Letters from India

2009-12-08T16:29:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

In case you haven't heard, we are back in the United States -- permanently! We had uneventful flights and easy transfers, which made the 36+ hour journey bearable. We have had terrible jet lag as well, but we seem to be recovering from that as well.

We are in Waterloo, Iowa at this time. Doug is working, and he has a desk and but no phone or desk computer yet. I have spent a lot of time running around. Hannah went to seminary every day last week, but this week she is in Omaha with Michelle and Ryan and Helen. Seminary has been canceled there every day this week because of bad weather. Actually, it's been cancelled here in Waterloo as well. We are expecting 6-12 inches of snow tonight with blowing and blizzard conditions tomorrow. It's sure not the 90 degrees and flip flop weather we are used to!

We have been looking anxiously for a house. We have probably seen 20 homes, but haven't quite found the right one yet. We did put an offer on one last week, but 3 other people put offers on it at the same time. Needless to say, we didn't get it. We're ok with that. It needed a lot of work and a lot of future investment (like a $50,000 roof) and it's ok that we are still looking.

We looked at cars yesterday. We drove a couple we liked, but we're going to see if there are a couple of different options on the same vehicle, just different amenities. It would be great to get some of these things checked off our list. It's hard to test drive cars when it is so cold and snowy!

I guess this is the last installment of this "Life in India" blog. We certainly had 3 years of intense adventure and excitement. It was a lifetime experience that we have learned so much from -- and continue to learn from. Thank you -- everyone -- for your love and support from far away. We couldn't have done it without you!

Love, Lucinda

2009-11-22T05:13:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

We've spent the week trying to get organized. It seemed to all come together this weekend when Doug was home. We have sorted things into Luggage, Air Shipment, and Surface Shipment. We've been able to give a lot of things to the children's mission, throw away a few things, and give some large items away to members of the church. We've also been able to clean the dirt from a lot of things. The packers come on Tuesday!

I have tried to get all our last minute things done last week so they wouldn't have to be done this week. Hannah and I made our "last" trip to Clover Center and we bought some of everything. Hannah just wanted to wander through all the stores to say, "goodbye."

We went to 2 new restaurants this week -- a continental one on the top of the IBM building, and a new Chinese restaurant. The continental one was good and reasonably priced, but the wind was blowing on the rooftop and the noise from the street was deafening, even seven floors up. The Chinese one was OK, but we know a place that's better, but with less atmosphere.

We have our reservations for temporary housing in Pune. We'll be staying at the Oakwood Premiere Tuesday through Friday. Feroz will take us to Mumbai on Friday afternoon to catch our 1:50 a.m. flight. They have discontinued the direct flight from Mumbai to Atlanta, so we will be traveling Mumbai to Amsterdam to Minneapolis to Waterloo. We get in to Waterloo on Saturday afternoon. We don't have a reservation for temporary housing in Waterloo yet. Is it time to worry yet???

We will be shutting down our computer on Monday night and packing it -- so the last you will be able to talk with us by Skype is Monday morning (11/23). Doug will be able to keep up with email from work if you need to contact us.

We are excited to wind up our time here in India. It has been a BIG learning experience that we wouldn't trade.

See you soon!
Love, Lucinda

2009-11-15T02:10:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Well, the news has changed. Doug's boss said that we couldn't go back on Nov. 26 -- there was too much work to be done. But he said that we could go back on Nov. 28. So much to do in 2 days! We do have tickets in hand!

We talked with the moving survey people this week (Friday). They estimate it will take 3 days to pack and load our things. That will happen Nov. 24-26. I still need to sort into piles for "suitcases", "air shipment", and "boat shipment." Plus, I'm still trying to get rid of things that need to go to charity, things to sell, things to throw away, etc. It's coming along, but there's still more to do.

Things never fail to surprise us here:
Last week, the landlord decided he was going to redo the garden (British for yard). He had 3 guys come and dig up the backyard and take 10" of dirt off the top. They hauled it pan-full by pan-full from the backyard onto our driveway. They took a couple loads away by truck (loaded pan-full by pan-full). This week, they got 3 new guys to come and put all the dirt back on the yard -- pan-full by pan-full. I hope they bring the 3 truckloads back! They are planning to put grass back down. They chopped down one tree and pulled up a bunch of bushes. I think I am going to be sad that I'm not going to be able to see the end result of all this work. Maybe it will just be the same . . . .

We've been to a couple of Doug's co-workers for dinner in the last 2 weeks. They served us very nice Indian food (not too spicy) and were very kind and gracious.

We had 9 for church today. Everyone is sad that next week will be our last week. Ah well, it can't be helped.

Hannah finished her application for BYU this week. Her last interview was done over Skype with the Mission President in Bangalore. It worked out very easily.

We are all well and getting antsy to get home.
We love you and miss you!
Lucinda

2009-11-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It seems like forever since I have written. I realized today that I didn't finish telling about our trip to Egypt. I still need Doug to get those pictures on the blog. Clearly, other things have been on our minds!

We got our date to return to the US! Our tickets are for November 26. We have spoken with the company that will take care of all the arrangements and things are moving ahead. We have a realtor. We will talk with the gal that takes care of movers and packers on Monday. Hopefully, she will let us know what housing arrangements will be made in India during the packing before we leave, and what housing arrangements will be made in Waterloo until we can move into our new home. All good things!

We drove to Mumbai for church today. Hannah needed a Branch President interview for her BYU application. Everyone was sad that it was our last day and that we were leaving. You would have really thought we spent more time there than maybe 4-5 times in the last year. We were still having church, but not in Mumbai. It was a pot-luck day, so I took egg salad sandwiches on homemade bread and wacky cake. Everyone else brought rice and dahl and curry.

I started washing large things this week -- the curtains, the bed ruffle, the blankets, etc. They seemed to be extremely dirty, and I think I will wash everything again in the US when we receive our shipment. I pick up the curtains at the dry cleaners on Monday. I think Hannah has packed all her bags and is ready at a moment's notice to take off.

We hope everyone is well and happy. We are happy -- sometimes on a roller coaster basis -- with all the ups and downs.

See you soon!
Love, Lucinda

2009-11-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Here we are in Egypt! We have been having a wonderful time and seeing some terrific things! We can't get the pictures on the computer yet, that will have to wait until we get back to India. We have been to Coptic Cairo, where the orthodox Christians were converted by the Apostle Mark long ago. We've been to many Muslim mosques in the city -- there are hundreds of them, but we only went to the largest, oldest, and most beautiful. We've been to the tent makers market and picked up a Bedouin tent. We've been to the old market place to find other treasures. We spent a whole day outside of Cairo visiting various pyramids and surrounding areas. Hannah has learned to read Hieroglyphics. What a marketable skill! We rode camels and horses to the Spinx and Giza pyramids. I think that was my favorite day. Like I said, we do have lots of pictures, but you will have to wait a bit for them.

Today we have a rest day. Our friends have been so kind to us here. They have taken us so many places to do so many things. I'm doing laundry and we'll get repacked and ready to head off on our next adventure. We board the overnight train in Giza tonight and head for Aswan. Tomorrow morning we are picked up at the station and taken to the Nile cruise ship. I had heard that it's very hot in the south right now, I hope it will cool off a bit. We have 3 nights and 4 days on the cruise, take the train back to Cairo, then fly back to Mumbai. We arrive in Mumbai at 4:50 a.m. Tuesday (Oct. 27) morning. Feroz will be there to pick us up. We hope everyone is doing well and that Amber's group can get better soon!
Love, Lucinda

2009-10-11T09:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Only 1/2 week until we leave for Egypt!

We have plenty to do to get ready, so we need the time!

It has been an interesting week! It started out normally enough, but then on Wednesday I went to Laxmi road with friends to do some shopping, and when I got home, I wasn't feeling very well. I just seemed to go downhill from there. Doug left Thursday for an Indian camping experience, i.e. team building exercise, with his group from work. (More on that later.) By Friday morning, I had had enough of the pain and I was worried I had a kidney stone and we were leaving in less than a week for vacation. I talked with Ryan and Michelle and decided it was probably best that I went to the hospital and find out what the problem was. I called the John Deere HR representative and he got in touch with the hospital and they knew I was coming. I went in to see a urologist and he sent me for an ultrasound. Everything in an Indian hospital must be paid for up front, so it was a good thing I stopped at the ATM on our way to the hospital (Hannah came with me). The Dr. was 250 rupees ($5 US), and the ultrasound 1,000 rupees ($20 US). The Dr. running the ultrasound couldn't find a kidney stone at all, only staples from my gallbladder surgery, a cyst on my kidney, and fibroids. She looked twice and came up with no kidney stones -- that's good news! I went back to the urologist, and he gave me a prescription for some antibiotic for a kidney infection and sent me for a urine test (780 rupees - $15.50). We were at the hospital for 2 hours only -- that's a blessing! We stopped at the pharmacy on the way home, but they didn't have the tablets on the prescription, but they did have a substitute. They said they would get the proper tablets and deliver them to the house that evening. I waited and waited, and they finally called and said they couldn't find them anywhere in town. I asked that they send the substitute. It came at 10 p.m. I've been on antibiotic for 2 1/2 days and I'm feeling better. I go back to the urologist tomorrow morning. We leave for Mumbai Wednesday afternoon.

Doug's camping trip -- well it was really a team building exercise with the group I have been working with over the last three years. The group included marketing, manufacturing, quality, supply management, and engineering people. We slept in concrete 'tents' on tile floors with a very thin pad underneath. We ate Indian food for breakfast, lunch and dinner - no toast or pizza. Actually, the location was very pretty -- overlooking a lake and surrounded by hills. Since the monsoon is over, everything is green. We went trekking in the hills, built things, and ran obstacle courses. Very similar to the way things are done in the U.S., except that everyone here wants to be the leader or a least monopolize the conversation during the activities. I've included one or two pictures.

When we were on Laxmi Road, we were heading to my favorite kurta (top) store, but when we got to where it should be, it wasn't there! I stood there on the road looking and looking trying to get my bearings and just couldn't see it. There are lots of shops in India that just come and go and that's it. Anyway, while I was standing out there looking, some folks came out of fancy store and waved us in. These were the store owners of my favorite store, except the store was all new and updated and air conditioned and there was a try-on room and it was totally different. They recognized me out there looking confused! We went inside and Shiney took some pictures because I know you that know the store wouldn't believe it! I also bought a new top!

There were 4 of us for church today. There will be no church in Pune the next 2 weeks since we will be out of the country.

It's time to get laundry done, lists made, and bags packed! We'll be on our way soon. Hopefully, we will have access to a computer and let you know how our trip is going!

Take care,
Love, Lucinda

2009-10-04T02:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Only 1 1/2 weeks until Egypt!

Monday this week was another holiday, this time a Hindu one. It's called Dassera, and it's a time for poojas and asking blessings on homes and cars etc. The Hindus like to decorate with the flowers and give a prayer, incense, and break a coconut as they ask for a blessed car or apartment. I was out in the market on this day and took pictures of the various vehicles that had been blessed that day -- a car, motorcycles, a rickshaw, and even the police paddy wagon. The flowers are purchased along the street, where they are strung all day long. There are lots of these places set up all over to get the flowers ready for the poojas on this day.

I went to the market as well. I thought you would like to see my fruits and vegetables. These are what I got a Shivaji market for $7.50 US. I bring them home and soak and wash them in good water then put them away. I usually cut the cauliflower and broccoli and beans for the whole week.

Doug's US boss was here this week to see how things were going. He took us to dinner at a very fancy Japanese restaurant and we could have sushi if we wanted. This was our first experience with Japanese food, and Hannah and I weren't too adventurous, but we did fine.

Doug was off Friday for Gandhi's birthday. We wondered if your Google had Gandhi's picture or just ours on Google India.

We saw a fun movie too -- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. We thought the theatre would be full, but there were very few people there. We did have a new experience though -- after the Indian national anthem and the previews, a different movie started (an American movie popular now, rated R). Lots of people got up to go find out what was going on. They came back and said the theatre people were going to change it. They did, and so we watched Cloudy. I thought that each of you kids would really like it for different reasons. I hope you'll get a chance to see it sometime.

We hope everyone is doing well!
Love, Lucinda

2009-09-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Only 2 1/2 weeks until Egypt!

Doug had Monday off work for Muslim Eid, so he went to the market with me that day. He had been to the market and grocery store before, but not on grocery shopping day. Because it was Eid, all the Muslims were dressed up and greeting each other and very happy. It's the last day of their fasting for Ramadan. It was fun to see them all in their finery. We saw a bullock pulling a bullock cart of ice blocks for the fish market and all dressed up too. I had Doug run back and get a picture. The driver put his hand out for 10 rupees, but Doug just pretended he didn't know what he was asking for.

Hannah and I have made an effort to get out every day that we have the car. We got out four days this week. We don't have to do a lot, just a small errand and then lunch. We usually go to malls and safe places, rather than the streets and markets. We went to a furniture exhibition on Thursday. It was supposed to open at 10:30 on Thursday, and we got there at 11 a.m., but the vendors were still unpacking, unwrapping, unloading, and setting up their booths. They let us in without the 10 rupee entrance fee.

It's starting to get hot again. Monsoon is nearly over. We had thunderstorms in the evenings this week, but no daytime rain. The reservoirs are 80% full.

We had 3 at church again today. It's good to know it's at least us!

I was asked by Shiney to go with her and her little Sumya to go to grandparents day at the pre-school. I was happy to do that. We put on our fancy clothes and listened to the little ones sing English songs -- Twinkle, Twinkle and others. They gave out prizes for the most "traditionally" dressed grandma, the grandma with the most bangles, the grandma with anklets, the grandpa with a picture of his wife in his wallet (didn't exist), a picture of the grandkids in his wallet (didn't exist), and the grandpa with the most white hair. We had snacks -- crisps (potato chips), orange punch (Tang), juleebee (Indian sweet), and a little spongy cake with vegetable soup dipping sauce. Very common snack foods here. The pictures are of the kids all dressed up. They are very cute!

The monkey came visiting our "garden" again. He was sitting on the fence, then came down on our driveway to drink out of the puddle of water there. He ran off pretty quick when he saw us watching out the window.

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-09-20T03:19:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week has passed quickly by. Only 3 1/2 weeks until Egypt!

Not much happened this week. The rains have slacked off, but there's not enough water in the reservoirs, so I'm not sure what will happen. No electricity, no water for farmers, no water for the city . . . Could be anything. Because it's not cloudy any more, it's much hotter here now. It will be for about the next month, until November comes and things cool off again.

I started making more baby blankets, and gave away 2 already. There are a couple new moms in the Mumbai branch.

We try to get out whenever we have the car. This week we went to the Ishanya mall, which has all kinds of home improvement and decorating stores. There is a store called @Home and it's the closest thing to Home Depot there is here. We were just looking and didn't find anything that caught our eye.

Our friends from Mumbai came yesterday. He went golfing with a friend, she came and we went out shopping. We found exactly what we were looking for. Part of it he called elsewhere to get it brought to his shop. He said it would be 1/2 hour and come by Tempo (a 3-wheeled cargo hauling vehicle). He was right! It came in 1/2 hour and by Tempo and there were lots of other things loaded on the Tempo for delivery at his shop. We were very lucky that our items were put on the Tempo just in time to come across town. Shopping in India isn't always so easy or productive.

We had 3 at church today -- yes, just us.

I guess that's it for this week. There's just not much going on.
We miss you and love you!
Lucinda

2009-09-13T02:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This week we had some exciting things happen. Friday morning my housekeeper came in and said I needed to come outside and see the monkeys. I grabbed the camera and ran. There were 3 large monkeys hanging out and making their way down the street. Two stopped to pose on our front gate. I was amazed at how large they were and notice how long the tail of the one on the right is. Then off they ran to give the people down the street a thrill too.

We had a hard rain Saturday evening. It was really coming down, and we don't have the greatest drainage around our house. Then Hannah noticed that the light fixture in the dining room was leaking water. We got the fixture cover off and dumped out the water, then we went upstairs to find the problem. Doug found it right away -- the drain on the terrace off our bedroom was clogged, and there was about 4-5 inches of water backed up. He unclogged the drain and it all went down. We saw a large -- 6" -- lizard out there too. Fun! Hannah had a lizard in her bedroom this week, which she shooed out the window. I don't mind them as long as they say outside where they live, and I can stay inside where I live.

Good news -- We got our tickets to Egypt this week. They had even gone down in price, so we saved $150 between the 3 of us. We have a tour company working on our train tickets and our Nile cruise tickets. We are getting very excited to visit Egypt!

Our friend Mahaswari (the gal that's going on a mission to San Jose, CA), left Pune this week for Hydrabad. Luckily we finished the temple preparation lessons, and she can finish everything else she needs to do down there. We had 6 at church today. Our member count in Pune has declined a lot. We've lost Mahashwari and Mary and Joy. We still have 1 family of 3, and a single sister, and a single brother that are somewhat active. Somehow it's just nicer the more people that come.

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-09-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week has gone by -- and it's gone by quickly. The Hindus were having their Ganesh festival this week, so it's been busy around town. However, a lot of people weren't out and about because of the swine flu. Doug had Thursday off work because that is the main immersion day for the Ganesh statues. They have a huge parade, with music and dancing and fire crackers that leads down to the river. Then they put their statue in the water and send it on its way. Some of the larger statues they fish back out and use again. Some families have their own small statues, then housing societies, neighborhoods, and parts of town have larger ones. This is one of the Indian's favorite festivals.

We had company from Mumbai this weekend. We had Andy and Bethany Spaulding, and their two girls, Simone and Phoebe. They are here in Pune on business and will stay a couple more days at a hotel, then head back to Mumbai on the train. They are much braver than I am! Because they were visiting and we needed another good excuse, we fixed break the fast lunch after church today. I made chili with all the toppings, potato soup, homemade bread, and Hannah made Legolas Blond Brownies. It was very good and everyone enjoyed it. The Indian folks were brave and tried everything. The chili tastes familiar to them and they liked that.

Since Doug had Thursday off, he took a trip back to the fort we missed a month ago and climbed to the top. He met a group from the engineering school and they adopted him as their own. They really liked his hat! They couldn't believe he was out hiking alone. They took lots of pictures of him and spent a lot of time talking with him. Doug got some interesting/artistic pictures up on the top of that hill with all the fog.

Big news -- I got the 100 baby blankets that I've been making since I've been here sent off to a good home this week. I boxed them up and sent them to Bangalore to the humanitarian missionaries where they will make baby kits and new mother kits to be distributed through Church humanitarian aid. Hannah immediately prodded me to get another 50 done before we leave! The box weighed 20 kg. (44 lbs) and I sent it over road (rather than air) and it cost $22 US. It felt good to have them on their way.

September is our last month of monsoon for the year. The rains have tapered off a bit and there isn't enough in the dams and reservoirs. The newspapers keep reporting that we need the same amount of rain that we have already received in order to fill them up. I'm sure water rationing will be a way of life until the next monsoon!

We hope everyone is well and enjoying life! We miss you all!
Love, Lucinda

2009-08-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This was a pretty quiet week. It hasn't rained too much, and it's gotten much hotter -- because the cloud cover is lifting. There still isn't enough rain to fill the reservoirs, but there's still time.

We went shopping at Tulsibaug for trinkets for Shiney to take back to friends and family in the US. I picked up some things for our families and some cake dresses for my magic trunk.

Heather had the packers and movers there for 3 days. We went over one day to keep her company as she had to be there in the apartment with them. We also went to a farewell party for Heather and Chris at another friend's house. It was quite a party. I made homemade salsa and homemade chips. It was a hit!

Saturday we went to pick up Mom's trunk. It turned out really nice and it's just cute! We have a "before" and "after" picture -- I'm sure you can tell which is which.

We also went to the movies yesterday. We saw "Race to Witch Mountain", which Hannah assures me was out on DVD a year ago. It was a fun movie and an OK way to spend an afternoon. There really haven't been any English movies for a while and also the movie theatres have been closed due to the swine flu panic. The kids are back in school now (mostly) and the rest will be in school next week. There are still teenagers dying from this -- it seems that this is the largest group succumbing to the infection.

Today we had 7 at church. We are still having the temple prep lessons, and they are going well. Only 2 left and that's it! I know I've learned a lot from them.

I guess that's it for this week. We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

2009-08-23T02:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This was a sad week -- we had to send Brice back to the US and to school. We finished all his errands and running around by Wednesday. Thursday he packed and was gone in the afternoon. Feroz took Brice to Mumbai, and they almost made it to the airport, but were delayed by a flat tire (or I should say "tyre") as they were about at the drop off at the airport. They put the spare tire on, got Brice dropped off, and Feroz had to spend the night in Mumbai and drove back the next day. Yesterday, Feroz had 4 new tires put on our car. That's a good thing -- they needed to be replaced.

We assumed Brice made it to the US, but no one had heard from him -- not Craig, who had his car keys, not Martin who had his belongings, not Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. Craig assured me that he was fine, wherever he was. We did get a visual report and a skype call Saturday night. I'm glad he made it back safely. That's a long and grueling trip.

We have had more rain this week -- even record breaking rain 3 days in a row, but the newspaper reports that none of that rain was in the proper area for catchment in the reservoirs. Consequently, we are again on 1/3 water rationing every day. Our electricity has been more consistent and reliable lately -- knock on wood.

Sham's wife had her kidney stone blasted last Saturday. She was in the "hospital" Saturday and Sunday and then went to her mother's. She is up and about and coming back to Pune today. She is much better and is very thankful for the treatment. Thanks to all who contributed toward it!

We are in the middle of the festival season here. We begin today the Ganesh reverencing time, when they pray to their idol and then sometime in the next 10 days take it to the river to be dunked. There are a lot of idols thrown in the water and a lot of pollution/garbage/debris left over.

This is also the middle of the swine flu panic. Last weekend was the worst, when everyone stayed home, stayed in, no shopping, no school, no movies or malls, no vegetables or produce. Luckily, two days of laying low and the panic is over. More people have gotten the flu, more people have died, but the people here believe it is over, so it's over. John Deere is on swine flu alert also. People who were going to visit from the US are not coming, and large gatherings of people have been cancelled.

We had 7 people at church today. Our message was on enduring to the end. I felt that this was given just for me! Not only do we need to put in our time, but we also need to do it with grace and responsibility and a good attitude!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-08-16T04:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

We've had a very fun week here in Pune. Interesting since Pune is now the Swine Flu Capitol of the World! Out of 1 billion people in India, about 800 have the swine flu. Of those 800, 400 are in Pune. The newspapers and TV have the whole place spooked. No one is out, schools are closed, the malls are closed, the movie theatres are closed, the markets are closed, the grocery stores are closed. Everyone that is out and about has a mask on for protection -- I'm just not sure whether the protection is from them or from everyone else. There have been 50 deaths attributed to the swine flu, and 21 have been from Pune. Did I mention that there are 6 million people in Pune? The statistical odds that we get the flu are very small. We have been out and about as usual without any masks. There are some other states in India that are not welcoming people from our state of Maharashtra -- meaning no travel. I think it is interesting that the Indian government is cutting off the food supply -- i.e. markets and grocery stores -- to contain the flu. I guess they just want to starve us outright.

That said, we have been out this week getting new glasses for Brice, custom tailored kurtas, medicine for his toes, shopping for electrical widgets, we've been out to dinner twice, and Doug and Brice went up to Mulshi Dam for a hiking/trekking experience. Brice and Dad have done some serious male bonding, including eating at various questionable Indian eateries. They insist these were not "street food" vendors, but legitimate restaurants. They are still doing some serious bonding by laying around and moaning and jumping up to use the toilet regularly. Brice started his medicine today. Dad is going to tough it out and be a man about it.

Speaking of Doug, this has been a hard week on his body. Monday, as he was walking up the stairs, he missed a stair step and caught it right on his big toe. It turned all sorts of colors of purple, blue, black and swelled up. It was so sore he had to come home from work early because of the pain. We think nothing was broken, just strained, stretched, bruised, and mistreated. Then, yesterday, as they were hiking at the dam, Doug slipped and bonked his elbow on a rock. It started swelling immediately and Brice got a nice picture of it. It has started to go down and he says it doesn't hurt. I don't have enough Advil to make it through the next few months at this rate!

Yesterday I took the funds that have been donated to the clinic where Sham's wife received her treatment for the kidney stones. He called today and said it was successful and her pain is now gone from the stones, but it will take 4-5 days of rest and medication for her to get back on her feet again. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible. We have plenty of funds and feel that they have been used wisely. I will send a receipt to everyone for tax purposes.

It has been really fun to have Brice here. We've played lots of games and had lots of fun time together. He goes back Thursday afternoon (Aug. 20), just as he was finally beginning to get over his jet lag.

We hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Love, Lucinda

P.S. -- Extra special thanks to Dr. Ryan who has been on call all week taking the medical questions on broken toes, bruised and swollen elbows, and swine flu. Not all the world's medical outsourcing goes to India, some goes to Dr. Ryan!

2009-08-09T02:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been a fun and exciting week! Brice arrived without any problems on Wednesday afternoon. It's still a long, grueling flight! He got off the plane and couldn't remember the hotel and he couldn't find his name among the hundreds of cards with names on them. He called us at midnight and got the name of the hotel and found the driver and got to the hotel safely. He must have slept well, because he wasn't up when Feroz was there to pick him up the next morning. He has been suffering from jet lag all week, but maybe soon he will be able to be awake when we are and sleep when we do!

We took a trip to Lonavala (between Pune and Mumbai) yesterday to see the caves, fort, waterfalls, and scenery. We met our friends from Mumbai there and went to the caves. For Indians, it's 5 rupees to get in. For us foreigners, it's 100 rupees. Too bad it wasn't really worth 100 rupees -- there wasn't really anything to see there. We have some pictures we will attach. It was raining and we had our umbrellas out and it was windy and they blew the umbrellas inside out. What a mess! Then we went to find a place to have a picnic lunch. No luck! It was raining harder and we ate in the car. We decided not to hike up to the fort since it was raining so hard, so we came home. I guess that's another place we can check off our list for visiting.

The path not taken . . .

Doug was in Delhi Thursday and Friday driving tractors and "talking" with customers (not picking up sandwiches!).

Hannah has enjoyed having Brice here. It gives her someone else to interact and talk with. We've played different games everyday/evening. He is helping her with her math homework.

We had 9 at church today. They all seemed tired and worn out. I think I felt the same way!

Thank you to all who have contributed to Sham's wife's kidney stone treatment. We are 1/2 way there and have enough to start the treatment. If anyone else would like to contribute, please let me know -- I can give you the details and the information.

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

p.s. This is our small church group and how they come to church.

2009-08-02T07:51:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This has been a quiet week -- especially after last week and all our John Deere visitors! We do appreciate them and their conversation and taking us out to dinner. We also enjoy taking them out to shop and explore the "real" part of India.

