Sweet is the Work

It’s hard to believe that July is over already! But it has felt good to ease into full-time missionary work again. We are so thankful for all the skilled professionals that helped Elder in the hospital. Here is a shot of a few of them as he leaves.

And Sister Adams made sure he felt welcomed as he returned home.

He also received a few homemade get well cards and many get well wishes from friends and family. Thanks again for all your prayers.

We did take it easy for a couple of weeks, and it was such a sweet blessing to be able to again attend church with all our friends out in Dwarka. In the weeks we had missed, it’s like they realized that we almost got sent home and we aren’t going to be with them forever, so it’s up to them to start doing more of the things they need to be doing. Branch council meeting was so fun to experience! And average attendance is up from 65 when we got here to 85-95. Way to go!

And the next Sunday in Noida we saw our first baptism out there—there have been a few others but we just weren’t there for them.

Their baptismal font is also on the roof of the building. And here is a shot of the neighborhood

and one of its residents sitting on the gate of the church.

So Noida, the smallest branch in the district, who was averaging only about 15-20 at Sacrament Meeting when we first got here (8 of which were us missionaries), is now averaging 35-45 a week and one week they were above 50. There are only 80 members on the role so President Gygi and those young missionaries are working super hard on both reactivating and finding.

We had a super fun visitor on July 22.

Many of you will recognize Rob Schill, who served as ward clerk when Elder was bishop, and then replaced him as bishop of the Marston Lake Ward in 2008. He was in town for a week and made time to come spend an evening with us, going to Dwarka Branch’s Pioneer Celebration.

He seemed to enjoy mingling with the Indian Saints,

listening to stories about pioneers then (Utah) and now (India), watching stick pulls

and biscuit eating contests

and getting a taste of real Indian food.

Here is some of what he shared about the experience:

“I happened to come when they were having their branch celebration of Pioneer Day and saw Sister Allen lead the primary children in a song and heard Elder Allen bear a wonderful testimony of his mission and about being a pioneer. I got in my cab that night with a hot plate of food, a warm goodbye from the branch and such an uplifted feeling for having been there.”

Any of the rest of you who might find yourself in New Delhi in the next 8 months, just let us know and we will give you a taste of the real India!

We are in the middle of monsoon season over here and I caught a glimpse this past week of a couple of the Noida Elders trying to protect themselves from the downpour.

And I’ve noticed that even if it isn’t raining at the time, the humidity is often 95-98% so it might as well be raining.

A week ago, the number of senior couples in the mission doubled with the arrival of the Hubbards (on the right--Public Affairs, Humanitarian and supporting one branch) and the Blunts (MLS like us so supporting two branches).

We are so excited! Sister Adams has made up a FHE schedule for the first Monday of the month and we get to host this next Monday evening. What’s on the menu? The Allen family’s favorite--Chicken Sundaes/haystacks of course!

Last night all of us senior couples, plus the Hodges, attended the wedding, dinner and reception for the daughter of President and Sister Katuka, he having been baptized back in the 80’s and one of the most experienced members in Delhi.  I believe he was the first missionary from Delhi, he is a current Branch President—but also previous branch president many times—not always serving in the branch where he resides, and previous District President. Sister Katuka is District Relief Society president, branch YW president, and also teaches a combined Institute/Seminary class in their branch. They both were on the couple’s conference committee with us, plus they serve on the district Self Reliance committee with us. The groom is also from Delhi but both he and his new wife are currently attending BYU Provo. It was the largest wedding we have yet attended as President Katuka is also very well connected in the community.

Here is a picture of President Katuka on the left with current District President Suku and his counselor President Palanivel at the Branch Presidents training on July 2.

Here is the wedding, and then the reception with the bride and groom in traditional Indian Wedding clothes.

Elder enjoyed the dance floor.

The work continues here in Delhi—there is always much to do. We are thankful to still be here participating in it.

Tender Mercies

It is a wonderful thing to see the hand of the Lord in our life, to feel His love and sustaining care. Even amidst change and surprises, it is the one constant. Let me share some context:

Health is important to both Elder and I. We try to eat right, exercise, manage stress, be ‘anxiously engaged in good causes,’ and make room for fun and friends as well. We have both been active and healthy pretty much our whole 41 years of married life—for which we are grateful.

