Testing...1..2..3 Testing.

 This week ended so absolutely wonderful but started out pretty rough, for Rob especially. Right after church, he felt a bad sore throat come on coupled with and an intense headache and an extremely sore ankle from playing soccer with the young men the day before so he came home and slept most of the Sabbath and a good chunk of our P-day too, although you'd never know he was feeling lousy. He still managed to be cheerful and work hard at every chore he undertook between naps; house cleaning, cooking, inventive household repair. He just won't let me nurse him or wait on him, even when he's suffering. He's been very discouraged though, that despite his persistent efforts, he can't get his sourdough bread to work here. The start would brew well but in the end the bread looked like a hockey puck with a unique taste that absorbed some of the unique smells of the surrounding air. Hard to describe a new taste in words. So he has finally hollered "uncle" and switched to trying yeast bread but with poor results there too. Maybe it's the difference in flour or the convection oven but so far he just hasn't found his bread groove.

                Rob with his hamburger bun?

However, we HAVE had fabulous success once we started cooking with Indian ingredients. Rob has perfected a Butter Chicken recipe taught to us by Sis Bushi, via Zoom that has become our staple. We eat it practically every chance we get. We just modify it a bit and add various vegetables; eggplant, carrots, mushrooms, peppers, or zucchini along with the occasional chicken or paneer thrown in. It is so good! And we like to eat it with our hands too. We are wanting to fit in to the Indian culture in every way we can. When I married Rob and told him I was a non-cooker, what I actually meant was I was a naan cooker. With his tutelage, I can now reliably make this simple flatbread. Just know when they charge you $3.99 for this at restaurants, it's pure profit.

Our previous bland American meals- Cole slaw, hard boiled eggs, apples, pickles, toast, cheese. 🥱

Our delicious Indian meals now, spiced with turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, mustard seed, cumin seed along with naan bread and basmati rice. Viva la differance!! 

For this next sequence, I'd like to share a saga I will entitle

 "Rob for want of a haircut."

 Rob brought his American hair clippers to India for he has always cut his own hair and wanted to continue doing so here. But with the difference in voltage, he knew he'd have to find a converter. After searching the internet, he found a store in Kovai (pronounced Kowai) that carried one so he set out to find and buy it. We were so excited, I could use it for my curling iron too! Well, my appliance worked for one blissful day but after that it wouldn't even turn on. All is kaput. Rob's clippers immediately zapped upon plugging in. Gone. So much for the help of the converter! His next dilemma--would they let him return it, claiming it didn't work and had burned up two of our appliances? I went with him this time to find out. Upon entering the electronics store, probably 5 different employees were sequentially summoned to look at the opened packaging. They all studied it very intently with worried looks and then asked their next higher up what they should do? Clearly no one had ever returned an item and this was new territory for them. We were ushered into a room where we feared we were going to be interrogated.  Yet another clerk studied his computer intently while we sat in rapt silence wondering what our fate would be. Finally, as any speaking being done was in Tamil, we believed a return  receipt would be produced and our deed would be finally done. But no. We were simply released from our holding room back into the store. In the meantime, Rob had found an actual hair clipper in the store but in a package that had clearly been previously opened and taped  closed. Well, here's a thought. Could we test this and see if it works and then just do an exchange? More head scratching and grimacing. We were told to wait some more. No, they wouldn't let us test the clippers to see if they worked until we actually purchased them. This defied all logic but we nodded our head anyway and smiled agreeably. After we sat and watched the HDTV displays for what seemed another eternity, we were summoned again and told they had offered us an extended warranty instead of giving us money back for the difference in price. We surely didn't want an extended warranty on a clipper that may have been returned for the same reason as our converter, but we thanked them profusely and asked if we could now test the product? But of course! More fumbling ensued as 2 or 3 of them tried to take off the very secure taping job with their bare hands. Rob produced his jackknife and sliced through the tape that was as thick as the tension.  Now the climactic moment of truth...Houston, we have plugged in the appliance. And...yes! The clippers worked! The entire store erupted in cheers while we all did a happy dance resembling a Bollywood finale. Well that's a little exaggeration. But everyone was clearly invested in our transaction and we were glad we could involve them all in this team building exercise. So there's a happy ending to the tale, Rob has given himself his first Indian haircut and he looks once again like a cleancut missionary. 