The biggest news this week is that our good friends are leaving to go back to the US. This has been very quick in happening and very sad! It's hard to explain why the first ones here aren't the first ones to go home. It just doesn't work that way! So we're trying to regroup, rethink our remaining time here, and make it as bearable as possible.

To help with this, we had Snickers milkshakes for dinner one night. We also went out for Papa John's pizza. These things do help! We also have Brice coming on Wednesday (Aug. 5) to distract us for 3 weeks. I'm not sure he realizes how much work he has in front of him! We are planning a small trip to Mahabaleshwar about 2 hours from Pune in the mountains. We're also planning another R&R trip for this fall. We can make it! We just finished July, and that's another month down! We can do hard things!

We had 7 at church today and had fast and testimony meeting. Hannah does a great job playing the hymns on the keyboard. We sang a new song today I had never even heard before.

We were able to find another plumber to get the outside toilet fixed (this is the guard's toilet). We still don't have the skylight fixed in the guest bathroom, maybe when Brice is here we can get that done. The mirror and frame are fixed and rehung. We're watching the cistern tank out back for random overflowing (the ball valve is a bit touchy right now). Other than that, as long as it doesn't rain, we have no leaks!

Hannah took her Interior Design final this week. That's another class down! She is working on 3 right now -- BYU freshman English, BYU American Heritage, and 2nd semester Algebra II. We've lost the books for English. They were shipped a month ago and everyone claims they were put on Doug's desk. Unfortunately, there are no books in our possession. We've check back along the pipeline -- in Moline, DHL, John Deere India, etc. Nothing. We will reorder the books tomorrow.

We hope everyone is fine and doing well! We love and miss you all!
Love, Lucinda

2009-07-26T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

What a week! The monsoon is here in earnest -- we've had plenty of rain and the reservoirs are filling up quickly. We are still on 40% water cut offs, because it's never enough and we need to conserve water! Of course, our guard washes the car every morning using up our whole tank of water. We also found out that the outside toilet has a bad washer and uses up the tank of water as well. Maybe the plumber can come tomorrow and get that fixed.

The skylight fix in our bathroom is finished. Unfortunately, it still leaks and there isn't much anyone can do about it. We still have another window to be replaced. Maybe that can get fixed this week. It depends on how strong I feel!

We had a busy week with many John Deere visitors from the US. We had a couple of engineers here to the house for dinner on Monday. Hannah cooked won ton soup and we had homemade bread, tomato and cucumber salad, fruit salad, and birthday cake. We had dinner at home on Tuesday, but we ate out the rest of the week. Craig Puetz was here and it was fun to see him. The latest update from the John Deere high ups is that we will be here until at least December.

I took the broken mirror to the shop where we bought it. It is going to cost the same amount to repair it as we paid for it. We really liked it, so we're getting it done. It was supposed to be done Saturday, but we will try again on Monday.

We had a large group at church today -- 12! We had 3 visitors from the US, and 9 of us from India.

We were out doing some shopping for some John Deere people this week. We went to Tulsibaug and picked up all kinds of interesting things. The worst part of the trip was that it was raining quite a lot, so it was really difficult. Here's a picture of tiny Shiney with her big umbrella and big Heather with her teeny umbrella. We got lots of "cake" or party dresses or frocks. They are princess dresses for dress up for little girls. Really fun!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-07-19T02:20:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

There's so much to write today, I hardly know where to start.

Hannah turned 17 on the 17th of July. For her "golden birthday" we went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We got reserved tickets earlier in the week and then went to the show Friday. She dressed up like she was part of the Griffendor House. We got a picture, even though we got growled at by the security guard for doing so. That night we went out to Yoko Sizzlers for dinner. Everyone who knows, knows that's one of Hannah's favorite places to eat here.

Saturday we were invited to the house of a church member family. They live quite far away, and it took an hour to get there. We visited in their new apartment, had an Indian dinner, played with their little boy (15 months), then came home. We got home about 10 p.m. It was late for us.

The skylight window in our bathroom is getting repaired. We can go to the bathroom now and not get rained on while using the toilet. They took out the glass and put some fiberglass on. This was screwed on with washers. They were supposed to caulk it too, but it was raining, so I'm not sure if that got done or not. They still need to fix another window that broke. We'll see how quickly this one happens.

Now for our Sunday morning excitement! We were laying in bed about 6 a.m. this morning when we heard a big crash. I asked Doug what it was, and he said it was the toilet seat falling down. I went in the bathroom later and there was the toilet seat up. He went downstairs and came back and told me that our Indian mirror by the steps had fallen off and broken. That was sad! We don't know how it happened, but I do know there were a couple of match sticks stuck in it this week. I don't know where they came from, but the match sticks were stuck in the wood carving. So there we were cleaning up the broken mirror and the broken frame. That was done and I went to sit down in the living room, when my foot got stuck in something. I looked down, and I had stepped in a pile of poop. It was on the rug in the living room. The only thing I could think was that there was an animal in the house. We started looking around and I pushed back the couch and there was a puddle of pee under there. Doug started varmint hunting! He took the broom to help. He did find the door to the roof open. I cleaned up the poop and the pee, and it was time for people to start coming for church.

We had 2 visitors from the US today. They will be here on business in India for another couple of weeks. We also had the family we had dinner with last night. Maheshwari was in Mumbai today working on paperwork. She got her mission call to San Jose, California mission. She reports to the MTC in Provo November 17. Total attendance: 8.

After everyone left, Hannah decided she needed to varmint hunt too. She got the electric tennis racket and Doug got the broom and they checked the house again. It could be a cat -- we have plenty of those around here. It could be a monkey -- I hope not, but a monkey makes the story better. Hopefully it is long gone and won't be coming back!

OK all you Nancy Drew detectives -- let us know what your theories and stories are. We need help!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-07-12T09:00:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

The good news: The jet lag is over! After 2 weeks, we are sleeping all through the night, staying awake all day, and we're over the stomach aches and Delhi belly! It's so good to be home!

It started raining a bit more with the monsoon this week. We are still on water rationing, and the reservoirs are not full, but every little bit helps. It seems to rain in the night, clear up when we go for our walk between 7-8 a.m., rain again in the afternoon and evening. Sometimes it is a very hard, straight down rain, other times just light showers. We figure there has been plenty of rain if the road is wet -- that means that the rain made it through the thick tree cover over the road.

Yesterday, when Doug was at work, I heard a big crash. I looked around in the basement and in the living area, but found nothing. Then I went up to bed, not thinking anything of it. My feet kept crunching on dirt and junk in the bathroom, so I put my glasses back on, and there was the problem! We had put a tarp over the skylight in the bathroom to keep it from leaking on us, and used a couple of big rocks to hold the tarp down. Well, the rocks fell off the ledge about 4-5 feet down and crashed through the windows. Luckily the windows had wire in them, or there would have been 2 big rocks on the toilet too. We will have to get that fixed this week -- we'll see how many days it takes. I would think it would be especially important in the monsoon season, but that's just me. Hannah doesn't think it will get done before we leave India (what a skeptic!)

We had good church today. We had an old friend show up -- Dwight Stephenson. He was here in Pune on business and called Doug. We had a good time looking at family pictures and catching up on where and what the kids were doing. Total church attendance: 6.

I guess that's all for this week!
We love you and miss you all!
Love, Lucinda

2009-07-05T04:40:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

I guess we back on a regular schedule -- whatever that is! I still seem to have some jet lag, even though it should be getting better. I was wide awake from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. That's a rough schedule to bounce back from. I feel totally inside out of time zones and day and night.

We had church today -- 6 were here. We have started the temple preparation lessons and learned about the plan of salvation. Everyone seemed to learn something new and it was very good. We're still watching April General Conference. We may get through that before October conference comes around again!

The biggest news here is that the monsoon hasn't really started in earnest yet. Everyone is worried that there is no water. They even put us on a day on/day off schedule. Apparently there is no water in the reservoirs either. I personally haven't seen any water restrictions. Our car is still being washed every day. The terrace is still being washed off every day. I did go get 4 boxes of water and a large 5 gallon bottle of water. Because of the lack of water, the price of vegetables has gone up, the price of petrol has gone up, there is no electricity to go around, and this lack of water seems to be excuse for every bad thing that is happening here.

We went to see Ice Age 3 yesterday. It was a lot of fun, and extremely close up and personal from the front row. That was the only place there was tickets left in the whole theatre. Someday the squirrel will either eat the acorn or it will grow into a big tree and give him more acorns to hoard.

We had our own personal 4th of July party yesterday. We went to the movies, went out to dinner (at a Chinese restaurant), and came home and did fireworks. Doug didn't seem to have enough in his personal stash, so he went out and bought more. We really liked the fountains, but the sparklers and the ground twirlers were fun too.

The weather has cooled off here. Most days it is cloudy, but it hasn't been too rainy. We are past the hottest time of the year.

I hope everyone is well and happy!
Love, Lucinda

2009-05-18T14:11:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

We made it safely to the United States. It's so nice to be "home" again. We had the hard drive from Pune to Mumbai airport and made it in 3 1/2 hours, had dinner at the expensive five-star hotel, then went to the airport. Our flight left at 12:24 a.m. and we were in the air 16 hours to Atlanta. My dream was to have a cheeseburger and a vanilla shake in Atlanta. We landed at 8 a.m. We found the burgers and shakes, however, and enjoyed them immensely! We caught our next 2-hour flight to Baltimore and made it almost on time. Julia picked us up and we were on our way to Grandma Wright's house.

Grandma Wright is doing fine and is feeling better from all her aches and pains of last month. We went to a ward party that night and went to bed tired! Sunday we got to church and found that there is such a difference in having an entire ward and all the people there. I think I have taken that for granted for a long time and I really appreciate it now.

We got to Wal-Mart today to get jeans and shampoo. Jeans in India just don't fit Americans! The weather is cool -- and I have been cold since we've been here. It's in the 40's at night at in the 60's in the day. We have been able to get a couple of walks in and Adam's 15th birthday party.

We're doing great -- even though we're still working on the jet lag! Hopefully, we will either see you or talk with you soon!
Love, Lucinda

2009-05-10T08:52:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Time is passing by and it's getting closer to our time to be in the US. We are excited!

We are getting things ready for our trip. We will be staying in the Country Inns and Suites in Cedar Falls. Waterloo was full, so we'll try this out for a change. We also got a route change for our cruise. We won't be going to Mexico (again), we are scheduled to stop at Key West, Florida now. There goes our chance to see some Mayan ruins for the second time! We are still unsure if Doug will be coming with us on the 16th. His boss thinks he needs to stay another 4 days in India to accomplish more before he leaves. Maybe we'll find out this week . . . .

We have had a couple of lizards in the house this week -- they were just babies, but they are still rather frightening. Mostly we smack them with the fly swatter and stun them then put them in the dustpan and throw them outside. They either recover and run away, or the birds eat them. We're not sure which.

Hannah has finished all her exams except 2. Math should come this week and she is about ready to take that. Interior design will have to wait until after we get back. She still has some portfolio work to do. BYU has also received all the other exams and has recorded them, so that is a good thing.

This is our last week of seminary, and we will be done with the New Testament. Hannah has finished 3 years!

The fridge is nearly cleared out. We're nearly packed -- at least the treasure bag is packed. Hannah is 1/2 packed -- you know that's serious!

We are looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
Love, Lucinda

2009-05-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

I has been a very quiet week -- not too much going on.

Hannah took 2 exams this week (English and Literature). Just one left -- math. She took History and Physics last week. BYU received and graded her History -- A for the class, but they haven't received the physics exam yet. It seems we have to pray those across the ocean all the time.

Doug had Friday off work -- India Labor Day. The folks from church talked him into going to the beach -- Alibaug. He got to fly his new kite from China (which worked great) and they waded in the dirty water and had lunch at a restaurant. Hannah and I stayed home so there was room in the car for Mary, Mahashwari, and Hameed. Mahashwari had never flown a kite before, Hameed went para sailing, and they all just had a fun day out.

I have been working on cleaning out the freezer of food so that when the power goes out and we are out of the country, the whole fridge won't spoil. We have 10 more meals before we head home! Not bad!

The power situation has changed as of May 1, but I don't understand it yet. I would expect there to be more load shedding since it is getting hotter and there is less water in the reservoir, but apparently we will have fewer and shorter power cuts this month. I'm going to keep an eye on it because it's just mostly random.

We have been healthy and well. Doug and I went out to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner last night (Hannah was babysitting). It was good, but the music was loud. The clientele were mostly expat Europeans and Americans and rich Indian youth. Interesting.

We hope you have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-04-26T01:55:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This has been a regular week -- we've gotten back into the swing of things very easily. The time change between India and China is only 2 1/2 hours, so it wasn't a bad adjustment at all.

We went to see Monsters vs. Aliens yesterday. I understood it was in 3D, but we didn't have glasses or anything. It was a fun movie and Hannah giggled through the whole thing.

We also were able to find the street vendors out on North Main Road yesterday afternoon. Usually, they are not there because the police come and confiscate all their goods and throw them in jail. I asked when the police come -- 9 a.m. every day, and then they leave to go home at 5 p.m., so the shops put out their things after that. We were looking at wall hangings again -- for Michelle. We got the guy down from 3800 rupees for 2 to 2000 rupees for 2 hanging. Doug has gotten a lot tougher since we were in China. It's just all a big scam anyway! The bad part is that I always feel like I've been ripped off!

We packed the "big purple" suitcase today, with all the India and China treasures we're bring to the US. My big purple suitcase took a beating on our last trip in Dec. It landed on a corner and the wheel just popped off. The front pockets were torn too. I took it to an American Tourist shop and they assured me they could fix it for 1500 rupees ($30 US). I figured it was expensive but I needed my bag, so I had it done while we were in China. When I got back I got a call to come pick it up. It's as good as new (I hope), with 2 new wheels and all stitched up.

Hannah took 2 finals this week -- History and Physics. She took her French final before we left for China and got an A- on it and an A- for her course grade. Way to go! This next week she will be taking her English and Literature finals. That leaves 2 -- Algebra 2 (which she ordered this weekend), and Interior Design. I think she will have to go to the decorating shops in the US to get samples of carpet, drapes, pillow covers, upholstery, etc. before she can finish this class. She will be able to get it done by the end of June (including the final).

We had 7 to church today. One was a non-member. We got to watch the 2nd hour of Saturday a.m. session. It's going to take us forever to watch conference at this pace! That's OK -- we enjoyed it a lot!

We hope everyone is well and happy!
Love, Lucinda

2009-04-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Sorry about the missed days of letters. It was fun to get it done one day at a time. Our hotels after Beijing didn't have Internet and computers. So here is the rest of our trip!

On Tuesday morning, we were up at 5 a.m. to get ready to go to the airport and catch our flight to Xian. It was a 2 hour flight from Beijing to Xian. We arrived at 10 a.m. and our new guide found us and got us in the car ready to sight see. We went right to the Terra Cotta soldier site. This was a huge "town" built for tourists and all the people coming to see this amazing sight. 2,200 years ago Qin Shi Huangdi conquered 6 other parts of China and unified them in language, money, government, etc. He had a huge tomb built for himself (which they haven't excavated yet), and the terra cotta soldiers. It was found by a farmer in the 1970's as they were digging a well. All the soldiers are life size and made of clay. Each is different, like they were carved to resemble real people. Unfortunately, they were broken when they were found and archaeologists have spent all this time putting them back together piece by piece. There are over 6,000 soldiers, and they have restored over 1,500. Only one was found intact. The Chinese people call this the 8th wonder of the world. Luckily, we can check that off our list as well.

That night we went to a dinner theatre. They kept bringing us dumplings in all kinds of curious shapes. They were beautiful, tasty, pieces of art. The show was nice too -- Chinese dancing and music. We were pretty tired, so we went to bed early and slept hard. Our hotel was in the center of town, but we asked for a quiet room.

Wednesday we went to a number of different places. We went to an archaeology site of an old village that they estimate to be 6,000 years old. I learned in my Sunday school class that Adam and Eve were here about 6,000 years ago. I dont' know what to say, but it was interesting. We went to a jade factory to learn about the qualities and kinds of jade. We went to a pottery factory to see how they make all the tourist stuff. We went to a museum about this very old area of Xian. We climbed up the Xian city wall and looked over the city. It wasn't like the Great Wall, but it was interesting. We went to a Muslim mosque and the Muslim quarter around it. The Muslims like to sell things to the tourists, and we were more than happy to be interested in their stuff. I was a hard bargainer -- a skill I learned in India! We had a buffet lunch in another dinner theatre place, but we didn't get the show.

We needed to do laundry this day, so we got the slip out at the hotel and filled it out and the lady came at 8:30 a.m. to pick it up. When we got back to the hotel after dinner, the laundry wasn't there and Doug went to look for it. It wasn't done, and they said we had to pay the express charge. The express charge was for anything not picked up before 10 a.m. They said it would be ready at 7 a.m. the next morning. Unfortunately, our guide was picking us up to go to the airport at 6:30 a.m. They hurried to get it done and knocked on our door at 10:30 p.m. with the finished laundry. It was about $37 US to have 2 socks, 2 shirts, 2 underwear for each of us! Another lesson learned!

Thursday we were up and ready to go to the airport back to Beijing. We arrived in Beijing at 10:30 and our tour guide Grace was there to pick us up. We had to stop by the travel agent's office to sign a Visa slip because our next leg was more expensive than originally planned. We then went to the train station to catch the bullet train to Tangu. We had some hours to waste in the train station, but we got a lot of reading done, and had lunch and a milk shake. The bullet train from Beijing to Tangu takes about an hour and goes 330 kilometers per hour. It's smooth and fast and nice. (If only there was one between Pune and Mumbai . . . . ) We took a taxi from the train station to the Holiday Inn. We had the directions in Chinese, but the taxi driver didn't know where we were heading until Doug mentioned Holiday Inn. Then he was off and running. The Holiday Inn in Tangu is really nice and modern, in the middle of a new and modern city. We met a John Deere expat and his daughter and went for dinner. I suppose Mexican food in China is not an everyday occurrence, but we enjoyed it!

Friday, Doug went to work with his John Deere friend. Hannah slept in. I had a massage! A nice Dr. of massage came to the room and I had a Chinese medicinal massage. I needed it. It was wonderful and it was about $15 US. Not bad. We had leftover Mexican food for lunch, watched movies, had a nap and waited for Doug to make it back from the factory. We checked out of our hotel and caught a taxi back to the train station. We took the train to Beijing, Grace picked us up and took us to the airport again. We had some more time to waste there. We had Burger King and an ice cream cone. Our flight to Dubai left at 12:00 midnight. We got into Dubai at 4:30 a.m. Again, we had a lot of time to waste before our flight to Mumbai at 9:45 a.m. We got into Mumbai at 2 p.m. and Feroz was there to pick us up. He is always a good sight to see after being gone from India. It took us 4 hours to get from the airport to home -- lots of traffic! We got home about 7 p.m. and had dinner at Prems. Back to the Indian food!

It has been very hot here and the electricity is going to be out more and more every day. Today when we were going to have church at 9 a.m., the power went out at 9 am. and came back on at 10:15. Then we started conference. We will see what this week brings. It is also election day on Thursday, so the politicians are promising electricity, water, and food. After the 23rd, we expect the power to be off even more!

Have a great day!
Love, Lucinda

Hi Everyone --

We just got back from the Great Wall of China. What a great day we had! We didn't see the wall close to Beijing (1 hour away), we took a former resident's advice and went to Simiti, about 3 hours away. We left the hotel at 7 a.m. so we would miss the Monday traffic. Everyone else in the hotel was leaving at 7 a.m. too, so breakfast was a nightmare!

We got on the road and had a nice drive out of town and up into the mountains. The air cleared and we finally saw sunshine and blue skies. We got there at 10 a.m. and started up the wall. This is a beautiful place with a river and lakes and mountains. The pictures will be very nice when we get a minute to load them into the computer.

We just went up and up and up. There were steps -- short, tall, broken, ramps, random sizes, trails along the side, etc. We had to stop often to catch our breath and rest our legs. It was very windy and I thought the wind would blow us right off the edge. It was kind of scary the wind blew so hard I thought it would blow my glasses right off, so I had to hold them on, and than messed up my bifocals so I couldn't see the steps very well. We did make it ok though. It took us 2 hours to go to 12 watch towers. It took us an hour to climb back down. The views were fabulous and the experience was breathtaking! What a great activity we had.

We had a great Chinese lunch at the bottom of the wall when we got down -- sweet and sour pork, chicken with cucumbers and peanuts, tomatoes and scrambled eggs, and rice. They did want to serve us boiling hot water. We decided to splurge and buy 3 bottles of ice cold mineral water.

Back into the car and another 3 hours back to Beijing. Luckily we got to sleep on the way. We are looking forward to having Chinese food for dinner tonight. The chopsticks are becoming more and more familiar!

We love you!
Love, Lucinda

Hi Everyone --

Having access to a computer and a bit of time to write everyday makes journaling so much easier!

We started out at 9:30 a.m. this morning and our objective was to find the church. We had a bad map off the Internet, bad directions off the Internet, a bad phone number off the Internet and off we went with a driver that spoke no English and no guide (she was caught in traffic). Who says you can't have an adventure on the way to church!? We got over to the general neighborhood and set out on foot. We got a block and found another American looking lost and asked if he was looking for the same thing we were -- and he was -- church! Now we had a bit more company to roam around. We had been down one block, he had been down another, so we tried the third. We didn't really find anything, but decided to cross the street and the river and try that building. We were in the lobby when an American lady in a skirt with a baby walked through. She was a member, so she directed us to the 4th floor. Otherwise, we would have had no idea which of the 30-40 floors church was on. They were watching General Conference so we got an hour of that in before we took off. We had more sightseeing to do, and we will watch conference with our Indian home group for the next ? weeks.

We went to the bell tower and climbed up the steep and tall steps. This tower used to ring one night (new years) and tell the time. The drum tower was next door but under construction so we didn't see that. Then we headed to lunch. It was a fun place decorated with trees and we had a dancing show while we ate. The food was Chinese, but it tasted more like the American Chinese we are used to. It was good.

We then headed to the silk factory to see how famous Chinese silk is made, We got to see the eggs, larvae, pupa, and moths. We watched them take the silk off the cocoon and make the silk thread. Then they showed us how they make silk comforters. I didn't know they did this at all. I know about down and man-made comforters, but not silk. they are very nice, very well made, and very expensive. We didn't buy anything at the silk store.

Next we headed to the big pearl market. This is like a huge mall with 4-5 floors of shops selling all kinds of Chinese things. Hannah got a pair of solid gold Converse All-Stars. We found Chinese gifts for everyone there. Bargaining here in China is much different than bargaining in India. My 2 years of experience helped, but it took a bit of practice and I did OK. Very intense and very high pressure! Doug said I wasn't such a push over as he thought I was! High compliment!

We got tired shopping and finally had to quit! We headed over to the theatre to see the Chinese Acrobatic show. This is the national acrobatic troupe and it was fabulous. We sat in the 2nd row from the front and saw everything very clearly. It was a fun evening.

We got back to the hotel and Doug and Hannah took off to find some dinner. I decided to write this letter. We are heading to the great wall tomorrow!

Have a great day!
Love, Lucinda

Hi Everyone --

Our hotel has plenty of computers and we have time to write! We had a fun day today -- our guide and driver picked us up at 8:30 a.m. and off we went. We first went to Tienanmen Square. There were tons of tourists there. Our guide (Grace) estimated 50,000. The amazing thing is that the tourists were not Europeans or Americans, they were Chinese! They were all in groups from buses and you could tell each group from another by the color of the baseball cap each person was wearing, as well as the flag being held by the guide. Somehow it was all very organized and everyone followed along just as they should have.

We next walked to Forbidden City. They had done much repainting and refurbishing for the Olympics, and it was fabulous. We walked from one end (Tienanmen Entrance) to the back door. We saw the government buildings, Imperial Palace, residency buildings, and then the garden in the back. Doug's favorite was the garden in the back. He did recognize the Hall of Supreme Knowledge, Grace, Goodness, and Love, and Peace from the Mulan movie.

Next we went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant! Imagine that! We are doing pretty good with chopsticks. The soup is still a bit hard to eat, but we asked for soup bowls and spoons, and they brought them (as they should have from the start). We had a potty break and the Chinese have the same squatty potties as the Indians.

Our next visit was to Baihai Park behind the Forbidden City. This is a beautiful park with wonderful gardens and a huge lake. There were many Chinese people out on the lake using peddle boats. It was very fun to watch. We walked to the top and saw the white temple (Buddhist). They did have a place where Hannah could dress up in Chinese clothes and get her picture taken, but she declined. We got pictures of 2 other girls and we will photoshop Hannah in.

We had to do our obligatory trip to the government pearl shop. The girl opened a freshwater oyster that had been seeded and showed us how they grew them. Too bad Hannah didn't have this experience when she was looking for a clam or oyster to dissect for her biology class last year! We looked at all the pearls and jewelry and decided we weren't ready to do any of that yet.

Our visit to the Summer palace was next. This is where the Dragon Lady empress lived. Another beautiful place by a lake with lots of boats. We got on a big dragon boat and crossed the lake and then walked back through a covered corridor that was all painted. We wouldn't want the emperor to get wet or have too much sun. There were lots of trees and flowering bushes and since it's spring here, everything is in bloom. Forsythia, pink and white crab apple blossoms and lots of other beautiful plants. It is really nice to have spring -- not available in India.

We were dropped back off at our hotel where I rested for about an hour, then we went to dinner. We didn't get as lucky as last night, but we did ok. First of all, no one speaks English, so we look at the menu and point to the pictures. We do know the word for water now -- she did get that, but I think she was very embarrassed. They called over a gal that spoke English to help us. We ordered steamed wontons, pork, vegetable, and noodles. Pretty complete meal! So, they bring us chopsticks and no forks. We at a whole pile of corn piece by piece, kernel by kernel, with chopsticks! I was very impressed with myself! I have never been able to eat with chopsticks in my life. Now my life depends on it and I can do it! The really difficult part about our meal was watching the 3 year old girl at the next table feed herself with her chopsticks and she did better than Doug! She was just a champ at fishing the noodles out of her soup and transferring them to her soup bowl and then eating them. It was amazing! Even Hannah was impressed!

Back on the street, we checked out the other half of the block and we found a gal selling cigarettes and ice cream. We got ice cream! We had a fun day, lots of new adventures and lots of walking. China is so much better than India!

We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

Hi Everyone --

We have arrived in China and all is well! We had uneventful flights from Mumbai to Dubai, and Dubai to Beijing. Emirates is a nice airline to fly and their planes were new. The Dubai airport is HUGE and new (I assume it's all that oil money). They has us get off the plane far away (probably Oman) and ride a bus to the terminal. It took 1/2 hour to get there (or at least it seemed like it). We had Burger King at 1 a.m. -- anything for a burger! Our flight to Beijing left at 3:20 a.m. We mostly slept, ate, and watched movies. We got into Beijing at 2:30 p.m. local time. We went through immigration and found our luggage, then found my name on a sign board amongst hundreds of other name boards. It was nice to just find our guide, go out to the rented car, have them take us to the tour office (to pay for the rest of our tour) and have a ride to the hotel. Our guide, Grace, helped us get checked in, find an ATM and pointed the direction for a place to eat dinner.

