First days in Bangalore

We left for India on Tuesday, January 6, making it my most unusual birthday celebration.  Not much of a "King's Day."  We took a red eye to New York and had a 7 hour layover.  Then we took a 12 hour red eye on Etihad Airlines to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.  We decided to not wear our missionary badges.  If you think the roads through Wyoming or Nevada look desolate, you ought to look out the window as you fly into Abu Dhabi.  The airport was very unorganized.  It took us 45 minutes to taxi in, because there wasn't space for us at the terminal.  Then they unloaded us on buses, took us to the terminal, loaded us back on buses, and took us to our airplane to Bangalore.  We were amazed we didn't miss our flight.  We made it to Bangalore on Thursday evening, but our luggage didn't.  Fortunately, 3 suitcases came on Friday, and the last one came on Saturday.  I sat next to people on two legs of the trip who had colds, so I had a cold for the first 2 weeks I was here. The total travel time was about 21 hours of flying and 12 hours of waiting. That is a long time, but we did go half way around the world.

This is the apartment building we live in.  The complex is called Brigade Metropolis, and has 10 buildings the same size as ours.  We live on the 10th floor on the left side of the building.  Our apartment is about 1100 square feet, with 2 bedrooms, an office, dining/living area, and kitchen. Other than 2 Elders, we have seen only one other Caucasian here.  The complex is very nice, better than the one where we lived in San Diego.  There are tennis courts, swimming pools, basketball courts (always empty), and a cricket field.  The road going around the complex is 3/4 of a mile, so 3 to 4 laps in the morning keeps us on track for our "marathon" per week.  One day we even climbed the 20 stories of stairs in our building twice.  We haven't done that again.  Our living standard is among the top 1% or 2% of the people in India.  We are taking reservations for those who want to come visit us.




This is the water filter we have in our kitchen.  It has about six stages, including reverse osmosis, carbon filtering, sediment removal, and ultra violet zapping.  The water is probably of higher quality than bottled water.  One of these is in each missionary apartment.  The church is very serious about clean water for the health of the missionaries. The church also gives us malaria pills and vitamins to take every day.  So with these items, along with the $2,000 worth of shots we got before we came, we hope to maintain good health while here.

This is the view out of our bedroom window. It is a very clean neighborhood guarded by a couple of security check points to get into the area.  There are also security guards posted at several points along the road that we walk on in the morning.  We went to visit some members in the neighborhood about a half a mile away--you can see it in the distance.  It is a totally different India than what we are living in.  We (2 Elders, us, and a member) sat on 2 mats in the "front room," which was about 5 feet by 6 feet.  Very humble.



The main street in the area is Whitefield Road.  This is the "sidewalk" we walk on to the church and mission office.  The road is filled with traffic at other times during the day,  It takes about five minutes to walk to the office.  One difference between this sidewalk and others is that there are not as many motorcycles and rickshaws that drive on these sidewalks.











This is the entrance to the church and office complex. The church (on the right) was recently built and is planned to be the stake center. It is a very nice building, comparable to the quality of church buildings in the USA.  There is a district in Bangalore now, and they hope to become a stake in the next year or two.  The branch is well organized with great leadership.  If the other branches are this good, they should reach their goal of having a stake soon.




The office building where we work is behind the church. Jeff is the Finance Secretary and Sue is the Mission Secretary.  The mission office covers the right half of the first floor.  The distribution center is in the left half.  Church administrative offices for the country take up the second floor, and the third floor is the Mission President residence.  You can see our apartment tower in the background, the one on the right. We are looking into connecting our apartment and office by a zip line.



We decided to walk to the Phoenix mall the first week we were here.  This is a sidewalk we went down.  You can see all the businesses in this "strip mall."  We didn't buy too much here.











Another view of the traffic on Whitefield Road. This one in front of the mall.  The road is filled with auto rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, cars, buses, trucks, and people.  There are no traffic lights or crosswalks on this stretch of the road.  I don't know why they bother to paint lines in the road.  It is every driver and pedestrian for themselves.







