So Busy and More to Do

Here is our personal photo with President and Sister Jackson. President Jackson is a great President of the Mission, and he loves to keep stirring the pot. We have been so busy since he came on the scene. We are in the Mission Office nine to ten hours a day Monday through Friday. My dear Companion is 1st Counselor in the Mission Presidency with all kinds of night meetings, and we share the responsibility of YSA. I am Primary President to a room full of smiling faces and wiggly bodies, give piano lessons, teach English, and play for some Sacrament meetings and baptisms. We are fully engaged every day, seven days of the week. Preparation Day? No, we haven't had one of those yet.

Here is a group of some of our YSA. This photo will be sent to Margaret and Dev. They are two that are now on their mission. Rajeev and Kartik have their call. They will make such wonderful missionaries, and are both fully prepared. With all of the YSA who leave on their missions, the family support just isn't there. Many ask for us to pray for their families. These are all first members, pioneers in their families. Margaret is in the black sari near the middle. She can't wear a sari on her mission, but she loves to wear one occasionally. I wrote about our visit to her home at about 12 midnight when we went to pick her up and take her to the airport. We walked to her small home and dad was asked to pray for the family. Victoria is also in the middle in the blue. Victoria was complaining that her family was giving her such a hard time for being a member. None of them were doing what they should and she was upset with them so often. We talked and decided that she should just love them, not judge them and be a good example and loving daughter. One night in YSA we had an activity where we marked Book of Mormons to give away. We made a comment that perhaps we don't have to look far from the walls of our own family to find it a home. Victoria placed her testimony in the cover the the book in her own home. She has to members of her family that now have also joined the church. Vanita near the left side in the pink skirt works with me in the Primary. We have about 30 children in Primary. We had 25 YSA came out last night for Family Night. Dad gave a power point lesson on Eternal Marriage. You would think that would be boring?? They asked him to keep going...and of course, he did. I made a Twister game out of a sheet, and they had a real fun time. I had printed instructions on card stock. They played three to a game, and they were very good. They loved it and it was late before we passed out the cupcakes and sent everyone home. We had no transportation in sight. No auto rickshaws were parked across the street, or coming down the street. It gets dark early now, and many of the auto rickshaws do not have headlights, although that doesn't slow some of them down. They just drive in the dark without lights. But God did provide and we arrived safely home.

Today two eager prospective missionaries came into the office for an interview with Pres. Jackson. One is a native of Nepal, the other was born in New Delhi. We carefully went over their mission papers, and I helped them to get the information to finish filling in the blank spaces. I love working with these young men and women. The down side is I have to get visas for everyone, and that is one of my hardest responsibilities. However, I have really seen the hand of the Lord in this work.

We went with the Weeks and visited the Mother Teresa orphanage. It was a good experience. We took some food, and Sister Weeks was hoping to be able to do some service in the Orphanage, perhaps sewing for the children.

We saw this sign posted on the wall of the Orphanage. It has a very real message. Others can not see our handicaps as easily as the children's handicaps that live here. They are pretty well cared for, and Mother Teressa has brought a lot of attention to the Orphans in India and has some support come in because her legend lives on.

These young girls were mending and sewing for the children. They were orphans also, but without handicaps.

I thought the posters that were put on the wall of Mother Teressa were very interesting and inspiring.

There were classes in session for those who could attend. I wondered why the blind children were not put into the classroom. They sat on top of a low shelf in the last room, all three huddled together until the Sister pulled one down to talk to us. She could speak some English and enjoyed being with us.

A Physical Therapist worked with a young girl in a small open area.

Along a hall, a form of a high chair with a tray was where many of the more severe handicapped children sat. I did not see any wheelchairs in the facility. They were in the same spot all day until bed time when they were put into their beds. Still they were well cared for by the women and sisters.

Most of the children, girls or boys, had the short boys hair cut, especially if they were handicapped. When the children reach 15 years old, they would go to a girls or boys facility.

This class was working on the ABC's. I asked them if they could sing the ABC's song with me. All of the young children knew the song in China and would drown me out, which is good because I can't really sing. But here I sang a solo, but they gave me their full attention.





We enjoy many baptisms in our Branch 3. You can see dad in the background. Sister Pinky and Brother Joshua were baptized and I played the piano. Sister Pinky, second from left, and her husband, first on left, invited us to their home for dinner with four other Elders. She told me what music she wanted for Sunday. Count Your Blessings and Jesus Lover of My Soul.

I had to spend some time trying to learn the second song, as I had never really known it. Now I play it during my practice and call it Pinky's Song.

Dad was asked to baptize Amit Kumar. Amit now comes to the Mission Office as often as he can to vist with dad.

Kartik got his mission packet and came into the office to pick it up. We asked him if he was going to take it home and open it. He said he would open it then. His family, who love him very much, at one time told him to choose between the church or his home. But after a day of fasting and prayer, an Elder who taught him had a short visit with his father and his father relented. The family now encourage him to be his best and he is trying to teach them by example. Still a mission is hard for them to understand.

The baptism Font is outdoors. Here is dad and Amit on the stairs going down to the font.

Our YSA FHE Fireside good bye to the Ricks.

The Kutab Minar at a distance, just inside the park.

An old Muslin Mosque at the entrance of the park.

A family stopped us and wanted to talk. They also wanted a photo of us with their children. The oldest daughter is in the red, the younger daughter has the black scarf around her head. The boys will never cut their hair, and it is worn with the traditional top knot and tight cap over their hair. Their father had a full turban on his head. They were only one of several families that we talked to and had our picture taken with. We really enjoyed the afternoon. It was not at all crowded, it was clean, and everyone was friendly.