                                  The end.

How do we move on after an epic story like that? If you can endure a little longer, I'll share a couple more bright spots. So in finding that we have a little more time in our days than the young missionaries or say office missionaries or FamilySearch missionaries would, we wondered what we could do consistently to fill our hours up. If you recall from past blogs, I made a good friend at the FSL, Collette, a Swedish genealogist. She shared with me that everytime she traveled anywhere in the world with her husband on business, she would take pictures of graves for Billiongraves.com while he worked. She's done it in Tahiti, Japan, and of course, Sweden. On one of our walks we happened upon a Catholic graveyard very close to our home, overgrown with weeds and desperately needing some attention, it occurred to me we could do the same here.

So whenever we have an open morning, we set out for the cemetery, armed with spray bottle, scrub brush, mini-broom and camera to snap photos. It's truly a two person job, one good soul to sweep off years of grime and weeds, lift off the dead garlands, scrape off the wax from burnt candles and burn marks from the incense holders (Rob), while the other person merely squats and strains to snap the photos, trying to get all information within the confines of the shot, avoiding shadows and glare (me).

      Rob appreciating an ancient rusty bike relic he found behind a gravestone (It sure proved to be a chick-magnet in our story!)

Yikes! It was a little spooky to stumble upon a funeral pyre of sorts, with an exposed skull and various bones.

Some of the gravestones are very elaborate and ornate and some are so humble and rudimentary it would break your heart to see the contrast. Some have been neglected but some show fresh mourning and recent remembrance. Some are in Tamil but most are in English with Christian names that reflect the time when they were under the British Raj and their embrace of Christianity.  It isn't glamorous work but we get a deep sense with every photo that this is someone's ancestor and every single person ever born is a beloved child of God. We know from our doctrine there must be a welding link through the generations and we cannot be made perfect without them nor they without us. The work of family history in India has to gain a little more ground prior to the temple's completion and so we are glad to help in this behind the scenes endeavor, because of the testimonies we have of it's eternal importance that grew during our time at the Family Search Library. We imagine multiplying our efforts with our young adults, getting them involved in this important work too. So many of the grave markers I can't transcribe because they're in Tamil but they could definitely help with that as well as take photos with us and clean up loads of debris. We envision a wonderful service project with them in the near future. Now if we could get some of those yellow Helping Hands vests shipped here, that would be the best! Anyone with connections? 

Our last happy story also involves a bit of service. In a future blog I'll show you some sites of our favorite walking paths but for now, the story is more important. As we were walking along a path near a lake and picking up empty water bottles and other plastics, crushing them (thanks for the idea, Pre. Nelson!) and collecting them in a garbage bag, we encountered two young men, who appreciated what we were doing.

 We talked with them for quite awhile. We told them about an English conversation group we are starting at our church and invited them to come join us the following night for ping pong and badminton. They seemed very enthusiastic and so we went and bought badminton rackets and shuttlecocks. After waiting over an hour for them, we were sad they hadn't come. We were just outside the gates of the church leaving on our way home when there they were, right on India Stretchy Time. There were many young adults there to welcome them inside and give them a tour of the building and what goes on in a typical week. We had a blast playing table tennis with them as it was now too dark for badminton.  

They told us later they didn't have a clue what ping pong was, but they came anyway! 

We may even see them tonight at the YA Institute class. 🤞 I explained the teacher is fluent in both languages and can greatly enhance their English proficiency as she fluidly blends both languages in her teaching. Sister Deepa is marvelous!! She teaches with the Spirit and who knows, these young men could hear something tonight that touches their heart, perhaps regarding Jesus Christ. We have a constant prayer for them--that their curiosity in us and our budding friendship will grow into something more life changing for them than just English practice. 

So although this week had some mini-trials near the beginning, along with some ominous emails from the FRRO, (Foreign Relations Registrars Office) we, like Paul, can glory in these tribulations and like Lehi, can know that there must be opposition in all things. These temporary sicknesses, setbacks, and glitches are all part of the experience and we are truly loving every aspect of our time here.