The inside of the Phoenix Mall looks like one you would find in the USA--four stories and lots of American stores.  The prices were typical American prices, too.  The restaurants included KFC, Subway, California Burrito, Chili's, California Pizza Kitchen, Krispy Kreme, and Baskins Robbins.














Yes, we even found a gelato store,  Life won't be too bad here afterall.










We made our return trip in an auto rickshaw, our first ride in one of these.  This is one of our first "selfies,"  We are really getting caught up with technology.








Our first  P-Day was spent at the Botanical Garden.  They had a special flower show, with the Taj Mahal made out of roses.  The garden doesn't quite compare with Luxomberg Gardens in Paris, but it was pretty nice.  Below are a few more pictures.  The Elders caught a ride with us to a shopping area, so there were five us in the auto rickshaw.  One sat in front with the driver. The other pictures are two more shots of the gardens.

We (the AP's and us) welcomed some new Indian missionaries by taking them out to lunch at a local restaurant. I am not sure what we had, but it was authentic Indian.  It cost between $1.50 to $2.00 per plate--a good price for a tight-wad.

Wrap up San Diego, Get Ready for Bangalore

On December 31 we received a surprise email telling us our visas had been approved and we were able to go to India.  We had truly enjoyed our time in San Diego, but knew India was the place for us to serve.  So we packed up and headed back to Utah.  Some highlights of the last half of our San Diego stay were:

We enjoyed our work in the San Diego 4^th ward.  The members and leaders there were great to get to know and work with.  It especially rewarding to see the progress made by some members and gain so many new friends.

Our son, Brent, and his family came to visit and say a last goodbye on the weekend of December 14.  We went to the beach, La Jolla Cove, the Mormon Battalion, Old Town, Scripps Aquarium, and the Harbor Parade of Lights—to name a few.  Most of all we enjoyed just being with these three grandchildren one last time.  (It was also nice to spend time with Brent and Bridgett.)

We went to a Bedke Christmas party.  My dad’s cousin, Cloyd Bedke, has spent most of his adult life in San Diego.  I called him to say hello and he invited us to his family Christmas party.  We enjoyed meeting his wife, Kathy, his kids and grandkids.  Cloyd shared some stories about my dad and some other old Bedke stories.  He had invited some friends to join the family party and we were surprised to find out one friend grew up in Bingham Canyon and knew several of Sue’s family members.  It is a small world.

Our service opportunities included working with the Marine Toys for Tots program.  We helped sort

and organize some the donations.  We were amazed with the volume of donations and the great work performed by this organization.  We were also able to work with a group of church members to prepare a dinner at the Ronald McDonald House on Christmas Day.  A young mother had recently spent received a lot of help from this organization during her son’s illness, so she organized the activity to say thanks and help the current residents.

We had some great experience with the missionaries.  One was a mission conference with Elder Brent Nielson of the Quorum of the Seventy.  He grew up in our ward in Burley and was my brother Dave’s best friend.  As the older brother, I figured that I had taught Dave and his friends most everything they knew.  But I found that I learned a lot from Elder Nielson about the atonement and missionary work.  During lunch he came over to our table to chat with us.  He asked us about  4 times if we were really OK about going to India.  I am not sure if he had a better offer or what.  He shared some of his fun memories about Dad and the family.  He also recalled the time I drove the car off the road with him in the back seat as we came down the mountain road after a day of skiing at Pomerelle.  It was truly a miracle that no one suffered any harm.

Another great missionary meeting we got to share was the Christmas devotional with all 250 missionaries.  We enjoyed a breakfast prepared by the local Relief Society, then had a Christmas program.  What a great sight and feeling to be involved with so many choice Elders, Sisters, and other Senior Couples.

Our last visitors in San Diego from home were Jill, Roger, Kyle and Angie.  It was great to see so many family and friends while in San Diego.  We have a two bedroom apartment in Bangalore, and are accepting reservations now.