Dinner was heaven! We checked out a number of places and decided on one that had charcoal grills in the middle of the tables. The menu had pictures of raw meat -- beef, chicken, mutton, seafood and we chose chicken and beef and they came and grilled it on the table for us. We ate it with sticks (a new adventure for me and Hannah). We also had noodles and tempora vegetables. We were stuffed. It was very good! Hannah had us back there eating already tomorrow.

We are tired and Hannah has gone up to the room. Doug is checking his work emails. We are set up with our guides, reservations, activities, etc. for the rest of our time here in China. This seems a bit more expensive, but it sure feels good to be taken care of in a foreign country!

Just so you know we're safe!
Love, Lucinda

2009-04-05T06:08:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week has passed -- and I don't really know what to write about.

We went to Mumbai again today for church -- Joy was confirmed (by Doug) and also received the Aaronic Priesthood. Hopefully we won't have to go back to Mumbai for church for a while. It takes 2-2 1/2 hours, our driver is very good, but it is a hard drive. Lots of going fast, careening around curves, starting and stomping on the brakes, etc. I suppose we would appreciate it more if we had to take the bus to church! We do feel exhausted when we get home at 4 p.m.

We are definitely going to China. We asked our tour guide representative to book the tour for us. I don't think I've ever written so many emails to a person in my life. After a stack up of 40-60, I would start another new one and they would stack up again. I think I restarted the whole process 4-5 times. Our flight leaves Thursday April 9 at 10:20 p.m., and we get into Beijing at 3:10 p.m. the next day. I think we're going to have plenty of time on the airplane.

We will think about what to pack this week. Hannah said that one day this week it was 50 F. I don't know if that was the low, the high, the average, or what. I don't know if it's the rainy season either. We'll get it all worked out. I think we do need to pack warm clothes, since it's been 40 C. here -- over 100 F.

Doug and I went to see "The International" yesterday. I think it would be a movie rated R in the US, but it is rated PG-13 here. Lots of interesting things to think about! Between that and the State of Iowa upholding gay marriage in their Supreme Court, things just look worse and worse to me.

Hopefully, Hannah will have some exams to take this week before we leave for China. (She keeps telling me they are lost in the mail -- I think that is wishful thinking on her part). We will only have 4 weeks of seminary until we finish before we leave for the US in May. Things are really starting to wind down.

We hope everyone is well and happy!
Love, Lucinda

2009-03-29T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been a big weekend. We had the CES missionaries from Bangalore here Friday night and all day Saturday. The elders also came to teach the husband of a member here. The CES missionaries were teaching a young sister and getting her ready for her mission -- how to fill out the papers, what she needs to do, going through the "Preach My Gospel" book, etc. We all went to Mumbai today for the baptism. The Elders and Senior couple went in a rental car and we took the young sister and the married couple in our car. We made it to the church in 2 hours and when we got there at 10:30 a.m., no one was at the chapel. We were able to go in, they were just starting to fill the font, and we waited patiently until everyone came just after 11 a.m. (church starting time). It was fun to see our friends again and we had a nice service, Sunday school class, and baptism.

We had a big pot of chili Friday night for the elders and senior couple missionaries. Saturday Doug made his great pancakes for breakfast, we had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and I made a big roast beef dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade bread, fruit salad, cucumber and tomato salad, cauliflower, and ice cream with hot fudge and chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips for dessert. We had 11 to dinner that night. Everyone from our home group except one. It was very good and the Indians were good sports. The American elder and senior couple and we really enjoyed it!

We did get our China visas this last week. We also purchased our tickets to Beijing. We fly from Mumbai to Dubai to Beijing. Some may think that is not the right direction, and they would be correct. It will be a 14-16 hour flight including our layover in Dubai. It was the best we could do. We are still working on our hotel and inter-China flights as well as our driver/guide arrangements. We are excited to go and think it will be much cooler in China at this time.

We finished booking our flights for our US trip in May/June. Our last flight was from Tri-Cities, TN to Fort Lauderdale, FL for our cruise. Hopefully, our flight will get in on time and we won't miss the ship this time around.

We went on Saturday to our favorite antique place and picked up a few more items. They are very beautiful and the workers there do a very nice job of refinishing and restoring.

Hannah has ordered 3 exams this week -- History, Physics, and French. She sent in her final paper for English, so she will be able to order that final next week after BYU receives it. Literature needs an resubmitted assignment then order the final. Algebra 2 and Interior Design are moving right along still and we are hoping that all these finals will be done and taken care of before we leave for the US in the middle of May.

We hope everyone is well and happy! We miss you lots!
Love, Lucinda

2009-03-22T00:30:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

What a great week! We got our tickets to the US for May/June 2009! All week I have been able to think about having the tickets and being in the US and it has made me smile! Here is our itinerary:

May 15 -- leave after work and drive to Mumbai
May 16 -- early am catch flight to Atlanta
May 16 -- arrive in Baltimore 11:55 a.m. (Delta 1878)
May 16-21 -- visit with Mom and Julia and family
May 22 -- Drive to Bristol, TN to drop off Hannah at Amber's
May 24 -- Fly to Miami and catch cruise with Doug's family
May 31 -- Exit cruise and fly back to Bristol, TN
May 31-June 4 -- visit with Amber and her family
June 5 -- drive back to Maryland
June 6 -- fly BWI to Cedar Rapids (12:45 p.m. Delta 3204)
June 6-11 -- Waterloo visit/work/Dr. appointments
June 12-13 -- fly Cedar Rapids, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Mumbai
June 14 -- Church in Mumbai, drive home

That looks like 4 weeks of vacation, travel, cruising, and visiting. I am excited!

We are traveling all our legs by Delta -- it was by far the least expensive and we also get frequent flier miles. These tickets (excluding the Miami flight) were $1,115. It's almost like we got the trip to Iowa free.

We are still working on our China trip -- our passports and papers are at the embassy in Delhi and are supposed to be ready for pickup tomorrow (Monday). I am not convinced we will get the visas. Also our tour has fallen to pieces since it is costing too much money. We may have to do our own hotel reservations, flights within China, and all our sightseeing. We understand that all prices in China are "soft" and there is room to bargain. We asked for their best price and made a counter offer, and they brought the price down $45 -- about 1%. Too funny! We will made our decision after we get our passports back and whether we actually have visas.

We had 5 1/2 at church today. One guy came and was here about 10 minutes and then left. His dad was having complications and was in the hospital. We are going to Mumbai next weekend -- there is a baptism of one of our home group members. The missionaries are coming Friday night and will teach him all day Saturday. We are also having the CES missionaries from Bangalore here for the weekend. They are teaching our faithful sister to prepare her for a mission and the temple.

I guess that's all the excitement from here this week. We love you and miss you all!
Lucinda

2009-03-15T02:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It's hard to believe another week has gone by!

We had 9 at church today -- they were all our members plus 2 non-members that have been taught by the missionaries. We had a good lesson on obedience, and our "Worship Service" was on obedience as well. Everyone thought I had preplanned that, but it was just the luck of the draw.

Yesterday, Doug went hiking up to a fort. He left the house at 7 a.m. and got back at 3 p.m. and it was still HOT. He said it was hard to find the trail, until he realized he only needed to follow the potato chip bags that followed right along side it. This is the same place he went last summer when Hannah and I were in the US and he didn't have a camera. It was dry this time, even though we had lots of thunderstorms the night before.

We had people from Waterloo John Deere here this week. We all went out with Doug's boss for dinner. It was nice, and he answered lots of questions concerning our future here in India. Unfortunately, no time table exists, but we will definitely go home some time! I also got called on to do some shopping for the guys. They come here and work so hard that there is no time to go out and pick up anything. I was happy to do that and got everything they were looking for.

I spent a couple of afternoons at the tech center (John Deere) working with the travel desk to get our China visas worked out. They needed about 10 sets of documents before they could submit them to the embassy -- passports, pictures, forms, 3 mo. of paycheck stubs, 6 mo. of bank statements, 3 years of income tax papers, proof of address, confirmed airplane tickets, itinerary, confirmed hotel reservations on hotel letterhead, Doug's employment contract, etc. etc. This is only for a "tourist" visa, not a "business" visa. I had passport size photos, but they were the wrong size. We had to go out and get them taken again -- 35 mm by 45 mm, white background, matte finish, head filling 80% of the photo, ears showing. Hopefully the packet was sent on Friday or Saturday and the five business days to process will start on Monday. Our new travel dates are April 8-19. Our best flight was on Emirates Air, so our flight goes through Dubai. I know, that seems like the wrong direction, but that was our least expensive choice. The time is 14-16 hours for a 5-6 hour flight. Oh well, I guess we'll get to see the airport in Dubai and maybe even get our passports stamped just for fun.

Saturday night I think we were getting a bit homesick -- Instead of going out to dinner, Doug and Hannah went to the bookstore and bought a VCD and I ordered pizza delivery from Papa John's and we had Snickers milkshakes. It was nice to have a fun American dinner in!

I guess that's about all that is going on here. We stay busy and we've been healthy!
Love, Lucinda

2009-03-08T00:32:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

I think this is a big day -- it's Michelle's birthday -- and she's 30! I can't believe that she is that old, or that I'm that old plus enough to be her mother! I mentioned this to someone recently, and they said, "Wait until your youngest is 30!" I suppose time only keeps marching forward, and we're all getting older!

Doug is going to post pictures of our new trunk. It's really fun and beautiful. The many carved doors and compartments are so intriguing, that Doug thought we should hide treasures for the grand kids to find in them. I have been searching for fun treasures all week. I will continue to search -- meanwhile, we are having fun playing with the treasures behind the many doors. Heather's kids came over and they had a blast discovering all the fun things.

(Lucinda trying to decided which trunk to buy. Can you see the hidden beauty?)

We had 6 at church today. I wore my fancy new Indian outfit. I'm sure I don't understand why Indians put all this beautiful bead work and fancy stitching on the front of their outfits then cover it up with a scarf. Actually, I do understand why, but it doesn't make sense. It's really fun to wear wild pants to church -- Doug says I will never be able to get away with it in Waterloo!

We are still working on our China trip. The John Deere travel desk is going to help us get our visas. I think we are going to have to postpone our trip for a month and go in April.

It is getting very hot here. The temperatures are going up to 37-38 C. I remember 37 C because if you go to the doctor's office and they take your temperature in centigrade, normal is 37. That gives you an idea of how hot it really is. We have to remember to take water with us when we are out and about and be sure to drink extra water during the day. Our house is cool (the cement and marble and tile keeps it that way all year round), and we have lots of large trees in our yard that give lots of shade. There is probably a 10 degree difference between our yard and the main street a block a way.

We hope you've had a good week. We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

Did we ever share the picture of our new stool?

2009-03-01T03:46:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

This was our week to pick up our new (old) trunk. We drove out there yesterday and guess what -- it wasn't done! He wanted me to come back on Sunday and pick it up. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood to be pushed around, so I told him I had no driver on Sunday (which I don't) and I wouldn't come on Sunday anyway. He said I could come back on Monday. The thing was, the trunk was to be finished on Feb. 28, when we would pick it up. He said he would have it delivered for 200 rupees. No way was I going to pay that. They messed up, I paid plenty of money for the trunk, they would just have to take a hit on the delivery. They got my driver from outside and tried to get him to come and get it another day. He was strong and talked long and hard! They said they would deliver it Monday at 11 a.m. I got a call about 30 minutes ago and they are going to deliver it tonight at 8 p.m. I have to assume they know what good business practice is. They certainly know what good bargaining skills are. They will just have to work it out.

We had 6 at church today. We had a visitor from the United States. He used to live next door to John and Kay Percival in Kaysville, UT. The missionaries were here in Pune on Friday, teaching lessons. They ran out of time so we didn't get to meet them. Too bad -- they missed enchiladas, homemade bread, homemade salsa, fresh strawberries and ice cream and Legolas Blond Brownies. The missionaries will be back at the end of the month to teach Joy.

We went to see "Benjamin Button" yesterday. That was an interesting, a little risque (and long) movie that gave us lots to think about. The hoopla in India is still about "Slumdog Millionaire." I wonder how many weeks they can keep that going on TV and in the newspapers. It's been at least a month already.

We are still trying to work out our vacation. Time is getting close. We need plane tickets, visas, and our tour package. No problem!

I hope you enjoyed our popsicle people. I finally got around to making all the new additions to the family. I had 9 new ones to make and it took at least a couple of hours. We still have plenty of room for families to expand!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

Popsicle stick families

2009-02-25T07:20:00.000-08:00

2009-02-22T01:24:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Sorry I missed last week! Either I was too ornery to write or someone was hogging the computer all day. Either way, it wasn't pretty!

We've had an exciting couple of weeks. Last week we had some friends come from Mumbai and stay the weekend and attend church then go back. It was fun to have them. We treated them to a walk in the Osho park, shopping on Center Street, MG Road, Sizzlers, and the movie Outsourced. Hopefully, they had a relaxing and out of the ordinary weekend.

Hannah finished painting in her bedroom. We have the "before" and "after" pictures on the blog. We got an elephant wall hanging at the street market on North Main Road. While we were there looking and bargaining, the guys started packing things up and putting things away. We asked what was going on and he said that the police were coming. We were probably his only sale of the day, because as we went past a couple more times that day, they were still not selling. We have some pictures of that street market -- very colorful and exciting!

I finally got the telephone hooked up! The day I went in to pay my phone/internet bill, I asked how I could get it fixed. They told me to go to the corporate office. We went there and there was a service rep who didn't talk to me much, but he seemed very helpful. As he was explaining to someone on the phone that it needed to be fixed, he looked at my bill and wanted the phone number. He flipped to page 7 and read the number off there. I told him to wait -- that wasn't the number, the number was on page one, right below the name, address, etc. He said that wasn't the right number. I asked what that number was -- he said that was the auxiliary number. My real phone number was on page 7 and I had been giving the wrong number all this time. The wrong number was the same as the real number, except one digit was different. Well, he arranged for someone to come out, but they didn't. I called a week later, gave the right numbers and they came the next day. The guy fixed it and it's working fine now. Who would have thought the right number would be on page 7 not right under the name and address!

We got to go out to dinner with a John Deere guy this week. It's fun to talk with Americans and interact with those that are like us. I also got to take a JD gal from Germany shopping on Saturday. We had a fun time exploring all the "Indian" places, instead of the malls and such. She had a good time and is looking forward to coming back in September. She asked if I wanted anything from Europe, or the United States. That was really sweet.

This week we also found out that the Hard Rock Cafe has opened in Pune. It's about 1 1/2 km. away from our house. We went to lunch one day and then Hannah wanted to go to a concert for Goldspot on Friday night. Doug was the lucky winnner there!

We are still working on our China trip. We're trying to stay within budget, have it be relaxing, and exciting. We're about on plan XY. Hopefully this week we can get that finished up. The cheapest way to Bejing from Mumbai is through Dubai. If you look on a map, you'll see that that's totally in the wrong direction. I guess that's another country on our list of "visits."

We hope all is well and that spring is around the corner!
Love, Lucinda

2009-02-08T00:29:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been another fast week here in India. I still don't know how the weeks can fly by since we don't do very much.

Hannah spent some of the week studying for her ACT test, which was Saturday. I asked our driver to go out there one day so he would know exactly where it was, but he was sure he knew how to get there. I had him speak to the person at the college where we were going, and he still assured me he knew where it was. Well, Saturday came and we left the house at 6 a.m. (which our driver wasn't very happy about) and began our trip. The amazing thing about Pune at 6 a.m. is that it's totally deserted! There wasn't a person, a car, or a cow to be found anywhere! Feroz was making amazing time flying through the city. Then we started into the countryside. He was flying along at 80 kpm on one lane roads, being sure to slow way down for pot holes. He missed the turn at the village and had to start asking questions. Did I mention that it's still dark? Even if there were a sign, we would have missed it since we were going so fast. We turned around and went back to the village. Well, at 7 a.m. in a village, most of the men are out and about, mostly brushing their teeth by the side of the road. I think Feroz asked 4-5 for directions. Thankfully, most spit before they answered and gave new directions. We took the next left, down a very narrow lane (which I'm sure the village women were wondering why this big red car was going down their lane so early in the morning), and we were dodging chickens and men brushing their teeth. Another couple wrong turns, and more directions, we finally made it onto a paved road that led us to the college. We went into the gate, where I had to sign in and they signaled us up the hill. This college is on top of a hill and it's all fenced in and they call it a wildlife preserve. The first sign told us to watch for students along with pictures of a peacock and an Indian deer. I wasn't sure what their students were going to look like. We made it to the top of the hill and there was the college. It was nicely done, fresh air, and clean. We were there 45 minutes early. That was a good thing because both Hannah and I were extremely car sick and needed a chance to settle down.

Lo and behold, another student showed up -- a 16 year old American boy taking the ACT test too. There were 3 signed up and 2 showed up. The guidance counselor proctored the test and she was very nice. I met the principal and he as nice too.

The test went fine and Hannah was glad it was over. It was a long day!

We had 7 at church today. That is our maximum number (I think). It's nice when everyone shows up. Our lesson was on charity and it went well.

Hannah has been busy painting her room too. She went last Saturday with Doug and picked out a nice turquoise color. She took "before" and "after" photos to share with you. All the house help was surprised that she could and would do such a thing. I'm glad she had something fun to do.

Doug leaves tonight for Lonavala -- a hill station between here and Mumbai. He has some training the next 3 days. Hannah and I will just muddle along and eat leftovers.

Have a good week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-02-01T03:16:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It's now official -- all our friends have left India. The last two friends (whose husbands work for GM) left last week. It's very sad! We need Heather to come back soon!

It has been a slow week, but two things stand out:

1. Doug got his passport back from the American Consulate in Mumbai. We had sent it the week before to get additional pages put into it. I expected it sooner than it came, so I had extra opportunity to worry over it.

2. Flat Stanley came to visit. This is a character from a book that elementary school kids enjoy. He is flat because a bulletin board above his bed fell on him and made him flat. Now he can travel all over the world in an envelope and have different experiences. He was supposed to visit Heather, but since she's not here, he visited us. We took him shopping to our favorite places on Center Street and Shivaji market. Some of the Indians thought it was quite cute and interesting. Others thought it was some horrible thing. We did get lots of pictures of him in various shops and different places. I will have Doug post those pictures in our book. I also wrote about where Stanley was and what he was doing so the second grade class back in Kansas could understand a bit more about India.

It's starting to get VERY warm. I just saw on BBC news that Mumbai at 33 C (91 F) is the warmest place on the whole earth right now.

We had 7 at church today. We have some very faithful Indian people who come regularly. They are very nice and very wonderful.

I guess that's all that's going on here. Have a wonderful week!
Love, Lucinda

2009-01-25T03:39:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been quite a week. I know everyone has those times of their lives -- when everything breaks. Well, it seems that that's our time now. We did get the geyser back in and it was working fine until it exploded again today. Doug thinks it just needs a new hose (one that is not old and brittle) and it will be fine again. Why does it always explode on me???

The telephone is still not working, and I can't get the company to give me a complaint number because my "details" are not up to date. Would they let me update my details? Nooooooo. What can I do? Send an email. OK. The email doesn't go through to their account. It must be my problem. The bottom line is, no phone service.

I had the drier repairman come on Friday. He looked it over and said that it was too old and there were no parts in Pune to fix it. It is an old Bosch (from Germany). The nice man said it looked like English writing on the machine, but he couldn't read it. Well, I can't either because it's German.

The TV dish went out. I called the office and the girl helped me through the menu and we reloaded from here. No one had to come, I just did it from home. When I asked her to speak slower, she put her mouth closer to the microphone so I could hear better.

Good things to think about and enjoy:
The solar tank on the roof is working nicely and we have hot water on demand 24 hours a day!
The Internet is working fine!
The power doesn't go off as much during this cool season!
The microwave and counter top oven are working!

Now I'm afraid to mention anything because it will break next!

We are beginning to think about our next vacation -- What a life!
Cairo is on hold until next fall, so we are looking at China. We just need to fine the right packages and flights to match our budget.
It's nice to have something to look forward to.

Have a great week.
Love, Lucinda

2009-01-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

I feel bad that I didn't write last week -- there was plenty to write about too. I guess this week's letter will be twice as long!

When we got back from the US our geyser (an instant hot water heater) wasn't working in the kitchen. When I tried to turn it on, it tripped all the breakers. The electricians from John Deere came on Saturday and looked at it and changed the thermostat and it seemed to be working ok. It heated the water. I also asked them to look at our solar tank on the roof. It seems that we are supposed to have hot water all year round with a heating coil in the tank as well as the solar panel. The heating coil was burned out, but they were willing to go get another one and install it on Monday. All afternoon on Saturday, I would go into the kitchen and maybe do some dishes, or other clean up work and turn on the geyser and it would get so hot it would blow the attaching hose and hot water and steam would go all over. This happened 3 times on Saturday and 3 times on Sunday. Doug kept trying to encourage me that it would now work after his next fix and I would try it and it would blow up on me. I only got scalded on my hand once, then I was done. I started heating the water in a pan on the stove and now I really feel like we're camping! The John Deere guys came Monday and took it away to get it fixed and it's been a week and we still haven't seen anything of them. However, they did get the new heating coil in the solar tank and we have LOTS of HOT water for showers whenever we want it! That is such a great blessing!

Then on Wednesday everything was fine with our Internet until the evening, and then it was dead. I called the place on Thursday morning and after talking with 5 different people at 5 different phone numbers, they finally said they would come out and fix the broadband. The telephone was still dead. Two nice young men came and looked everything over. We went on the roof and the one guy called the other guy and told him the line was cut! It wasn't just cut -- there was 8 feet of wire missing! Where did it go? Who did that on my roof? It was there yesterday, what happened to it? The worker just shrugged his shoulders and they twisted together another piece of wire and got the broadband working. I decided my Nancy Drew skills were not up to this level of mystery. Now these two workers could have fixed my telephone too, but they didn't have a complaint number. I would have to call the office -- but which number? -- and let them know it wasn't working and then they would come back. I tried yesterday, but their computers were down and asked if I could "call after some time." The phone is still dead, but the broadband is working. We look for small blessings here!

Yesterday was a big day -- it was the day we went to get our piece of furniture we chose and had refinished before Christmas. We were very excited. It is a very nice piece and it looks nice in our living room. They put together all the pieces that were broken and hanging off the furniture. They put in nice beveled glass. Did we get it for a good price? Probably not. But we like it! We also were looking at their other things and found a fun trunk with brass fittings and carved boxes inside. We decided to get that for Doug because he has always wanted a chest like that. Did we get it for a good price? Probably not. I decided I was tired of being ripped off and it's probably our last purchase from them. It will be done in 6 weeks, but we forgot to get a "before" picture of it. I hope you can imagine a broken, dirty, dusty, rat poop covered wooden box with 2-3 other chests sitting on it. What a fun place to shop!

All my friends are leaving India. One left before Christmas, another left this last week, and two more leave next week. That leaves me and Hannah and Heather. But Heather is still in the US from Christmas and won't be back until the 2nd week of Feb. It gets pretty lonely around here. We do have new neighbors moving in next door from England. We haven't met them yet, but there are 3 kids and a mom and dad. Maybe that will work out nicely. We need to work on our networking skills and find some new friends!

I guess that's all for this week. We hope everyone is NOT freezing. It's been 85-90 degrees F. here. That is one thing I have been able to appreciate since we've come back.

Love, Lucinda

2009-01-07T06:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Sorry I missed this blog post on Sunday. We finally were able to travel that day -- we were on Plan C! Our original tickets were for Friday -- Plan A, but we got word that our visas would be delivered to Michelle's house on Friday at 3 p.m. and our flight left at 1 p.m. The New Year's holiday on Thursday didn't help either. We changed the flight for Saturday -- Plan B. We went to the airport and found that Atlanta was fogged in and we weren't able to get there for our International connection. They changed the flight to Sunday -- Plan C. We did finally make it out of Omaha and out of Atlanta. That non-stop flight Atlanta to Mumbai is 17 hours long and very hard. We made it OK though.

We found Doug's name on the placard with the zillions of other names on placards outside the airport. We had a short ride to our new hotel -- the Gordon House. It was an interesting hotel with a very modern decor. We were on the "fire" floor, so all the rooms were red, yellow, and orange. We got there relatively early and went to bed about 9:30 p.m. We were all wide awake at 2 a.m. with the jet lag. The nights are so long with just laying there staring at the ceiling. There was a Plexiglas panel in the room that was full of red, orange, and yellow plastic balls from a bean bag, the floor was stone cobbles, the bathroom had a 8x8 glass window so everyone could see you do your business, they brought us all coconut water after we checked in, and we had a thick comforter (that would have been much better in Iowa and Nebraska last week). It was an entertaining new experience!

We had a complimentary meal on Tuesday morning, and we were glad to see our car and Feroz waiting outside for us. We left the hotel at 9 a.m. and made it home at 12 noon. A very fast ride from Mumbai. The house was clean, smelled stale, felt cold, and we were glad to be here.

Last week we were able to visit with Emily and Matt and Zach and Quinn and Chloe. They stopped by on their way from Arizona to Illinois -- a bit out of the way, but a really nice thing to do, and we appreciated seeing them. They even got to see Craig and Heidi and Brice for a bit. There were a lot of people in Michelle and Ryan's house, but they handled it like pros and were very wonderful hosts to everyone!

We feel like we had a short trip (2 1/2 weeks) and a hectic trip, but we really enjoyed visiting with all the kids and grand kids. We now have our new visas, so we can stay in India for another year.

Doug got sick on Saturday when we came home from the airport and still isn't up to snuff. Usually people get sick in India and rush back to the US to recuperate. Doug gets sick in the US and comes to India to continue the fun.

We love you all!
Lucinda

2008-12-28T07:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Sorry I missed last week -- we seem to hit the ground running when we arrive in the US! We had an uneventful flight and made it through to Omaha without incident.

Sunday we drove up to Waterloo -- it was a huge deep freeze, 10-20 below zero. We didn't do too well with the cold, but we found enough coats, scarves, gloves, etc. to make it ok. It was so cold they only had sacrament meeting at church. Most other churches had cancelled altogether. Sunday night we were invited to Sam and Mary Moss' for dinner. It was great -- Hannah loved the roast beef and the mashed potatoes! What a treat.