Basking in the varmth

 Ahhhhh...Do you recall the pleasure of inching down into a hot tub after you have been chilled to the bone? Isn't it glorious to finally feel warm again and to feel the ache and tenseness leave your neck and shoulders because you've been hunched and bracing yourself against an icy blast for too long? This is how it feels to finally be settling into India!! We have been so warmly received here and it is a warm happy experience any time we get to interact with the Indian Saints and even the regular throngs of people on the street are gracious too. They are very curious about us so we get many stares but as we make eye contact with them and smile they respond with a head wobble or a smile or a namaste gesture in return. We try to always have a friendly approachable smile on our face at all times and it's interesting that by merely doing that, we have warm positive interactions constantly. Try it sometime as you walk down a street! (It doesn't hurt our spirits that the temperature is warm too. Nice!) 

Despite no badge wearing on the street, we're feeling like missionaries.

What a great week we've had fulfilling our "District" Young Single Adult Program calling, (because Coimbatore isn't a stake yet, we must be DYSAP instead of SYSAP missionaries) Our first delight was in teaching Kishore, a young man preparing to leave on his mission, the Temple Prep lessons over Zoom. 

 Because he's leaving next Friday, we had to squish 6 lessons into 3 meetings but we got the job done and bonded with him in the process. We just sat in complete awe at his goodness, his faith in Christ, and his preparation. We'll love them all as they come along but Kishore will be special to us because he broke us in and was so patient with our technology ineptness. 

Secondly, we got asked to attend a Ramathanapuram (Auto correct thought I was trying to spell Aromatherapy! ) Branch Young Adult FHE on Tuesday. We again were blown away to see this small group of returned missionaries, a few prospective missionaries, and even the current sister missionaries speak about their faith and testimonies of Jesus Christ and sharing His restored Gospel to the people of India. These are powerful and faithful young adults! We're not teaching them anything they don't already know. We provided treats and introduced them to the game "Do you love your neighbor?" followed by a short message about the Good Samaritan that we've been studying in Come Follow Me this week that asks that very question. To feel the Spirit strongly followed by good hearty laughs as we played together did something so satisfying to our souls.We walked home after being with them, floating on clouds of joy. 

                    Better than aromatherapy 

                 Branch leader Akash, B'gosh

But the granddaddy of them all was a District-wide Young Adult gathering today on Saturday for an entire day-long event. What a marathon! They do not seem to tire of talking about the gospel. There is no restlessness or boredom in their attitudes whatsoever. 

       For the strength of youth...to sit this long

Here's a first for church rolls-There are nearly twice as many brothers as sisters in the ranks in Coimbatore. 

How often do you see a counselor in the District Presidency single and this young? So glad it's a thing now.

Lunch was amazingly scrumptious. This is how you feed 40 young adults. 

       Biryani in a bucket. No utensils required 

 They asked us to take one hour of the day for a workshop teaching English skills, Celestial marriage preparation, and any other gospel subjects we wanted. Originally our time was 1-2pm right after lunch. I think we started our part at 2:30 by the time everything else ran over. No problem! We are starting to understand IST- Indian Stretchy Time. One activity of the 3 we did was doing an English MadLib game with a job cover letter. They weren't quite sure how to get silly...the craziest word they could come up with was peacock. 

  One funny thing we've noticed is the consistent switching of their Vs and Ws. It must be the Indian English they learn in school because for example, they velcome wolunteers. Rather than correct them, we've decided to join them. Wish I'd known this when we were Wisa Vaiters! 

Rob in his element, loving them wery vell.

Spinning a web of gratitude activity 

Such beautiful young adults

Kishore in the flesh

The institute teacher asked this young man to leave the class. He politely left. We thought it was for wearing his hat in the church but then he came right back wearing it still. We were so confused so we asked her later what that was all about. It was for chewing gum! Remember when that was a thing? 

A shy first-time inwestigator hopefully caught in the veb of fellowship.

