These are some of our dear friends. 
They invited us to their home on Monday night and fixed chicken beriyani and other good things to eat.
I'll never forget my Saritha Murthy friend!!
These 2 sisters:
After the hard day, Archana (left) came to see her sister in support of her mission call and visa success. Archana lives in a hostel here in Hyderabad. Apurna has no other support. Sowjanya has a family that are not members but her boldness is teaching them more about the gospel. These 2 sisters will serve well.
Engagement parties here are a really big celebration. In this photo you can see the grandmother putting a bindi on Mary. As did many of the other family members. They also put bindi's on all the women guests and a strip of red color on each side under the chin.
This is Pramod and Bharti putting wishing them well with rice on their heads. Everyone did this...including us!!
Beautiful backdrop. You would think they were getting married. After the formalities there was a big dinner provided for all the guests.
This is Pres. Venod of 2nd branch with his wife and 3 kids. Pramod and Venod are brothers.
Bharti, Pramod, Jeffery and Jenice with the new couple.
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!
left to right:
left to right back:
Just enjoying each others company at the end of the night.
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.
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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." 