The best thing about the timing of our visas was that we were able to attend our granddaughter Emmie's baptism on January 3.  It was so wonderful to be there!  We are so happy with the choices she has made and the great person that she is.  She is a wonderful example to us, the rest of her family, and her friends.

Tinley had one last chance to make cookies with Grandma.  She used her baking kit and apron that she received from Grandma Pett.  

First Stop: San Diego

We continue to enjoy serving here in the San Diego Mission while waiting for our visas.  The missionaries (about 250 of them, 25 senior couples) and all the people we have met are very kind to us and make us feel welcome.  We have found something in common with many of the other senior missionary couples here including a sister missionary that I worked with many years ago at ZCMI, a brother missionary that was friends with our Utah ward member Bob Mouritsen, a couple missionary whose daughter is in the Bruertons’ (friends in Utah) neighborhood, our mission president and a couple from Texas that knows Jeff’s sister Karen and her family .  The couples serving in the mission office have been helpful in giving us some training in preparation for India. The first Monday of each month the senior missionaries get together for Family Home Evening.   In December we gathered at the Institute building for dinner and a Christmas program. 

Our main responsibility is to help current members.   One of the members we are working with joined the church a few years ago.  He moved to San Diego and, for various reasons, stopped coming to church. He has shared with us that he wants to return to church activity, as he recognizes that the happiest time of his life was when he was fully involved with the church.  We enjoy helping him come back.   We also have made some visits and attempted visits to members in our ward that are either new move-ins or haven’t been seen for awhile.   We have helped some with employment needs.  There are other members we hope to visit in the next few weeks.

Another priority is to invite other people to come unto Christ and learn about the church.  We love the new 3 minute Christmas video—“He is the Gift”.  We have shared it with people we have met and they have felt the spirit of the message.  We plan to continue to share it over the next few weeks.   We invite you all to please discover, embrace and share it!  It is all about the best gift of Christmas. Click on the link below:

christmas.mormon.org

 

An inspiring moment was when we met a clerk in the grocery store who after seeing our name tags commented that he had a friend who found family, which he did not think he had, with the help of our church and FamilySearch.  He actually flew to where they were and had Thanksgiving dinner with them.  We also met a clerk in a sporting goods store who also agreed to have the missionaries.  Another interesting teaching experience for us was visiting an inmate in the San Diego County Jail.  It was Sue’s first and Jeff’s second time inside a jail.  The inmate’s fiancé had just joined the church and she wanted him to start learning about the church.  Unfortunately, they would not allow us to give him a Book of Mormon, but we were able to teach him some of the basic principles.  We will have a Book of Mormon mailed to him, and then follow-up with some more discussion.  He gets out of prison in January and says he would like to be baptized.

As with young missionaries, schedules are not always full and appointments are cancelled.  So we find other opportunities to serve.  We have sorted holiday food at the San Diego food bank, and inspected missionary apartments.  We have visited the family history center and are becoming more comfortable with the new websites for this work.  We have found some new family names to take to the temple.  We know we won’t be able to go to the temple once we get to India, so we are getting in some extra visits to the temple while we are here.

A highlight for us was being able to join with lifetime friends the Colins for Thanksgiving dinner. They were dear friends and neighbors of my family when I was a child and have been our friends for more than 50 years!  We enjoyed visiting with their family and the dinner was a delicious feast!  We have also enjoyed going out to lunch with our cousins who live in the area.

The weather here in San Diego is beautiful and we love walking along the beaches or on Harbor Island.  We do a marathon every week!  (It takes us the entire week to complete the 26 plus miles.)  We try and do at least a 3 to 4 mile walk early every morning to keep in shape and also to offset our “It’s-It” treats (California specialty ice cream sandwich  made with oatmeal cookies, ice cream and dipped in chocolate).

