Mahatma Gandhi Museum

Last week, we were able to go to the Mahatma Gandhi Museum located here in New Delhi.  As you might suppose, it was as austere as his life.  When he was assassinated in 1948 at the age of 79, what few items of his life were collected and placed in the museum.  There wasn't much there, but what there was was interesting, especially how he chose to live his life and the influence he had on the India nation.    

Gandhi was trained in law and spent much of his early life in South Africa (from age 24-45) as a lawyer and fighting for the civil rights.  He then moved back to India and is known as the Father of the Nation for helping get India their Independence from Great Britain through non-violent disobedience.  As you might expect, he wasn't great friends with Winston Churchill. 

So much for the history lesson.  On to the pictures... I took a few pictures inside the museum until I was told very nicely that pictures were not allowed.

Statue depicts the 241 mile march by Gandhi and
78 selected associates on March 12, 1830 to protest
the British imposed ban on making salt



Sounds pretty good to me, but then truth is truth
wherever you find it

With his wife

Gandhi's bedroom in one of his homes on the
museum grounds. 

Ben Kingsley... huh, no this one is

Mahatma Gandhi

More Interesting Things of India

As we celebrate 1 year in the mission field, I thought I would provide some additional pictures of interesting things we find in our new adopted home. 

Hose Connection

Electrical wiring is very
representative of everything in India. 

Our Internet connection box.  Open in the
middle of an alley.

Typical mall parking - Cars are left in neutral with the
doors unlocked and if someone needs to get out, the
attendants move all the cars that are in the way manually

This is a Delonix Regia tree (thanks Google), commonly
called a Flame tree. It blooms with bright red flowers
during April and May. 

The local scooter mechanic shop - on the
sidewalk on the way to church 

The most common flowering plant in New Delhi is the bougainvillea in all kinds of colors

It's How Hot?

I took this screen shot of a weather app on my iPad.  May and June are the hottest months in New Delhi.  It seems like it wasn't too long ago we were enjoying the cool 90s of April.  It's going to be sunny all week, which is very typical.  July and August are the "monsoon" months, where Delhi will get about 20 of it's 30 inches annually (Sept gets another 5 inches).  The temperature drops to about 95-100 and is very humid (much like Houston).  But for most of the year it's very dry.   On the whole, Delhi is very livable, if you work indoors.  The months of Nov-Mar were quite pleasant (although Angela says it was cold).  Are we ever happy with the weather?
 

Elder Neil L. Andersen's Visit to Delhi

Elder and Sister Andersen and Elder and Sister Watson (Area President)
with the India missionaries. 

Sunday night, we in the India New Delhi Mission and the New Delhi District had a rare opportunity to hear from Elder Andersen and his wife.  They are touring the Asia Area (primarily Cambodia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Beijing, China), but they took time to come to India to meet some of the Saints and to visit the Taj Mahal, along with our Area President, Elder Watson and his wife.  This was Elder and Sister Andersen's first visit to India. 

We have a greater appreciation of what it takes to prepare for the visit from a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.  Itineraries, agendas, security checks, reservations, etc. which change multiple times and are not finalized until they are actually here.  But all the preparation was worth it.  Several members of the district were asked to film short vignettes with Elder Andersen in a simulated branch council meeting.  Then the missionaries had an intimate meeting with Elder Andersen on the stage of the auditorium we rented for the occasion.  That was followed by a meeting with district members.   Including the missionaries there were about 400 in attendance.  Everyone had an opportunity to meet him and shake hands at the end of the meeting.  It was a quick trip, but the members that attended (including us) will remember his visit for years to come. 

And Now There Are 8...

We have 4 American elders going home this week.  Two of them had parents that came to pick them up to see some sites in Delhi and the Taj Mahal.  The picture shows their backs. I was trying to show their white shirts which are far from white (except for the one on the far left who saved a new shirt to go home in).  You can see the ingrained dirt from their backpacks and the yellow-ness of the shirts from the multiple washing here (in real life they look a lot worse than this picture)

With these elders going home, we will be down to 8 US missionaries, with no new ones scheduled to arrive.  With visa restrictions, we are noticing an increased delay in getting new missionaries from anywhere other than India (with an occasional one from Nepal).   There are a couple of missionaries that were "temporarily" assigned to Colorado in September, that we hope will be able to come here the last year of their missions, but it's not for certain.  We're even seeing delays for couples.  Three couples have been called to come to New Delhi - all from Canada.  One couple is temporarily serving in Canada (since December), one was permanently reassigned to Sri Lanka and the third is still awaiting word from the Consulate.  So at present, we have us in the office, a couple from Humble (Elder and Sister Black) serving as Public Affairs missionaries, and one Indian couple serving for 6 months from Hyderabad.  We seem to have some luck getting couples from Houston, so if anyone from there wants to have a great time (and see one of the 8 wonders of the world), let me know and I'll put in a good word for you to our mission president.     

PS - Sister Stevens is looking for a couple with good office skills to replace us.  I'll take two warm bodies - we can train you. 
 

Christmas in April

Angela ready to ice some sugar cookies

Shortly after Christmas, Angela was asked to plan an activity for the Relief Society sisters about Christmas traditions.  They had the activity on Saturday.  Angela did a lot of preparation and cooking.  The activity was a huge success - by the end about 28 sisters were there.  Angela came in a Christmas-y dress and made banana bread, no bake oatmeal cookies, cornflake and marshmellow "christmas wreaths" and lots of sugar cookies that were decorated by the women who attended.  She also put together a "12 Days of Christmas" book that included stories of Christmas and a Family Home Evening lesson that taught about the symbols of Christmas.  They also played "pin the star on the Christmas Tree" (they love games here), and each received a Christmas cookie cutter (thanks Julie for finding and sending these).  They also watched Mr. Kruger's Christmas courtesy of You Tube.  And how could we have a Christmas activity and not sing the Twelve Days of Christmas, with the associated gestures (somehow I got to lead this).  As Angela always says "a good time was had by all..."

Goodies!!!

RS sisters learning about Christmas traditions

Book and FHE activity Sister Stevens prepared

And the winner is.... 

 

It's Election Time

From what we hear from the locals, you can tell when elections are coming, because they start paving the roads.  About a month ago, we were headed to Church and sure enough, our perfectly paved road was half repaved.  They don't close the road, or use construction workers to help control the traffic.  They just roll down the road and let all the cars, auto rickshaws, bikes and pedestrians fend for themselves.  Over the last several weeks, they finished our road, with a lot of very late night banging, using antiquated equipment and producing lots of noxious tar and diesel smells.  I thought you'd enjoy some pictures.   


Construction occurs day and night

"Modern" India construction equipment
 

Night workcrews set up temporary
shelters on the sidewalk and sleep
during the day

At intersections, the tar roads are topped
with another layer of  mixed tar with
rocks embedded in them to "strengthen" them