Upheld

We spent 20 hours in train travel this past week, to and from Bengaluru and then two days later, up and back to Erode in General Seating (or general standing as the case may be). That's enough travel to take the wind out of anyone's sails. Luckily, we found this reassuring replenishment on the train.

You never know when you'll need a back up supply of it.

We always meet some interesting fellow train travelers, one taught us a great life lesson on the Erode trip. Normally in a general seating pod there are two benches facing each other with enough space for 4 seats on a bench. The guy diagonally from us was using nearly a whole space for his parcel, causing the man next to him to be so scrunched he couldn't even put his back against the wall. The lady on the end was practically falling off the edge. Literally everyone in the pod asked him to move his bag off so there would be more space to sit but he just ignored them and didn't move one inch. We stayed out of the fray, due to our lack of Tamil, but we were both thinking to ourself this guy was kind of a jerk and rude to not even answer.

The man in orange should be squarely in space 67

Near the very end of the ride, some man from another area came and asked to have his parcel passed to him. Wait, what?? So this parcel didn't even belong to this guy at all! He was being courteous to just leave it where it had been left since it wasn't his. It was a sobering lesson for both of us that often we don't have all the information to make a righteous judgement about people or situations. (He might have offered this piece of information when he was being accosted but who knows why he didnt, he may have been mute. Or deaf!) We are constantly reminded that we aren't as astute as we think we are at reading people, that we have no right to make sweeping stereotypes of nations or judgements of people. 

Another big chunk of our week time was spent in training, acquainting ourselves with our new office roles. We did not slip into them comfortably. It was very daunting and overwhelming to be learning the basics of computer literacy along with the many, many details of taking care of the arrivals, departures, transfers, travels, orientations, and monthly allotments of money for all the missionaries. Tack on to that the payment transactions of all the mission bills and other financial responsibilities as part of Elder Dunlap's duties and that starts to scratch the surface of what we'll be doing for the next 6 months. Many times I felt myself fighting back tears when I couldn't remember where my trainer said to to go to find a particular file or which window to open. My trigger response is to cry when I feel overwhelmed. Or my other one is to get snarky and start berating the computer like it's a stupid person who delights in my frustration and needs to be blamed. During one of these near teary moments, I decided I needed to make intentional changes to my responses. I said a little prayer to ask Heavenly Father to help me hold it together and to just pause and think it through rather than default to a negative emotion. I realize we deflect our ineptness in our computer skills behind our Fred and Wilma Flintstone personas all the time, claiming we just hate technology and never want to even deal with it. Well, apparently the time is now to step up. This is our chance to get it right. Will ever get to a point where I enjoy passwords and OTPs? Doubtful. I know our learning curve is going to be steep, but I think with my new approach to it, I'm predicting we're going to get the hang of this job in maybe 5.5 months. For one thing, I had the sweetest, most patient trainer I could ever ask for in Sister Robinaugh. She was a complete dear, never making me feel stupid through it all and what's more, she made me a customized Secretary Bible that I will be reading daily as additional scripture. 

Between these two helps, I think I can make it.

We said goodbye to the Robinaughs as they head to Bangkok and Elder Stock back to America to finish his mission time in the Baton Rouge Louisiana Mission. We'll miss them.

  The Bengaluru Zone is slightly larger than what we're accustomed to.

No sooner did we disembark the train late Tuesday night, than I was bitten by mosquitos all over my feet. And that night as I slept, one little monster bit me 8 times starting at my elbow, up my forearm, to the back of my hand, and up to my finger knuckles. Thank you for this welcome-back package, Coimbatore! (One aspect I will not miss.) But there is so much we will. We started saying some general goodbyes. We held our last English group night playing games and eating bread with a small turnout. See ya later, Alligators!

Raju, Sundarshan and Augustine

We took our tiny band of Elders out for lunch and ice cream one last time.

We'll miss you, Stripling Warriors!

                   And you too, Bangalore Juicy!!

                          Now that's amore! 