Some of the other buildings surrounding the Kutab Minar have not survived as well as the tower.

Many of the children that wanted to talk to us also wanted to have their pictures taken with us. This is a delightful little girl that asked if she could interview us. Then she wanted a photo with us.

The Kutab Minar is faced with sandstone. It recently has been cleaned and it is very beautiful.

We hired a guide to take us through the park. We had to pay for an expensive ticket, so the grounds excluded many people that ordinarily follow us to ask for money. Inside the park were families and the children came up to us and wanted to talk. Our guide was an expert on the site, and also was very happy to take photos for us.

We are at the Kutab Minar. There are many ruins around the structure. There are many spellings for the monument (Qutb Minar). It is a very very hot day in Delhi. I was hiding under my hat from the tropical sun. Dad said it was at least 115 F. This is a tower of victory. It is 72.5 meters tall. It has also been used as a giant sundial.

Work began on this stucture in 1193 by Qutb-ud-din.

We are coming out of the narrow maze of streets and shops, and in the foreground, we can see Chandnie Chowk, the place of worship for the Moslim's.

The colorful Sari's are hand beaded.

This hopelessly congested bazaar remains Asia's largest wholesale market. Crafts, once patronized by Mughals continue to be sold in the small lanes.

The bread was made in this shop across from Karims. There is an oven inside, and the dough is slapped onto the sides of the floor oven. When it is cooked, it will fall off the walls of the oven, but the baker will catch it just in time. Karim serves food from recipes that were handed down from those who cooked for the Moguls. It is a world famous restaurant.

Old Delhi

We did not eat at the world famous Karim's, but we did buy some bread. The first bite of my bread I found a animal hair, looked like a goats hair in my bread, so I wraped up the bread and gave it to the begger children at the corner on my way to church.

Many vendors were friendly, but while Sister Weeks and I were walking along, a man came up to her and shouted in her face. Some spit on the sidewalk when we rode through. Sister Weeks had an orange outfit on, Hindu colors. And we were in a Moslem community.

We are on the womens clothing lane. Of course, that means many colorful sari's.

The water bufflo dairy was probably where our dinner of Paneer originated. Paneer is a curd that is like a soft cheese, in a hot sauce. It was a good dinner.

Notice the sign and the men with typewritters below busy with political business. Don't miss the electrical wiring overhead in many of the photos. This community may be 400 years old, but it now has electricity.

We rode in a bicycle rickshaw for our safety instead of walking. The lanes became more narrow and congested the further we traveled into the bazaar.

We spent Dad's Birthday in old Delhi. We went with Weeks and took a few hours off Friday afternoon to enjoy an early dinner in the Oldest historic part of time. This is the walk way to the Chandni Chowk. It was planned by Jahanara, daughter of emperor Shah Jahan in 1648. It is right by the Red Fort,which we will visit another time.

The picture of the man carrying his business on his head was not the photo I was after. This man was doing a good job, not using his hand, but when he saw me with my camera he put his hand up and turned his head. The photo I was after was the best head carry we have seen yet. A man was crossing the street just in front of our auto rickshaw and he had a barbaque grill on his head. It had smoke trailing along behind him and a pretty good fire started in the grill. I almost fell out of the rickshaw trying to get the picture taken, but it got away. It was the big one that got away.

The guard at the gate of the office had a visit from his daughter and wife this last month. He proudly brought his daughter into the office for us to see. She is a beautiful little girl and you can see the pride in his eyes. I took their picture and later gave him two copies, one for him to keep and one for his daughter to have. His family will leave Delhi and he will remain here where he has good work for the landlord of our building and can send money to support his family.

On the way home from work, we stop at our store. Actually there are four stores that we use near our apartment and here is two of them. It is so hot now that these little stores are open in the morning at 7:00 am and close at noon due to the tremendous noon heat (that is forcast to be 118F to 120F) then will open again at 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Hey what more can you want!! There are more modern stores, but they are so far away that we use our local stores. We just do not have time because every day is office, or English lessons, or music lessons. We get closer to the "modern" store when we get over to the church, but we have our computer with us on those days for our PowerPoint lessons, and that is all we can carry. On most Sundays we don't have our computer and projector, but it is Sunday and we won't shop. We worry about the safety of the egg's sitting out in the hot sun. The "modern" store does not refrigerate them either!!

The baby birds have been growing fast, and all week the mother bird was flying up about two feet and landing back on the ledge. Over and over again she demonstrated the art of flying. We could tell that she knew that they were ready to leave the nest. On Friday they were flying from the bathroom window ledge to the main nesting ledge, and last night dad bird came and drove them out of the air vent and they were gone. One month from birth to maturity. Today mom and dad were making another nest and the process will begin again. I was thinking about the little birds as I saw how much little Cora had grown in just one month. I am glad that we can keep our little chicks so much longer.

I wanted to at least up date our blog with a few comments, since I was able to open and look at your blogs. I love to look at the kids and read what you have to say, and I appreciate every word. I am not good at all in adding coments, I seem to do something wrong whenever I try!

We have a family of pigeon's just outside our livingroom window. The window is really just an air vent about 6 X 6' square. Just enough room to let in light, and to open a window to let in air. The bird family was here before we moved in here in January, so the mother bird is used to us now. It was interesting that her two eggs hatched on Preston's birthday, the very day that Cora came home from the hospital. So I took a picture of the two baby hatchlings.