Monday we were up early and found the Allen medical center for our TB tests. Then on to Doug's work where we got our typhoid booster shots. We left Doug there and went to the next medical office to get a blood test for me. Hannah had the next tests -- History and Literature. She took those tests up at UNI and it was easy and a nice place. Then on to the mall for Hannah to meet her friends. I went back to Waterloo to get my glasses switched out. I picked up Doug from work at 4 p.m. and went to the dentist. Have to fit that in somewhere! We were invited out to Steve and Chris Oesterle's for dinner Monday. It was so fun! We just laughed and laughed and enjoyed all the kids. Heidi, Dave, and Katie were home for Christmas and we just enjoyed them.

Tuesday we were up early too -- to get Doug to work, and get Hannah to the dentist. Unfortunately, we were late for Hannah's appointment and had to go back again at 3 p.m. I got a haircut while Hannah visited a friend, and then we were on to lunch with the ladies at Olive Garden. We left there at 12:30 and headed back to the dentist for me. We headed out to get stocking stuffers for a bit and then headed back to the dentist. We picked up Doug from work and headed back to Waterloo to the mall so Hannah could meet a friend. We were invited to Dennis and Linda Clayson's for waffles. It was so good! There is nothing like just regular food! The jet lag was getting to me -- I was ready for bed at 7 p.m.

Wednesday we had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel and then went to the medical center to get our TB tests read. We are all negative! Then we headed to Omaha. There was a bit of snow, but it was heading east and we were heading west, so we were ok. We got to Michelle's in the afternoon and just rested. It was Christmas eve and we were planning to pick up Craig and Heidi and Brice at 11:30 p.m. We got a call earlier and they told us that they were coming in at 8:30 p.m. That was good news! It was so fun to have everyone together -- the house if full!

Ryan was on duty at the hospital Christmas day, so we waited to open presents until the day after Christmas. Christmas day we went to see High School Musical 3 -- not the first choice of everyone, but the girls enjoyed it.

We had lots of gifts from everyone and we thank you for them. We have been to the store to get more food (imagine that!), and we got to spend some time at the Air Force gym (in a B52 hangar). Today is Sunday and we get to rest!

Have a great day!
Love, Lucinda

2008-12-14T02:16:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week has sped by -- and it doesn't feel like Christmas at all! We have a picture with snow on the computer, but outside the flowers are still blooming, the sun is still shining, there's no need for a coat or jacket, and it's just nice!

I can hardly believe that December has gone by so quickly. We only have 1 week left to prepare for our trip. We have plenty to do -- like paperwork that needs to be taken care of in the US, pack, last minute shopping, etc. I know we'll get it all done in time.

We decided to go back to the antique furniture place yesterday and see if the piece we liked was still there. We went to one of their shops with already finished pieces in it -- they were beautiful and much more expensive. We went to the old workshop next. To the shopping center, down the ramp into the basement, past the water, through a door, and into a storage room. There it was in the back -- facing the corner -- the piece we liked last time. No one had snatched it up! We looked it over carefully. The guy told us that it was made of Burma Teak and made in Calcutta about 110 years ago. I don't know whether to believe him or not. Nevertheless, we were told it was 17,000 rupees last time and he said it was the same price this time. Oddly enough, yesterday there was a 5,000 rupee charge for the refinishing and repair work. That brought the price to 22,000 rupees (about $460). This is India -- never pay the price they give you! I talked him down to 20,000 rupees (about $415). Not a really great bargain, but that's ok. We went over it fairly thoroughly (or as much as possible in a wet basement where there's not much light), and it needs some pieces replaced. They assured us that it wasn't a problem and it would be as good as new when they were done. It will be finished by 15 Jan. 2009. We were ok with that since we were leaving the country. You can see the "before" picture now, and we will have the "before" and "after" picture when it's done. I hope it turns out ok.

We have Hannah's school exams worked out. She will take History and Literature in Cedar Falls at UNI on Dec. 22-23, and she will take Physics in Bellevue on Dec. 29-31. All her new classes for January have arrived, but it doesn't feel right to start the new classes without the old ones being finished up yet.

We had 6 at church today (including us). We won't have church here for 3 weeks -- 2 weeks we'll be in the US and the 3rd week we'll be coming into Mumbai and we will attend the branch there. Our friends, the Nabrotzkys, we went to Israel, with leave this week also -- they are moving to Qatar. They have had some harrowing experiences in India and are looking forward to a change of venue.

We hope everyone is doing well and happy! We can't wait to see everyone along our path.
Love, Lucinda

2008-12-07T08:27:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week has flown by and we are counting down for our trip to the US for Christmas. I think Doug is the most excited of all!

We haven't done much this week -- we did spend some time getting paperwork done and together for our Indian visa applications. Doug and I went to the Foto Fast to get pictures taken. We filled out paperwork on the computer and printed it. We found some other papers we needed that were passed along by another JD employee. I don't think we have enough yet, but we'll keep working. It seems that each list we get of what is needed is different from the others. We need to really sit down and examine all the lists carefully. It would be terrible if we didn't send in the right paperwork and had to extend our trip!

Hannah is waiting for 2 exams to come this week before Heather leaves on Friday. We have now ordered them twice from BYU, and hopefully they will be here soon. We are also waiting for her new classes to arrive as well. She will finished up her last chapter in Physics this week, have 2 weeks to study, then take that exam in Nebraska while we're at Michelle's house.

We had 8 at church today -- 5 plus the 3 of us. It was a nice fast and testimony meeting. One is also a non-member, so it's good to have him here too.

We hope everyone is doing well and not too busy with the holiday rush. We started listening to Christmas music today and I put out our nativities. It's time to get into the Christmas Spirit!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-11-30T02:34:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

We hope everyone had had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and lots of good food and lots of visiting with friends and family!

It has been very eventful here in India this holiday weekend. This weekend is not a holiday in India. The only place to even think about American Thanksgiving is at a 5-star hotel which caters to American tourists and business people. We had planned to go to Le Meridien and enjoy their Thanksgiving buffet with 9 people from John Deere and 8 people from GM. Unfortunately, our plans were sent in all different directions and we ended up having Thanksgiving dinner here at our house. I could make funeral potatoes with ham, homemade bread, pumpkin pies, and creamed cauliflower. Linda would bring chicken and glazed carrots. Heather would bring a green salad and brownies. It was a wonderful last minute plan! Unfortunately, I didn't count on not having power for 8 straight hours from 10:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. Every hour I would check off another thing from the list that wouldn't get baked in time. As it was, I had time to bake the bread, reheat the casserole, and then bake one pie during dinner. I baked another loaf of bread after everyone left too. It was a great dinner and we all ate too much, etc.

Heather brought along a service project for us. She helps out at a Christian children's ministry here in town and she had been out buying Christmas gifts for lots of the kids that come to the Christmas party and service that they have. We ended up wrapping 150 tiffin sets, water bottles and tiffins, and pencil boxes with pencils. It would have taken a long time to get that done by herself, so it was just fun for all of us to help. We got it done in record time and felt good about it.

When we got word about what was going on in Mumbai (7:20 a.m. Thursday), we turned on the TV and watched for a while. John Deere called a meeting of all expats to discuss what security level we were at, so Hannah and I went to work with Doug. But before we left, I made sure to pack a bag with all our 72 hour emergency essential items in it. If we were told to go somewhere immediately, we were ready! When I woke Hannah up that morning and told her what was going on, she said, "I hope they send us to Australia!" We went into the big conference room and there was a JD security guy in China who was monitoring the situation in Mumbai. We were on Level 1 -- Be aware, don't call attention to yourself, stay away from crowded areas, take all American identification off our car, and continue to monitor the situation. That is exactly what we continued to do. I sent my housekeeper up to the store to buy ice cream and yogurt and flour and potatoes and cauliflower so I wouldn't have to show my white face anywhere. She was happy to do it and agreed that I shouldn't be out. We have just laid low all weekend.

Doug, on the other hand, left on Friday morning at 6 a.m. for a trip to Chandigarh in Punjab. He went with a bunch of Indians and stayed at the 5-star Taj Hotel there. He said that security was beefed up and he had to walk from the road into the hotel property and in the door. They weren't letting any cars up near the entrance. That even included Mercedes-Benz cars with irate Indians! (Imagine that!) Doug went up there to attend a farm show. He got home Saturday evening without any problems.

We had 6 at church today, us 3 plus our regular gal and our new gal with her husband. He is Christian but not a member of the Church. He really enjoyed Sunday School class and our worship service. He wants to come back next Sunday. I gave him a Book of Mormon of his own, so he and Mary can read together.

I guess that's all our news.
We love you and miss you all!
Love, Lucinda

2008-11-28T18:52:00.001-08:00

We're ok! We live 3-4 hours outside Mumbai and the situation has not directly effected us at all. John Deere called us in for a meeting and explained what level of emergency we were at (level 1 by the way). They are continuing to monitor the situation (which apparently is still going on), and if necessary, they will take additional action with us -- having us stay home, locking us down, moving us to a safe place in India, or even flying us out of India. It's nice to have an emergency plan to use.

We even packed our emergency bags, with our 72 hour kit information and clothes and toothbrushes. We are ready!

We were planning to have Thanksgiving dinner at the big fancy 5 star hotel last night, but we decided that was a BAD idea. We quickly went to plan B and had it here at our house. We had 9 and it was a delicious meal. We also got a service project in. My friend helps with a christian children's ministry and we wrapped 150 Christmas gifts for the kids. We had a nice evening.

Like I said, we're doing fine. Thank you for your prayers and your concern. We have truly felt them and know we have been watched over and protected.

Lucinda

2008-11-23T03:42:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Well, we finally have some plans and some information on our trip to the US. John Deere decided that we needed to travel to the US to get our new visas for the next year, since they were unable (or unwilling) to take care of it here in India. The rumor is that it costs less to send the 3 of us to the US for a couple weeks than to get the fees paid and get it done in India. Whatever the reason, we are coming to the US at Christmas!

We are flying out of Mumbai on December 20 and fly into Atlanta. We have never taken this flight before -- it is a 14 hour direct flight. That should be a new experience. We then fly Atlanta to Omaha and get in early afternoon. We are hoping to sleep at Michelle and Ryan's place that night and then drive to Waterloo early Sunday morning (church starts at 1 p.m.). We will be in Waterloo Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and we will either drive back to Omaha Dec. 23 or 24. Craig, Heidi, and Brice fly to Omaha on Christmas Eve as well, so there will be many Johnsons there.

We will be in Omaha from Christmas until Jan. 3, when we fly back to Atlanta then Mumbai. We will stay overnight in Mumbai, attend church on Sunday in the branch, then drive home. We usually get home about 4-5 p.m.

So somewhere in all this, we will get our visas sent to the Indian Consulate in Chicago, have fun with everyone, Hannah will take a physics final, and we will be ready to return. Well, maybe we won't be ready to return yet, but Doug needs to be in India for his work.

Any Christmas presents can be mailed to:
Michelle Hackett
12802 S. 28th Ave
Bellevue, NE 68123
This seems a bit forward, but I know this has been a burning question for many.

We had 5 at church today, the 3 of us and 2 Indian sisters.

We hope everyone is well and healthy!
Love, Lucinda

2008-11-16T03:07:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

We are back in India and things are going as smoothly as possible. I'm sure everyone will be happy to hear that our plastering and painting and waterproofing has been completed. I know it is miraculous! The big test will be when monsoon comes next summer. It is nice to have it all finished for longer than 2 months this year. When it is bad, it really is a terrible sight and we can't use our kitchen shelves at all. Doug is not convinced they waterproofed outside, but they insisted that they filled in the cracks in the wall and waterproofed the entire thing. I assume they used latex paint to "waterproof."

We have 3 more brown dresses for Heidi's friends wedding in January. The tailor did a good job on them and they were done in record time. Three matching dresses custom fit for $25. Not bad!

It feels like we're still recovering from jet lag, or maybe I just need 9 hours of sleep at night. Either way, it's hard to get up in the morning. We've been out walking/running/lifting weights every day. Doug caught another bug this week and had to stay home from work on Saturday -- too bad! I started him on the bacterial intestinal medicine and he seems to be bouncing back fairly quickly.

We had 2 phone calls this week from people coming/moving to Pune and wanting to know where and when church is. Today we had 6! We have a new young man who moved back with his family from Hydreabad and another girl who has joined her husband here in Pune. Our regular gal that attends didn't make it today and we are worried about her. I tried to call her but her phone was switched off. I will try again later.

We are having beef stew and home made bread for dinner today. Our stew will have all the extra vegetables from the week dumped in -- potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, and beans, along with onions and garlic. YUM! Hannah said she was going to make some pumpkin cookies. I hope she does!

Hannah finished another class this week and ordered the final. She is ready and waiting for 2 finals now. That only leaves 3 classes to finish and order the final before November 28. I think she can do it.

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this fall season. We don't have fall in India. The days are starting to get shorter and it gets cooler at night, but that's all. It's still 85 in the day and the flowers are blooming and the trees are all green.

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-11-12T08:32:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

I can't put it off any longer. I have to write about our trip to Italy!

We had an after midnight flight from Mumbai to Amsterdam, which meant we left about 6 p.m. for our 4 hour drive to Mumbai. We made it fine (Feroz is a good driver) and we went to have dinner at the Leela Hotel. It's a very expensive hotel and our dinner was about $50. That was just getting us ready for meals in Italy! We caught our flight and landed in Amsterdam about 6:30 a.m. and had some European breakfast -- croissants and hot chocolate. We then headed to our next flight and arrived in Rome about 1 p.m. We caught the train from the airport to the main train terminal in Rome and then walked to our hotel. It was a nice 3-star hotel and our rooms were on the 4th floor. We usually walked up, unless we were so tired we couldn't walk any more. Doug and Hannah found some pizza and I had a nap. We strolled around to get our bearings and had dinner and went to bed early.

Our hotel had a great breakfast -- fresh croissants that were filled with vanilla or chocolate cream, other pastries, meat and cheese and rolls, juice, hot chocolate and fruit. We didn't appreciate that nice breakfast enough! We walked and found the tourist office and bought 3 Roma passes -- which included a metro pass for 3 days unlimited riding, and free museums for the first 2 museums we went to, and then 1/2 price for any museums after that. We rode the metro a lot while we were there and used all our museum passes, so we felt like we got a good deal. We saw the Church of St. Mary's of the Angels and Martyrs, the Colosseum, the Arch of Constantine, the Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Circus Maximus, the Victor Immanuel Monument (tomb of the unknown soldiers), Santa Maria Sopra Museum church, the elephant and obelisk statue, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Church of San Luigi de Francesi, and Trevi Fountain. I think we were tired!!! We had pizza from a little shop where they cut the piece of pizza to the number of grams you order then take your pizza and sit and eat it on the steps of the church. We also had some great gelato! We did get dinner (only the American tourists eat at 5 or 6 p.m.) and headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted. We did get a great picture of Hannah and a Roman gladiator. Those guys were dressed up and all around the Colosseum willing to have their pictures taken with you for 5 euros. We got a bargain, and Hannah's pictures were only 3 euros.

Saturday we had breakfast at the hotel again and headed to the Vatican. We were going to go to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel first, but it was closed -- the only Saturday all year that they were closed. It was because it was All Saints Day. So we went to St. Peters Square and into the cathedral. While we were wandering around in there, a procession started coming though and the Pope and all his helpers went by to have mass in the cathedral. We didn't get to go see all the things in there because they had the front part sectioned off for mass. We wandered outside after mass and the Pope was in his window with the red banner hanging out and he was speaking to all the people in St. Peters Square. First he gave a message in Italian, then French, English, Spanish, and Polish wishing us all a happy and peaceful All Saints Day. We wandered down the street and found another pizza place and had pizza again for lunch. I think I could really like that! We walked to Castel San Angelo went through the museum there. Then we wandered back to St. Peters Square and just sat by the columns and watched all the people. We took the metro from there to the Spanish Steps and were amazed at all the people there. It was like India -- just throngs of people wandering and milling about. We then walked to the Piazza Del Popolo, saw the twin churches. Our legs were so tired! We had dinner at Burger King (a real treat!) and went back to the hotel by the metro. Again, it was another early bedtime.

Sunday we took the metro to church. We had a bit of a walk from the station, but we made it while they were singing the opening song. The service was in Italian, which was fine, but there were plenty of foreigners there, that Italian was their second language. The people of Rome are very happy about their coming temple, which will be built in NE Rome near the Mission Office. We had a great lunch on the way back to the hotel, took a 1 hour rest, and went to the National Museum of Rome. I really enjoyed the huge and old mosaics and imagined their patterns would make beautiful quilts. We had dinner on the street in the Piazza de Independence and went back to the hotel for the night. Tired again!

Monday we had breakfast at the hotel and walked to the train station to catch the train to Florence. It was about 1 1/2 hour train ride and very nice. We also walked to our hotel again and got registered. This 3-star hotel was in an older building also with a funny old elevator with iron and wood doors that we had to open and close. Hannah was a bit nervous at first, but we also appreciated it since we were again on the 3rd floor. The market was close to our place and we were excited to explore there. We found a local's hangout and ordered sandwiches -- Hannah didn't appreciate hers still very pink, but they were good sandwiches. We walked to the Duomo, and it rained hard. Luckily we had bought umbrellas from our Bangladeshi friends in Rome and didn't need to buy more here. We were so wet, we went back to the hotel to dry a bit, then we were back out walking to Santa Maria Novella, Piazza della Republica (where there was a carousel and live musicians playing), Piazza Vecchio, and then dinner of pizza, tortolini, and canoloni, then back to the hotel. We just didn't have any trouble sleeping at all!

Tuesday we needed to do laundry. There was a laundromat just down the street and around the corner from our hotel. We had 2 loads and it took an hour. Our hotel in Florence didn't come with breakfast, we just went out on the street to find a shop where we could get some pastries. We finished up the laundry and went to the Galleria del Uffizi, but we didn't go in because the line was too long. We went to the Bargello Museum and had lunch (pizza, pizza, and ravioli), then went to the Piazza Santa Croce, but didn't go in again. We wandered around some more and found some really decadent Belgian style waffles with whipped cream and chocolate. Hannah and I thought they were just single, but they popped another waffled right on top. We couldn't even open our mouths that wide! We found a 99 Euro store and had to walk through, and Doug found an Internet cafe. Then back to the hotel to dry off again. Dinner found us at a place recommended by Rick Steves, and we had sausage with beans, legume soup, and spaghetti with sun dried tomatoes. Back to the hotel exhausted!

Wednesday we headed out early. We walked to Ponte Vecchio, Piazza Pitti, went through the Museums Dalleria Palatina and Galleria D'Arte Moderna. We found a place to have lunch at Piazza Santo Spirito and had ears with broccoli, butterflies with zucchini and artichokes, and canoloni with spinach. You have to guess who had what! We did some shopping and found a couple belts for Doug (a hard choice) and some gifts. We talked to Michelle at the Internet cafe. We went back to the hotel and Doug needed a new book, so he went wandering for a bookstore. We had a nice dinner with Caesar salads, sliced beef with roasted potatoes and pasta with artichokes, and goulash with potatoes. We stopped for gelato on the way back to the hotel.

Thursday we wandered around the market some more, and we found the fruit and vegetable markets. Unfortunately, we didn't have the camera with us, but we saw the most beautiful cauliflower -- huge and white and nice! We caught the train back to Rome and took the train back to the airport. We had to fine a cab to take us to our next hotel, which was a bed and breakfast. We had a mediocre lunch at the airport. Again, it was raining! We checked in about 4 p.m. and just read books and rested. The owner of the bed and breakfast had a restaurant down the street and round the corner. It was Italian and Egyptian, because her dad was Egyptian, so we could have schwarma and spaghetti. At the bed and breakfast, we were given a key to our room and about 6 other keys. We had to lock the outside gate, lock the door to the house, close the inside door, and then lock our room. We didn't even think there were other people staying there, but finally someone made some noise. It was a double decker room, and Hannah slept in the top. It was a nice place -- again a 3-star.

Friday we took the bus to the central bus station in Ostia, then took the metro to Ostia Antica. This is the old Roman seaport and it's mostly in ruins now. We wandered around in there all morning, and it was a nice day. We had lunch (lasagna, calzone, and pizza) in town then walked out to the beach. We wandered along there and then climbed up onto the pier. I'm just not as young as I used to be! How embarrassing! We did enjoy the view and just being outside in clean air. We stopped for gelato and walked back to the bus station. Of course, by this time we didn't know which bus took us back to the bed and breakfast. We asked around, they stopped a bus leaving the station and put us on it. Luckily we made it back! We had dinner again at the dad's restaurant of antipasti, rigatoni, veal and prosciutto, and french fries. While we were eating it started thundering and lightning and we had to walk back in the rain. We had hot chocolate and went to bed.

Saturday, the cab came for us at 4 a.m. to take us to the airport. Our flight was 6:10 a.m. to Amsterdam. We barely made our connection to Mumbai. We were caught in huge lines going through from the domestic side of the airport to the international side of the airport. Our flight started boarding at 8:45 a.m., we landed at 9 a.m., and our flight left at 10 a.m. We didn't even have time for a burger or anything. Sad! We landed in Mumbai at mightnight and found Doug's name on one of the numerous nameboards outside the Mumbai airport. We got a courtesy car from the airport to the Leela Hotel. We finally got to bed about 2:30 a.m.

Sunday the alarm didn't go off! We got up and showered as fast as we could, had the buffet breakfast at the hotel, and Feroz was outside waiting for us. We made it to church during the opening song. There were new people in Mumbai that will be here for a few years, there were some that have already left, and there were the familiar faces. We had pot luck then left for home at 2 p.m. We got home at 4 p.m. and found the electricity off. This is the new electricity program -- no power from 8:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and no power from 4:15 p.m. to 7 p.m. It's getting dark now at 5:30 p.m., so there's not much we can do during that time.

We were glad to be home. We had a wonderful time. There were plenty of things we weren't able to see, so we'll just have to go back again!

We hope all is well!
Love, Lucinda

p.s. We had a good time. The museums, houses and cities were so clean and pretty. Everything was so expensive in Italy as we are use to really cheap (and not so good food). Dad

2008-11-12T08:32:00.000-08:00

2008-10-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been another slow week, but that's ok. We like it when it's boring!

Our house is getting worked on. The people on the other side of our duplex moved out and the owner is renovating and decided he could help us out too. So far we have had the pest control come and drill holes in all the marble and tile floors, inject bug killer, and then fill in the holes with putty. This left a HUGE dusty mess for the weekend. Today it got cleaned up a bit, but probably needs more and additional moppings. The dust is all over the furniture and everything. I started wiping that up today, since I was sick of it being everywhere. They also started painting the outside of our bungalow. They make such a mess -- just let it drip where it may and leave it. It does look nicer than the moldy and mildewed walls we usually have. No work on the waterproofing yet!

We are nearly ready for our trip to Italy. We finished our hotel reservations today. We only need train reservations from Rome to Florence and back. We should be able to handle that when we get there. We are within walking distance of most things in Rome and in Florence, so that shouldn't be a problem. We know when and where church is for Sunday. Doug thinks the meetings will be in Italian. That's ok, we should be able to handle it. We do need to pack tomorrow, then off we go!

Doug is off work tomorrow for the Indian holiday Diwali. It is called the festival of lights and lots of people have put out "Christmas" lights. This is also the festival of a zillion fireworks. Doug went and bought some on the way home from work today and spent 500 rupees. That's a ton of fireworks. He has large fountains, small fountains, rockets, sparklers, the small crackers, and really large boom crackers. The police department decided today that no crackers can go off after 10 p.m. and before 6 a.m. That sounds ok to me, since I expect the place to sound like a war zone for quite a while.

We gave all our help their Diwali gifts last week. Of course, Feroz is Muslim, Mary is Christian, and Sham is Hindu, along with 2 guards and the gardener. So I told them "Happy Eid," "Merry Christmas," and "Happy Diwali"!

We had 4 for church yesterday, and we finished watching October General Conference. It was great.

We hope everyone is well and happy this holiday season! Happy Diwali!
Love, Lucinda

2008-10-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been a very uneventful week. We had the JD gal here for her second week, and we did all the things we missed the first week. We picked up her stitching, finished her Christmas shopping (which we were able to do ours as well), ate at the Indian restaurant, had sizzlers, and we even went to Fashion Street. Fashion Street is like a rabbit warren of shops and more shops. The aisles are narrow and you can only walk single file down them. It's really hot in there too. There are probably 150 shops in this one little area. Her driver came in to see if we were ok in there. Things you can find in Fashion Street: jeans, t-shirts, sunglasses, scarves, kids clothes, shoes, western clothes, robes, sandals, towels and sheets, kurtas, luggage, purses, watches and jewelry, etc. It's a crazy place and everyone calls after us, "Madame, jeans!" "Madame, kurtas!" "Madame, chapals!" We really try to stick together and stay on the "main" aisles.

This morning Hannah called down stairs that she needed help upstairs right away. I asked her what tools I needed. She said I needed to bring a dust pan and a broom. I asked her if it was alive or dead. She said dead. Up I went. It was a cockroach! It was on its back with it's legs and feet wiggling in the air. I wish I had taken a picture of it. It was probably 2" long and as big as Doug's thumb. The antennae on it were another 1 1/2-2" long. It was pretty large. I scooped it up and showed it to Doug. He said it was a pretty big one. I asked what I should do with it, and he said to throw it out on the terrace. I went back and looked later and it was gone. Hopefully, some bird came and ate it, and it didn't come back into the house.

We had 5 for church today -- us 3 plus 2 Indians. The missionaries and the family from Mumbai didn't come. We had a quiet meeting -- we watched Sunday afternoon General Conference. We will watch our last session next week (Sunday a.m. session).

We are getting our hotels and things arranged for Italy. We still have a bit of work to do on that.

We are also getting our plans in order for our trip to the US in December/January for our visa renewal. It looks like we will be in Waterloo a few days, travel down to Omaha for Christmas, then back to Waterloo. Doug will be working in Waterloo and hopefully our visas will come through with no problems.

I guess that's it for us. We are all fine (Doug is getting a cold again). We are hoping this will all be out of our systems by the time we leave for our trip to Italy. It's no fun to be sick on vacation.

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-10-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It has been a busy week. We had another John Deere wife here and she has wanted to see the town. Naturally, we were able to help her out and take her to all the great shopping places and enjoy helping her get her shopping done. These are nice women that come with their husbands and are happy to go with us.

We were out on Laxmi Road one day this week and we were standing at the corner toy store to purchase some toy rickshaws, when my friend Debi said, "You'll never believe this, but there is a 5-legged cow coming down the road." How could I not believe her. But somehow, my head just couldn't believe it. Sure enough, there was a woman leading a cow with this thing flung over its back coming toward us. Heather went to take a picture, but the woman put out her hand for a fee. We stared and tired to make sense of what we were seeing. First it looked like a dead animal slung over the back of the cow. Then it looked like a cow leg slung over the back of a cow. Then we got a view of the other side, and sure enough, there was something growing out of the back of the cow -- a 5th leg. We just stared and gawked like crazy. The Hindus were rushing to give her rupees and get blessings from such a holy creature. Heather took out her camera and got a couple shots when the woman crossed the street. We knew no one would believe a story like this one! I tried to explain it to Doug and Hannah, and they were just speechless and couldn't even comprehend what I was saying. You look at the pictures and decide for yourself. Doug is a skeptic. I was just glad I could see it -- unbelievable! The perfect start to the Diwali season!

