, President and Sister Nichols, and us!!! (Elder & Sister Kasper in case you don't recognize us!!!)

Dinner Invitation

This is Pravina. She and her husband Kiran Kumar have been trying to get us to dinner for 3 months. They are in 2nd branch and we've been working with 4th branch so it took some time. Tonight was the night. We had some tasty food cooked by Pravina tonight. This is her new kitchen.

Kiran Kumar left and Mahesh on the right. Mahesh is Elder Kasper's best English student. Mahesh has had many miracles in his life since he joined the church. (baptized in May, I think) These are the dearest people. We hope we get to spend many more times with them as they bless our lives.

Pravina & Kiran Kumar together. I told them I thought they were the cutest couple ever! They just moved into this house a few weeks ago. It's a bigger place then they were in before and Pravina is very happy. She works at a private hospital. She is a nurse. They were baptized in November.

Kiran Kumar and Mahesh in the back. Pravina in the blue. These other people are their landlords. They wanted in the picture. Pravina and Kiran bring these boys to church with them sometimes. The boy in the middle is 13. The other 2 boys are twins and are 11. We enjoyed getting to know these people.

They wanted us in the picture. Kiran loves my camera. He is a photographer and had 3 studios that call him when they need him to shoot for an occasssion. He made the cutest noises when he was trying to get our attention to smile!!

We made him and Mahesh come back for some more pictures.

This cute couple have a cute puppy too! He is so soft to touch.

BEST MONKEY PICTURES

I've mentioned before that we have about 30 monkeys that often come and play outside our apartment bldg. They love the trees and the children's play ground. We watch them swinging from tree to tree chasing each other. Often a mama monkey will carry her baby on her back or the baby will hang on to her stomach and ride underneath.

We came home today and this fellow was on our balcony. I was on the phone and went to stand by the window and look out. He heard me and rolled over. I scared him, but he scared me more.

Then Elder K got the camera and snapped these pictures. He was a very good model today. However a few times he got a little agressive.

The monkeys can be very dangerous. I think I told the story about one elder in Hyderabad that had bananas in his hand. The monkeys chased him and he went running down the street throwing bananas over his shoulder.

One of the sisters tells of them snatching a bag of food right out of her hand.

Most of the time, they just want to be left alone.

This is our bedroom balcony window. He's a cute little model!!

Sometimes they just look so adorable. We''ll watch them as we eat lunch or have a few minutes because they are so entertaining. They play tag and Hide and Go Seek in the trees. Usually it's the babies that play. The mom and dad seem to be more lazy and bask in the sun.

This picture shows that he's not so sure about what Elder K. is doing with that camera. This guy hissed at him several times. Elder K got between a mama and it's babies one day and things were a little tense for a few minutes.

You can see his fangs in this one....Those teeth could do a lot of damage. They tell us a monkey bite is as severe as a rabid dog. You want to avoid the very thought of getting bit!!

Here he is sitting right by our door. Elder K was brave to get a picture!! They move so fast and I could never have got this shot. Maybe he should try out for National Geographic!!

Tribute to a Friend

We just want to pay a tribute to our friend, Noel DeCruz who expired in an auto accident yesterday. It's hard to believe he's really gone. (Noel is kneeling with a red tie and a big grin!) Noel was lots of fun and very very talented. For my birthday he wrote a song and he and Madhu sang it in harmony with just 1 afternoon practice!
It was our privilege to have him in the choir and my privilege to teach him piano.

He was always willing to help and give of himself. This day he took all of us and our donations to the orphanage. He never asked or expected compensation for using his car. (He is in the blue shirt closest to Elder Kasper, again with his big smile)

(Pink shirt) This was our little group at the Christmas party that was held at our apartment. These people are our family. We care about each of them deeply and now we are missing one of our family, but we remember the Lord has a bigger plan and Noel is safe with the Lord, serving an important mission. It must be important because we felt as though he were needed here. We'll never forget our good friend, Noel Decruz.

Rani marries the previous Elder Bahr

Elder Bahr is of Indian decent and was called to serve in India. After his mission he returned and proposed to our good friend Rani. Rani is in 2nd branch and we love her! She's very artistic and a sweetheart. We wish her the best in the marriage. As of now she has no visa and Brother Bahr has returned to the USA after the wedding. She's hoping to get the visa in the next few months. She is a beautiful bride.

The Ceremony conducted by President Prasad Rao Gudday.

After the wedding they had a reception outside the church. This was the beautiful backdrop decorated with REAL.....I repeat.....REAL Flowers! This is typical of most weddings. Beautiful flowers and beautiful dress.