So yeah, life is good again. The prayer caller blends in seamlessly with our dream soundscape now. No more mosquitos, jet lag is done, and lots of time with young people who inspire us and motivate us to be believers of the Word in thought and deed. Yea, werrily werrily, I say unto you, if all people would be like unto the young adults of India, behold the very powers of hell would be shaken forever, yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men. 

Going through Kustums

 I asked a native Coimbatorian what the Tamil word for suffering was. He said the word was "kustum". Perfect! I thought that would be a great play on words to describe what this part of our journey has been like for us. (me mostly) But now Google Translate informs me that "kustum" in Tamil actually means leprosy. Hah! Just kidding, we're not THAT bad off! We have not contracted leprosy, glad to report. But culture shock and jet lag are not myths and we've experienced it all this week.

 We arrived at our new apartment in Coimbatore (also called Kovai for short) in the evening, not quite firing on all cylinders after a six hour drive and that first evening was a real doozy. We couldn't figure out anything; the light switches, the water osmosis system, the toilets, showers, and power sockets, it was all strange and disorienting and we despaired, wondering what alternative universe we had landed in. The reality of our new surroundings hit again each morning when we were awakened at 5:00am with the Moslem call to prayer outside our windows. Those first nights we were wide awake at midnight-3:00am anyways so it wasn't altogether an intrusion and I might not have minded it so much if he wasn't so off-key to my American ear. (He sure does love those quarter tones.) On top of that layer of jarred circadian rhythms was the added horrible plague of mosquitos. Those pesky fiends have been indulging on my TypeO supply nightly with regularity but haven't bitten Rob and his TypeA even once. Every morning I awake with more welts on my arms, legs, earlobes, forehead, neck, palms, tops of feet and toes. We've tried Deet, hydrocortisone ointments, antihistamines, bug zappers, diffusers, all in an effort to stop the accessibility and my pain but still they are not deterred as a species. Even as I type this, Rob is erecting a netting around our bed and I hope we will then be over and done with this little initiation prank.

                             Dengue it all

      And if this doesn't work, then we concede the battle.

I've also been the lucky one to get the first hit of Delhi belly. We were fed alot of delicious spicy Indian food this first week and we've both completely loved it going in but combined with my lichen sclerosis, the going out is just too excruciating to describe without fire and brimstone metaphors. There has been wailing and gnashing of teeth!  Since we've been cooking for ourselves a little more, that has thankfully subsided a bit. I'm trying to take all of these trials in stride, knowing that these things are giving me experience and great journal material and if I can but endure them well, the joys of the good things of India will feel that much sweeter. 

So ok, enough of all the pain and suffering stories, we're through kustums, let's get on with the joy stuff, shall we? We are so gosh darn glad to be here! It's warm! No more complaints about frosty weather. The mornings here are absolutely perfect as we take our early walks. 

The Gibsons, who are on their 2nd Indian mission and and are a wealth of knowledge in all areas, came down from Chennai for 4 days this week to orient us to the area, show us where to shop, etc. and introduce us to the outlying branches and missionary apartments in our District. Bless them! They are so generous in spirit. 

The Gibsons with the Erode branch leadership

There are 6 branches total in the Coimbatore District, 2 that meet in the building nearby us, 2 within an hour away, and 2 that are nearly 4 hours round-trip away. We are tasked with inspecting the missionary apartments in these places as well, so traveling to and from these areas will be a large part of our assignment. Gratefully we have the most humble, sweet, and accommodating driver who knows India roads and traffic like nobody's business. He also speaks great English. He and Rob like to talk trucking.  What would we do without Brother Augustine? He helped us with the Herculean task of buying a new phone, which we simply couldn't have done on our own. 

                     Ach, du Lieber Augustine! 

Despite calling this an English speaking mission, the only place we see it spoken well is at church with the members. We are at a definite disadvantage not knowing the local tongue. Still the Lord provides saintly help at every turn. Just tonight after Saturday General Conference. Punitha and Ambrose, two wonderful members with outstanding English, knew of a specialty shop with mosquito netting and took us there to buy it and then out to eat afterwards. Bless them too!