However, there is a lot of heart disease in Elder’s family, including his father and mother and younger brother. Seventeen years ago he had a coronary angiogram and was given a clean bill of heart health, with all the arteries looking great. About 5 or 6 years ago he started experiencing a heaviness in his chest, fatigue and even hoarseness when spending long periods of time on his computer. He mentioned it to his doctor but there didn’t seem to be much concern. He could pass any stress test they gave him with flying colors. He loved his running club with its monthly trail races and probably averaged running 20-25 miles a week.

Since coming to India, he has only run a handful of times, usually going on walks with me or riding the stationary bike in our flat while practicing Hindi. He did go on one 40-minute run last week and said it felt great! But the last couple of months that heaviness in his chest after working on the compute intensified, coming after only 30 minutes of work instead of an hour or two. He tried different arm positions, different relative heights for his laptop, making sure he wasn’t holding his breath while working, but nothing seemed to make a difference. So on Thursday, June 23, he called Sister Hodges and asked about making a doctor appointment for him. She agreed and called back asking whether he wanted to go that Saturday, or Monday, June 27. He opted for Monday. The internist he saw was very responsive and ordered a whole bunch of blood work and tests, including an EKG, ultrasounds of his abdomen and CT scans of his heart. All of these tests were done on Tuesday and Wednesday, with him picking up all the results by Thursday and bringing them to his return appointment with the doctor Saturday morning. Everything looked good until we got to the CT scans of his heart, where she read about a ‘moderate to severe blockage’ in his LAD, with both calcified and soft plaque evident. She prescribed a statin and referred him to a cardiologist, whose first appointment wasn’t until Tuesday morning, July 5. Just for the record, we were very impressed by how quickly all these tests and appointments happened and at their inexpensive costs: an EKG for $8 and a CT scan for $300. Total so far for 2 doctor appointments and all the tests: $650.

President and Sister Hodges got back from a trip to Nepal on Saturday night and asked for a copy of all the results to send to the Missionary Doctor in Hong Kong. We heard from him by 7:30 am Sunday with instructions to not go out to Dwarka Branch for the day as planned, but rest at home. He was in need of a stent or two in his heart but where and when? The soft plaque made travel risky. It was decided to go to the emergency room here, hoping to see a cardiologist before Tuesday, asking their opinion of travel, and maybe getting some nitro for the interim. President Hodges and Br. Anil (the mission driver) gave Elder a blessing promising him healing and comfort and we were all on our way back to the hospital by about 10:30 am.

In hospital pharmacy--they are called chemists here

We were all amazed that there was no waiting in the emergency room and he got immediate testing. Of course we gave them all of the results from previous tests (all results belong to the patient here, you pick them up and carry them around, show them to the doctor, then take them back home again—even all the large images from the CT scan) but there were more done including another EKG and an echocardiogram (everything looked good). He had at least two cardiologists come and see him, both talking to the mission doctor in Hong Kong by phone. Everyone was feeling very peaceful when all the doctors agreed that the best course of action was to admit him and do the procedure here on Monday. The head cardiologist would do the insertion and he is board certified both here and in the USA. Come to find out, this team of doctors does over 20 angiograms a day, many with stent insertions. Talk about experience! Yeah!

Monday morning waiting for the procedure

The procedure went as planned on Monday afternoon, with the one 80% blockage in his LAD requiring two stents because of its length. His recovery is going well. We discovered that the protocol here is to keep them 24-48 hours after the procedure, so he was released from ICU this morning (Tuesday, July 5) to a regular room, but won’t come home until Wednesday morning. He is looking great and feeling great! The only incision is a small cut into the main artery of his right arm down by his wrist. Modern medicine is amazing! We feel so blessed!

Tuesday morning feeling great!

President and Sister Hodges have been so supportive—spending 6 hours with us at the hospital on Sunday and another 4-5 yesterday. Sister Hodges went back this morning and will go tomorrow since we will most likely need her help with the checkout procedure/insurance. Elder and Sister Adams have also been so supportive, driving out to the hospital with me Sunday night so I could take a few things to Elder, plus Elder Adams gave me a comfort blessing Monday morning and Sister Adams gave me food to eat later at the hospital. Br. Anil, the mission driver, volunteered to drive me to and from the hospital anytime I needed, with the Hodges approval. All the nurses and doctors and workers at the hospital were so helpful and professional. We feel so grateful and blessed.

One of our many competent nurses

The information counter in the  main lobby with a very helpful receptionist

But overarching all the rest, the peaceful feeling we have all felt through it all has been so wonderful and sustaining. Having a heart procedure while on our mission certainly wasn’t in our plans, but with a recovery time of 72 hours (according to our head cardiologist) and a ‘take it easy’ time of only a week or so, it isn’t a game changer either.