We have been trying to get our Diwali shopping done and everything ready for the biggest holiday in India. We are expected to get each of our employees a box of Indian candy, 1 month of pay in cash, and clothing to wear. That's quite a bit and it's well over $500 US. I am trying to have a good attitude, but it's not coming yet. Usually, our employees are on their best behavior just before Diwali. Imagine that! It's like the children waiting patiently for Christmas. Our Christian help prefers their gifts at Diwali because this is the time of great sales all over town. Usually, there are no sales in India, but now everything is on sale.

Hannah is working hard on her classes. We found out that Heather will be leaving for the US on Dec. 12, so Hannah needs to have all her classes done, and exams ordered by the last week of November. It will be tight, but she can make it. She is doing very well so far. Her Geometry tutor left for the US to attend her son's wedding. She will be back next weekend. Hannah's physics tutor is very patient and knowledgeable. They work every night on physics! Her tutor is Doug!

We had 5 at church today. We got a call that another family (Indian) was moving to Pune. We expected them today, but they didn't make it. Next week should be a big week with the missionaries here and branch presidency member and family.

We are looking forward to our Italy trip (Oct. 30-Nov. 8). We still need hotels, but Doug is hoping the prices will go down because it is the slow season and because world economics are falling. We'll see this week what we get.

It looks like we will be heading to the US around the end of the year/first of the year to get our new Indian visas. We haven't come up with dates yet, but we should be able to get them worked out as soon as we figure out the shut-down schedule for Deere Waterloo. We will fly into Waterloo, and Doug will spend a week working at PEC. I don't think winter is the best vacation schedule for me. We don't even have winter coats!

That's all for this week. Take care! We love you!
Lucinda

2008-10-05T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

We had an exciting new adventure this week. My friend Debi's landlady invited all us ladies over to learn to cook Indian food and stay for lunch and visit on the terrace. This is the producer of the movie we went to the premier of. Of course, she has 2 kitchens (one for her and one for the people who really cook in her house), and a number of cooks. These women cook for the entire household -- family, extended family, maids, houseboys, gardeners, drivers, themselves, and anyone else who shows up. They probably feed 20-25 people three times a day when the family is in residence.

We learned how to make dahl mahkani, hummus, and chapati. It was really fun and really nice of her to have her cooks show us how it's done. I took a lot of pictures so you could begin to understand Indian cooking. All the ingredients are fresh -- freshly ground spices, wheat flour, vegetables, chicken -- and it's all done by hand. She has recently purchased a wheat grinder which cuts down the kitchen helper's work immensely, but while we were there and grinding the wheat, the electricity went out and that was that!

The ladies making the chapati were doing it as we ate, so every couple of minutes, the one gal would bring in hot chapati or paratha and give it to whoever needed it. It was really good! The menu was byriani, gobi and aloo, dahl, chipati and the yogurt mixture to cool the hot spices. So in English, that would be rice with chicken, cauliflower and potatoes, lentils and beans, and whole wheat tortillas. It was excellent! Then she asked what kind of ice cream we wanted -- she was calling out to Baskin Robbins to have it delivered! We had a nice day and afternoon visiting about India and our experiences here.

Wednesday and Thursday were holidays for John Deere. Wednesday was for Id -- the Muslim end of Ramadan (or Ramazan as they call it here), and Thursday was for Gandhi's birthday. Doug worked the first day and is going to take it as comp time later. He took Thursday off. Our driver is Muslim, so he took off work and we had substitute drivers for W, T, F, Sat. It worked out ok and hopefully we will be back to normal on Monday.

Hannah was able to finish all her assignments in all her classes this week. I called about a French tutor to come to the house and help her out, and the guy was supposed to call me on Saturday, but he didn't call. I wonder how the BYU teacher would take Hannah's accent -- French with an Indian accent. Craig says it's lots of fun to listen to the Indians speak Spanish. I think this would be about the same.

We were able to watch the first session of conference today. Very good! There were only 4 of us.

We hope everyone is doing well!
Love, Lucinda

2008-09-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It has been another interesting week in India. We started out strong on Sunday night. Doug's boss (Jill) and her assistant (Juli) were in town and we went out to dinner with them. They wanted Indian food, so we went to an Indian restaurant -- very good food. Hannah even liked it -- in fact, she ordered for us that night. This was the start of lots of meetings and dinners for Doug all week. Juli had lots of shopping she needed to get done, so Doug and I went with her Tuesday after work to Center Street. It was dark and we don't usually go out at night, but Doug patiently walked along with us and waited outside each shop (mostly because there's not room for 3 people in the shop) as we looked and purchased and moved on. Juli found lots of interesting Indian things to take back with her, including fabric. We then went to Clover Center and found a tailor to make her new outfits. By 9:15 or 9:30 the shops were closed and we went to dinner at Ram Krishna. We just had some dosa and ice cream. That's just too late to eat!

Since we didn't get all her shopping done, Juli got some time off before going to the airport. We picked up the last few things and went to lunch. She seemed quite satisfied with her purchases. I was to pick up her new clothes on Friday night and send them home with one of the other John Deere employees leaving on Saturday. No problem.

The ladies and I went for massages this week. The new place we found can take up to 6 at a time. We all have private rooms and private massage therapists. Two ladies had Indian massages (60 min). The other three of us had a foot reflexology massage (30 min) and a head, neck, and shoulders massage (30 min). It was very nice and very relaxing for $13 US. Almost enough to make it addicting.

I called about Hannah's BYU classes this week. It had been 2 1/2 weeks since we order them and they hadn't come yet. The gal said that they were stuck in North Salt Lake with Fed Ex. They said they would reship them DHL directly to Doug's office in Pune. Hopefully they will come this week and Hannah can get started!

I went with Heather's daughter Anna to her pre-school Grandparents Day -- Rumble in the Jungle. We played games and danced and sang and had "tea." Anna has a nice school and nice teachers. I don't know why, but the other grandparents seemed so much older than me . . .

We have another new grand baby this week -- Emily had Chloe Hancock on September 25, 2008 at 2:45 p.m. Chloe is a very big girl -- 10 lb. 8 oz. and 21" long. They both seem to be doing very well and are home from the hospital now. Grandma Noni is helping with Zach and Quinn at home -- also a big job! Congratulations Matt and Emily and Zach and Quinn!

It seems the rains have stopped. I also had someone come and look at all the leaking places in the house and that they would start "tomorrow". Apparently, "tomorrow" hasn't arrived yet, but hopefully it will sometime soon.

I guess that's it for this week. We love and miss you all.
Love, Lucinda

2008-09-21T03:16:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

There have been some exciting things going on here. I will describe them in chronological order -- not order of importance!

Monday night we were invited to our first Bollywood movie premier! The movie was "Saas Bahu aur Sensex". Sensex is the Indian stock market, like the American Dow Jones. The movie is about a divorced Indian woman who started to invest in the stock market and then got some other Indian women in her apartment building (society) to invest also. The movie premiered here in Pune on Monday night and in Mumbai Friday night. Monday night, before the movie, we were invited to a reception to meet the producer, the director, and the actors and actresses. The reason we got in on this is because our friend Debi lives in a bungalow in the producer's compound. That makes the producer her landlady. The director is the landlady's older daughter, the bad girl in the movie is the landlady's younger daughter. The others invited to the preview were the housekeeper and her family and the cook and her family and all the house help because they were in the movie in short shots and they cooked and took care of all the cast and crew as they were filming here in Pune. In the reviews in the paper today, it got one star. We took pictures to prove that we were actually there.

We got home late Monday night (11:30 p.m.) and were very tired. So Tuesday night we went to bed and we were going to make up some of the time from Monday night, when we had an earthquake at 3:15 a.m. Doug sat straight up in bed and asked what it was. Well, it was an earthquake, silly! It wasn't very long, about 5-8 seconds. The bed shook and the ceiling fan shook and the air conditioner shook and it was all over. Two days later it was in the paper -- a 4.8 on the Richter scale, and the epicenter was about 120 miles from Pune. It was my first earthquake and it was a very strange feeling. Needless to say, we didn't sleep much the rest of that night.

At 1:15 p.m. on Thursday, September 18, 2008, Amber gave birth to Levi Emerson Finch! He was 8 lb. 4 oz. and 21" long. His pictures are very cute and he looks like all his brothers and sister. We haven't been able to talk with Amber yet, but we hear all is well. Congratulations to Amber and Spencer and Corbin and Miles and Ella-Marie and Hunter! New babies are so exciting!

Doug went to the battery store yesterday and got some new batteries to put into our power supplies. This is exciting because when the power goes out, we can still have time to save what's on the computer and shut it down. That also means that the electrical pieces and things that have been taken apart on my table have now been put back together and the table is cleaned off! Yea!

Hannah received the 3rd book in the Eragon series -- Brisingr, by Christopher Paolini. She stayed up all night to finish reading it. Hannah recommends the whole series of books to anyone who likes reading.

Church was sparse today -- just the 3 of us, but it was good.

We hope everyone is well and happy! We miss everyone!
Love, Lucinda

2008-09-14T05:06:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Everyone is feeling better and back to work and school and regular activities.

We got an SMS from Feroz our driver on Thursday evening -- his father-in-law had "expired" and he was leaving for the village that night. He had arranged a driver for Friday, but there were still a few bugs to be worked out. John and his driver Zopher came at 8:10 a.m. to pick up Doug and take him to work. They also had to stop and pick up Heather's husband Chris and take him to work. Then Zopher was going to drive to Feroz' house and get the key to the car and bring that to me. Then Sandeep could drive Hannah and I for geometry and then go take Doug to the factory. Flawless plan! Flawless in execution! Amazing!

Thursday afternoon I got a call from John Deere HR asking if the owner of the house could come in 1/2 hour to show his friends visiting from out of town, his house. I asked if this was normal and was told that it was in our contract with the owner. We have never met him and all our dealings with him have been like a brick wall. So he came and brought his "friends" from Holland. I was sure he was trying to rent the house out from under us. So they prowled around the house and finally I asked if they were moving to Pune. They said, "yes." I asked if they had a place to live yet. They said, "yes, in Waterfront." That was a relief. That is where my friend lives that tutors Hannah in geometry. It's a nice and new place. The owner asked if there were any problems, so I showed him all the leakage and the problems from that. He said he would have his man come next week. I asked his name and found it was the man who had been here a year ago and done nothing. The owner said he had given him money. I told the owner that if he had given his agent money, then he had absconded, because absolutely nothing has been done on this house in the year since he had been here. He wasn't very happy to hear this, but then asked if I knew anyone that could come and do the waterproofing. So, maybe the waterproofing will get done this season -- after it stops raining! The owner was so happy with the condition of the house (except the leaking and molding walls) that he wants to bring his mother over to meet me. He told me that we could stay in the house as long as we wanted to because we did such a nice job of keeping it up. By the way, rent is $3,000 US a month!

Another exciting thing happened this week -- I had to buy a new toaster! The one that came with the house finally exploded and took the main breaker in the house with it. It was amazing! I took the toaster in to see if it could be repaired. The guy told me that if the toaster was less than 2 years old, they would replace it. If not, it couldn not be repaired and would need to be replaced. So I threw it away and went toaster shopping the next day. When I walked into another shop, the first thing the guy asked was could he see the old toaster. I think toasters are extremely expensive here. It was 1500 rupees = $35. My housekeeper told me I did a bad job bargaining, even though the shopkeeper did take 45 rupees off the price. Frankly, I'd had enough with bargaining, fighting with people whether to repair or throw away the old one, trying to get the driver to take me to get a new one, etc. It was a relief to have a new toaster. It works fine and should be still making fine toast long after we leave India.

There was a line from a movie this week that caught my attention: You know what "India" means don't you? It means -- I'll Never Do It Again!

I hope everyone has a good week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-09-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

We've had some very hard rains this week. The monsoon seems to be over (meaning it doesn't rain every day), but we still have storms a few times a week. Apparently, Pune never had thunderstorms before 5 years ago. It must be the fault of global warming. Nevertheless, we had some bad storms this week. They started just as dark was falling and everyone was trying to get home from work. There were many "waterlogged" roads (with water 12-24" deep) and many people stranded. Indians like to drive through these with their cars and motorcycles, which doesn't help much. When walking through them, many Indians will fall or trip because of potholes or rocks or debris that are unseen. It was very bad those nights.

We had water coming in under our sliding glass doors from the terrace. I also assume the water was coming in through the walls as well -- even though that doesn't show up for a day or so. When we went up to bed, we found that the skylight in our bathroom was leaking terribly. To sit on the pot would mean getting wet on the top as well as the bottom. Anyway, as we were laying in bed talking about the leaks in the bathroom, Hannah thought it would be a good idea to take an umbrella in when going potty. I thought that was a great idea! I also thought we could multi-task -- shower and go potty at the same time. The water coming in from the leaks was about the same as the water that comes out of the shower! We had a good laugh over these and Hannah decided to pose for a picture we could attach with this.

I finally got Hannah and Doug's cold this week. It was a miserable one! I am on the mend, but Hannah and Doug are still coughing and blowing their noses and they are a week ahead of me. It looks like a long recuperation period.

We had 6 at church today. We are wondering whether to have Sunday school 1st and Sacrament Meeting 2nd so that everyone can be there for the sacrament. We'll have to think on that. The missionaries didn't make it this week to teach the investigator family. Maybe next week. The white board and markers works great. It makes teaching easier.

We are having chicken enchiladas tonight for dinner. I made the tortillas this morning. Hannah will put it together this afternoon. It takes about an hour to make a dozen flour tortillas. If I do it early enough in the day, it works out fine. We had fajitas this week. We are really looking forward to some quesidillas and home made salsa next week.

I guess that's about all going on here. We are hanging in there. We hope all is well at home.
Love, Lucinda

2008-08-31T08:20:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

How are things going? We are fine. Have a nice day.
Love, Lucinda

Well, that's all I had to say this morning! There's not much more to say this evening either. It started raining -- hard -- this evening. There is even a lot of thunder and lightning. We could really use the rain here -- maybe we'll even get some of our electricity back during the day.
In Eastern India they are having flooding problems and 3 million people are out of their homes. Here it has been a drought.

We had 5 at church today. We had electricity all day, so we could watch our worship service on the Internet. I gave the Sunday school lesson from the Principles of the Gospel lesson manual. We got a new white board and markers and "duster" (eraser) so we can have a real, live class now. The rumor is that the missionaries are coming up from Bangalore next weekend to teach and check on one of the families that didn't get baptized. The mom hurt her back and wasn't able to travel to Mumbai or get baptized. Hopefully, she will continue to get better and be able to get baptized soon.

Doug is feeling better from his bad cold last week. He missed 2 1/2 days of work. Hannah has the bad cold now, and she's just not feeling very well at all. I think I had it before we left for the US in June. I hope so, I don't want it again.

We hope everyone is doing fine. We miss everyone!
Love, Lucinda

2008-08-23T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

I guess it's been a long time since I've written. I guess that's what an "extended" vacation is all about!

We were able to pick up Brice from his mission at the airport in Cedar Rapids. He had an interview with the stake president at noon and then we went out to lunch for burgers. We whisked him back to Cedar Falls to get a TB test -- that's required by all returned missionaries. We spent the week shopping and visiting doctors and the dentist and visiting with old friends. Brice gave his "homecoming" on Sunday. It was really fun for Emily and Matt and Zach and Quinn to come up from Peoria, and Michelle and Ryan and Helen to come up from Omaha. Brice did an excellent job, even though it seemed to many that he had trouble speaking English.

We left for Omaha after church so we could overnight at Michelle's then catch our flight to Salt Lake City, Monday morning. Believe it or not, we actually made it. We had only a couple small problems -- Hannah left half of her clothes at Michelle's house, and Brice put his pocketknife in his pocket instead of his suitcase. We had to scramble at the airport to find an envelope, tape, and postage and send it to Ryan. He was excited to receive a pocketknife in the mail by surprise!

We made it to the Salt Lake airport and were heading to the baggage claim, when who should we run into, but Amber! Then we turned around and there was Grandma Johnson and Craig! It all seemed to run flawlessly! We got everyone and all the luggage into the cars and went to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson's house. We filled up their apartment! Grandma was such a good sport that week. Luckily she could go in her bedroom and close the door when she needed to.

We picked up Emily from the airport the next day, and the party was ready to begin. We got to meet Heidi Monday night at family home evening. She was a good sport about answering questions and meeting everyone all at the same time. That can be quite overwhelming! We were able to go to the Timpanogas temple for Heidi's endowment Tuesday night. We met all her family as well. Wednesday was the big day. I remember that it was HOT and SUNNY! We were all in the sealing room waiting, when Julia came in and said she had lost my mother. Back she went to find Grandma Wright. Apparently, she found Michelle and baby Helen and was enjoying them in the lobby instead of coming up to the sealing. Julia found her and brought her up and everything was wonderful. Pictures after on the temple grounds were beautiful. There was one snag -- the photographer showed up at the wrong temple. We waited a while and he finally made it.

Next on the agenda was lunch at the Olive Garden. We had reservations for 60 at 2:30 p.m. Unfortunately, there was a "Stamp It" convention in town and all the scrap booking ladies (17,000 of them) were everywhere and were hungry. Olive Garden did great and we had a wonderful lunch. We went back home for a quick nap and then down to Sandy for the reception. It was a beautiful setting in a greenhouse with lots of plants, flowers, and fountains. Heidi's mom did a beautiful job with everything and the food was delicious and the cake was awesome. Everything was just perfect. We even had friends from Waterloo come -- Richard and Loralee Bishop and their 2 kids, and Ken Moss with his family and David Moss with his new wife. Also Bonnie Swindler and her husband and baby came. It was really fun to see everyone!

Thursday we took Emily back to the airport. Everyone else just rested. It was a slow day. Friday we went to the airport ourselves to take off for India. Luckily we were on auto-pilot, or I don't think Hannah or I would have gotten on the airplane. We made it back safely -- it's really a long and tiring trip. I don't think I was very happy to be back, plus I had a very bad case of jet lag.

Everything here in India is about the same. We have 2 power cuts a day for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. We don't have much warm water during the rainy season because we have a solar tank. Our internet has been behaving badly. Our computer had a huge "worm" virus and needed to be decontaminated.

We really enjoyed having Brice here. He just rested and read books and took it easy. We went out as often as we wanted to/could. I hope he got an idea of how India is. He was a good sport to go shopping with me every Monday. One week he said it was much easier that day. I asked him why and he said because there weren't so many beggars stopping us everywhere. OK.

We were able to play games, visit and just enjoy each other's company. Hannah did like having another student in Seminary -- to answer questions and give the prayer instead of her. We had some nice discussions.

This week Hannah came downstairs and said that the worst thing had happened. All her clothes were moldy and damp and stunk. She was very upset and Mary (our housekeeper) said that they all needed to be washed. That's a trick when we don't have power part of the day! Anyway, Mary has been busy washing all Hannah's clothes -- her room smells much better. Yesterday, Hannah decided to do a load with t-shirts and Captain Special. I know it was hard for her to put him in the washer. He made it through, but then she had to hang him by the ears on the drying rack. That was especially painful too. When I went up to bed, he wasn't there any more and I asked her where he was. She said she couldn't stand seeing him like that and that she took him down. I asked if he wasn't still wet, but she said he didn't get very wet at all and that he was dry. That means he didn't get very clean either!

This weekend is District Conference in Hyderabad. Elder Christoffersen was coming to be in charge. Dad has a bad cold and it's a good thing we didn't to. We are hoping for more than us at church today. We'll see.

I hope this is long enough and no one is actually bored by the length.
Have a good week. We love you!
Lucinda

P.S. There are more pictures of Craig and Heidi's wedding and our vacation on the top two links to the left.

2008-07-05T21:56:00.000-07:00

Lucinda is partying in the U.S. and has not keep up on the blog.

Yesterday I hiked up to an old fort on the top of a mountain. There are lots of forts and temples on the mountain tops near Pune. Lucinda and Hannah are usually not very interested in making the hike. You know what they say, while the cats awhile, the mice will play.

A visitor from the U.S. made the hike last week. He gave me detailed instructions on how to get there and even plotted the path on Google earth for me. I just asked my driver to take me there. He didn’t know at first, but he asked around and got us there without any problems.

We drove through very rural towns and farms to get there. These were places without electricity and paved roads. Since it is the rainy season, they had the bullocks plowing the rice paddies. They were also transplanting rice by hand while standing knee deep in water. If there was a level spot no bigger than a bedroom, they cultivated it.

We passed a funeral procession. Everyone was on foot behind a group on men caring the body. The body was draped in fancy material and covered with flowers. Just a short distance past them we crossed a bridge where the funeral pyre was waiting next to the river. I guess wouldn’t mind being cremated; I would just as soon be burned on a fire made of wood and not dried cow dung.

The guy from the U.S. told me that I would have no trouble finding the path. Luckily, I arrived right after a busload of college kids. There were so many paths going in ever direction, I would have certainly got lost. I just followed the kids up the hill. They knew, however, that I was not part of the group. Was it my age, my height, my white skin, my Indiana Jones hat? No! It was because I was the only one wearing hiking boots. You wouldn’t believe the footwear going up the mountain. Most of the boys were wearing tennis shoes - which works. Lots of the girls were wearing sandals. I just can’t even fathom hiking up the mountain, over boulders and through mud, in sandals. As I was going down the mountain, a couple of very old men were climbing up the mountain with large packages on their heads in bare feet! Also, one the way down, a girl passed wearing dress sandals with heels and wearing a fancy saree.

The path followed a muddy stream bed up the mountain. It was slippery. It was steep. It was narrow. At the steepest part, right before the fort, there was a broken down guard rail with tiny steps carved in the rocks. Luckily, by the time I reached the guard rail, fog completely engulfed the path so that the sheer drop off next to the path was invisible. (The drop off was visible on the way down.) Rain covered all the rocks making them quit slippery.

I was one tired puppy by the time I reached the top. The group of college kids hadn’t been seen for a long time. You know, I just can’t stand being at the end of the line. The fort was fascinating. It looked just like an Indian Jones moving. The grass covered broken walls would come in and out of view as the banks of fog rolled by. There were cisterns full of water. I didn’t know, nor could I figure out, what were most of the ruins as the signs were in Hindi. But that just let my imagination run wild. I did walk through a troop of monkeys while on the top. Are monkey dangerous?

The trip down was uneventful but slippery. My driver was waiting for me at the bottom. I was soaked from sweat and rain. I took off my shoes and fell asleep in the car. Before falling asleep, however, we passed the smoldering embers of the funeral pyre.

Sorry, no pictures, Lucinda has the camera.

2008-06-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It was another rough Sunday here -- only 4 again for church. Oh well, we will have to wait a bit longer for our branch in Pune.

Hannah and I have been getting ready to leave for weeks. She has packed a number of times and taken it all out and repacked it. I got my "treasure" suitcase packed, but it needs a few more things in it before it's ready. Doug is worried it will be over 50 lbs. I hope it isn't!

We got the brown bridesmaids dresses this week. Hannah tried hers on it will be great. The tailor did a wonderful job and they are all marked with the girl's name who has those measurements. Talk about custom made! I got my dress from a different tailor. It fits great too. I forgot to tell him to put a zipper in, but it's ok. The thing I'm worried about most if that the wedding is in the 7th week of our trip, and there's not much room for expansion in the dress. I'll really have to watch what I eat and exercise plenty!

We took Doug's suit back to the tailor to get some adjustments made. He seemed to think it wasn't any problem to make the shoulders wider and the crotch longer. I guess that's why he's the professional.

I broke my oven this week. I tried to switch the middle knob for the upper knob and all the pieces behind the panel fell off. We tried to put it back together, but that didn't work at all. I had to take it to a service center and have them look at it. The first guy was convinced that it needed a new thermostat. I told him it just needed to be connected back together because I had pulled it all apart. They didn't call me, so I went back on Saturday and they said it was ready. It was 150 rupees (about $3.75) to get it done. I'm glad we got it back before Hannah and I left for the US. Who knows where it would be in 8 weeks!

I guess that's it for here. Doug says he will miss us while we are gone. I think the time will fly by quickly. We will miss him too.
Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-06-08T05:50:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It seems that the monsoon has started -- or nearly started! We have had rain every day, sometimes with thunder and lightening, sometimes very heavy, but it doesn't rain all day and all night yet. Doug was sneaky and fixed the skylight without any of the Indians seeing him, so that leak is fixed nicely. Because of that, we can have the light when it is cloudy and not have the leaks. Last year we had a blue tarp thrown over the skylight, so it was always dark and dreary.

Church today was disappointing. We had 4. Our 3 and the one gal that came last week from Bangalore and got off the bus and came to church. We haven't heard from anyone else to know what happened to them. I guess it's feast or famine -- or in other words, we're not ready for a branch yet.

Hannah finished Seminary this week, so that's a good milestone. That was our close hurdle to leaving for the US too. We leave a week from tomorrow -- the 16th. We have a 4 hour ride to Mumbai, have dinner in a swanky hotel to pass the time, have the hotel transfer service take us to the airport, get through all the lines and our flight leaves at 12:50 a.m. the morning of July 17. That doesn't seem like much fun!

I did get Doctor appointments this week -- it was amazingly not as difficult as I thought it would be. They are all scheduled and ready to go when we get to Waterloo.

We had a productive week getting things ready to go. We got Hannah's prototype dress done and it was fine. We got the brown fabric taken to the tailor and he has all the measurements to make the 4 for the bridesmaids at Craig and Heidi's wedding. I think this will work out fine. We had to give up on the ribbon -- the choices here are just random. We did get the bangles though, so that will be fun.

I did get started on my dress, but it needs some tweaking. And, I'm waiting for a 22" zipper to come from the US. I am confident I'll be able to get it done this next week and be ready for the wedding.

My friend Heather and her family left for an R&R trip to Australia on Friday -- we will miss them.

Hannah's last test didn't come in time, so Heather will have to mail it back to BYU and she'll have to order it again when we get back in August. She'll have to restudy the whole class to get it right. She has 3 classes, in hand, to study this summer to make up for a couple classes she missed this spring. She'll do fine on those. It's nice to have something to do sometimes.

Doug leaves for Nasik tomorrow for an overnight trip. They're looking at parts for the tractor. He told the Indian guys he's meeting there to put him in the same hotel they are in. I think that's going to be a BIG adventure that I'm happy to miss.

We hope everyone is well and happy! We miss you lots!
Love, Lucinda

2008-06-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

I can't believe it's June already. Time really flies by here. We start the week going to the market and getting groceries, and the next thing we know, it's Friday! Hopefully, we have gotten something done in between there.