                   There are angels among us

We have fallen completely in love with all the Indian saints! We knew we would. They have such beautiful and kind personalities, how could you not?  They have reached out to us and have made us feel so at home. They said they have been praying us here. We're still learning all their names so a disclaimer: these might not be their actual names or spellings.

The Erode Branch President Gilbert and his wife Joseline, winning the Beautiful People Award. They are simply radiant! 

the Tirrapur Branch President, his wife, and their RM son fed us the most delicious meal. When the last shall be first, these humble but loving folks will be leading the procession. 

Power couple Richard and Jennifer Paul, Gandhipuram Branch President and YW President.  Shiny happy people! 

Semmadu Branch President Rajesh Kumar far left and assorted handsome male members of all ages

Semmadu primary girls. We sang I am a Child of God together and became insta-friends 

 Mother/ daughters Sarah, Sarita, Starla

             Sisters Lakshmi Priya and Ranjani

Last of all, we are completely smitten with our little band of Coimbatore stripling warriors. They are so darling, so friendly, so skinny! Both they and the sister missionaries are the elect spirits saved for The Last Days, the Saturday's Warriors, simply the best of the best!

                    Ye slender Elders of israel

                  O, beautiful daughters of Zion 

                    Oduri, Singh and Thananki

Our little sons- Elder Mehta from Delhi and Elder Adhikari from Nepal

Eating on banana leaves, no plates necessary. Though they're small in stature, they are actually ravenous wolves and metabolize well. 

And abounding in brotherly love

"Master, it is good for us to be here"

Mark 9:5

We've Shifted!

 Indians don't move or change locations, instead they call it "shifting". And boy have we ever! Into overdrive. Just getting there from point A to point B was a shift in direction, weather, and focus. 

      Goodbye, Utah, America, snow, status quo

Every phase of the journey brought new acquaintances and unforgettable experiences. Right in the Salt Lake Airport we met a charming missionary from Ghana who will teach the gospel in the Mandarin Chinese language in Germany.

United Nations poster child

No sooner had we stepped foot on the plane, the greeting flight attendant was strangely familiar to me. It took just a minute for me to figure out that John Dewey and I had been friends in college, even went to a church sorority dance together, nearly 40 years ago.

 There's a saying, people meet for a reason. During the first leg of our flight, that chance meeting caused me to reflect on my life back then and where it had taken us both in those 40 years in very different directions. I've made many foolish mistakes in my life. I'm grateful the Savior allows do-overs and restarts. I'm  grateful for my life trajectory, knowing that this life is very transitory and so much of eternity lies at stake for the time we're given here on earth to make crucial decisions that determine our eternal destiny. I also know our loving Heavenly Father is patient with our learning curve and will give each of us decision making moments to test our agency and what we will choose in this life. And forgiveness when we repent. So choose well. So much is at stake!

We arrived in Amsterdam early the next morning. Neither of us had slept a wink. We naively thought we could find a field of tulips to gaze at and perhaps catch a few hours of sleep during that 6 hour layover. Well, in our non-existent dreams...

This was as close as we got.

We're not in Kansas anymore 

Better than sleeping, we chanced upon a couple from Twin Falls Idaho, the Pattersons. He's a bishop and she, an early morning seminary teacher, two of the most demanding callings in the church!  They were in Europe taking a mental health vacation. He had been a professor at BYUIdaho. Isn't it amazing to find connections everywhere you go? It's a testimony to me that we live on a tiny planet.

We found much in common to talk about; 2nd marriages, the challenges of mortality, the blessings of God. Despite our lack of sleep, our conversation rejuvenated us and kept us going. 

