Hydragood!

 Our much loved President and Sister Bushi asked us to accompany them to Hyderabad for 4 days to attend the Zone outing and participate in Zone conference and the orientation of 1 single incoming missionary, Elder Massey.

While waiting for our flight out on November 1st, we got the wonderful news that Kinzi had avoided a C-section and had given birth to her and Tom's precious baby son, Luke, which for them in Idaho time was Halloween night. How grateful we were that Kinzi's heart did fine through the labor and delivery. Luke is healthy and now we have another mission grandson as a fruit for all her labors!

                Rob has 3rd generation DNA!

             Luke Moroni Kunzler born Oct. 31

Back to November 1st in India, as it turned out, with much confusion of keys and logistics, we were housed in a vacant apartment too far from any of the mission action to be of any actual help. So pretty much it was a 4 day holiday for us with no real responsibilities other than to just be with the young missionaries, which is actually our favorite reason of all. So we spent our first night there with two sister missionaries who were flying home, having completed their missions.  

Well done, Sisters Mogali and Tamalapakula!

The apartment, which had been vacant for awhile, held many unique surprises.

Baby pigeons on the kitchen window ledge...

...and an archaic elevator reminiscent of the one in Thoroughly Modern Millie, that literally had to be stomped on occasionally to start it moving. It haunted us all night long. As we tried to sleep, we kept hearing a woman's voice repeat the same phrase in Telugu, accompanied by bizarre background music. We couldn't figure it out and thought it was coming possibly from the business next door? Next morning we realized that if the two gates on the elevator door aren't pushed closed tight, a recording plays continuously until you do. I guess the other tenants have tuned it out long ago along with all the other cacophony but we heard this annoying mantra loud and clear all night.

Elevator tap-dancing ala Millie Dilmount

Our friend Brother Bunga that we met while doing the online Emotional Resilience class together, lives in Hyderabad and he took us on a grand tour of his city the next day, highlighting the diverse areas and sights of the town. We covered a lot of territory, from Hi-Tech City, to the ancient Muslim quadrant of Charminar with it's open markets and mosque. Using the Metro, we were mostly able to avoid the crowded street traffic for the sites we visited. He kept apologizing that we were walking so much but we told him that's our favorite mode of transportation. 

                 Brother Bunga in the Junga

           Something fishy about this building

Look again, this replica's made entirely of computer components. That bytes!

                   The real Charminar by Day

                  Even more charming at night

                A city on a hill that can't be hid

                  Let your light so shine, India!

India has a thing about gold statues, you see them on practically every major street corner in every city.

        This guy looks to have a little umbrella

Often they're festooned with garlands  

   But this was the biggest granddaddy of them, all 125 feet of him on a 50 foot platform

 Looks a little like my dad and larger than life!

Brother Madhu also introduced us to a new cuisine called Mundi that quickly jumped to our #1 position of favorite foods. It is a staple of the Muslim community but we had never even heard of it before in Coimbatore or Bengalore. 

Mundi, Mundi, so good to me.

We can't begin to thank this dear friend for his generosity in taking us to so many places. He's a friend for the eternities  

Madhu Bunga- The Yul Brynner of Hyderabad 

The next day, we joined the Bushis, the 6 elders, and Micheal from the office for a day of fun at Ramoji Film City, a wannabe facsimile of Universal Studios. 4 of the elders we knew very well and it was a grand reunion with 3 of them from our original Stripling Warriors band.

Elder Nepali, you guessed it, from Nepal, was brand new to us and he was immediately charming, funny, outgoing, and an awesome singer and actor to boot. How could you not just adore him right away?  

Q. Where'd you get the cool T? 

One-day old greenie Elder Massey however,  brought out the maternal instinct in me. 

He's the sweetest Quasimodo-like elder, sometimes shy and  introverted, sometimes trying a little too hard to fit in. He's still finding his way so I gave him some focused attention by getting to know him as we walked from photo op to photo op. 

His family story nearly broke my heart with all it's trials, and I was touched by his conversion and his faith. He told me he's talented in art of all mediums, sketching, cartooning, watercolors and oils. Though he won't overtly use those talents during his missionary service, I hope his companion and district can provide him Christlike love and help him succeed as a missionary. Rob says it won't take long for a group of peers to "teach him the ways of the pack" so I hope and pray he will, with the promised strength of the Savior, rise to his full stature and become the best version of himself. 

Lean on us, brudda.

We're all in this together

After 7 months here, I fulfilled one of my India bucket list dreams of seeing live traditional folk dance. Both the opening and closing spectaculars featured beautiful costume and dance and we got to see it up close and personal from the front row. 

I was in my favorite element, loving every minute of it. But I was caught off guard when during the evening show they pulled me up out of the audience to dance with the emcee. My days of wanting to be on center stage are over! When he asked me what my name was I couldn't even remember my first name and told him I was Sister Dunlap. That was the end of my stage career in India. Just as well.

The shows and presentations we saw were legion, including the hilariously inaccurate Wild West show, 

Nothing says Wild West like Mad Max and Asian martial arts.

But a grand time was had by all. Here's a few outtake and blooper shots that will just end up on the cutting floor if I don't squeeze them in somehow. 

Toe jam?

The Chains of Hell are sin and death

Nothing could go wrong here

Love, it's a growing thing

The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak before kings and rulers. And inasmuch as they are humble, they might be made strong.

Doctrine & Covenants 1: 19, 23, 28

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.