Everyone who comes gathers with the bride and groom and it is tradition to have your picture taken with them, so we snapped a few photos ourselves!
Notice Rani has changed her dress. They wear a wedding dress and then change into a traditional and beautiful sari of choice.

This is The Elder's quorum presidents family. His wife, Kumari by Rani. Agentha, (Kumar's sister just baptized a few months ago) in mustard yellow sari with her 2 boys. Her boys were also baptized. And Ammon in traditional dress with cheezy smile! He is Kumar and Kumari's son. Sister Anu is by Kumari. She is the sweet lady who lives in Mettiguda who is also very artistic. She made a beautiful crib at Christmas that I blogged. Anu has 3 beautiful daughters, Smitha, Hema, and Kavitha that I adore.

The other tradition at weddings is the feast. We are always fed a very huge and wonderful meal.

Baptism

There were 2 baptisms today. This is the baptism of Monika's brother inlaw, Nehemiah. Elder Das Johnson baptized him.

Sister Vijaya Vani (in red) was baptized today. She is Prasana's sister in law. Prasana is the girl that walked into the church 1 year ago and I took her and Lakshmi to sacrament meeting with me. She didn't profess to speak any English and it scared me so I went and got the sister missionaries so Sister Jebamoni could talk to her. After that the Sisters started teaching her and Elder Kasper taught her English. We were friends from the beginning. Elder Kasper baptized her about 9 months ago. Since then her brother, Vijay (in the pink shirt )has joined the church and today Vijaya Vali and also their son, Raj Bharan. I told Prasana, "Look what you've done." It's so nice to see her so happy with the gospel in her life.

Sister Vijaya just before baptism.

Cacada Kabini Safari

Coconut picking by our bungalow.

Beautiful flowers everywhere.

This is the path to our bungalow. We were in 007 so Elder Kasper had fun playing the part of 007 on this trip.

Our little bungalow at the resort. It was quite luxurious. We loved the pampering and the beautiful surroundings. This place is 2 hours south of Mysore which is in the southern tip of India.

OK....this picture is upside down. This is the view out our living room window. One morning I opened the curtains in time to see an elephant by our bungalow. He left the path right here and went through the bush over to where you see thesse men working. Because there have been 2 sitings of tigers in the boundries where the guest stay, these men are clearing the brush so there will be no chance of a tiger sneaking into camp and eating a guest!!!

Our boat safari.

We saw several crocodiles.

A beautiful sunset.

Our first Sunset at Cacada Kabini. It was beautiful. We did a boat safari the 1st day and 2 jeap safari's the 2nd day.

Our jean safari. The Wood's in the fron and the Nielson's in the middle. Elder & I were in the back.

Elephants were everywhere.

This one was not afraid of us and came after the jeep. Our driver let him get pretty close before taking off.

This was taken from the jeep

This one was taken from the water.

Black faced monkeys

Peacock was strutting today because it's mating season. Once we got down the road he spread his tail and stomped his feet. Pretty wonderful.

Beautiful spotted dear. There were also Barking dear and Samba.

This reminded me of a Bev Doolittle picture!!

Wild Dogs are unusual to see on the safari. Any noise and they run into the bush. We were fortunate to see this pack.

We heard the warning sound from the monkeys and the deer. We waited quietly for the preditor to come, but he never did. However the next day a tiger came to the resort and crossed the road. Our driver saw him but we didn't.

Another unusual site. 2 wild boars duke it out to see who gets the herd of lady boars that are waiting down at the lake. Once the contest was over, the loser walked quietly away while the winner strutted over to his harem. Our naturalist said he had never seen the wild boar fight in 10 years of guiding.

Banyon Tree.










We loved this safari and would go back in an instant. We went with Elder & Sister Wood and Elder & Sister Nielson, 2 couples serving in Vishakatpatnam. We enjoyed their company and wouldn't have changed a thing about the trip. We flew to Bangalore and stayed the night in a hotel. We had dinner and FHE with the Lintons and the Fairbanks serving in Bangalore along with the Mills who are serving in Sri Lanka and happened to be in town for a zone conference. The next morning we had our driver pick us up at the hotel at 6 a.m. He took us to a stone Hindu temple , a silkworm farm, showed us where and how they weaved it, and then also took us to a sandelwood working place. We arrived at Cacada Kabini at 2 p.m. in the afternoon, got settled in our bungalows, had lunch and were on our first safari by 3:30.

On the way home we toured the palace in Mysore.

That's the short version of our trip!!!

Beautiful views and country.