Compensatory Blessings

 So many things, both wonderful and difficult happened to us this week. And there are amazing stories to share, so just sit right back and you'll hear a tale. I'll approach it chronologically and then we'll see if there's any theme at all that jumps out to tie it all together. 

 Saturday at 9:30 PM right after completing last week's blog, the President calls an impromptu mission zoom meeting and announces a mega-transfer. We'd been under austerity measures and travel bans for so long and now that it had been lifted, it was time to move one Elder in every companionship! Normally it would be no big deal except, 1) it happened to coincide with the biggest holiday in India and 2) he had a completely inexperienced secretary who was in charge of making all the travel arrangements on very short notice. I was determined to not work on the Sabbath, yet the date of the transfer was Tuesday. So I did a Scarlet O' Hara maneuver and postponed thinking about it 'til Monday. 

Sunday was a glorious day of rest and rejuvenation. We were so blessed to be able to watch the dedication of the Bangkok Thailand Temple Dedication via satellite, as it's now the closest temple for the Indian saints to travel to for their own and their ancestors' essential ordinances. This was a compensatory blessing for us too because we haven't been able to attend a temple for 6 months now. Ronald A. Rasband, one of the 12 Apostles officiated and gave the dedicatory prayer. It was a spiritual outpouring to hear the testimonies born, participate in the Hosannah Shout and hear "The Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning" sung in Thai. I loved seeing all the local saints here  dressed in their finest white saris and dresses too. I sat next to and visited with Sister Esther whose daughter is married to Elder Sunderaj, the newest Area Seventy of India..                                 Sister Esther

      Brother Myore and his angelic wife Rithu

 Expat moms Sisters Malwitz and Knies

Then too soon came Manic Monday, the dreaded day of reckoning. Just keep breathing. I had to book several flights for all the transferring missionaries plus arrange some cab pickups from the airports. With some blessed help from Sis Robinaugh in Thailand and the blessing of Zoom technology, (me, thankful for technology?)  we were miraculously able to get it all done in one day except for two elders with extenuating circumstances, one who had asked to travel by train. But with the heavy holiday travel, there were simply no empty seats on any train on Tuesday. Now what do we do? Plan B -- India has this emergency train reservation system called Tatkal where you can make only 2 bookings for the very next day. So I was advised to get right on it Tuesday morning at 10:00 and make 2 reservations for Wednesday. 

PS. My neck is hating all of this.

That night we had a sanity break and an unexpected pleasure that took some pressure off our harried minds. Some friends from Coimbatore had come up to Bengaluru for the holiday and to attend a baby naming ceremony and wanted to see us. They got there with just enough daylight to see the outline of the temple being built from our balcony. We then took Sister Beni, and her mama Lydia and brother Dani to Lola's for a bite to eat. While we were there we met a new married couple, she's American, he's Indian. (More about them later!) Afterwards, there was a program put on by our community for Desera that was staged on the outdoor field where they play cricket every Saturday. It was road show quality at best and because we couldn't find seats, nor could any of us understand the Hindi, we didn't stay very long. But it was so wonderful to see Beni again! She was ill the last Sunday we said goodbye to everyone. I wanted to tell her that honestly, she was the most gifted teacher I'd ever been taught by. Her weekly Institute classes were the inspiring. She seemlessly taught the New Testament in 2 languages, asked thought provoking questions, and gave us exercises that really made us apply the scriptures to our personal situations. I learned so much from her.

                           Dani Mami, Beni

                Eating pizza and fries at Lola's 

               Good overcoming evil ala India

Tuesday was so incredibly stressful but also full of absolute miracles. Because of the holiday, no one was even there to open up the office. It's the equivalent of Christmas morning. How was I going to get these two Elders up to Bengaluru from Chennai and Coimbatore if I can't even get in the office to my computer?! After fretting in the lobby for awhile, some unknown man came and let us in. Miracle #1. I get on the Tatkal and was able to make one of the two reservations but because Brother Micheal was off for the holiday, I was desperately trying to call him to get the OTP to pay for the ticket with the corporate credit card and he wasn't answering his phone. I was in full panic mode!!! The transaction was going to time out in 5 minutes and the system is not forgiving or understanding. You get two shots at it. Period. Just then our new housekeeper and cook Kannagi (have I mentioned her before? More on her later!) shows up earlier than normal to get the key from me and she just happens to know Michael's personal phone #. In the nick of time, we call him, he picks up, he checks his business phone he had turned off, gives me the OTP and we make the reservation with like 13 seconds to spare. Miracle #2. Are you seeing a pattern of how the Lord works time after time, coming through for us in the clutch? Kannagi usually cleans our house in the afternoon but came early because of the holiday. We had told her she didn't even need to come this week at all but she did and what if if she hadn't come just exactly then?? We live in a day of miracles, that's all I can say .

 Well the saga didn't end there because after finally getting their tickets, then we had 2 elders the next day trying to meet up with their cab drivers at the airport and train station except they don't get to carry phones with them so I am the go-between trying to talk to non-English speaking drivers describing the elders they're supposed to pick up! Large tall American young man! White shirt! Dark pants! Large tall Indian young man! White shirt! Dark pants! It was the perfect storm of craziness.  I became so aware of my weakness, that I can't stay calm when I feel the responsibility I've been handed bearing down on me so heavily. It makes me oh so aware that I need the Savior to help me change my very nature and He's the only one that could accomplish that change in me. But I am happy to report that all Elders are in their new areas safe and no worse the wear and I am now going to exhale and ponder on how I can better handle the next transfer. Elder Dunlap is also feeling some stress, whereas mine comes in gigantic bursts, his is the ongoing variety. And he has taken to work long 9-10 hour work days, as is his natural man, to work too long and too hard. Which brings me to our next compensatory blessing--

 Kannagi. Because Rob is putting all his energy into the finances, he's not throwing that energy into cooking anymore like he did in Coimbatore. it is such a treat to come home to her creative and delicious meals with the random items we have on hand. It's like the cooking show "Chopped". Here's a coconut, a pumpkin, cabbage, cauliflower, lentils, and spices...have at it! She would win that show! We love her already and consider her a heaven-sent blessing.

Another heavenly compensation for working daily in an office is happenstance meetings in our community that have given us an opportunity to make new friends and share the gospel. We met a vivacious young woman, Joyce (named for joy and peace together) and her parents Kamal and Jess. They are a colorful bohemian family of artists who have lived abroad and reached out to us. Joyce has expressed interest in coming to church this Sunday and her father likes to read and showed interest in having a Book of Mormon. These are requests we can gladly fill! 

Kamal teaching her art students how to paint with coffee.

            Art students having a little Java jive

                                       Joyce

As I mentioned before, early in the week at Lola's, we very briefly met a darling young married couple, Avi and Julia. When Rob explained why we were here living in India, they said they've been looking for a church to attend so we gladly invited them to come with us to church too. Tonight we plan to go out to eat with them so I may have a photo or two to share.  We pray that the Spirit will touch the hearts of any of these good people the Lord has placed in our path, to feel the truth of the message we came to India to share.

                  Avi & Juli (pronounced Yuli)

  The name of the restaurant really is Pot Head

And as so often happens, I found my theme! It seems to happen every time I write, some principle emerges that testifies unmistakably to me that we have a Father in Heaven who loves us so much and sends His tender mercies to His children. We're so glad to be in India serving this mission for the Lord, yes, even in the office, and being on the receiving end of these compensatory blessings.

“As we are righteous, compensatory blessings always come—even in the most difficult times of our lives.” —Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.