The wedding is coming along. Thanks to all who sent recipes for Heidi's shower. Too bad we can't all be there to get to know her and have a good time. I also got the addresses for the announcements finished and sent to Heidi's mom. She is going to do all of those -- what a blessing! We're trying again with the bridesmaid's dresses. We have some other fabric in to another tailor who hopefully will make the dress properly. We find out Monday on the way to the market. If he's done it right, we'll get the rest of the fabric and the measurements to him right away and he can start those. Life is so exciting and unpredictable!

We got to see Indiana Jones yesterday. They show the movies at 9 a.m. on Saturday (and every day I think). Of course the price is only 69-79 rupees (about $2). There were plenty of people there, but it wasn't packed. It was a fun movie and I hope we get to see it again during the week sometime. They start the movie with the Indian national anthem, and we all stand up for that. Then they have an intermission in the middle so you can get popcorn. The morning movie has last night's popcorn, however, so that's kind of bad. They also have assigned seats, so the people coming in late cause a big ruckus looking in the dark for their seat number.

We're having church here at our house today. When the missionaries left our house last week, they ran into a Chinese woman who stopped them and asked about their badges. She said that she had attended BYU and where was the church. I called her yesterday -- she lives in the next apartment complex from us -- and she is coming to church today. We are hoping to have a full house. We're lucky to have new (and official) sacrament trays. If we can get enough folks here every week, we don't have to go to Mumbai any more. That would be good and bad -- we do enjoy attending in Mumbai and we love the people there, it's just the drive that is so long.

Hannah and I are getting excited for our trip to the US. I dreamed last night of the hold ups and long lines at the Mumbai airport. I guess I'm not looking forward to that.

Hannah has 2 finals to take this week. We're hoping they come in the pouch this weekend. She has 3 classes to take this summer while we're on our trip. Hopefully, they will be fun and go quickly for her.

Have a great week! We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

This is an update to today's blog.

We had 14 people at church today! We don't have to go to Mumbai next week, because there are too many here to get them there! We had Vijay and his family (4), George and his family (4), us (3), Bali, the Chinese lady, Mahashwari, and Santosh. George will receive the Holy Ghost next week here. One of the branch presidency will be coming. George's family will be baptized in July. Very exciting times!

Other good news -- Michelle and Ryan had their baby at 4:20 p.m., May 31, 2008. Her name is Helen Hackett. She weighed 7 lb. 12 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. Michelle had 13 hours of labor and they are very happy with their new baby Helen. Amber and her family are on their way to help with things. They have all kinds of outings planned -- the zoo, the air force museum, etc.

That's all the extra news for today!
Have a good day!
Love, Lucinda

2008-05-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Especially HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Brice! The big 21! Congratulations! Celebrate it like every good missionary does -- with extra tracting and teaching!

We had 17 at church here in Pune today. The Nabrotzky family (the ones we went to Israel with) were here (6), us (3), Vijay and his family (3), George and his mother and father (3), and another cousin of Shubaum (1), and Rashmi (1). If it continues at this rate, we will have to get chairs, real sacrament cups, and hymnbooks. I don't think that would be a bad thing. George is to be baptized next Sunday in Mumbai and his parents have committed to be there. When the missionaries come to Pune next weekend, I think they will have plenty to teach.

The Nabrotzky's came to visit this weekend -- they came Saturday afternoon. We went to see Prince Caspian. It was fun to see it with them. We also had our friends the Davisons come for dinner with us. I made chili and wild rice and chicken soup and homemade bread. We had mangos and ice cream for dessert. Then we got to play! We played Do you Love your Neighbor?, and hide and seek. The kids just had a blast. I went to bed very tired! Dad made yummy pancakes for breakfast. We are all very tired here, but at least we don't have the 4-5 hour trip back to Mumbai.

We took the picture that Heidi sent us and bought some brown fabric and took it to a tailor (or master) to have made. He just took Hannah's measurements and said it would be done in a week. The fabric was 280 rupees and the stitching is 300 rupees. That's about $14.50. Not a bad deal for a bridesmaid dress.

Hannah took her Creative Writing final this week. She will take her Biology final next week. She has one week of geometry lessons left, then order the final. She is waiting for the English teacher to grade her last portfolio so she can order that final. We may make it by the time we leave for the US. French is marching slowly along, but it will be done! That's the power of positive thinking!

Our bedsheets have gotten a bit thin here -- to the point of non existence. This week I will have to go get some custom made to fit our bed. Stay tuned for the continuing adventures of "can this really be done in India!"

Have a great week! We love you!
Love, Lucinda

P.S. We put some more pictures from Israel on the blog.

May 11, 2008

Hi Everyone --

This letter is getting off a bit later than usual. We had a long day with church yesterday. We left the house about 8:30 a.m. and picked up four people that were coming with us to Mumbai. We had to stop and visit George's parents. I guess they wanted to make sure that we were ok for their son to be with. They were certainly nice people and very gracious and invited us to dinner -- after meeting us for 5 minutes. The mom is an ICU nurse -- so I will make sure that Julia gets to visit her and go to the hospital with her to see what it's like here. We got to church right on the minute of 11 a.m. When we were about 5 minutes from the church we got a call from one of the counselors asking if we were going to make it. I guess that's what you do around here. Well, we weren't the last ones there -- plenty more came in behind us. There were 75 people in attendance yesterday! The room was crowded with 35. It's amazing! They are planning on enclosing the ground floor and making that the chapel, but it hasn't even started yet.

We had nice meetings. I taught Relief Society, Doug taught Priesthood. Hannah helped in Primary. Then we got set up for the pot luck. It's like feeding the 5,000 with a small amount, but somehow it works. After lunch, the missionaries taught George for an hour. We just hung out and visited with all the members. We finally left for home at 4 p.m. and got home at 6:30 p.m. Luckily we were having leftovers for dinner and we could just take it easy.

We got to talk with Brice this week for Mother's Day. That's always great! We talked with him on Friday night -- not exactly the day of Mother's Day, but it was ok. It seems that the schedule between Chile and India isn't the best, so the mission president is ok with a different time. Brice sounded great. His English is a bit rusty, but that's ok. He says he weighs 90 kgs. That's a big boy! We didn't talk too much about coming home -- it makes him "trunky."

We purchased tickets this week to Salt Lake for the wedding. Doug, Lucinda, Hannah, Brice, and Michelle all fly from Omaha to Salt Lake. Emily and Amber are still working on their tickets. Spencer starts school that week, Matt will stay with the boys, and Ryan has to work. We understand and appreciate being able to get this many together.

We are getting excited to come to the US. Only 5 weeks to go. Our list of things to get while we're there is getting longer and longer every day. I hope we have room to bring it all back.

We hope everyone had a nice Mother's Day and know that we love and miss you.
Love, Lucinda

2008-05-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week has gone by -- and it seems that the weeks really go by quickly here!

My friend Heather mentioned that one evening she was feeling a little depressed because she felt like her life was in a rut. I told her that I get those feelings in the morning when it's time to get out of bed. We laughed about that, but agreed that we were in a rut an hadn't done anything new for a while. So Heather and her family flew to Chennai for a long weekend! Linda and John flew to Jaipur for the long weekend. We stayed here because Doug had meetings on Friday. (Thursday was a day off.) Oh well!

We used that day off to make our plane reservations for this summer. We (Hannah and I) are definately coming to the US -- BWI airport to be specific -- on June 17. Heather's wedding is on June 20. We will drive Aaron and Adam down to Virginia for EFY and we'll stay with Amber that week. Then we fly July 1 from BWI to Peoria to visit with Emily's family. We'll be there a week and then Emily will take us up to Iowa and Hannah will go to Youth Conference in Cedar Rapids July 9-12. We will spend a week with Michelle and Ryan and the new baby. Doug flies in to Waterloo on July 17. We'd better be there to pick him up! Brice returns from his mission and comes in to Cedar Rapids on July 21 (we hope!), and we'll spend that week at the doctor, dentist, etc. His homecoming will be on July 27 (we hope). Then our plans are to rush down to Omaha and catch the 10:30 p.m. train from Omaha to Salt Lake City. We'll get to Salt Lake the evening of the 28th. Craig and Heidi Halverson will be married on July 30 in the Bountiful Temple at 10 a.m. Then we fly back to India (we hope with Brice if he can get a visa) on August 1. I'm tired just writing about it! We are excited to be able to visit everyone and just be in the US.

We've been able to get some avacados here the last couple of weeks. One week they were really good. The next week they were ok. I made cheese quisidillas to eat with the guacamole. Very yummy! I did find some tortilla chips at the store this week -- I hope they have another avacado this week too!

Church was great today. We had a young man that has been off his mission here in India since January. He brought a friend. We had George, who will be taught by the missionaries this month. George brought his younger brother Martin (14), and Shubaum (10), who was baptized in February. There were 8 of us total, and 3 were non-members. We had a nice meeting! Next week we head to Mumbai for our second week meeting and pot luck. I think if we could get 10 people here every Sunday, they wouldn't make us go to Mumbai so often!

Have a great week! We miss you all!
Love, Lucinda

2008-04-26T21:37:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been very hot here this week. They even said in the paper that we were having a "heat wave." It's been in the 40 C which is much above 100 F. Luckily we have air conditioning, we stay out of the heat of the day and the sun, and we drink lots of water, and eat ice cream. Life just goes on as normal around here. One Indian man told me this week they like it hot.

For our outing this week, we went to another Expo -- mostly because it was in an air conditioned tent. It was much like the last one, but it's fun to look. I found a great camel stool and brought it home. Doug is still shaking his head over it. I really got it for the grandkids to play on when they come to our house when we get back. Luckily, the lady I bought it from also has matching elephant stools too, so hopefully I'll be getting a friend for it in the next couple of weeks. Heather's kids Anna (4) and Max (1) came and played on it. They had a blast. Anna was riding it and said she was going to Israel. Israel is a great place to have a camel!

Hannah's school work is moving along nicely. She is nearly ready for 2 final exams -- finish the speedbacks, send in the portfolios, and order the exams. Heather has been approved by BYU to be a text proctor, so that takes care of a big problem. The exams will be sent by BYU to John Deere in Moline, sent to India John Deere by pouch, Heather will give the exam in one of the conference rooms at the Tech Center, then send it in the pouch back to Moline, where it gets sent US mail to BYU. Hopefully, there won't be any glitches in that smooth process!

We're still working on our summer plans. One of these days, we'll let you know exactly what is happening, but we hope to be in Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah. Now that's what a vacation is all about!!!

Have a great week! We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

2008-04-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

We hope everyone enjoyed the pictures and the text from our Israel trip. We really enjoyed ourselves and think fondly of that vacation.

We have been busy this week getting back into the groove. Hannah started 2 more classes and needs to finish a couple off and take the finals. Doug found much the same at work after being gone for 11 days. I needed to restock the house with groceries.

Hannah and I went with the ladies this week to an Expo -- like a home show or something like that in the US. They had booths with refrigerators, stove tops, other appliances, TVs, computers, furniture, other home furnishings, "as seen on TV" booths, food and spice booths, and other booths from foreign countries. These are the ones we wanted to see! We looked with interest at the onyx carvings made in Pakistan. We just got small elephants. My friend got 2 - 3 1/2 foot onyx vases. They are just fabulous, but expensive! Others got carved chess sets. Very beautiful. We also stopped at the clothing stalls. We picked up some Indian shirts for 200-250 rupees each. Of course, you have to check and make sure the fabric on the back of the shirt matches the fabric on the front of the shirt. We enjoyed ourselves -- it was in a big tent which was said to be air conditioned. At least it was cooler than outside. It has been 38-40 C. here for the last few weeks.

One of the things that caught my eye about this Expo was that they had a "Cake Exhibition -- See the 7 Wonders of the World in Cakes." How could I pass that up? We brought the camera and took pictures of all of them. Some were better than others. They definitely were not cakes, but mostly cardboard and wooden cut outs. They didn't even have frosting on them. Obviously, they would have melted long ago. They weren't even in the air conditioned part of the Expo. Anyway, you need to look at these pictures and smile and enjoy them. The model of Machu Pichu reminds me of a gingerbread village that has been nibbled on throughout the Christmas season and now it's time to throw it out.

We had just 5 at church at our home today. We have another young man (still in college) ready to be taught the gospel by the missionaries. Too bad they live 1500 Km away from here. We will let them know how ready he is and maybe they can come and teach him. The people ready to hear the gospel just keep showing up on our doorstep.

We are trying to pin down our plans for this summer. We will let you know as soon as we can.
We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

2008-04-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Family --

We made it back safe and sound from Israel. We certainly had an interesting experience and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. I've wondered how I can describe all the places we saw and visited, and all I could figure out was to do it day by day.

Sunday, March 30, 2008
We went to church in Mumbai and then went to our friends house and changed our clothes, repacked our bags and set off for the airport. Our flight left about 8:15 p.m. and arrived in Tel Aviv, Israel at 1:30 a.m. Our friends -- the Nabrotzky family, Jonathan, Michelle, Sarah (9), Austin (7), Jacob (5), and Zachary (2) -- had been in Israel before and they were our tour guides. We loaded into our 9 passenger van at the airport and headed for Jerusalem about 2:30 a.m. It was dark and nothing was open and we were all tired, so we went to the parking lot of their old apartment building and parked the car and slept for a couple of hours. (Or at least we pretended to!) We got up in time to head over to the Mount of Olives for a breathtaking picture of the sun rising on the Old City.

Monday, March 31, 2008
We drove to Ben Yehuda to find some shops open for breakfast. Unfortunately, we were still too early. We did find a shop with fresh breads and spreads. I had a great bagel with cream cheese and onion, cucumber, and tomato. Hannah had a sandwich with an avocado and hard boiled egg spread. We drove up to the BYU Jerusalem Center, but they were closed because the students were away on a field trip to Galilee area. We then went to the Old City and parked at the Jaffa Gate and went in. This is a really fun part of the city. The streets are small and the walls and buildings are all the light sandstone of the area. We walked and walked around and just enjoyed ourselves. We had fresh pitas and circle bread with sesame seeds and burgers and kebabs for lunch. We also visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre -- where Helena (mother of emperor Constantine) decided that this was Golgotha, where Jesus was nailed to the cross, died, and rose from the dead. The various Christians of the early years liked to declare a place sacred, then build a big church on the spot, and then leave a hole in the floor so a person could touch (or look through a glass window) at the actual ground. This was really hard to visualize in these huge, ornate, pagan churches.

We also saw the Western Wailing Wall -- the western wall of the temple old temple. The Jewish people feel this is a sacred and holy place and have a synagogue right next to it. The men and the women are separated at the Wailing Wall. There are lots of little slips of paper shoved into the nooks and crannys of the wall that are prayers people have left. It is very interesting to see and experience. There were having a Bar Mitzva there with a number of candidates (on the men's side). The moms and other female family members would stand on chairs and look over the wall to watch their sons go through this right of passage. They also had boxes of food for after the ceremony for family and friends.

We then began our drive up to Galilee. We had reservations at a kibbutz (a Jewish cooperative community) called Afikim Kibbutz. They had milk cows, banana groves, a large school for kids of all ages, a grocery store, a fish market, etc. etc. To get around the kibbutz, everyone rode bicycles and they had bicycles for us too. We had a great time exploring and riding around and around on the sidewalks and seeing everything. Probably the most unusual thing we saw was a military tank painted pink next to the school gym track. I think they keep those around as reminders of what they have had to go through to obtain their country. This kibbutz also had great double hammocks. We were able to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of the kibbutz. We had pizza at the restaurant/snack bar.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The kibbutz had a complimentary breakfast -- which was fantastic! We had traditional Israeli food and plenty of it -- salad, olives, bread, hummus, scrambled eggs, tomatoes, cheeses, hot cocoa, pudding for the kids, and cold cereal even. There is a picture of the buffet spread in the pictures. The kids really spent a lot of time riding the bikes and loving it, so we got a later start. We drove north and went through Tiberius and up into the hills. We had a great view of the Sea of Galilee.

We first went to the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. This was an old church with great mosaics and a famous mosaic of the fish and loaves. It was a beautiful place and there was the original rock peaking through the floor for us to see. We then went to the Mount of Beatitudes -- another beautiful church built right on the hill. They graciously had a beautiful garden with large rocks in it so we could sit and read the scriptures of the Beatitudes in a lovely setting. We also went to Capernaum where Jesus was said to give the "Bread of Life" sermon in the synagogue. That was a very old and peaceful place. There is also a ruin there that is said to be Peter's house.

We then headed north and got a little too far -- we went to Metula, the northern most city in Israel before the Lebanese boarder. We turned around and headed back. We were surprised by all the "Danger -- Mines" signs. The area is hilly and rough and the land mines are still there. That's a much better reason to stay on the path than just poison ivy! A couple more places we were going to visit were closed by the time we got there. So we headed back south on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and stopped at Ein Gev for sunset pictures on the Sea of Galilee. We also got to pick up some nice, smooth, round, and pink rocks for Hannah's seminary friends.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Again, we were up and riding bikes and eating that wonderful breakfast early. We first went to Yardinite -- the Jordan River spot that is the "traditional" place where Jesus was baptized. This was a beautiful green and lush spot, with lots of tour buses and people standing in the water. We did stick our feet in and thought it a very pleasant place. I saw in my scriptures today that it's the same place pictured in the bible pictures. Next we went to Mt. Tabor (or Mount of Transfiguration). One of the modern prophets said that this was the site. It was beautiful and the view of the Armageddon was fabulous.

Our next drive was to the city of Nazareth. We had a traditional Israeli lunch of falafel -- pita bread with fried garbanzo bean balls, cucumbers, tomatoes, and hummus sauce. They were very good -- or we were very hungry! We went to the Church of the Annunciation where "traditionally" Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. We walked through and looked at the small cave and well they left uncovered for us to look at.

We drove back north to see the places that were closed the day before. We went to Ceasaria Phillipi -- a beautiful waterfall and park (Hermon Stream Nature Reserve, Banias). We didn't have enough time to do the long hike, so we just did the short one and then took the kids to the largest play ground I've ever seen. They had a blast on that. We learned from the Israelis that you sit on a squished plastic pop bottle to go REALLY fast down the slide -- so fast your dad needs to catch you or you land 10 feet past the end of the slide!
That night we went to the grocery store and bought hot dogs and chips and cookies and cooked out by our kibbutz houses. There were nice picnic tables and the hammocks and it was just a nice evening.

Thursday, April 3, 2008
This is the day we left the Kibbutz and headed back toward Jerusalem. Our first stop was at the Dead Sea. Hannah and Doug were all for a float and a soak and a mud pack. The mud from the Dead Sea is supposed to have healing and rejuvenating properties. Everyone there just looked like they had stepped out of a giant mud bath.

We were heading west toward Jerusalem and looking for a place for lunch. We stopped at a tourist trap and were asking if there was a place for lunch. We met a nice Palestinian man named Hanna (John in Arabic) and he said for us to follow him into Jericho. We weren't planning to go into Jericho because it is a Palestinian held city and we weren't really comfortable about going there on our own. However, Hanna got us across the boarder, hopped into our car, and took us to a really great local restaurant where King Hussain used to eat. We ordered salads, kabobs, and all the trimmings. It was a wonderful meal -- at an expensive price (about $130 for 10 of us). However, the meal was the greatest, and talking with Hanna and understanding his point of view was priceless. He told us of his brother who had no children. Hanna had a daughter and 2 sons, and his wife offered to have a child for them. So she had another son and they gave him to Hanna's brother to raise. He calls that boy his brother's son (even though it is his own son). Hanna's wife lives in the US and he lives in Jericho because he enjoys the sense of community and family there that doesn't exist in the US.

We finished driving into Jerusalem and found our apartment. It had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen, living area, and a washer and drier. We took the kids to the park where they played with the Jewish kids and we went to the co-op to get some groceries. That night for dinner we heated up the leftovers from lunch and enjoyed that great (and expensive) meal a second time.

Friday, April 4, 2008
This day we were looking at ruins. We went to the Ophel Archaeological Gardens, and the temple mount excavations. This was very interesting because they are still excavating the site and uncovering new things. The kids liked to climb in and out of all the old places and climb all the steps and "discover" everything for themselves.

We went to the BYU Jerusalem Center to meet Jonathan's sister and have lunch. She is on semester abroad there and I'm sure it was fun for her to have family come and visit. The Jerusalem Center is a beautiful place and very peaceful.

We then went to the money changer to cash a check. I'm not exactly sure how this works, but there are money changers all over the city of Jerusalem. I think this is a very old trade for Jerusalem! We then went to Omar's Souvenir shop. We saw lots of olive wood carvings of all kinds of Bible and Book of Mormon stories. Omar is a great friend to the Mormons in Jerusalem. All the Mormon tour groups come to visit him and purchase their souvenirs. He gave us a "good deal," even the "student rate" because of Jonathan's sister.

We then went to the Suk -- the main Jewish market place. The prices were better here and it reminded me of the Indian market -- only cleaner and more choices that were better looking. Doug bought some olives. I bought strawberries and bananas. We really enjoyed the great fresh breads and pastries too.

Our next trip was to the Old City to get "Jesus" sandals and other trinkets. Hannah and I each got a pair of leather sandals and Doug got a leather belt. I'm sure we didn't get the best price, but the shopkeeper is now our friend for life. We had dinner in the Old City again -- falafels, but they weren't as good as the ones in Nazareth!

We called the bus station to make our reservation to Eilat for Monday morning. It was fairly easy -- what day, time, name, passport number, phone number, credit card number, and we were set.

Saturday, April 5, 2008
Saturday is the Sabbath in Israel for Jews and Mormons. Friday is the holy day of the Muslims. This was hard to get my head around! We left early for church so we could stop at the Orson Hyde Park on the Mount of Olives where he dedicated Israel for the return of the Jews. The sign explaining the park has been removed several times because the Palestinians don't want to know about it or anyone else to know about it.

We went to Church at the Jerusalem Center. It was General Conference Sunday, but they had a 1 hour sacrament meeting because conference wasn't broadcast until later that night. It was a wonderful experience to look out over the city of Jerusalem and partake of the sacrament and think of the Savior. We went to the Mount of Olives and read scriptures under an olive tree in an olive grove. We went to the Garden Tomb and read scriptures there too. Pres. Hinckley says this place is close to a very sacred spot. Golgotha (the place of the skull) is near the tomb and so is the Damascus Gate of the Old City. There have been no churches built on this site and it is just a beautiful, peaceful garden run and maintained by a British association.

We headed back to the Old City to see the Upper Room where the last supper was "traditionally" thought to be held. The original upper room is gone, but the new one is said to be on the site. Under, in the same church, is King David's Tomb. He is conveniently buried in a Jewish Synagogue.

Our next stop was Caiphas' Palace (Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu). There is a cave under this church where Jesus was said to be incarcerated. We were allowed to go down there and see how it was.

Dinner was in Ben Yehuda -- McDonald's no less! They even have real hamburgers!

Sunday, April 6, 2008
This day we got up early and went to see the Dome of the Rock. This is a Muslim mosque and only Muslims are allowed inside, but we were able to walk around the Temple Mount of the Old City. There was a long line and lots of waiting. There was a small altercation at the front of the line while we were there -- there was a group of Czech people who were going to push into the front of the line, but the people right behind said they couldn't. The Czechs wouldn't leave so they had to call someone from in the mosque to calm everyone down. The Muslim person said that no one was better than anyone else and that all people are the same and that everyone had to wait their turn in line. This is a very holy place in the Old City and it was very peaceful. Jews are not allowed to be up there because they don't know where the Holy of Holies was on the Temple Mount and they wouldn't be allowed in there (only the Priests were allowed in the Holy of Holies when there was a temple in Jerusalem and it would break the law if they wandered into that by mistake). We went and spent some time looking at the Golden Gate where Jesus will re-enter the city.

We went down from the Temple Mount into the Muslim quarter of the Old City. I found some Muslim prayer beads for my driver made of olive wood as a souvenir for him. We found a great little restaurant in this quarter that looked like it was carved from a cave. It was very fun and we had falafels again.

We went back to the apartment and picked up the Michelle and the kids to go to Bethlehem. We drove by many typical shepherd fields with the real flocks and shepherds tending them. In Bethlehem we went to the Church of the Nativity where it is the "traditional" site for the birth of Jesus. We went down the steps into a cave and saw a rock that is supposed to be the site. To the left of the rock is a carved manger from the rock cave. There were plenty of people kneeling down and kissing and passing candles and other items over the rock for blessings. This was a really difficult visit for me. We had been waiting in line at least 1/2 hour and then a bus load of Indians showed up. Indians do not believe in waiting in a queue (line), so they pushed right up to the front to go in front of all of us. It was a really sad, contentious feeling that I had and thought they didn't show their Christian side very well. So then I wondered, how do I show my Christian side? All good questions that I'm still dealing with. I have decided I need to learn to love these Indian people like the missionaries love them. I understand the best way is to serve them and pray for them, and not say bad things about them. I'll keep working on that!

We did some shopping at a local olive wood art dealer, headed back through the Separation Wall toward Jerusalem. The Jews are building a wall around some cities to keep the Palestinians in (or out as the case may be). Jericho has a wall, Bethlehem has a wall, and the West Bank has a wall. It is very formidable and apparently has stemmed a lot of terrorist suicide attacks. It is sad to see though.

We stopped for dinner at the King of Falafel and had schwarma -- lamb wraps with tomato, cucumber, and hummus. They were very good and we enjoyed the meat. We returned to the apartment and watched the movie "Enchanted."

Monday, April 7, 2008
We were up early Monday to catch the bus to Eilat, at the very southern tip of Israel. We had called in to get bus tickets and so Jonathan dropped us off at the station and we were on our own. We found the bus, they had tickets and reservations waiting for us right there and we were on our way. It was a 4 hour trip from Jerusalem to Eilat. We drove close to the Dead Sea and all the desert area. That would be a tough place to live -- let alone wander around in for 40 years. We got a taxi from the bus station in Eilat to our Hotel. Our hotel was on the outside of the city in a quiet part of town.

Doug and Hannah decided they wanted to snorkel in the Read Sea, so we went down to the beach and got them all fixed up. Hannah had never snorkeled before, but she finally got the hang of it. They saw lots of interesting and colorful fish and wildlife. There is a wonderful coral beach and 650 species of fish in the nature reserve right there.