And we said some farewells to our familiar surroundings that have come to feel like home. We crossed the Spaghetti Bowl and the treacherous path once more to our church building. This scripture on the back of a car stopped me dead in my tracks like it had been placed there just for me.

            A message from heaven just for me. 

Because the sidewalks are often piled with trash or construction materials, we mostly walk on the side of the street. Scooters, autos, trucks and buses will zip by us so close we could reach out and touch them at times. All it would take is a stumble, my weak ankles, or a little rock and we'd fall and be in the direct path of barreling traffic. We have daily felt the protection of angels holding us upright and steady on our feet. We KNOW and humbly sense we are being upheld by the prayers you offer in your homes and in the temple for us. It is so humbling and comforting to know your prayers are sustaining our very lives. Thank you for them! So far, we have been obedient to the number one senior mission rule: 

                           Don't Fall Down!

On many occasions, the Lord provides us personalized angel guides to help us when we're lost and especially when time is of the essence. Going home this week was one such time. Sunoj offered us help without us even asking for it. He was a key component in getting us off the disconnected Metro, onto a local bus and then back on the Metro. We never could've navigated that leg without him.

Imagine Sunoj, a self-professed atheist, being  an answer to prayer

Once off the Metro/Bus/Metro relay we made a 400 meter dash for the street in Olympic record time. No small feat for seniors with suitcases. An assertive tuk tuk driver proved to be a godsend. He wanted our business so his take charge attitude had him wasting no time grabbing our luggage and cramming it into his back seat. Elder Dunlap was hanging halfway out because his backpack wouldn't fit through the door! It was 2:03 by now and our train left at 2:15 We we're feeling a huge adrenaline rush akin to the Amazing Race! But all bets we'd win were off when we hit a traffic jam, lots of honking but no movement. We threw up our hands at this point, "Oh well, we tried our best and it was close. We've done all the hustle we could possibly do." Just then, our auto driver pulls this crazy move taking us down a labyrinth of side streets to a little known side entrance of the train station right next to the tracks, avoiding all the traffic and massive crowds. We paid top rupee for that short ride and it was worth it! We did a Steeplehill Chase up the stairs across the tracks and back down (Rob with a full-size suitcase, me with a carry-on), a final sprint down the length of the platform, a jump onto the train, collapsing into our chairs and just as Rob is stashing the suitcases above, maybe 30 seconds later, the train pulls away. Now I ask you, was that just lucky timing or did we have some angelic help? It must have been, we're not normally that athletic! I tell you, this is a day of miracles we live in. You don't have to be serving a mission. Look for them, pray for them, and you'll see them everywhere.

Today (Saturday) we assumed we'd hear from the FRRO on a work day so since it hadn't come by Friday, we took a breather and went to the church to watch Saturday Conference with a few saints. It was very sparsely attended but personally, we got more out of the talks on the second hearing so I'm so glad we were there.

                 A few saints of the last wagon 

In between sessions, we happened to check our email and lo and behold, there it was, our clearance had come giving us permission to transfer our residence. We were caught off guard. President Bushi was called and he said "don't delay, get up to Bengaluru, asap." So we kicked it into high gear and are scrambling now to pack so we can get on an early Monday train. Word had spread through the ranks we were leaving soon but not this soon. We had several offers for dinner tonight and tomorrow but we had to turn most of them down for lack of time. Moving is emotional and I don't think it's hit us yet that this is it, we may not see some of these dear friends ever again. Now I wish in hindsight the government had been their typical pokey slow selves and we had had a week to say our goodbyes properly but we're trusting the Lord's timing always these days. We went back for the Conference evening session, giving away things right and left; clothes, hats, books, badminton and ping pong sets, non-perishable food, etc. Now tonight we pack. There was an option to fly but since we want to cram much of the kitchen ware we've bought into our bags, including a pressure cooker, we knew we'd be over our weight limit so here we go one more time on the train, this time in A/C Chair Coach. BUT, we still will be our own baggage handlers. Can we do it with 4 bags this time? Stay tuned. With God, all things are possible! 

"...for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

D&C 88:84