2nd branch FHE Reunion

Bharti and Promod and Elder Kasper and I decided we should have a 2nd branch Family Home Evening Reunion. We did it last night and we had so much fun. We loved our little 2nd branch family and miss them so much. Bharti and Promod gave a great lesson on how clever Satan is in binding you up a little at a time so you don't notice yourself slipping away. Thanks Bharti and Promod. We miss you and the fun we had planning family home evening together. Last night was a treat.

This is Monika (left) and Mary (right). They came but couldn't stay. Mary has big plans for the beginning of next week that she needs to take care of. (She's getting engaged) We were happy they took the time to come briefly!

We were playing a game and Sikren was very quick on his feet...he won the game!!!

These are all the loosers!! I think I was one of the first ones out!! But I was in good company soon enough.

left to right:

Menoj

Praveen

Sudheer

Jackson

left to right back:

Praveen, Jackson and Michael

front left to right:

Shrieder, Sikren, Rahul

left to right:

John, Rockish, Pramod, Mahesh, President Venod

Just enjoying each others company at the end of the night.
All of these pictures are on our roof.

This is a great group of young men. President Nichols told us the ratio of Young men to Young women in the church is off balance. That's because it's easier for the elders to approach young men then young women on the streets of India. Pres. is encouraging the elders to OYM the young women in India. We need to fix this problem. Our family home evenings in 2nd and 4th branch looks like a singles group of young men most of the time. They are the best...and now we are praying for young women to join the church. We recently had 3 new ones in 4th branch!! Yeah!!

Bharti and Jeffery. Pres. Venod is Bharti's brother in law and Branch President of 2nd branch. Pramod used to be branch president. These are wonderful people. Our good friends forever!!

Raju & Ramya Wed

We rode the train to 3rd branch to attend Raju and Ramya's wedding. We were 1 hour late and it started 5 minutes after we got there. After they welcomed everyone and announced the opening hymn and prayer, I noticed they were looking around and trying to decide what to do. They had not arranged for anyone to play the organ. I stood up and went to the front and asked President Prasad Rao if I should play. He said, "Please sister."

A very good looking couple. We just met Raju a couple of weeks ago. Ramya we have known since we got here. She was a counselor in the District Young Women's presidency when we came and she now serves as the District YW President. She's a very sweet, beautiful young lady.

Traditionally the bride wears white. After they are pronounced husband and wife they always put the flower lei on, exchange rings. The women are also given toe rings and most of them wear them their whole married life to show they are married. The little girl looked like a little princess.

They stood while the District president gave his talk and counseled them.

Immediately following the wedding their is a big celebration. There is a bowl of rice coated in tumeric powder and people sprinkle it on their heads for good luck. The tradition is to hand them your gift and then have your picture taken with them. Everyone who comes gets their picture taken with the bride and groom.

You will also notice that they have changed their clothes. It's also tradition to change into traditional Indian clothing for the party. There is also lots of food. This was a big wedding and I bet they fed 1000 people a huge meal!!

Linton's Come to town!!

Elder & Sister Linton are from Portland, Oregon and work in the office at Bangalore. He is the bookkeeper and she is the secretary to the President. Sudakar is a member of 4th branch. Elder Lohat and Elder Allred. We Took the Linton's to look at several of the Elder's apartments.

We had a traffic jam on one of the roads. This guy with the beam on the motorbike was taking up all the room. Most people were trying to stay out of his way so they didn't get beamed!!!! Traffic was stopped for about 10 minutes while everyone figured out what to do. No one yelled or honked their horn. They just politely tried to work their way through the mess. A traffic jam always amazes us at how calmly the people work through the situation. You would never see it happen so nicely in the USA.

I often talk of how nice the women dress. These sisters are carrying 20 bricks on their head or a pan full of sand to the top of a 5 story building. But they look lovely. The sacks on the ground are recycled to become baby swings. They sew some strings onto the sack and tie it to the tree and put the baby in it and give it a push. The baby falls asleep and the mother can continue her work. There are usually 3-4 kids playing in the sand pile. Best playground I've ever seen for a child. I find kids are easily entertained here. Even the kids who spend the whole day on the divider of a busy street seem to understand the rules of what they can do and most of them seem content to be there.
I think it would be nice if our kids could live so basically and without so many frills. It tends to
make better kids. These kids have so much less that it does become sad.

