Veiws from the Street

On our way to church this morning, I took some pictures from our fast moving auto rickshaw. I put them in Photo shop and cropped them. Here is a younger man, perhaps a son, helping an elderly man on an early morning ride in his wheelchair. He seems to be happy in his service.

The sideway is a popular place to build a home with whatever materials that you can find. This is a larger than typical home constructed from "finds" along the road. Bricks, rocks and dirt are piled up with tree limbs and a tarp to construct this multi family dwelling. We have many of this kind of shelter in the bottom half of our complex, and also in a field accross the road in front of our complex located right next to the road market.

The last picture is of a family who lives on the side of the road. They have their belongings in a pile on the sidewalk. The children are naked in this picture. They move from one side of the road to the other depending on where the sun is and if they want it or not. They had crossed to the other side of the road as we rode by them after church, the children still had no clothes on. It is a difficult situation that we are certainly sensitive to.

This is how dad and I get around, our little three wheeled LP gas operated "auto". Some of the auto drivers sit cross legged on the seat. All of the operators drive their little buggy full bore. On most of the autos, all the controls are operated by hand. 90,000 deaths occur on the streets of New Delhi each year. We will never go senile while we are here serving in New Delhi because we see our lives flashed accross our minds so often.

This sister and her young daughter has come to conference in her best sari. The members of the church do not wear veils over their heads and faces, but most have the red dot or jewel between their eyes.

This sister and her fine family come to church on a motor cycle. This is luxury travel, and it looks like a lot of fun, but it is very dangerous. I was wondering how her long skirt keeps from getting wraped up in the works.

District Conference

These are some pictures associated with District Conference. We are with President Ricks and his wife, standing alone, and Elder and Sister Perkins standing with dad and myself. To your left, Sister Mickelson talks with an older woman.
Below , Dad and myself,

The young single adults of the first Branch. I really haven't taken any pictures since conference. I will make it a point to do so.

Dad talking to Elder Mickelson before the conference. President Katuka is the new District President. Priesthood leadership.

Stake Conference is such a big event for the Hindi saints. This is the second Stake conference for New Delhi. The members were so happy to see their friends in the other branches. One family had a great sadness with the death of their 23 year old baptized daughter. Elder Perkins and President Ricks were in Pakistan when the death occured, and visited the family when they returned to Delhi. The father was not a member, but he came to conference. This is where we held the Adult session of the conference, it is also our chapel. The Sunday session of conference was held in the International Youth Center. It was the nicest place we have been in New Delhi so far.

India

I keep getting kicked of my blog. So I am going to add some pictures and post often. I lost so much dialog and time. Maybe this will work. We take an auto car to shop. This is one of the better shopping center. The photos make it look better than it is, but we are grateful for what it does have.

Here is dad buying some walnuts to go into our baking. We have a countertop oven, much like the one we had in China, just a little bigger

Church History Tour

We had an opportunity to see some of the sites of the birthplace of the church and visit with Elder and Sister Gray in Palmyra. Since I cannot get into my India file right now, I am going to use this as a learning time and show you some pictures of significant church history places. This is the banks of the Susquehanna River where the Aaronic Priesthood was restored May 15, 1929. John the Baptist appeared and gave Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic Priesthood then Joseph baptized Oliver and Oliver baptized Joseph. President Spencer W. Kimball had brothern accompaning him drive a stake in the ground where this event took place. The Grandon Press is where the Book of Mormon was printed in 1830.

Why are my pictures all at the top??? I wanted them to be in the script. Oh well, I am on my blog. The white house with the fence around it is the home that Alvin Smith was building for his family before he died. It is just down the lane from the log home. It was here that Joseph with the help of his family and close friend, dug a place for the plates under the hearth stone, and put the hearth stone back in place. The mob did not find it when they entered his home searching for the plates.

The log home was the first home of the Prophet Joseph and his family. It has been restored on the property owned by the Smiths, and now the church owns it.