Veg/Non-Veg

After last week's flurry of travel, inspiration, and activity, we can sum up this week's work easily in 3 words and a smattering of photos. Wedding, English, and Cemeteries.

 We were invited to the wedding of a member's son so my good friend Punitha dolled me up in one of her saris and provided bling and bangles. There is no elastic waistband or fixtures of any kind, just a whole lotta folding and draping going on! Rob was glad for a reason to don his Indian vest, so we happily attended the event with them. It was held in a reception center and we witnessed only a small part of the multiple-day proceedings. After we took a customary photo with the new couple, we walked down a level where they fed the guests in a way that is unique to S. Indian cuisine and culture. Each person is given a large banana leaf as a placemat with "mix-ins" for their large helping of rice. As you may know, no utensils are necessary, all mixing is done by hand. I know, it looks a little odd to our way of eating but it was nonetheless delicious and they were more than happy to offer seconds on any blob you wanted more of. There are two main cuisines offered in Coimbatore-Veg and Non Veg. This could also be a metaphor for us, as I will describe.

(I was trying to disguise the fact that I was photographing the food, so oops, not very centered.)

Sari, not sorry

                         Yin/Yang Veg/Non-Veg

                      Ye are the branches 

 Mid-week, we held our English Conversation group. Our regulars invited another new attendee, which is a good sign that they like it and feel it's worth their while. These adorable young men, along with our young elders and a few of the young adult men in the branches, have become our favorite adopted sons to love and nurture. Some of them are living in a hostel while they attend college so we like to supply bread & butter, and lots of love and encouragement alongside their English lessons. This week, inspired by Elder and Sister Tai's challenge, we introduced them to the FamilySearch website. Along with some great church videos,  each one stood in front of the class individually and shared 3 personality and/or physical traits they felt they had inherited from each of their parents and a grandparent. It was a fun sharing activity and I think they were intrigued with the idea of family history if nothing else. We always walk home after these meetings so filled with happiness because of their sweetness and earnestness. There is real reason for hope in this rising generation.We're just blessed to know some of the cream of the crop!

        How could you possibly not love them?

   Petite Rithi came in late and cashed in on the zucchini bread, slathering on that butter. We're amazed that there were leftovers!  

So while we're kinda sorta on the subject of family history, I'm excited to say we've completely photographed one whole cemetery here in Coimbatore! That's nearly 2000 images, most of which contain multiple names. We started this project completely on faith, thinking that someday it might be helpful to even 1 lone soul looking for a long lost grandparent. Imagine, to our utter astonishment, the amazement we felt when we looked at our dashboard on the website to see this:

214 people helped! How is that even possible? We had no idea anyone was even interested in family history in India except maybe a few of our branch members. This was surely our payback for our efforts.

Now we know it's a miniscule drop in the bucket for a country with a population in the billions but our hope is that long after we are gone, we can inspire some of the locals to carry on in this project of photographing and transcribing gravestones to help people build their family trees.

So Friday we went searching for a new cemetery and met Shanthi. 

She looked like maybe she was in charge of the TELC, even though we found her napping on a cot. (I don't think she gets a ton of visitors, foreign or otherwise) But as a bonus, there were 5 graveyard puppies to play with. We liked this cemetery immediately! And it was definitely better kept than the previous one. Rob inadvertantly invented a new game there. While flinging a rubber tire into a garbage pile in the corner of the lot, it fell short and rung a tombstone!  It was a one in a million toss if he had been trying.

Score!!!

Sorry, back to the narrative, Shanthi gave us permission to take photos and without us even asking, she jumped right up to help us. She was a huge help! She came up with ingenious solutions off the top of her head to scrape off some of the paint, dirt, and crud in order to view many of the aging engravings with whatever happened to be laying about; green leaves or ashes for the washed out ones, bricks, rocks, and stiff, dried paintbrushes worked well too.  

We went back early the next day in the cool of the morning, before the sun's glare makes it too hard to see the gravestones, to perhaps finish the job from the day before. She wasn't available  to help us this time because she was helping a man build a coffin. What a plucky, industrious lady! To think, we had misjudged her as being lazy. She'll deserve a nap after today! Though she's Hindu, she said in her broken English that she reads the "Bible Studies" on the gravestones and likes them. So we left her a few "bible studies" pamphlets in Tamil for her to peruse in her leisure time.

What a friend we have in Shanthi

Now, whether we're talking about napping or family trees, it's a perfect segue way into our next topic-

Vegetation! 

Yes we've done plenty of it and seen plenty of it during our time here. There are many days we take advantage of the Senior Mission "napping caveat". For those of you who think you could never pull off the rigor of a mission, it's spelled out clearly in the job description that we aren't expected to keep the same pace as the young missionaries and thank goodness for that. But those of you who know Elder Rob well, know he is an Energizer Bunny type o' guy. So it's been a radical paradigm shift for him to not have his day jam-packed with work and projects, although he's most certainly happier when he has those kind of days. During our weeks and months here, we've had plenty of "vegging out" downtime. It's been a challenge but also a blessing to have time for personal and companion study, keyboard practice, reading, journal and blog writing, transcribing, and daily long walks. During this last cherished activity, over the 5 months we've been here, we've found some interesting vegetation and trees along our paths, many with a sermon built right into them or at least a metaphor or imaginative conjecture.

"Now it grieveth me that I should lose the trees of my vineyard..wherefore ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow, that the root and top may be equal in strength, until the good shall overcome the bad". Jacob 5:66

Once upon a time there was an elephant who turned into a tree...

He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness...

Isaiah 53:

This tree is good for you if ever your spleen gets enlorged

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. Isaiah 11:1

Some fell upon stony places where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root they withered away.

Matthew 13:5-6 

                         A severed branch...

        yet a remnant shall return and bear fruit

         Here's a lovely tree-lined lane we walk 

              Sometimes they are Poo-scented

                  (er, flower-scented in Tamil!)

     We learned this because one time a stranger on the street kept saying, " poo, poo. " We looked at him quizzically. 🤨 He gestured for us to stay put. He returned with these lovely flowers as a gift.  Ah, Poo! Phew, we were so relieved! They smelled beautiful, by the way.😉 

  Lantana! A reminder of a favorite flower

 🌺 in St George 🌺

There is beauty all around!

In this mission, whether it be in our diet or our use of time, we are continually striving to find the

 veg/ non veg balance.