We had an early dinner of sandwiches and salad and bakery treats. We had a nice walk along the beach enjoying the fresh air. We also had to stop and get a backpack to take to Petra the next day. I thought we needed both hands to ride our horses like Indiana Jones into the city!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008
We had a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel. The chocolate milk was the BEST! We caught a cab at 7:30 a.m. to take us to the Arava Boarder crossing into Jordan. We had a tour representative to meet us there to help with the boarder crossing. Unfortunately, we got there behind 4-5 tour buses with 50-60 people in them. Lots more waiting in line. We paid a tax to exit Israel, but we didn't have to pay for a visa into Jordan. We met our driver, Sami, and we started on our way. It's about 1 1/2 hours to drive from the boarder to Petra. He was a good driver and a good source of information. He took us to the Petra Visitors Center and got us into the park. Then he left us with a guide (who has studied and passed an exam) to take us into the city. We chose to ride horses a short way to the beginning of the Siq (the narrow canyon before entering Petra). We didn't have much any Jordanian change, so Doug paid a premium for those horse rides! We walked the Siq narrows and it was very interesting to think about the camel caravans that would have had to pass through there with all their goods. We saw where the Indiana Jones movie was shot. We got pictures through the crack of the treasury building, but they didn't turn out very well. The city of Petra is absolutely beautiful and extremely well done and what is left is being well preserved. We wanted to visit the larger carved "building" called the Monestary. It's up 800+ steps after a 2 km hike through Petra. Doug decided we could take a donkey ride up. So up we went, passing all the old people from the tour buses that were walking up. The donkeys have no control and just go up as fast as they can on the edge of the cliff (typical!). It was fun and scary and exciting! Hannah loved it! Inside the Monestary there were probably 30 Jordanian Boy Scouts making the most racket I have ever heard in my life. Of course it echoed and was deafening, but they were having a good time. They leaders just let them carry on. We asked them how they got into the Monastery, and they signed to us that they would pull us up into the big room. I wasn't interested in spending much time with those howling boy scouts in a large stone room, but they really wanted Hannah to come up with them. They followed us a long ways trying to get Hannah to change her mind.

We walked back down from the Monastery and chatted with all the trinket sellers who would say, "I've been waiting for you!" We got some great camel bone necklaces for the girls! I know that is something you have always wanted and never even known it! I just think of it as helping the Jordanian economy move along. We walked back to the Treasury and got a few more pictures -- of Hannah and I actually touching Petra! We walked all the way back through the Siq and back to the Visitors Center. We were tired! We met our driver and he took us back to the boarder. We paid another tax to get out of Jordan and made it back into Israel. We took a cab back to our hotel, had a nice dinner (steak, hamburger, and kebab) and went to bed. We were very tired!

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
We were able to sleep in a bit this morning. Our bus didn't leave until 10 a.m. I went into the bathroom to shower and I turned on the water to warm it up, but it came out the shower head that happened to be pointed right at me and soaked me good. Me and the bathroom were totally wet. I made a noise and Doug came running, thinking I had cut my hand off or something. Nope, just soaking wet! I just laughed and felt better! Breakfast was good again -- especially the chocolate milk!

We took a cab to the bus station and caught our bus back north to Jerusalem. The bus system is very good and reliable and safe. There were many young people riding, alone or with others, without any problems. Our friends picked us up from the bus station in Jerusalem without problems.

Doug wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, so we dropped him off. That is a very graphic and difficult topic. They have an age limit at the museum -- no one under 10 or even babies are allowed in there. I think that is a good policy.

The rest of us went to the Shuk to do a little more shopping and get some fun things. The breads and the bakery items are out of this world -- chocolate croissants, eclairs, potato filled puff pastry, sweet bread, etc. The candy shops are so appealing -- we took pictures for Michelle, but everyone can enjoy them. How many types of gummy-anythings are there in the world anyway??? We picked up some special chocolate for Ryan -- something that will make his mouth VERY happy!

We picked up Doug and went to the Damascus Gate of the Old City. This is in the Muslim quarter and we saw all their tables and stalls and shops set up. It reminds me a little of India, but it's different. Even the dirt in Israel isn't as dirty as the dirt in India. How do you explain that?

We had dinner at King of Falafel again -- schwarma -- yum! We also had some great ice cream as we wandered around Ben Yahuda Street. We went back to the apartment to get packed and ready to return to Tel Aviv the next morning.

Thursday, April 10, 2008
We had to leave at 6 a.m. to get to the airport from Jerusalem and return the rental car and get checked in and catch our flight by 9 a.m. We did fine, even though I worried a bit too much. At the airport there was a bit of a snag -- our Indian visas expire 16 April 2008 and they weren't ready to let us back in the country with so little time left on the visa. We assured them that 6 days was "plenty of time" in India and "no worries" and we could go back. John Deere is working on finishing up these visas this week. Maybe we will be legal soon for the next 9 months!

Our flight was good and we landed in Mumbai about 7:30 p.m. We were nearly last to go through passport control because all the Indians pushed to the front of the line ahead of us. It's great to be back! Feroz met us out front and we were on our way home. It was 3 1/4 hours to our house from the airport. That's a long drive and we got home at 12:14 a.m.

We really had a wonderful trip and we're glad we did it. I don't think this is anything I would have done if we had been in the US. This is one of the great blessings of being in India.

We hope you are all well and healthy and happy!
Love, Lucinda

2008-03-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Today is the day! Today we drive to Mumbai for church and then our flight leaves for Tel Aviv at 8:15 p.m. We are very excited and ready for a vacation. I'm not sure how "restful" foreign vacations are, but they say a change is as good as a rest.

Hannah has been working on her homework. When we get back she will be ready to order her final in her writing class. That's a good thing. She will also have 2 classes waiting for her -- geometry and biology. I have a friend here that used to teach college math, and she said she would be glad to tutor Hannah. So I suppose school is moving along. Hannah did so well on her school work this week she earned a reward -- a massage. One of her favorite rewards!

A JD guy came this week and brought lots of goodies for us. It seemed like Christmas. There were a bunch of used books from Pat. Puzzles from Regina. Gifts from Dianne. Candy from Ron. Very nice and well appreciated!

We are hoping to firm up our plans and make reservations for June/July in the US when we get back from Israel (April 10).

We hope you are all well and happy!
Love, Lucinda

P.S. We will try to check our e-mail and write while we are gone.

2008-03-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This has been a nice week. It has gotten very hot -- 37-38 C. That is 98 to 101 degrees F. It didn't get this hot this early last year. We've even had rain the last couple of evenings/mornings. Very interesting weather. We were walking home from dining out last night and got caught in the rain. It hasn't rained since last September -- why would we have taken our umbrellas!

Tuesday was our wedding anniversary. The really funny thing was that I didn't realize it until about 11 a.m. when I was talking with my friend. Doug never figured it out -- I asked him if he knew what day it was and he told me it was Tuesday. He got home from work about 7:45 p.m. and I didn't want to go out. We had chicken tacos and strawberries and ice cream for dinner. That was fine with me. So much for a 30th anniversary celebration!

This is mosquito season. It's hard to believe, but there are lots even though it is dry. We have the guard light a mosquito coil outside the door every evening so they don't come in the house when we go in and out. Hannah and Doug have been all bit up while they were sleeping. So I went out this week and got a mosquito net for Hannah to sleep under. I told her it would be "romantic" to sleep under and not a problem, so she consented. The picture is great!

We've been able to work out our sleeping as well. We moved the bed in our room farther from the air conditioner so it is not so noisy and doesn't blow right on us. That has seemed to help. Also, the air conditioner is so loud, we can't hear the mosquitoes buzzing us any more. If it gets bad again, we can put up our mosquito netting too.

We had a great treat this week. A friend told me her husband bought canned hot dogs while she was away. She didn't want to waste them, so they had them for dinner. She said they were the closest thing to real hot dogs you could get here. So I bought a can of hot dogs. We had Brazilian hot dogs with them -- a bun with mayo, catsup, hot dog, peas, cheese, onion, tomato, and shoestring potato crisps. They were great. Doug was so impressed he took a picture of the hot dogs and the can for you. The hot dogs are from Holland -- nice!

Next Sunday we go to Mumbai for church, stay the afternoon and head to the airport for our trip to Israel. We are getting very excited. There was a blurb in the paper yesterday that makes the whole thing a bit more interesting:

Israel Airliners to Get Rocket Shields
JERUSALEM: Defense officials say Israel will begin outfitting some of its passenger aircraft with rocket defense systems within weeks.

Doug says that IL Al has the tightest security of any airline in the world. We're really not worried. BYU still has their students there and they made the trip to Petra last week. We should be ok.

We hope everyone is well and happy!
Love, Lucinda

2008-03-15T21:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Another week in India has gone by. Time seems to really fly by fast -- not just for me, but for my housekeeper and floor cleaner as well. And we just seem to do the same things all the time.

We were able to get out to lunch a couple times this week with the ladies. All are back now -- for the time being. I guess I'll be the next to go when we leave for Israel for 11 days. Then it will be hit and miss all summer with people coming and going for home leave.

I was invited to a grandparents tea at the pre-school by Anna. One of the John Deere families has a little girl that is 4 and she needed a grandma to go to this event with her. It was very fun -- we tossed balls in a crate, tossed the ring around the prize, played bingo, danced, played with a parachute, made 2 arts and crafts projects, and had "tea." Tea was cake, cookies, chips, Indian sandwiches, and another type of typical veg Indian snack. We just ate the cake and chips and drank Tang. Anna and I are a lot alike! We had a good time and so did all the grandparents there.

Doug's work is going fine -- but there always seems to be some conflict of some kind. I think it is the difference in culture -- between American and Indian. There needs to be some give on both sides.

Hannah's school is coming along. She is getting lessons done every week for each class. BYU Independent Study called Amber this week to get a message to us. It seems like the long way around, but we took care of it. We're still waiting to hear from the Independent Study department to know if Hannah has been accepted into the program and what classes she needs to take. I suppose I will have to call them this week.

They were doing some work on the road in front of our house this week. Doug got some pictures of their equipment and technique. You will not the tar in the 50 gallon will with a fire underneath to melt it. Sometimes they use wood, and sometimes they burn the tar itself - very aromatic. It's amazing that anything gets accomplished around here.

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-03-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

This has been a busy week with Doug's old boss here. He liked to spend every evening with us -- sometimes he would come here for dinner, sometimes we would go to the guest house for dinner, sometimes we would go out for dinner. The hard part is that dinner isn't until 8 or 8:30 p.m. and we wouldn't get done until 10 p.m. Needless to say, we didn't get much Skype chatting done this week and we didn't get our taxes done, and we didn't get our tour reservations made or our hotel reservations, etc., etc. Reno left for the US on Friday afternoon, so we have been able to pick up some of the pieces this weekend.

We made our Petra tour reservations, but they said that they needed a bank transfer within 24 hours. Thursday I went to the bank and the bank was closed for an Indian holiday. Friday I went to the bank, but it was the wrong bank and then I went to the right bank. There were 2 forms to fill out and they needed copies of all of our passports and visas and the flight reservation/confirmation for us. I went home and got all these papers together. Back to the bank and I waited in line because I had no clue how to fill out the forms. The girl showed me and I went over and filled them out and got back in line. When it was finally my turn, she looked them over and said they were ok and that they would make the transfer that afternoon. All this took 2 hours. At 7:45 p.m. I got a call from her and she said that they couldn't do it because they needed Doug's last three months of pay stubs. That just put me over the edge. I called our friendly, hometown credit union in Waterloo, Iowa where she filled out one form on the computer, e-mailed it to me within 15 minutes, I printed it out and signed it. Unfortunately, our scanner is on the fritz so Doug faxed it on Saturday from the office. I went back to the bank on Saturday to pick up all those copies of those important papers, but they wouldn't give them to me because they said they needed verification for the auditors. I asked if I needed to put in writing that I was cancelling the transaction, and she said no. She would just tell them and that would be enough. Isn't life just a bunch of contradictions!

We went to Mumbai for church today. Our new-member family from Pune was confirmed today. It was also pot luck. I have been thinking all week what to take for the pot luck. I asked my housekeeper if she had ever had deviled eggs before. She said, "Sorry Madame, we don't have that holiday in India." I told her that was a good thing and that it was actually a recipe. She really laughed and laughed over that. She told me that she sometimes makes egg curry when the kids get tired of the other food -- that would be hard boiled eggs in Indian "gravy." I told the people at church this story and they thought it was pretty funny. The Indians and the kids really liked the deviled eggs. I also took 2 loaves of homemade bread, cut cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions, 2 dozen deviled eggs, and a 9x13 frosted cake. It must have been good because it was all gone!

We are getting excited about our trip to Israel. We will be gone March 30-April 8. Hopefully we will have access to Internet while we are gone.

Michelle and Ryan are returning from Columbia today (Sunday). I think they are looking forward to being back in the US and getting back to "real life." They have been gone -- out of the country to India, Guatemala, and Columbia-- since Thanksgiving.

Update on the wedding tablecloths -- I got part of the fabric on Monday. They didn't have all the colors and the quantities I needed, so I got what I could and decided to look around for the rest. Unfortunately, I couldn't match the fabric anywhere else. I went back on Wednesday and got matching fabric in different colors, so that the fabric will all be alike, not exactly the correct shades Heather picked. I tried to pick ones that would blend and look nice. I got all the tablecloths (23) squared up and sewn. Reno took them back in his suitcase and his wife will mail them to Julia. That was a good job done!

I guess that's all for this week!
Have a great week! We love you and miss you lots!
Lucinda

2008-03-02T18:13:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

This has been a busy week -- Doug's old boss (Reno) has been here and we have had dinner with him almost every night. Either I cook or we go out to dinner. It has been nice to have an American point of view around for a change. We have another week of his company, then he returns to the US.

We took Reno to the market yesterday so he could see where I get our fruits and vegetables. Doug took him in the back where a person could get fish, chicken and mutton if they wanted. I just can't handle that at all. As we were coming out, there was a little ditch/drain that I have never seen anything in. That day it was flowing with blood from the freshly slaughtered goats. There are just some things that I just don't need to know about or participate in!

Last night we were invited to dinner with the family that just got baptized. It takes about an hour to get to their place. Our regular driver was off this weekend too, so we had to miss some turns and backtrack and finally follow Vijay on his motorcycle to get to their place. We got there about 8:30 p.m. They shared all about Vijay's family -- he has 5 brothers and sisters and they are all well educated and working and married and doing well. There is a lawyer, a policeman, 2 nurses, a professor at the university, a veterinarian, a doctor, an electronics guru, and various other educated professionals between the brothers and sisters and their spouses. Most live in Pune or nearby in the village they come from.

We were invited to sit on the floor on a mat to eat. Then everyone left the room and we were alone. The custom is that visitors are fed first. We asked Vijay to eat with us and he had rice with us. The kids and the grandma and grandpa all went into the kitchen to eat. They brought out the food on stainless steel plates and they kindly brought us spoons -- Indians typically eat with their hands. We had chicken byriani, chicken in sauce, chapatis, cucumbers and tomatoes, and bread. It was very good -- a little spicy but not too spicy. Then she brought out grapes and apples for dessert. They were very kind and very hospitable to us. Now we will have them over for "American" food sometime. I'm sure sitting up at the table and eating with silverware is going to be a challenge for them too!

Today is the family day at the factory for all John Deere workers. We got invited because Reno was here. I hope we get to tour the factory -- I've never been out there. They will have lots of fun things for the kids, dancing, music, traditional dancers, a fashion show, and then serve dinner at 9:30 p.m. It's about an hour from our house to the factory. Sounds like lots of fun! Hannah is not excited!

We hope everyone is well and that the weather starts to calm down.
We love you lots!
Lucinda

2008-02-24T21:19:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Sorry there was no letter last week. Our internet has been sporatic at best and difficult to deal with. I don't think anything has changed this week, but if I get on the computer in the morning, it seems a little better for continuous service.

We went to the hospital on Saturday to get a TB test. We've been here one year and they wanted us checked. We didn't have to see a doctor first, we just went to the lab and met the doctor in charge of the lab. She wrote the perscription and even gave the TB test. We go back today to have them checked. In my unpracticed medical opinion, we are all negative. Also, today when I go back, I get to have a blood test for my thyroid. It needed to be a fasting test because they check all the blood levels. My friend says we are brave to get this done here. I think we are just fine.

Yesterday was a huge day at the Mumbai Branch. There were 8 baptisms -- 6 were converts and 2 were children. There was so much excitement no one could even sit still. Our building has a baptismal font outside and a lot of the neighbors and children watched. One lady in the building next door got out her camera to take pictures. I bet we had 60 people for church yesterday with all the families of those getting baptized there. They are starting to look for a larger building for us or to remodel the one we have to fit more people.

We left the house Sunday morning at 7:30 a.m. and got home at 6 p.m. It was a long day! The confirmations will be done next week for those that live in Mumbai (4) and in 2 weeks for the family that comes with us from Pune (4).

Doug's old boss -- Reno -- is here in India for the next 2 weeks to help with a tangent of Doug's project. He is staying in the John Deere guest house which is about a 5 minute walk from the John Deere IT Center. He invited us over for dinner last night -- there is a full time cook at the guest house and it was a nice meal.

I am busy working with Julia and Heather on tablecloths for Heather's June 20 wedding. I have been all over town taking pictures of great fabrics and saris from India. Then they look at the choices and narrow it down. I'm not sure which job is tougher! Hopefully, we can get it done and send the tablecloths back with Reno in 2 weeks. That would save some headaches down the road.

It looks like our Jerusalem trip is back on. More tickets opened up at the lower price. We will have to stay a few more days, but that will be ok. That gives us time to enjoy Petra and go snorkling in the Arabian Sea at Eilat. Hopefully we will get that all booked and reserved tonight (if our internet works).

We hope everyone is doing well!
Love, Lucinda

2008-02-10T18:18:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It has been another interesting week here in Pune. Doug left on Monday to go to Delhi for a business trip. He was to return home Wednesday morning. The flight was delayed due to fog and they sat on the runway for a couple of hours waiting to depart. Unfortunately, Doug got really sick -- the same thing I had a couple weeks ago -- with vomiting and diahrea. "Use the airsickness bag! Use the airsickness bag!" were the calls from the stewardesses as he tried to reach the bathroom during takeoff. They finally made it to Pune and he made it home -- white as a sheet and totally exhausted. Doug has been sick/recovering the rest of the week. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day . . . This has just been a really bad month for us. I keep thinking in the back of my mind, "If I could just get to the US and get better, all would be well."

We also had JD visitors from the US again. We did all the markets and the shopping the same as the week before. We feel an obligation to help people out and see things around town while they are here. It's a lot more work than I thought.

We had 5 for church today. Three of us and 2 investigators. The missionaries flew to Mumbai yesterday and they are planning to come to Pune tonight or tomorrow to teach this family. Maybe they will come for dinner tomorrow night. They are staying in a hotel about 10-15 minutes from our house. We got an email from a member in California saying he had an Indian gal from Pune working for him there and her sister was here and she was interested in the church. She is in Mumbai 2 weekends a month and in Pune 2 weekends a month. That might be tough with the strange schedule we have for church between Pune and Mumbai. We will keep working on it and praying for the branch to grow.

The daughter of Mary (my housekeeper) was bit by a dog this week. She is 10 and this is her second bite and her second round of rabies shots. The series is now 5 shots in the arm, but they are fairly expensive. We were able to help out with that -- could any of you sat by and let a little girl suffer without the rabies shots? Well, I couldn't, so we did help out.

I picked up all the saris that the JD women bought last week. Now I have to find a way to get them back to the US with another JD worker.

We missed the big family party for the JD tech center last night. Doug wasn't up to it. We went last year and I was interested in going this year to see if my attitude/perception had changed. Now we won't know until next year.

We've heard about cold weather and snow in many places, and severe storms in the south. We hope everyone is safe and well.
We miss you.
Love, Lucinda

2008-02-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

This has been a very hectic and exciting week -- and stressful. There were a bunch of guys here from Waterloo JD to check out Doug's new tractor and 4 brought their wives. Doug was under the gun at work and then we had to party with all these people all week.

We went to dinner at one of the hotels in town Tuesday night. Of course, we got sick from eating there. No one else seemed to (or would admit it). Mrs. Prashant took the ladies shopping on Tuesday to the tourist handicraft store and the mall. They had fun. Wednesday I took them to the fruit and vegetable market and the grocery store. They liked that too. They took tons of pictures and enjoyed being where the Indians shopped.

Wednesday night we had them all over to our house for dinner. I hired a cook to come and cook the chilly chicken and I made potato salad, pasta salad, baked beans, fruit salad, bread, brownies and ice cream. I thought it was a very good dinner -- it was probably too American for these people who had just gotten here. One of the ladies mentioned that she wanted a camel ride. I told her I would ask my driver. Feroz accomplished the impossible -- again! He found the camel man and had him come to the house so everyone could have rides before dinner. Anyone that wanted to ride could. Feroz also negotiated the price of 500 rupees for everyone. It was a great deal and they all had a good time.

Thursday we went to the Tulsibaug for Indian shopping for clothes, shoes, etc. etc. They liked shopping there and bought jewelry, clothes, shoes (which only lasted one day), trinkets, rickshaws, and any other kinds of things they thought they needed. A couple of them still wanted saris. We went out to Laxmi Road. We only got 3 stores down and we went into a sari shop. They had us go up the steps, take off our shoes and we sat on a mat while they tossed sari after sari down in front of us. The pile got to be about 2 feet deep. The ladies were finally able to make their decisions -- one got 2 and the other got 1. The prices were right too. The little gal from the shop took us to the petticoat seller where they got petticoats that matched their saris. Then we went to the tailor. He measured and wrote down (drew) what styles they wanted for their blouses. It took quite a bit of time, but we got it done. I go back next Thursday and pick them up. We will send them back with the next JD Waterloo guys that come here.

It felt good to rest on Friday -- they left for Delhi that day!

There were only 3 of us for church today. We watched Pres. Hinckley's funeral for Sunday school. We had a slow connection today, so it was mostly the audio part.

We are doing fine -- we started our second round of antibiotics in 3 weeks. It seems to be helping. We just need to get rid of this bug and we'll be ok.

Have a good week!
Love, Lucinda

2008-01-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It's been a better week -- everyone is feeling better!

Doug had Friday off work for Republic Day here in India. We were going to go to the movies, but the one we wanted to see was gone. We went to the circus instead. We went to the 1 p.m. show and bought 150 rupee tickets ($3.75) and we got to sit on the front row. It was quite an experience. There were trapeeze flyers, unicyclists, sharp shooters, those who twirled the plates on sticks, rope tricks, ring tricks, ladder tricks, juggling, ice skating, dog tricks, parrot tricks -- all kinds of interesting things for 2 1/2 hours. I sat in the only seat in the tent that had sunshine beating down on it. Luckily there weren't many people there and I just changed seats.

They also came by every 5 minutes selling snacks -- popcorn, juice boxes, ice cream, peanuts, chips, pop, cotton candy -- and they would ask over and over if we wanted to buy any. That was part of the ambiance too!

Saturday morning we went to Mumbai. We picked up a family of 4 on the way out of town. They invited us up to their flat and served water, hot milk, cookies, and barfi. How can you turn down such kind hospitality? Their flat had a living room, kitchen, bedroom, balcony, and bath room area. It was very neat and clean and probably large by Indian standards. They were very kind.

We dropped them off at the church to be taught by the missionaries who had flown up from Bangalore to teach all the people in the branch that were investigating -- 15. Apparently, 9 of these are ready to be baptized. They need to finish the rest of the discussions and then they are planning a big baptism event -- possibly at the beach of the Arabian Sea, possibly at a swimming pool. We'll see.

We then went to our friend's house and visited with them for a while then took off for the Hard Rock Cafe. I guess I'm about done there, but I know Hannah enjoyed it.

We went from Hard Rock to our other friend's flat in South Mumbai. Our driver just seems to know where to go to get us where we want to be. We were so full from lunch, we couldn't eat the great roast beef dinner they had prepared. We just had ice cream and visited with them and the missionaries. Then we went back north to the other member's house to sleep.

Today we went to church and we were invited to another Indian's home for lunch before we left to return to Pune. We had byriani that she had made for all the extended family members -- 3 kilos of rice and 3 kilos of chicken in a very big pot. It was very good and she served it with a salad of tomatoes, cucumber, onion, chilis with yogurt dressing. That's to help kill the burn.

We made it home by 5 p.m. We were very tired of being in the car.
It's been very cool here too -- 8C -- about 40 degrees F.

We will try to keep warm -- and we've heard about all the cold weather there -- you try to keep warm too!
We love you and miss you!
Love, Lucinda

2008-01-20T01:37:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Doug spent another 10 hours yesterday working on the computer and it finally seems like it's working properly. It's much faster and not so bogged down and everything seems to work now. We'll keep watching it to make sure it's really better.

This has been a tough week for me -- I've been sick all week. It started with a migrane headache for Sun, Mon, and Tues. Then on Wednesday I felt better, went for a walk, went out with the girls for lunch and it hit me -- the food just didn't seem very appetizing and I wasn't willing to risk the consequences of eating it right then. By that evening I was throwing up and had diahrea and was extremely miserable. That has lasted 3 days and I'm finally now feeling better. Still a little barfy and still very weak, but on the mend.

Doug has had some bug too that he just can't seem to shake. He says that nothing tastes good. I think he is losing weight too.

We had church by ourselves today -- everyone else was either out of town or sick. We got a call last night from one of the members in Mumbai advising us that there was no church there today because of a protest of some kind and that everyone was advised to stay inside. It was the Muslims protesting or a visity government official or something. We're planning to go to Mumbai next weekend for some fun. We'll stay with the members there and get in some good visiting and go to a nice place for dinner. The missionaries will be coming from Bangalore to teach the people who are ready to be taught. There are 11 or 12 that want to be baptized. We're bringing a husband and wife from Pune. It is also rumored that the mission president will be there too.

Since we haven't done much around here, I'm including a cute thing someone wrote about living in India. We haven't experienced all these things, but 27 out of 28 isn't bad.

You know you've been In India Too Long When....

1. You tell your kids to think of the ants in the honey as "sprinkles" and to just keep eating.
2. The guards are as much a part of your landscape as the coconut trees.
3. You automatically wait for your driver to carry your bags.
4. You get out of India and your kids complain that they have to carry their own bags, and where is the driver?
5. You panic if you don't have your water bottle, hand sanitizer, and toilet tissue with you.
6. Your maid brings a cousin's child to work because said cousin is in the hospital, and you immediately sit the kid down and do a lice check.
7. You give up on swimsuits. Everyone else goes in fully clothed.
8. Your kids hear "wash your feet!" as often as they hear "wash your hands!"
9. You no longer think of dogs as fuzzy, warm pets; and "cow" is just another term for "roadblock".
10. You consider hunger strikes, blocking traffic, and rock-throwing viable alternatives to lawsuits. In fact, if the repairman pushes you any further, you may show him how you won that pitching contest.
11. You are more interested in the wide, clean, livestock-free roads in a western movie than you are in the exciting car chase.
12. Your head involuntarily wobbles when you are talking.
13. Shah Rukh Khan is beginning to look attractive.
14. Indian music no longer sounds so screechy.
15. If the meal doesn't leave an after burn, you think that something's wrong with the food.
16. You repeat yourself, over and over and over, and find that instead of using the correct verb tense, you are always choosing the present perfect.
17. Instead of saying "The dog ate my homework", your kids say "The maid put my homework somewhere."
18. You find yourself addressing your husband as "sir". Worse yet, your driver has the first spot on speed dial....."sir" is second.
19. You block out an entire day to get __________, since you know that you will have to go to at least 5 stores to get the correct type.
20. When you are at a hotel, you take three showers a day just to savor the unlimited hot water.
21. Lines? Waiting your turn? What planet are you from?
22. You judge a restaurant's food on whether or not it made you sick.
23. The repairman says "I will be there at 1 o'clock", and you actually hear him say "I will be there when I get there."
24. You don't believe anything they say.
25. You tell beggars and touts that they are wasting their time because you live here, and they leave you alone.
26. You ask the shop owner for your driver's commission.
27. You can tell the difference between the wedding music and the funeral music.
28. Pet food in pharmacies seems to make sense.