Now you might ask why I didn’t let you all know what was going on. Honestly, it all happened so fast and the comforting Spirit was so strong, I only took the time to inform our immediate family members. The Lord truly is in charge, that I know. And no, it doesn’t always work out so smoothly and quickly and I don’t know why, but this time I’m thankful it did or our 18-month mission might have been cut in half. As it is, we look forward to the next 9 months loving the people here in Delhi.

Thanks for your continuing prayers of support! We can feel them!

The View from the Hump

Nine months—the hump—we’re halfway through our mission. It’s hard to believe, but then again last October seems like a long time ago.

The monsoons have started so the temperatures have come down and the humidity has gone way up. What does 95 degrees feel like with 50 or 60% humidity? A sauna! Here is the forecast for the next few days:

This last week was a great week for our mission! Though we sent two very good missionaries home, we got three back from the Philippians with renewed visas, four new ones from south India and one from the US.  In about three weeks two more senior missionary couples will be joining us! Yeah! Here we are sending Elder Muthyam home. He was one of the Assistants to the President when we first arrived and was so helpful and patient with us as we learned the Indian ways. He finished his mission working in Noida, so was very instrumental in helping to raise its Sunday attendance from 20 to 40+. He will be missed.

We are beginning to see some baptisms of students from the English classes we started last March. Here is the Chauhan family in Dwarka whose three kids are now all members. The Elders are still teaching the Mom and Dad.

On Father’s Day, we invited the single first counselor in the District Presidency over for dinner following a District Self Reliance Committee Meeting. President Pandey is a good friend and we both enjoy our time with him.

I splurged on a kitchen cutter/dicer recently. One of the sisters we visit regularly has one and says it saves a ton of time. Since cooking here is so time/labor intensive, and Amazon.india sells them for about $6.50, I thought how wrong could I go? I love it! I learned the hard way, though, that the blades are extremely sharp and you should not try to pick out any little pieces of food with your fingers. Once that was learned, I’ve been enjoying the speed at which I can prepare vegetables for cooking.

I learned something new from my seminary students a couple of weeks ago. I had taken some black pepper for an object lesson during class. I had also taken some cut up watermelon as a treat following class. They all grabbed the pepper and liberally sprinkled it on their watermelon before eating it up! I knew Indians like spicy food—but spicy watermelon? I guess so!

Here are a couple of street shots: Here is Elder on our way to an appointment 

                  … down a narrow road with scaffolding from construction making the road even narrower. And here is a view of all the wires overhead.

And this last one is on the way to church in Noida last Sunday. This fellow was riding on a motorcycle standing up! What a daredevil!

We had some really satisfying meetings just yesterday with some less actives that we have been working with a long time—and they told us they are ready to recommit! Yeah! And tonight we meet with the District Presidency, Branch Presidents, and District Council in the next step of implementing the Branch Development Plan, simplifying the handbook for the members here. The work moves forward! 

It's June!

It is June and that means it is hot in Delhi. How hot? Like melt on the sidewalk hot. Like drink 2 liters of water a day hot. Like take a shower as soon as we get home hot. We have seen 115 and 117 temperatures but when you add in the 30-40% humidity, it feels even hotter. In the morning the low is 90 and humid. Luckily we have had a few rain storms move through already and they usually cool it down a few degrees.  Plus we are blessed to have air conditioners in our flat, while many of the members only have fans. The one good thing we’ve learned about weather this hot is that it is too hot for mosquitoes—there aren’t any right now. We hear that when the monsoons come, it will cool down for good. I'm thinking of learning a rain dance. But we’ve also heard that the mosquitoes come back en masse so we bought a mosquito bat with a rechargeable battery that kills any bug it hits. The mosquitoes are not welcome in our home!

We have a number of stories to share. Last week we met with a small group of young single adults, most in their mid-20's. Our topic was becoming a stake, but even more important, becoming a Zion people. As part  of  that  discussion  we talked about  some  of  the  sacrifices  the early members  made in coming to Zion. Then we pointed out that they are the pioneers in New Delhi, as all were first generation members and many the only member of their family. We asked them to share with us what kind of sacrifices they have made. Here are my recollections of what a couple of them shared. (We had donuts at Dunkin Donuts after our activity.)