Elder Kasper found this guy who was drilling the tiniest of tiny pearls. Smaller than the smallest piece of rice you have ever seen. He had to get the magnifying glass so we could see he was putting a hole through each pearl so they could string them.

He is using a bow drill by hand. As he goes back and forth his finger touches the water and he touches the drill bit to keep it moist. He does that without missing a bit. I can't even imagine doing this every day of my life.

A closer view of the small small pearl.

This is the end result. 15 strands and 5 strands. It takes something like a year to build the 15 strand necklace. I didn't dare ask the price.

Top's Fashion

Wow! My tailor, Naz had a flood in the last rain storm that shorted out her electrical. She was in the shop and got electricuted. She spent 3 days in the hospital.
Her shop was closed for a few weeks and her brother arranged for some remodeling. This is her new shop.

It's not very big but it's a lot fancier than it was.

This is Naz. She is a dear sweet person. She is one of my dear friends. She told me last week, "You are my friend and my shop is your shop. Take what you want. Do what you want."

Naz has 2 children, Solomon and Jasmine. Her husband lives away from here and she is solely responsible for the children.

Sekar's back!!!

Sekar Boddu is finally back for guitar lessons. I think he realizes his time for learning from Elder Kasper is running out. We love his company. Madhu is also holding the guitar...What is that all about???? For those of you who don't know these 2, they are part of our choir family and keep us laughing. We don't know what we would do without a Boddu and a Madhu....Raju...Chinna....whatever your name is....in our life!!! Madhu tried to take guitar and piano but figured out in a hurry that he needed to focus in on one or the other because it takes too much time....His life is already full and learning one new skill and doing it well is better than knowing 2 a little...Piano won out...and he is playing well enough to play in sacrament meeting! His teacher is shouting "Wahoo!!!" It's fun to see these people discover their gifts and talents!!

Jidla family

Jidla and Nisha invited us to their home for dinner. We've known this family since we first came and they are one of our many favorites. Baby Genesis is about the same age as our new granddaughter Kayla. We have watched her grow and imagine how big Kayla is getting. This little girl really loves her father.

Nisha is a beautiful young mother who is a good member of the church and always looks beautiful. The women here radiate virtue and lovely in everything they do.
Jidla and Nisha are hoping to go to the temple in November. We have been teaching them temple preperation class.

Cooking in India is much harder work and takes more time for preperation than in the USA. If you are served 3 or 4 dishes you know there has been a lot of work and time involved in the cooking. It makes me appreciate all the little conveniences I have at home, but it also makes me appreciate the dedication and service these sisters give to taking care of their families.

Isn't Genesis just the sweetest thing you've ever seen? This photo makes me want to sing that primary song, "We are a Happy Family." This should be everyones motto and goal. Jidla is going to school 8 hours a day and working about 12....He's young...and can handle it....but it is a rough schedule. Nisha was working but it was so hard on their family life that they made the decision that they couldn't both work and they've found peace in that decision.

4th Branch church

This is the building where we meet with 4th branch. We're in hopes the building changes soon. The sign is hanging on one of the windows in the chapel. That whole wall of windows is the chapel.
The street is busy and the sign is hard to see. There is another church close by and many times we invite people to church and they come but say they never saw us. It turns out there is a church down the street and around the corner and they end up there! It's a problem that we need to solve. The church needs to be more visable in this area!!

The indians have a talent for being able to drink water out of a bottle and it never touches their lips...they don't close their mouths...and you can pour a steady stream until the bottle is finished. These bottles were about 1/3 full. We poured the water into their mouths and they raced to see who could drink it the fastest. The rule is no spilling. I was so surprised that Elder Allred beat Rama. I chose Rama Kanth because I know he can drink a lot of water fast!!! Besides it was my game!!! I made up the rules....and I still lost!! Wow!! Good job Elder Allred! I'm impressed with what you are learning on your mission!

(left to right) Karnaker, David, Vicky, Venil.
This is the big map we have in our foyer. It shows the boundries of the branches in Hyderabad. The lake they are pointing to is Tank Bund and the city is centered around the lake.

