Members

This is our office, the way it is now. All we need are the two computers and we will be set up. We went from 1 desk & 1 broken chair, to this. The computers should be coming next week. The branch is so happy to have a place to come and work, and to make copies, etc. since there is no branch copy machine. Our office is to have the feel of a temple room.

This is our Indian branch and investigator family: 2 elders-Umesh & Satyadi, the 2 American elders are Rowe & Elliott (been here 2 weeks). The man holding the baby named Prince, is Purushothaman (the "h" is slient), and Nancy his wife is dressed western, in a white shirt and jeans. (In 5 years from now, I predict there will be very little of the sari's seen by the young people). The woman in the middle is Meena, she and the two teenagers, Ajay, Arvind were baptized Sunday, and this was our picture taking session afterwards. Today I started piano lessons with Nancy, and Elder E. started career workshop with Purushothaman. He is looking for a new job...we hope these two will accept baptism one of these days. This was Nancy's first time of attending church. The whole family is just awesome.

Elder Umesh and his creation. Look at how he made a box that could close and have a "bar" through it. He is holding the bar to keep it closed. He made this box for the members to put referrals into. He was very proud of it.

This is inside the church. Meena is in blue holding her nephew. Her sons are on both sides of Jack...her daughter is sitting on the lap of a young gal who was baptized the first Sunday we arrived. Charles (the young man) is sitting beside Debby, and Durga is the young man in front of Charles. We helped them with resumes and interviews, they are working part time now...Durga is saving for a mission, Charles drew us a picture of Christ knocking on a door as a thank you-IT IS VERY GOOD.

Kodak Moment

Every day is a Kodak moment here!

Intensely crowed traffic moment - all the time.
Just another cow walking the neighborhood.
Note the 3 women marching up the stairs with buckets of cement on their heads climbing to the top of the building.
Construction sites...



Couples dinner.
Note that one one construction site there are clothes hanging. People who were there also live there.
Note the chalk drawn Hindu symbols on the driveway. To warn off evil spirits and bless the house.

The dogs are so used to the intense sensory input that they just lie down where ever and people step over them.
Pictures of our main street at the end of the block and some of the small shops that we deal with.

Office Day

Hi all of you, Jack is off with the elders on a teaching appointment--his first. We were both asked to go, but the appointment they wanted for both of us fell through so they made a different one and just wanted Elder Ike, or Elder Guntu. He was told to tell everybody he was given an indian name yesterday at church because the members (we went to a different branch to let them know we were there to help them also) said we looked like New Dehli Indians and if we teased them and said we had an Indian name and were from up north they would have believed us! Plus they liked me because I looked like a senior sister that served there before and she was a New Dehli Indian! Anyway, so I'm stuck at the "office" until they get back cause I am not going to ride a rikshaw by myself! No way. It is too weird how I get stared at by everybody as it is, on the street walking, in the stores, and as the traffic passes by, and especially on the street by the office. We are by a girls primary school and they love to stop, stare, and grin at me. The mothers and grandmothers are not like that, they stop alright, but glare and talk about me. One little girl said, "HI AUNTIE" , and that is a sign of endearment to a stranger. It means they like you, even if they don't know you..so that was sweet.

Monsoon's

That red thing is my umbrella, riding to the church house. The monsoon rains hit and for once we were prepared and brought an umbrella. The driver showed me how to open it outside the auto and hang on tight to it to keep from getting wet. The drivers always get a kick out of me laughing over the rain and trying to get to us in the autos. I decided those 3 wheeled cars that just came out in the U.S.. are just auto rickshaws with all the sides enclosed!!!


This is our church building. Today at church we got assignments. Jack will shadow the Branch Presidency and give counsel as needed. I will do the same with the Relief Society. We also found out that our Branch President has his own company and basically he IS an Employment Center!!...he has ideas how we can help him and how he can help us. We are in charge of the Young Single Adult family home evening group on tuesday nights. Some of the young married couples attend too. We are starting to feel warm and fuzzy about our group.
This table of veggies is more than just a picture-it represents allot of work--1. I have to go shop for different items and different vendors. 2. We must soak them for 15 minutes in bleach water and then scrub them (it doesn't work to do this to bananas-the peel opens up). It takes several hours to do a small table top full of veggies, but they are pretty tasty once you get them chilled in the frig...especially the watermelon.
Here's our little propane stove!! Cooking on top is not too hard, but I used the oven once and it was scary trying to get it lit. My potatoes burnt on the bottom of the dish, the chicken was over cooked (the chicken was almost as tiny as a cornish game hen), and I haven't any idea what temperature the oven is at. Some sisters have a thermometer they keep in the oven, but since cooking isn't my thing anyway I will just experiment. I did make a yummy spaghetti that we ate for 3 days. I Found real American sharp cheddar cheese, that and my 6 oz. tiny jar of skippy peanut butter I use very sparingly. Found a Dollar store on Friday and the prices are better there and they have some extra American foods.

Rickshaw Rides

Here are some of the latest sights of India...

Some street construction, near where we are.
They have guards outside some stores.
Sightes from our usual mode of transportation...the auto rickshaw.