Dave is from Manipur, a state in northeast India, a place of many tribes and many languages. He lives close to the border of Myanmar (Burma)--in fact there are people across the border from the same tribe who speak the same language as he, but the border separates them. His is a small tribe from the hill country and they are more Mongolian than Aryan (north India) or Dravidian (south India). They were pagans, worshipping the forces of nature until right about 100 years ago, when Christian missionaries arrived and now members of his tribe are all Christians. However he is the only Mormon, having joined while here in Delhi. He has even served a mission in south India, but he can’t get a passport so he wasn’t able to go to the MTC or the temple before serving. The members of his tribe are all very close knit and he misses them a lot, but to go home would mean being so far away from any other member of the church. He has made some very good friends among some of the other YSA’s and they support one another. Dave is serving as Elder’s Quorum President in his branch.

Another one of the male YSA’s shared his story, also being the only member of his family to join the church. He is from the Brahmin Caste—the highest priestly caste, and within that caste, from the highest rank. He said he still worries a bit about others in his caste finding out and coming and beating him up for his choice. He also has good supportive friends within the ranks of the YSA’s. We are aware of several others from within the higher castes whose families are still not aware of their being members of our church even after 5 or 6 years, as it would make trouble for the whole extended family.

I think I’ve shared before that people’s last names indicate from which caste their family belongs, and maybe that is one reason why members of the church here go by the name Brother/Sister (their first name). Also higher ranking castes are associated with lighter colored skin. We’ve been told there are pockets of Indians from the far northern parts of India with very light skin. The southern part of India has some very dark skin people. This was something I hadn’t thought about before arriving here—the wide variety in the color of brown among the Indians. Here is a picture from yesterday’s birthday celebration for a lady in Noida Branch, and you can see the range of skin colored among the members. I have to say that I’m so used to being with beautiful brown people that when I see someone from North America, they look so pale to me.

Another story we were told recently is about a love marriage. This young couple grew up just a few houses away from each other since they were 8-10 years old and were good friends, he a Hindu and she a Sikh. As they got older, her parents told her to stay away from him, since he is of the lowest rank. (He explained that his last name is of the kingly rank around Jaipur, but everywhere else, of the lowest. The story they were told was that they used to be the rulers, but then were conquered and made the slaves.) She is of the Punjabi rank and marriage outside of your own caste is not allowed. Anyway, they said the advice had the exact opposite effect on their relationship as what her parents had desired—they did in fact start liking each other. Along the way, he joined the Church and went on a mission. They married a couple of years ago, but had to run away to do so. Her parents still live just a few houses down from them, and her father hasn’t spoken to her since their marriage. Her mother has started to communicate via texting, but that is all. And then they told us of the couple married just before them at the place they went to, also a love marriage. The other couple were killed by members of their families shortly after their marriage, and it was considered an honor killing. Very sad. We have been told that in rural villages, the caste system still has even more power than in the big cities. Even within the Church, a lot of the marriages are arranged and most are still within their caste.

On a little lighter note, we had another District Conference the end of May. Here we are visiting with members of the Noida Branch prior to the start of the meeting. (The lady in yellow is sharing pictures from her phone with me.)

And here we are meeting with the 4 Elders working in Noida.

We are excited that there are two more senior couples coming, hopefully next month. They were supposed to be here this month but are delayed, waiting for their visas. We are also getting a few more young Elders from the US, but they too are waiting for visas. The work goes on.

Remember that building by the Dwarka Church that is under construction? I watched as these workers piled 20 bricks onto this platform they had on their heads, then walked around to the side of the building, climbed up to the third floor and delivered the bricks to some other workers up there. In this picture, at the bottom left you see a worker putting the bricks onto his head and then at the upper right, you can see another worker delivering the bricks.

The green material along the front of the building is to contain the construction dust to the site and are very common here. There is a ton of manual labor in construction here.

Well I have been adding to this blog for about 10 days now so I'm going to post it. We are alive and well, but a little on the warm side. We love the people here and admire the way they have embraced the gospel and the hope it gives them in their lives. We do recognize many of their hardships and challenges and pray for their growing faith. They are indeed the pioneers here in Delhi.

Couples Conference

Elder and I were asked to help plan the first ever Couples Conference here in New Delhi.