We also met up with 3 elders who also had been waiting for their visas in Florida, Texas, and Seattle. Unlike us, they were champion sleepers. But our common plight gave us a small bond for this leg of the journey and it was a blessing to have a small band of fellow travelers for the challenges ahead. When we arrived in the New Delhi airport, we hadn't been told otherwise but our luggage had been marked with tags to BGL so we made a terrible assumption that the KLM airlines would forward them to our domestic flight with Air India. Au contraire. When we got to our next ticket counter they asked us if we had any bags to check. Um...haven't you already got them?? What ensued next was the reenactment of the Comedy of Errors. Trying to get back to a secure area to retrieve our luggage was literally impossible. So I stayed with all our carry-ons while the men went on a luggage hunt and when they hadn't returned for nearly an hour, I knew there was not an easy fix in the works. Finally, after being sent hither and thither only to be told by countless underlings that we had a problem with no solution, a high ranking airport official was called in and he took only one "large in stature" elder with him to retrieve all 5 of our big suitcases while the rest of us stayed behind to murmur. Go Nephi! Gratefully we had plenty of time for this fiasco and we managed to emerge no worse the wear with time still to nod off for a half hour or so while we waited to board our next flight. We never once got an extended sleep during this entire two days of flight because they kept waking us up for dinner and breakfast meals. But we did eat well at least and enjoyed the airline meals. There is solace in food.

Cutlery not made in the USA

We were so glad to finally arrive in the Bengaluru airport and see the faces of our mission president, his lovely wife, and his trusty APs. We were separated from the elders into two cars and drove for another hour to the mission offices. We landed at the Robinaugh's flat, utterly exhausted. After an early/late meal that resembled an American salad with real lettuce, we fell into bed at 5:00 pm their time and slept til 6 am the next morning. We felt very refreshed but during the orientation and Zoom transfer meeting that day, our eyeballs were continually rolling and we were only semi-coherent. Once again, we were fed like kings and queens by Sister Bushi. It was so fun to meet up again with our traveling elders who now felt like our adopted boys.

Elders Harmon and McSwain, Pres Bushi, (who to me looks a little like Pres Obama and Sidney Poitier combined) and AP Elder Erra ( Johnny Mathis incarnate) 

                Kimball Bushi with Shrek ears,

                Sis. Bushi, Elders Gill and Stock

The Robinaughs were so gracious to host us during this brief stay, give up their own bed and bathroom and take us to well established restaurants to eat. Their home and surrounding grounds felt like Shangri-la.

The view from their bedroom window of the Bengaluru temple construction- The Temple itself is the smaller looking building in the back. The larger one with the exposed stairwells will be the Church offices, patron housing, meeting house, etc. There is no room around these two buildings presently for any grounds or landscaping, but the plans are there. The surrounding buildings have not been purchased until the Price is Right. 

Our hosts, rescuers, and friends-the Robinaughs

The Gerlachs also provided us a great service by flying down and cleaning our Coimbatore apartment and stocking it with food for our arrival. They have been abounding in many good works during their time here.

The refugees and the Humanitarians

Our overlapped time with them will unfortunately be brief as they have learned they will be transferred out of lndia. And because all domestic travel has been temporarily curtailed, President Bushi and his wife and the APs drove us down personally to Coimbatore near the far southern tip of the country in his car rather than another flight. Nothing in all the miles on America's highways that Rob has traversed in his trucking career prepared him for this white-knuckled journey. It can only be compared to playing a real live version of Mario Kart for 6 straight hours. President Bushi is a skillful speed demon and handy with the horn as he whizzed and wound his way through slower cars, scooters, auto rickshaws, buses, and large trucks. Not for the faint at heart! I chose not to look at the insane traffic but watch the unfamiliar sights and scenery instead. We had two pit stops- one for road side coconut water and flesh.

            Coconut water-Good for what ails ya.

Slimy but apparently nutritious

The other stop for an all you can eat buffet at the Radisson Hotel in Salem, India

The last of the perks. Now we go to work. 

Well, this doesn't even bring you up to the present but this blog is already too long and it's 4 in the morning! (We're still not sleeping through a normal sleep cycle.) Soon I'll be hearing the Local Muslim mosques call to prayer at 5:00 am. But for us it's Easter morning. He is Risen! We'll wait til next time to brief you on our adventures post jet lag, cooking for ourselves once again, and getting settled into our new place and our wonderful assignment in Coimbatore. We are already in love with the missionaries and saints here. It only took about one minute for that to happen. 

"And I cannot write even an hundredth part of our journeying in the wilderness. "