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!