The church doesn’t own/rent any building large enough for this type of event, so we held it at a resort within the New Delhi region (The Golden Tulip),

rented buses to bring everyone from all the different branch buildings, had 4 workshops, lunch,  games, and a concluding testimony meeting. We weren’t sure how it would turn out because we were asking the people to gather by 6:45 am (remember some people travel 45 minutes or more just to get to their branch building), and the buses to leave by 7. The resort was only a 30 minute drive from a couple of the branches but more than an hour from 3 of the buildings. We had scheduled to start the actual program (after registration/name tags) at 9. Would the people come on time and the buses leave on time? (Remember Indian Standard time is 1-2 hours late. Just the previous Saturday, the District YW activity’s buses left 1½ hours late.) Well the first bus rolled in a little before 8 and they just kept coming with the furthest one, which stopped by to pick up a second branch on its way, getting there just before 9. We were able to start by 9:15—which we all counted as a success! And we ended right on time at 5 pm! Another success!

For a few of the husbands who work night shift, some time on a couch in the lobby was a must!

Another question we faced was how many people would come? We had everyone fill out a preregistration form and by the Sunday before, 91 couples had registered! Oh my! How many would actually come? We expected a few drop outs, so were thrilled when 75 couples stepped off those buses! 

A huge concern for me personally was how many children would come. (I was over the babysitting.) We had asked everyone to please leave their children home with extended family or friends if at all possible. As the District President said, “This is a Couples Conference, not a Primary Conference or a Family Conference.” This is counter-culture to not bring kids—the first week here when we were invited to attend a District Branch Presidents Training and dinner for them and their wives, there were at least 5 children in attendance. Our pre-registration form had those same instructions on it, with the additional statement that there would be very limited babysitting available to those who would not be able to attend without it, and a place to list the name and age of children coming. I had been told that mothers bringing children less than 5 would never leave them, but keep them with them for the day. Not one person listed that they would be bringing children 5 and older. Still I had 3 YSA women lined up to help me and a full day of activities planned.

Well, we had a couple of pre-teens (great helpers!), about 7 aged 5-9,

and a few younger ones whose parent or grandparent usually stayed with them in our room for a break from the workshops. There were probably a dozen small ones who did stay down with their parents all day, with minimal distraction considering it was a long day. Another success!

Showing off macaroni necklaces and bracelets:

Elder gave the opening workshop entitled Building a Celestial Marriage, with a help of a translator, a 2-sided handout (English one side and Hindi the other), and role-plays by the Mission Finance Administrator and her husband. It got the conference off to a great start!

Then the group divided into three and rotated to each of the other workshops: Happily Now and Forever by Suresh and Pavani Ramakrishna; 

The Blessings (and Steps) of Being Sealed to our Families in the Temple by President and Sister Katuka; 

and Building a Strong Marriage on a Foundation of Self-Reliance by Shyam and Radika Lohat.

 They all did a great job! People were also able to sign up for Family Search.

All the presenters were all also on the steering committee, along with the District Councilman assigned to organize the conference, our good friend Raj Kumar Tamang, the previous branch president of Noida. He and his wife also planned and led the games—fun minute-to-win-it type games that people really enjoyed! The buffet lunch was also enjoyed by all! And then there was a moving testimony meeting to end the day, followed by many pictures—an Indian tradition!

This is five of the six couples from Noida Branch.

If you believe the surveys that 65 people turned in at the end of the day, it was a 4.7 out of 5.0 kind of day! It might have been the first Couples Conference in Delhi District, but we hope it isn’t the last.

A few other happenings: We spent Mother’s Day out in Noida and all women there were treated to a couple of roses and some chocolates. I wasn’t expecting this in India, but it was appreciated.

Dwarka Branch had a baptism and here are the people who stayed after church for it:

An 85-year old retired pilot from the Indian Air Force along with one of the planes he flew. He also had fascinating stories of before and after independence and the partition of Pakistan from India—he grew up in what is now Pakistan but his family moved south as they were Christians.

President Gygi (Noida Branch) and his wife had all of us missionaries working out there over for dinner and a FHE last Monday. What a spread! We also had a great discussion about the blessing of becoming a Stake of Zion and what each of us can do to help to make it happen.

Yesterday it got to 117 degrees, but that didn't stop us. We had a very busy day, visiting 6 different families, a few of which we took a picture of. First is a family whose mom works in Singapore as a cook. She gets to come home every year or two for a week or so and we happened to catch her there.

We also got to visit a couple of their neighbors. Everyone likes pictures, especially with Americans.

We went out to eat at Barbeque Nation to help celebrate the birthday of our good friend Ashish (means blessing) and his family.

Good food, dancing waiters, good company makes for a good time! We feel blessed. We hope you do too.