Here's a cattle drawn carriage on the main road.
Some construction with scaffolding. The scaffolding is made of wooden poles lashed together with string of some kind. Take note of the workers, as some of them move in and live on the job site. 

Poor Jack, having dinner at a restaurant. He's really roughing it!

First Day in our New World

Our first real day in India - with our eyes open!! Today was so much better than yesterday. Jet lag was no fun. We went to the mission office on foot today. Just a few blocks from apartment. More passport photos had to be taken and lots of paperwork to register as foreigners. We still have to go to the local foreign register soon. The sights and sounds are extreme. The monsoon rains began last night. We had 2 blackouts without power on our first day. They need the rains desperately. The monsoons are fast and furious. We were fortunate we had just got back from the store carrying our things in plastic sacks when the rains hit hard. People hang up laundry here and when the rains come they just let it take longer to dry.  

Today is much better. Yesterday, our first day was very frightening. The sensory input is extreme. With the roads, extreme congestion, torn up sidewalks, extreme noise, everything you can imagine. It was just like being back in Africa, Ghana, again. When the hustle and bustle slows down it sounds like a Tarzan movie with all the bird calls. We went on an early morning walk for exercise. Debby turned the corner and almost ran into a cow. You have to watch every step you take here and can't be looking up all the time. Deb is not fond of cows. The cow just mozied along like it owned the place-and it does.  

We have been told not to leave things out at the church house because the local monkeys will come and steal thing out of a purse. You will never see it again. It is like the monkey 'Dexter' in Night at the Museum.  

After business at mission we went shopping. That is a different experience. The refrigerator is very small so you have to shop almost daily. We were going to walk to the local bakery but the monsoons started.  

We meet with the Seminary and Institute couple today. They are going to be our mentors. Shopping and getting Debby settled in the apartment is number one job for the time being. Tomorrow we will take our first motorized 'Rickshaw' ride. Can't wait. There are 75,000 of these things in Bangalore. They are everywhere. We will go to the church house where we will set up some kind of an employment office. It will take time. We are going to have a meeting with our Boss from Hong Kong in a few weeks. We have been told to just take it slow.

This was the night before we left. We got to see Ryan and Erin one last time. This was at the BYU creamery on 9th East just down from the MTC, we had some ice cream. 
Debby is in front of the local fruit and vegetable shop where we will be buying things. 
This is a typical road sign around here. 
That's Jack up by our apartment on the second floor...Bangalore, India.
Elder E standing at our apartment door. 
Here is the view from our apartment of the street below. 

And look, even ING has an office in Bangalore!

Arrival in India

We made it to India. The flight was long. We got an unexpected upgrade at the last minute in London to business class. What a blessing. We are extremely tired and suffering from jet lag. We try and stay awake to adjust but just can't keep our eyes open. The airport was large
and modern. The mission president and another senior couple met us at the airport. We really stand out in a crowd. A very very small taxi drive to the apartment. I am not driving here!!!!! Some 3-4 million people in Bangalore city and they are all out on the streets, or it felt that way. The other couple has been here 6 weeks and they love it. They are adjusted and feel right at home. We look forward to that. Having been here just a few hours the culture shock is extreme and vivid. We went to church just hours after arrival. Our luggage arrived safe and sound. Church was amazing. The building is nicer than I expected. The place was packed with over 100 to the main meeting. Most of the members are younger people. We went for a walk in the evening around the neighborhood - wow! Tomorrow will be our first real day with our eyes open. I hope that I can get back to sleep tonight. I tired to e-mail last night but I just could not function.

We love you all. Our hearts are full of love.

Adventures in the MTC

Here at the MTC we have been very busy, and we have already learned so much. While walking around one day we discovered that one of the MTC  buildings was actually named after my (Debby) relatives-Dan Jones. 
There is also a painting of the same relative, inside the the MTC. The plaque with the painting says, "'Dan Jones Awakens Wales' Dan Jones embarked for Wales in 1844, he served as president of the Welch Mission from 1845-1849, during which time 3000 Welsh converts joined the church."
And of course we had to take the classic missionary picture in front of the world map, pointing to our mission.
We leave tomorrow for INDIA! 

MTC

So, this is Erin posting on behalf of Debbie and Jack. They don't have internet right now, and plus I have all the pictures from this last weekend on my camera. Before Debbie and Jack went into the MTC they were able to spend time with the whole family in Utah. 

Then Cindy and I took Debbie and Jack to the MTC yesterday, and had fun taking lots of the typical "going into the MTC missionary pictures". It was really hard to say goodbye, but we know that they are going to do an awesome job, and that their service will bless the family and a lot of people in India. 

You know how whenever you drive by the MTC (for those that live near) how all the new missionaries are out front posing all goofy around the MTC sign. Well, we wanted Debbie and Jack to do that too. They are such good sports...good times. 
And we kept seeing the other senior missionaries driving in (who usually looked a lot older than Debbie and Jack) and the woman always looked scared out of her mind. That didn't really sit well with Debbie, so here she is doing her impression of how they looked. 



From now on I will  be posting emails and pictures that we get from Debbie and Jack on their mission. So, stay tuned to see what adventures and fun they have over the next 18 months in India. Good luck guys, we love you!