Last Helpings

It is really odd and somewhat surreal to wake up and know that everything you do is for the last time (not last last, but last for India).  I rode my stationary bike for the last time (thank goodness, looking forward to being on a real bike).  Had my last breakfast of Indian bran flakes with California raisins, covered with Nestle boxed "slim" milk.  Last time to flush the toilet using an extra glass of water (gross, but I had to say it). Last time to hear the water pump whine as it pumps water to the top of the building for the day.  Last time to walk to the office and walk up 3 flights of stairs (oops, we really took the elevator - even with it's 3 inch drop jolt when it reaches the office floor). Last trip to our favorite Italian restaurant, Sartoria, to have bruschetta and fries.

Last talks with the missionaries we see each week. (It's worked out really well for our last 2 days in the office.  President Sackley interviews all the missionaries every 3 months and his interviews were yesterday and today, so we got a chance to get pictures of all the missionaries in New Delhi - notice their names).

Bayyavarapu, Amalaraj, Chadalavada and Gibb

Peddinti, Vuppada, Michael and Stephen

Mahanti, Neelam, Bodasingh and Gowthaman

Thivyanathan and Bogati

ChandraSekar, Walters, Botcha and Cooper

Nekkanti, Natta and Joseph

Nelapati and Ramesh Babu

Nelli and Idunnari

Paliparthi and Rijal

Bastian, Bangari, Dogga and Sudarajan

Last interview with President Sackley (I can't remember having one before so this might be a first). Last walk down the office stairs to go home (for old times sake, not because we're scared of the elevator).  Last bag of ACT popcorn that reminds us of home. Last batch of laundry that takes 30 minutes to fill with water.

And last of all, my last comments before we leave - Goodbye India New Delhi Mission - we love you and we will miss being with you.  

Elder and Sister Stevens.  

Our Farewell Dinner

Slocombe's, Sackley's, Pulla's, and Black's 

Monday night we had our farewell dinner at the President and Sister Sackley's home with all the senior couples serving in New Delhi.  It was pot luck with homemade Italian soup, a vegetable and fruit salad with raspberry poppy seed dressing and a great tasting (but spicy) ground mutton dish with homemade flat bread, and for dessert "chocolate fantasy" which is layered with chocolate pudding and whipped cream on a pecan and graham cracker crust.. Everything was delicious.  We had a good night of conversation with friends that we have come to love as we have served with them -  Elder and Sister Black from Humble, who are serving two years as Public Affairs missionaries for both missions in Indian.  Elder and Sister Slocombe from Saskatchewan, Canada who arrived in August serving 18 months as PEF missionaries (Perpetual Education Fund - provides funds for members to get a better education)  Elder and Sister Pulla, from Hyderabad, India, serving 18 months as MLS (Member and Leader Support) missionaries and are helping teach welfare and self reliance principles to those in the district.  They are one of the first senior couples to serve from their own country and we are so proud of them.  And of course, President and Sister Sackley who we have served with since day 1 and with whom we will find it hardest to leave.  We made it through the night without many tears - and of course a farewell picture.  We hate goodbyes...
 

Finishing Touches

 I guess I have been around construction too much...

Sunday was our last day in church.  A sort of "right of passage" for members of the Church is that they get asked to speak at our Sacrament meeting whenever they move in or move out of the area.  Angela would have been perfectly happy to fade into the sunset, but I wanted the "true" going home experience so I volunteered us to speak.  My sweet companion did a great job and I did okay.  It's hard for us to say goodbye to people we have come to love.  It's hard to know that this will probably be the last time in this life that we will see them.  There were some tears, lots of pictures with families and kids and multiple requests for us to come to dinner, which we politely declined (many times).  The Indian members are so gracious and humble.  Many of their homes are the size of an average bedroom.  They are dedicated to their families, and they love the missionaries.  I put a few pictures below.

The Anthony Frances family at church
He is the Elder's Quorum President, she is the organist

The Joseph Family.  President Joseph is 1st Counselor in
the Mission Presidency

Sister Verma and 2 of their 4 daughters in their home
(the little boy is a neighbor)

Picture of President and Sister Verma on their wall early
in their marriage.  President Verma is the Branch President

The Kumar family
Anil is the mission driver

Sarala Ambrose and her son Sarjan.
She's an awesome Relief Society President

Singh, the security guard at our church bldg.
(a great investigator for many years)

O Happy Day!

