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. "
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