We had a good turn out and a really fun FHE. They requested mashed potatoes and gravy, French Fries and Chocolate cake. We were able to find a head of lettuce so we made a big green salad. Rama and Simon came early to help. Rama made the salad and as he was tearing up the lettuce he said, "They aren't going to eat this salad. No one will want any of this. We don't eat salad here!" Well my thought was "they don't eat mashed potatoes and gravy either." They have had McDonalds fries but most of them have never had homemade fries. We did the famous "fry sauce" and they couldn't get enough fries!! They loved them!! This is most of our 4th branch FHE group. We love our time with them. Their part of our Hyderabad, India family.

Nikhit

We've taught a lot of Career Workshop while serving in India. Nik is the last student we will teach. He had holiday yesterday so we were able to get through 1/2 of the coarse!! Good job Nik!!

Helping Jhonci

Today was a special day for Jhanci Rani. We have been helping her legalize her marriage so the government of India recognized the marriage. She finally got the stamp of approval she needed today and she's a happy girl!!! Look at that smile. There is a long story behind that smile but she was hugging us and crying and happy as a new bride could be!! This has been a long time coming.

We celebrated by taking her to one of the local favorite places to eat. "Paradise Hotel." She has never eaten there before and I think it was a fun time for her.

Even in India most everyone is on there cell phones. This is Jhanci on the phone

Madhu came to meet us and congratulate Jhanci on getting the paper work done.

Even Elder Kasper is on the cell phone. I always say "Did you remember YOUR cell phone?" He carries it around, not me.....

No picture of me on the cell phone cause I don't have one!!!! (sadest story ever told!!!)

Robert's Birthday

After the baptism and the cake at the church we went to Robert's house for cake and lunch. Robert and Priyanka live in 2nd branch.
Robert was just made the Young Men's District President. He and his wife are very good people. We're so happy to count them as our friends.
Little Leon is not one bit afraid of us like most of the children here.

For those of you who know my Tia daughter.....Leon is Tia over and over and over again. She is drama queen and the world is her stage. She is always performing. You've got to love her because she is so sweet.

Tradition holds that you feed each other the cake for your birthday. Aren't they just the cutest family?

Priyanka has been a counselor in the 2nd branch Young women's presidency for as long as I have known her.

She would die if she saw this was on my blog. But I couldn't resist..

This is so me....at home....That must be one of the reasons I connect with this girl!!! Love you Priyanka!!!

Happy Birthday Joseph & Michael

Tradition at 4th branch is to have birthday cake after our Sunday meetings in 4th branch and everyone who can stays and wishes "Happy Birthday and helps eat the cake.

Not often do we have an 8 year old get baptized because there are few kids in 4th branch. This is the Micheals family and Joseph was born on his father's birthday. Brother Michaels baptized Joseph this Sunday before the birthday cake.

Joseph is a cute little boy. I think he was scared of the water. I bet he's never been in water before. He was making noises like it was ice cold as he went in the water. When it came time for his baptism he closed his eyes and opened his mouth so wide...I thought he would come up choking and spiting. Instead he came up saying "I can't see! I can't see!" His father comforted him saying, "You're OK Josie." Then Joseph opened his eyes and looked around and said, "Oh....Welcome Back everyone!!" With a big smile on his face. Everyone had a little chuckle over his cute little remark.

TRAVELING FRIENDS

These are the Woods. They serve in Visak and are from Independence Missouri....but retired to Florida. He served as a Secret Service Agent and has also served as a Stake President. We've grown to love them as we enjoyed our missions together. They have 2 children. His son is now an agent. They go home in December.

Elder & Sister Nielson are from Paradise Utah. He photographs everything and she keeps us laughing. I love when she tells me how to pronounce someones Indian name. That's something I'll have to show you...I can't tell you on paper!!! They also serve in Visak and their go home date is in March. We look forward to future visits after the mission.

Elder Palla served with us in 4th branch. He is now a district leader in Goa and his companion is Elder Shaumberg. Elder Palla is from Visak and the Wood's met him before he left on his mission. We had a little reunion get together at the Mariott and ate dinner. It was so good to spend time with him again.

Here we are! Fine Dining in Goa....Not really. The food was OK. There are better places to eat in Hyderabad.