A bang...galore in Bangalore!

 On September 4th, all IBM missionaries were summoned to a conference to meet with the Asian Area President- Benjamin Tai and his wife Naomi, up at our headquarters in Bengaluru. He is from Hong Kong originally, she is from Japan. They are a darling, energetic, and optimistic couple! For four consecutive days, we met with them and President and Sister Bushi daily, sometimes just for an hour or two, sometimes virtually, sometimes in person, as they traveled from Hyderabad to Bengaluru to Sri Lanka.

Their lives were their best sermon

 Each day we were given different invitations; from praying about who needed to feel God's love through us that day, to what Christ-like attribute we felt prompted to work on, to contacting our Temple and Family History Consultants in our wards and branches. We felt our pessimism drain away and our resolve to be optimistic rejuvenated. We felt peace to hear their words of encouragement and to see Elder Tai use the Book of Mormon to answer any question or concern we had. 

Another favorite part of that main instruction day was visiting with Sister Tai and Sister Bushi after lunch in an informal setting. 

International Girl Chat

It was also incredibly therapeutic to meet with the other 2 senior missionary couples for dinners, once on our own and the other time with our leaders. We stayed with the mission office couple, Elder and Sister Robinaugh from Michigan who, just like us, served for a few months at Church Headquarters while they waited for their visas. They are nearing the end of their Indian visa in October and are eagerly awaiting to hear of their next assignment. They invited us to stay a couple of days longer than the conference, to do some sightseeing which gave us time to get to know them better. We had an utterly marvelous few days with the many activities they planned for us.

By the end, they were Mike and Suzy

 My blog is not usually a travelogue but you'll have to bear with me on this detour because we saw so many amazing things that we'll want to remember for years to come. The #1 item on our India bucket list was a desire to see elephants and tigers in the wild. ✅

Other encounters with Bengal tigers, White tigers, and lions followed after, topping all we'd ever experienced before:

                    Butterfly World came next:

Note the varieties

                   The uncommon Mormon variety

Sister Robinaugh had packed a picnic for us to enjoy. The most well behaved street/zoo puppy watched for every crumb we dropped, encouraged by Elder Dunlap. All in all, it was a most pleasant day at Bannerghatta Zoo and Safari and one we'll never forget.

The next day, we ventured to Cubbon Park, a park oasis in the heart of Bengaluru but a half hour drive from the mission home. We must have been starving for nature because it was all so beautiful to us! 

Getting interviewed by local news. 

(Wait, isn't this against the rules?)

We were quite amused by the plethora of signs everywhere, warning us of every possible infraction we might make.

Maybe this is photography when you're drunk?

Careful, nothing unseemly now.

                 Beaware! They lurk in Lucullus! 

         We want to start calling food "eatables". 

      I can just hear this in Vijay Patha's voice

The park was adjacent to the State Building and was our first time seeing architecture and statues with historicity in India. Wow! Supah cool!

Since we were in walking distance, we took advantage of an "all you can gorge" brunch at the Marriot Hotel. Very posh! We tanked up on all the food we hadn't eaten for months- bacon(!), shrimp, sourdough bread, real cheese, pomegranate juice, hash browns, and more amazing eatables you could ever want. Ahhh! We almost forgot where we were! 

Last stop- Bangalore Palace, merely a summer home for Prince (very long Indian name) of Mysore. Remember the same guy who pulled a Mysore, ordering 20 Rolls Royce cars at once? Yeah, that guy. There was no photophraphy allowed inside the building which was too bad. Every family and dignitary photo is fading fast. (sounds like a job for FamilySearch digitizing teams!). But with the aid of a personalized audio tour device, the narrator (with his proper and stodgy British accent), described all the features, furnishings, and photos which made it all come to life. His favorite word? You guessed it. Festooned.

We felt a definite distinction in the vibes of Coimbatore and Bangalore, just like if you were to compare any two cities in the US. It made us realize we've seen only the smallest fraction of what India is really all about.  Some aspects are the same in both cities but in a general sense, we saw much more western dress, fewer sarees, more modern architecture, and more progressive attitudes with looser ties to the traditional past in Bengaluru than in our current assignment.

 Because the Robinaughs live literally next door, it's very easy and exciting to look out their balcony and see the progress on the temple. The night before we arrived they had poured the concrete on the floor that will be the Celestial Room. Just two days before, all of the saints in India had fasted and prayed for the temple to be completed in a timely manner. It's still got quite a ways to go but it's coming along.

The temple is in scaffolding, You can start to see the beginnings of spires. The new mission office and patron housing is the larger building in front of this photo, but technically in the back of the temple from the street.

We learned last week that the Bankok Temple Dedication will be on October 22nd and the Indian Saints are invited to attend it with a current temple recommend since this will be their closest temple and won't require a special visa. So we're feeling the excitement grow in their hearts for the opportunity that awaits them to seal their marriages and families for eternity and to feel the power of God in their lives through holy ordinances.

Going home wasn't nearly as fun, the elders had departed long before us but this adorable little tike adopted us on this leg, calling us grandma and grandpa and kept us amused... for 7 hours...

We definitely got the bang for our buck; galore and more than we ever expected from this trip! We're back home now, back in the thick of our Sabbath day, keyboard and marriage classes, but reflecting and blogging on all that we heard, saw, and felt. It was a beautiful respite that rejuvenated us and we're so very grateful for the entire experience.

"And now, King Limhi (President Peter Bushi)... caused that they should go to the city (Bengaluru) which was north of Shilom, (Coimbatore) and bring their brethren into the city, that thereby they might eat, and drink, and rest themselves from the labors of their journey; for they had suffered many things; they had suffered hunger, thirst, and fatigue."

Mosiah 7:16

            Our battle-weary Stripling Warriors