Elevator during reconstruction.  They
use the drywall mud as an adhesive
to hold the granite sides in place

The title may sound like we are on our way out, but not quite.  In reality we have mixed emotions as we prepare to leave later this week.   The title has to do with our mission office elevator. IT'S WORKING!  I've mentioned before that the mission office is on the 4th floor of a 4 story building. Since the mission moved it's offices here in August 2012, there has been talk about getting the elevator fixed.  It was just a dream for the 10 months, with an occasional person coming by to "inspect" the elevator shaft.  About 6 months ago, they began in earnest to get it working.  I don't know how long it has been out of service, but they had to essentially rebuilt the entire elevator.  So for the last 16 months we have trekked up and down 3 flights of stairs (57 steps, yeah I counted them many times) 2-3 times a day M-F.  To top things off, our apartment elevator quit working about 4 months ago (we live on the 3rd floor).  It might be worth it if we could brag about how much better shape we are in, but in reality it just makes us feel old and out of breathe.

Finished (mostly)

With just 3 days left to enjoy it before we leave, I've thought about spending a little "quality time" in the elevator, but then again, do I really want to get stuck in the elevator that's cozy with only 2 people in it?

India/Pakistan Border Closing

Sister Sackley's brother and his wife came for a visit this past week on their way to Thailand.  Sister Sackley asked us if we wanted to go with them to Amritsar, India for the weekend.  We thought it would be great to have one last "hurrah" before leaving the mission field.  Amritsar sits close to the India/Pakistan border and is one of the official border crossings for the two countries.  Every day, thousands of people drive to the border (from both countries) to watch the pomp and ceremony associated with officially closing the border at 4:30 pm (4 pm Pakistan time - there is a 1/2 time zone difference between the two countries ???).  There is a lot of flag waving, exaggerated marching by the military and crowd cheering/chanting as they try to out yell each other.  Vendors set up for 1/2 mile with food, and trinkets and painting Indian flags on arms and faces of those attending.  It's an interesting and entertaining event that we were glad we could experience. Below are some pictures that hopefully will give you a feel for what we saw.  

Flag painting on arms and faces

People wait in line to run up and down the road
carrying the India flag

A family we met while waiting for the ceremony to begin 

Flag waving during the ceremony

Indian army colorful headdresses 

Looking through the gate to the Pakistan side

Lowering the flags

Both  India and Pakistan gates closed

People on the India side who came to see the closing
This many people come every night

India's Golden Temple

Us with Sister Sackley and her brother and sister-in-law
(see the line of people waiting to get in the temple behind us)

While in Amritsar, we also visited the "Golden Temple", so named because the building, originally built in 1574,  was covered in gold during the early 19th Century by a Sikh named Maharaja Ranit Singh.  The Golden Temple (real name is the Harmandir Sahib) is a place of worship for Sikhs and holds the Adi Granth or holy scripture of Sikhism (thanks Wikipedia).  It is completed surrounded by water and you can wait hours to go in and see the holy scriptures.

We elected not to go in, but fortunately our driver for the day was a Sikh and said he would be glad to show us around the outside.  We gladly accepted.  The first step was to don our orange headgear (orange is one of the official colors of the Indian flag and while other colors of head cover were available, these were 'cool' and only cost 10 rupees each).  Before entering the temple site, everyone must remove shoes (and socks) and wash their feet.  We then walked the path of some 100,000 visitors each day.  In fact, our driver, Artindar, said that the Sikhs feed 100.000 people each day for free.  I really had my doubts until I saw the metal plates, the huge cooking pots and the chapati (unleavened flatbread) making operations (mostly manual, although there was one conveyor belt operation that flattened and cooked some of the chapati).   The temple was impressive, but we were more impressed by the the monumental effort and humanitarian service to feed so many people everyday, staff predominately by volunteers.  It was an inspiring experience for us.

People are fed throughout the day.  The Sikhs will feed
anyone that wants to eat.  We were also invited to eat.

Cooking pots

Lots of onions

Making chapati (unleaven bread)

Volunteers preparing garlic

We saw 4 different racks of plates like this one

       

Our driver/guide - Artinder Singh

We're Back Again (We Never Really Left)

For those of you who are still reading our blog - Thank you for sticking with us.  It's been a long absence since our last post and you might have thought we were released and went home.  Not so, I just (a) have been too busy, (b) couldn't find the blog site, (c) have lost some blog "steam" or (d) all the above.  Take your pick.

Well to update you since the last post, we have officially been given a release date of November 21.  When we get closer to our release date, I'll leave a post about all that we have learned and experienced here in India.  For now, I'll just say we have mixed emotions.  Trying to get my arms around everything and put it in words is difficult, so I'll work on it...