For P-Day activities, we have been able to visit some of local attractions including The Mormon Battalion Historical site, La Jolla coves with an abundance of seals, Cabrillo Monument, Point Loma, and Mount Soledad.  The San Diego temple grounds are beautifully decorated for Christmas and offer Christmas concerts every weekend.  The Mormon Battalion site will also be having the 12 days of Christmas with musical presentations every night.

We are so happy being missionaries and our testimonies have been strengthened witnessing the gospel going forth to all peoples.  We have increased in knowledge and love as we study the Preach my Gospel manual and the scriptures.  It is wonderful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and to be involved in bearing testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ.  We are truly blessed!

Week 1 and 2

It was great to have our entire family with us for our farewell sacrament meeting and setting apart on October 26.  We are also grateful for the other family and friends that joined us.

On November 3 we drove to the MTC and checked in.  It wasn’t the same process as we went through with our kids.  We stayed at the Wyview Family Housing, which was about a mile from the MTC, so it was a short commute every day.  There were about 45 couples and 9 single sisters that started with us.  There were more MLS (Member and Leader Support) missionaries than the other types.  But there was quite a variety of calls, including humanitarian, record retention, stay at home M/LS, family history center, employment center, office support, PEF (perpetual education fund/self reliance), medical, and welfare.  They were going to all areas of the world.  One couple was going to Iraq.

We found Scott’s picture still hanging on the wall, with a family he was able to baptize in Brazil a few years ago.

We met Zach Ashton from our ward in the MTC on our first day.  It was his last week before leaving to Moscow, Russia.  He was in my sunbeam class 14 years ago, and was our home teacher just before he left.

Our first week at the MTC was focused on learning how to teach from “Preach My Gospel.”  They divided us into districts of 8 for our classes.  We were impressed with the power of the message and the teaching program.  We did role plays within our district and with volunteer “investigators” who came to give us some good practice.  It was a little stressful, certainly not as easy as just listening to lectures.

The food was great in the MTC.  Mom wondered why she had bothered to send food to our sons.  They feed hundreds everyday.  Where’s Waldo Elder Bedke in the picture?

On P-Day we got to go to a BYU basketball game.  We were standing in line to buy tickets and a man came up to us and gave us tickets.  Curtis has decided to start dressing as a missionary when he needs tickets.  We were able to see friends from our ward—the Hobby’s, Smart’s, and Larsen’s.  After the game we saw my cousin, Curt Collard.  We had seen him in Arizona last winter just after he had gone through chemo and white blood cell transfusion, so it was wonderful to see him in a greatly improved situation.

We were also able to go to the Hindu exhibit at the BYU museum, and learn more about the India culture.  They have many Gods.  One of the principal gods has been reincarnated 10 times.  He lived some of his earlier lives as animals.  He was Krishna in his seventh life (or avatar) and Budda in his tenth.  They believe he will come back again at the end of the world.

Our visas didn’t come as hoped, so we stayed in the MTC for a second week.  We decided to attend the office training classes, as our mission president said he may ask us to serve in the office for part of our mission.  We were joined by 3 other couples.  The Birch’s are from Idaho Falls and going to Calgary.  They were the youngest senior missionaries there.  They are in their early 50’s and taking a year sabbatical from his Optometrist practice to serve.  The Keele’s are going to Ghana.  The Shelton’s are going to Bakersfield.

Our visas didn’t come the second week, so we got a temporary assignment to go to San Diego until they come.  I know, it sounds like a really rough assignment.  The shortest time we hope for is two weeks, but it could be as long as eight weeks.  We drove to Barstow on Friday the 14^th and came the rest of the way on Saturday.  We have a one bedroom apartment about a mile from Balboa Park.  We spent the rest of Saturday moving in, cleaning, and buying what was missing.  We are assigned to the San Diego 4^th ward (pictured at right) and attended there yesterday.  It was a very friendly ward with about 150 attending.  The bishop is Don Martin, who graduated from Burley HS a year after Dave.  The stake has a special fireside Sunday night featuring Alex Boye.  He told of his conversion and his faith in Christ.  He has a very different teaching style, but it was very good to hear his message.