Have a great day! We'd love to hear from any of you that are reading this and enjoy it!
Love, Lucinda

P.S. We added some pictures from our family to our blogsite under "family back home."

2008-01-13T18:57:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Sorry there was no letter last week. Our computer has been down with a virus, a bad internet connection and various other problems that Doug has had to patiently figure out and fix. It seems that things are someone better, but not perfect. He will keep working on it.

The sad thing is that there isn't much going on -- last week or this week -- to write about. The weather is the same every day -- sunny and warm. The traffic is the same. The shopping is the same. The house-help is the same. We are in auto-pilot zone.

We did see two movies these last two weeks: "The Golden Compass" (which I understand there has been a great uproar in the US) and "National Treasure II". We really liked National Treasure and it made us homesick -- Doug for the Univ. of Maryland, me for the Black Hills in South Dakota. There were no movies here for us to see for a long time last fall. I think we are finally getting the before Christmas batch of good movies.

We went to Mumbai for church today. It's still a long way. There were 38 people there. That's a lot. Apparently, on Dec. 30 there were 4. I guess there's a lot of fluxuation still. The missionaries and mission president will come in two weeks (Jan. 26-27) to teach all the people who are interested in the gospel, and then we'll have a big baptism in the Arabian Sea. That sounds interesting! We will be going back that weekend to play in Mumbai with our friends and go to Hard Rock Cafe and stay for church the next day. We will also be able to get our temple recommends renewed. That will be a good thing.

So now is our chance to be flaky. We had been talking about coming to the US in March/April. Well, we've had a better offer. Our friends from Mumbai are former residents of Israel/Jerusalem and invited us to go with them for 10 days. He had been giving historical site tours in Israel and knows his stuff and where everything is. This just seems too good to pass up -- besides Hannah is learning the New Testament in Seminary next year and could use some great field trip experience. Don't worry, this is not a done deal yet.

Hannah will start her BYU home study classes this week. We need to order them from the internet, but that is all. She will be able to take Am. Htg. 100, Eng. 115, Bio. 100, Math 110, etc. and get BYU credit for all of them plus the high school credit. What a great opportunity to catch up and go forward.

That's all for now. We hope everyone is doing well. We love you and miss you!'
Love, Lucinda

2007-12-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone –

It has been a really fun and busy week. It started out with us trying to get everything done – shopping, preparing food, etc. on Christmas Eve. It was tough! We had to go to 3 ATM machines before we found one that worked. We were going to order Craig some new glasses, but he left his prescription at our house. Everything seemed to take so much longer than it should have. We were exhausted and there was still Christmas Eve dinner (party food) and Christmas day dinner to fix. Somehow it all worked out and we were exhausted when we went to bed.
Christmas morning the kids were up at 7 a.m. (some things never change!) We had a nice dinner with ham and party potatoes and fruit salad and home made bread and even pumpkin pie. We had our friends from John Deere here with us as family. We would like to thank Michelle and Ryan for bringing all the good things to make the party food and pumpkin pie. We had vanilla ice cream with the pie instead of whipped cream – we still aren’t comfortable with fresh cream!

We had a nice visit with Brice – he called us from Chile. It is still hard to imagine that a call from a 2nd world country on the other side of the world can make it to this 3rd world country and go through. It wasn’t very clear. He is doing well and enjoying the missionary work there. He said that he hasn’t spoken any English since he talked with us on Mothers Day. Luckily, Michelle and Craig were here to help him through some of the conversations!

On the 26th we got up early and packed our bags for our trip to Delhi and Agra. We caught the plane in Pune – only a 30 minute drive to the airport. It’s a 2 hour flight and not too bad. We got there in the afternoon, and we had a driver pick us up at the airport. He drove for us all week. Doug specifically asked for an English speaking driver – maybe this was the best they had – but it wasn’t good. His driving was adequate if you like sharp starts and stops. Our hotel (which we booked over the internet) was interesting too. It was about $50 a night and when we got there we almost croaked. It was in the middle of the car repair part district. It would have been perfect if we needed seat covers, transmission parts, brakes, car horns, back up music, clutches, or any other replacement pieces for our car. Unfortunately, we didn’t check with Feroz before we left Pune so we didn’t get anything for him or the car. The noise from the street was very loud and there were plenty of dog fights all night. The good things about the hotel: clean, (except for Michelle and Ryan’s sheets the first night), breakfast was provided (if you like Indian breakfast), and cheap (but we had to pay in cash at the end, so we followed the hotel employee to the ATM and get cash).

Our second day in Delhi we got up early and headed to Agra. It’s 225 km to the south. Doug asked the driver how long – 3 hours? No, 6 hours. No, 4 hours? No, 5 hours. We were laughing at Doug trying to barter the length of time the trip would take. It did take us 5 ½ hours one way. We got there and were very hungry. We found a bad café recommended in the Lonely Planet guidebook on the top of an old building, but the view was great! It was fun to eat lunch and gaze on the Taj Mahal! They made us park about ½ km from the Taj – to cut down on pollution, etc. There were tons of electric carts, pony carts, camel carts, and bicycle rickshaws to take us the rest of the way. We had been in the car so long we just walked, but there were some bicycle rickshaws that walked half way with us trying to get us to jump in their vehicles. That’s tough when there are six of us!

By the time we were done with lunch, the rest of the crowd from Delhi had arrived by bus and the lines that were non-existent an hour before were now long and winding. We had trouble with our money too – it was in the car, ½ km up the road. We worked on that for 45 minutes and finally we were able to get in line. For non-Indian foreigners, the cost is 750 rupees (about $19 per person) while 50 rupees for Indians. The lines were long to get inside because they put everyone through a metal detector first. The Indian way to stand in line is to take your entire family (usually 10-17 people) and choose a place up front and cut in front of everyone. When tapped on the shoulder and asked to get to the back, they back up and get in line right behind you. The tour guides also put their foreign tourists up in the front of the lines too. Frustrating!

Now we’re inside the East gate of the Taj Mahal. We walk in and through the archway and the view is breathtaking. We kept telling ourselves, “We’re really at the Taj Mahal!” We have lots of pictures to look at on the blog. Click on the one that says, “Taj Mahal” and it will open up all the other pictures. One interesting thing in India is that you take your shoes off in sacred/holy places. So here we are with 40,000 of our closest friends taking our shoes off. There was a funny smell – then we realized what it was – 39,994 of our friends all had stinky feet! It was overwhelming! There were lots of boy scouts and girl scouts and families and everyone had their shoes off and they all had stinky feet! There are other offensive odors in India, but I didn’t expect stinky feet at the Taj Mahal! We all went up a small staircase and it was packed. Then the people on the top decided they were tired of waiting and wanted to come down. Then the shoving and pushing began. I was really scared and afraid they were going to push me down and trample me. It was very frightening and the police stationed at the top of the stairs did nothing to help the traffic flow. I was not very anxious to go back down in that crowd!

We walked around the main level, but decided not to wait in the long line that snaked around two or three times in the front of the entrance to go inside. The work was beautiful and well maintained. The weather was cool and delightful. It was a fun and interesting experience! We got down the staircase without mishap and then headed for the exit. All our friends wanted us to shop in their souvenir shops. We stopped in one, but it was extremely expensive. We caught a cart and pony back up the hill to the car. The driver was unhappy because we negotiated 50 rupees for all of us, but he insisted that it was 50 rupees per person. He was sorely disappointed! We got in the car and headed home about 8 p.m. We stopped for dinner along the way and got back to the hotel at 12:30 a.m. It was a very long day!

Friday we did more sightseeing around Delhi. We visited the India Gateway, which commemorates the Indian soldiers killed in WWI. We went to another tomb – Humyans, which was similar but different from the Taj Mahal. We enjoyed that a lot. Lunch was at an Indian restaurant where we ordered way too much food! We also went to the Lotus Temple (which looks like a lotus blossom opening). This is a Bahai religious temple. They also have one in Wilmette, IL. We were able to go in free and even spend some quiet moments meditating. Again, there were lots of boy scouts, girl scouts, families, etc., and they all had stinky feet! We asked the driver to take us to a market. He took us to a very expensive “department” store with rugs, clothes, souvenirs. We looked around and asked again. He took us to a crazy market in the middle of a big circle that was underground. We went down these circular steps into the unknown. And there were all the shopkeepers trying to get us to buy their shawls, Kutras, shirts, shoes, trinkets, etc. These are the real barters in India. You think you’re getting a good deal, and they always make a profit! It was hard to be hounded with the item in a bag already and them handing it to you for a price that may have been mentioned once. One of the shopkeepers followed Craig and Hannah quite a long way trying to sell the sandals he had. It was a relief to climb the stairs again and go back into the fresh air of the night.

We decided a trip to TGI Friday would be a treat too. The music was blasting and the décor was American. We had appetizers and desserts and it was hugely expensive. A dinner order of “imported” ribs was $37; we passed on that. Back to the hotel again and we slept through all the noise and confusion outside. It only takes a couple of hard days of travel before the noise doesn’t bother you any longer. Saturday morning we got up and packed to fly back to Pune. We made it to the airport and our flight was delayed ½ hour. This was critical since Michelle and Ryan and Craig were leaving at 7 p.m. for Mumbai to catch their flights to the US. We made it back in time, got the pants and glasses picked up, packed and out the door they went. It is so quiet here now and we really miss everyone!

Today at church we only had 4. Our other attendee is not a member and would really love to have the missionaries come and teach him the gospel. He has had some wonderful spiritual experiences and wants to know all he can.

We are all fine and doing well. Our next worrying project: the Indian visas for the next year. We start on that tomorrow!
We miss you lots!
Love, Lucinda

Meet our new friend

Craig grooving to the tunes

We caught the gecko

Going for our morning stroll

2007-12-23T03:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Craig arrived safely! That may seem like a mundane item, but it is quite a journey to India! When he hadn't arrived at our house by 3:30 a.m., I started prowling around worrying. I checked my cell phone (which he didn't have a number or phone to call me on), and I checked our e-mail (which wasn't working at the time), but I just couldn't quit worrying. Feroz finally got here with him about 4:20 a.m. That is a long drive from Mumbai airport to Pune! Craig is still working on the jet lag, but he isn't too concerned -- maybe college life is more like India time anyway -- sleep in the day and stay up all night.

We had a great breakthrough this week. We got our sewers cleaned out! They have been "chalked up" now for weeks and it has really been stinky around here and in the house. We called the HR guy at John Deere to start working on it. It only took 2 weeks, lots of talk and negotiation and more talk and negotiation. Finally some guys showed up who would do it for 2000 rupees (about $50). John Deere said not more than 900 rupees. I was just thankful someone was there and willing to do it. I wasn't going to let this opportunity for clean sewers pass me by! After much talk -- more than 2 hours -- they finally started. They were done within a half an hour. I could only shake my head -- 2 weeks of waiting, hours of discussion, all for a 1/2 hour of work! Now we should start on the waterproofing project which is much bigger!

We had a chance to go shopping again and found a Christmas tree sari. I have seen more women wearing the Christmas tree skirt of my dreams than I thought possible. We did finally find one though. The man asked if I wanted to try it on. I told him it wasn't for me. Michelle thought it would be a great joke to get a picture of me wearing a Christmas tree skirt! It really looks nice and adds a lot to the poor little tree! It was only 250 rupees (about $5.50) for 9 yards of glittery fabric.

Hannah's last day of school was Thursday. We decided to make Christmas cookies. We made chocolate chip (since the Indians don't know better anyway), roll-out sugar cookies with green frosting and red and green sprinkles (I don't have any cookie cutters, so I made balls and smashed them with a glass and they are all round), Rice Krispie treats with Christmas sprinkles on them, butter toffee, snowball cookies, and Reese's dipped balls. We will make up plates of cookies for all the people that work for us and the neighbors, etc. We sent plates home today with those who came to church.

We had church here at our house in Pune. We had 8 -- 6 were us! I suppose when Michelle, Ryan and Craig leave there will be less. Also most of the Indians are leaving Pune too. They all seem to like Bangalore a lot!

We are ready for Christmas! We are planning on having party food for Christmas Eve and a nice Christmas dinner on Tuesday. We will have it about 2 p.m. so we can talk to everyone in the evening (your morning). We are having another John Deere family that is staying here for the holidays, so that should be nice.

We hope everyone is doing well and not too stressed out by the big days ahead!
Love, Lucinda

2007-12-16T03:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It has been another nice week here in India. We have had lots to do and experience. It is fun to have Michelle an Ryan here and we are looking forward to Craig arriving next Thursday (Dec. 20).

Yesterday was Ryan's birthday. He did have to go to the hospital, but we had a special birthday breakfast for him -- pancakes and then he got a great gift -- a woofle cricket set, with even the wicket included. He is very excited for Craig to come and a day off to play. Then we saw the camel man on the way home from shopping and we made arrangements for him to come to the house at 6 p.m. for a camel ride. All the Indians think it's pretty funny to see white people riding a camel in town, but that's ok. Where else would you get such a great experience? They went up and down our lane and laughed and waved at everyone. The really great part is the jingling of the bells on the camel's knees. So could a birthday get any better? We went to a party of John Deere expats that night and had birthday cake and ice cream. The special candles they have here in India are just great -- they come with candles, music and fireworks in one special lotus flower on the cake. I don't even think this describes the entire event that happens on top of the cake! We will put a picture on the blog.

Today at church we had 10 people -- with 2 non-members. We were here in Pune, because the other 5 people have no way to get to Mumbai and our car won't fit all of them (even though they would like to think they could fit!).

The Christmas packages went out this week by special John Deere courier -- a nice guy going back to the US took them in his suitcase. He is laying over in Atlanta before he heads to Mexico, so he said he would mail them from Atlanta. Julia's and Pearl's went via the pouch 1 and 2 weeks ago. Please watch for them and let me know when they arrive. Amber and Emily's will come from Atlanta.

I have had a little trouble with the pouch mail -- letters that I sent a month ago still haven't arrived at their destinations. That's a real worry when it was bills I was paying. I keep praying and hoping they will arrive at their destinations.

Michelle and I went to the Tulsibaug Market this week. We were looking for all kinds of things and found many of them, but we also found some really great things we weren't looking for. I can't disclose them now, since they are wrapped up for Christmas. What a fun day that will be! I was also looking for a burgundy sari with lots of gold embroidery and "bling" for a Christmas tree skirt. When we asked one storekeeper if he had sari's he said for us to follow him -- "Come, Madam." We crossed the alley, passed the 2-wheelers parked there, turned the corner, went up some old wooden steps, to the second floor. Around another corner and we were taken inside a sari shop. The guy tried to sell us everything he had, but he didn't have what I wanted. He told me they would all look nice on me. I told him I wasn't going to wear it. He asked if it were for a friend. I told him no, it was for a decoration. He couldn't understand that at all! Finally two nice girls came in the shop and tried to explain what I wanted and he just didn't have it. They took our picture, we took some more pictures and then headed back down the stairs. Michelle was sure we were never going to be seen again.

We also went for pedicures this week. Michelle considered it 40 minutes of torture since her feet are so ticklish. I thought it was great -- also had a paraffin dip. Wonderful! Totally unnecessary, but wonderful! The price was $8.75.

We have more shopping to do this week -- hopefully we will have a car and driver so we can get it done.

We sent our passports off to get our new visas and we hope to see them again soon. We were assured by John Deere that they will be back by next week. I am skeptical, but Doug is hopeful. If we get them back, we have plans to visit Delhi and Agra and the Taj Mahal while Michelle and Ryan and Craig and here. That will be a fun trip if we get our paperwork back. If not, we may be hanging around here.

We hope everyone is well and happy!
Have a wonderful week!
Love, Lucinda

p.s. Doug went to a farm show this week. It was similar to a midwest farm show - seed companies, fertilizer, tractors and emus.

2007-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It's hard to believe it's December and Christmas is coming soon. We have to work really hard to think about cool weather and holiday trimmings. We have been out shopping for a Christmas tree and decorations. Interesting business on a hot, dusty, crowded street with lots of traffic streaming by. We were successful, however, and found a tree, star for the top, lots of decorations (including snowmen, which really makes me laugh), and lights. There are a couple of nice party/decoration stores owned by Christians, and they have a lot of things. We got an artificial 5 foot tree. We will decorate that tonight with the lights and ornaments. I also got a nativity made in southern India -- Kerala. We will put that out too. I want to get a red and gold sari to use as a Christmas tree skirt.

We have been playing lots of Christmas music as well. That just leaves shopping for gifts. That could take a long time and be a real tedious task. We will work on it though. Luckily, we have Michelle to help too!

We went to Mumbai for church today. It was potluck day and Doug and I also had to speak in sacrament meeting. The little branch is really growing and there are nearly 10 people who need the missionaries to come and teach them so they can be baptized. We are growing out of our small building! We were lucky enough to have tithing settlement today too. That is a good thing. Next week we were supposed to be in Pune, but they are having a Christmas celebration after church, so we will travel there again.

We went to Yoko Sizzlers last night for dinner. This was a special treat for Ryan -- he had never had a sizzler or a sizzling brownie. What a great meal! This is one place we have found that has good beef. Ryan is doing great at the hospital. He has a great doctor who is also a good teacher and he is seeing lots of rare (in the US) cases and patients. Sometimes he gets to take a rickshaw home from the hospital, and he really likes that.

Hannah's exams are coming along -- only 1 week left. She has been working fairly hard to study and do well on them. After Dec. 20 we will withdraw her from the school and start the home school in January. It will be BYU Independent Study for grades 9-12. It looks like it will be a good deal for her.

Our biggest worry right now is our Indian Visas. They expire the middle of January, but the best John Deere can suggest is for us to fly to Chicago and get them renewed in person. That sounds really hard, but we haven't found any better alternatives yet. I will keep looking, however.

We hope everyone is doing well! We miss you very much!
Love, Lucinda

2007-12-02T08:14:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone --

It has been a busy week with Ryan and Michelle here. Ryan is doing great in his rotation at the hospital. He is with a neurologist that has much experience and knowledge and he is seeing lots of interesting cases. He says that many of them he would never see in a regular rotation in the US. He enjoys the doctor, the hospital, the lunching experience, and the rickshaw rides home. Ryan is very brave and willing to try new things and have new experiences -- which is good since he gets them every day!

Michelle and I have been very busy getting Christmas shopping done. I have all my packages ready to mail. We will try DHL tomorrow, and if it's not too much we will have them ship all the packages. (There are only 4 -- Emily, Julia/Mom, Amber (2). I will let you know when you need to look for them.

Michelle loved the market. She took her camera and got lots of great pictures. It was early in her arrival here, so jet lag caught up to her really fast. We did get to the grocery store too, and then she crashed.

The weather turned cold here -- in the 40's so I decided we needed a comforter. We went shopping for that and found a really nice one and a duvet cover. Of course, it then warmed up and we were sweating at night. Oh well, at least we're ready for next time.

Wednesday is our day out with the ladies. We went to a narrow little street with lots of shops with Christmas decorations. We only got to go in about 3-4 stores and our time was up. We got some cute things for wrapping and decorating. I still haven't decided on a Christmas tree or not. They are available here, but they are pretty ugly and expensive. There are lots of ornaments and lots of lights, however. Maybe a ficus tree with lights . . . . . After shopping we went to the sizzler place and we had beef burgers. This is the best place we have found so far with good burgers -- really rare in India! Michelle had a sizzling brownie and Ryan was really jealous. We will probably have to go there this week so he can try it. Luckily, it's also close to the hospital so he can just pop over and try one.

Wednesday morning Doug got up early and wrote on a notepad by the bed. I asked him what he wrote and he said it was something for me to do. I asked what. He said it was organize a party/dinner for 30 people on Saturday night. I really hoped he was just joking. Unfortunately, he wasn't! I had to find a caterer and get everything organized and decided. We met the cook from the John Deere Guest house and he was willing to do it. We came up with a menu and then he took care of the pre-cooking -- chicken, veg. dish, eggplant moussaka, dal -- and I took care of all the rest of the grocery shopping for the starters, dessert, and drinks. So Saturday morning we all went shopping to get things for the party. We went to the market to get vegetables and fruit. We went to the grocery store for the rest of the goodies. We went to the sweet store for the dessert. We also had to pick up the paper products -- plates, spoons, forks, napkins, snack plates, and dessert bowls.

Nearly 50 people showed up at the party. We used up all the food. They had to make a run to the store for more pop. The kids had a great time drinking soda and eating chips. Everyone got really hungry and were a little impatient for the food at 9:30 p.m. We finally got the food out about 10:15. It was good food and I think everyone had enough, except Doug. We got cleaned up and made it to bed by midnight. Luckily, I had Mary come and help the cook -- she also washed dishes, cut vegetables, cooked chapatis, etc. I was really tired when it was over and really glad it was done.

We got Ryan measured for a suit as well. He chose a nice dark blue with a stripe. Dad decided he needed a shirt too, so he got measured and picked out a blue stripe fabric. It is to be his "sport" shirt for Saturdays. I was surprised it wasn't a plaid, but he was trying to do something different. We'll see how it turns out. It will all be done next week and we can stop by and pick it up.

It has been nice to have today for resting. We had 10 people at church today. Our once nice couple is moving to Bangalore, so that is sad. The one US guy is moving back to Utah. The one Indian guy is getting married in February -- or whenever he can get a visa -- in the US and staying there. It is possible that we could be down to just us again!

We hope you are all well!
Love, Lucinda

P.S. Deere and Companys board of directors held their meeting in India last week. They held it in a city about one hour's flight from Pune. Wednesday the came to see us. We spent about the last month cleaning and painting in anticipation for the visit. They put our transmission and tractor on display. My boss felt that I should have a chance to show off, so they gave me a company uniform and told me to stand next to the display for four hours. They drove by in golf carts, stopped at our display while my other boss gave them a sixty second speil on the program. I just smiled, they just smiled and everyone was happy.

2007-11-25T08:22:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

Our most exciting event this week was having Michelle and Ryan come. It was touch and go for a while (since their plane left 2 1/2 hours late from Columbus and they missed the flight to India), but they got on the flight the next night to India. They were only 24 hours late in arriving. They only had one bag get lost too. Unfortunately, it was the bag with all the goodies in it! It is supposed to be
delivered here in Pune today or tomorrow. That would be a good thing!

Michelle is suffering from jet lag. She didn't sleep very well on the plane, and seems to have her days and nights mixed up. Ryan is doing better -- which is good since he has to go to work at the hospital tomorrow.

Doug and Ryan went to haircuts, shaves, and head massages yesterday. Dad's face is still tingling! Ryan is up for any adventure we can find for him.

We had a large group at church today -- 8 people. We had a new guy who is now engaged and getting married next spring in Salt Lake. We also found out that Alfred and Ratna are moving back to Bangalore before Christmas, so that means we lose 2 more. This is a very fluid place for church members.

Hannah was sick this week -- first with a cold then with a migraine. She is better and will attend school every day next week.

We started shopping for Christmas decorations this week. We found a couple stores that sell all kind of crazy things like that and that they are owned by Christians. They said their stock would be there and out for display by Dec. 1. This could be a very interesting Christmas season.

We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner at the fancy hotel here in town. They cooked turkeys and had a big buffet set up with all the trimmings. It was very fun -- our group had 20 people -- some from John Deere and some from GM, but all from America. It was fun to get together and have good food. It was expensive though -- $125 for 3of us. That's ok -- that's the cost of living in India. I read today in the paper that they will have a Christmas and New Years buffet there as well -- but international in flavor.

We are doing well and and excited about having Michelle and Ryan here for an extended time. Hopefully, the jet lag will diminish and we'll be able to have fun all the time!

We miss you lots!
Love, Lucinda

2007-11-18T04:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

We are back from vacation and in full swing of "real life" again. We really had a great time and have enjoyed talking with you about our pictures and experiences.

The weather has turned cool here. It gets quite cool in the night and the early mornings are very nice. Many Indians are wearing sweaters and jackets all day, even though it warms up in the afternoon. This must be the weather that we should really enjoy and appreciate while we are here.

We had the John Deere expats over for dinner last night. There were 12 of us plus Hannah's "friend", Aman. I made a big pot of chili, and pot of wild rice and chicken soup, home made bread, fruit salad, and Doug made brownies to go with the ice cream. It was nice to visit and eat good food. Doug also got some fireworks to shoot off -- some fountains and some other goofy sparker tapes. We put out of Diwali
lamps and that was fun too. The Indians who saw them got very excited and said how nice the lamps were.

Our next big adventure is having Michelle and Ryan come next Saturday. It seems like there is so many "things" for them to bring for us. And it seems like there's always something additional to put on the list. They are good sports and have gone out shopping and picked up a lot of "stuff" for us.

Emily and Matt are looking forward to the end of school in December. Matt has a few job offers with Catepillar, Conoco-Phillips, and Whirlpool (that's Illinois, Oklahoma, and Michigan). They are waiting for one more to come in before making the big decision.

Amber and Spencer are doing fine with all the little ones. Corbin is in pre-school and keeps his teacher on her toes. Miles is busy stepping into Corbin's shoes while he is gone. Ella-marie is talking up a storm. Hunter is crawling and pulling himself up on everything.

Craig is busy at BYU with work at the MTC and classes. He is also playing in a folk band that will play before the BYU music festival they do this time of year.

Brice is doing well on his mission in Santiago, Chile. He was sick a couple weeks ago, but is feeling better. He has been transferred into the city again, but is adjusting very well and working hard with his companion.

Hannah is ok. We are looking at other options for her schooling this next semester. The schools here are just not very good and the discipline is non-existent. There has to be a better way. So far, she has received offers to live in Mumbai and go to the American School, and to live in Bangkok and go to the school there. So many great things to do and so little time!

We are still doing fine here in Pune. We had 6 at church today. We will keep praying for more to come!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda

2007-11-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone --

We made it back to India safe and sound. We had quite a traveling experience. We left the beach resort on the island of Koh Samui on Saturday at noon. We took a taxi to the pier, the ferry to the mainland, a bus to the train station, the sleeper train to Bangkok,and a taxi to the hotel in Chinatown. We got there about 7 a.m. and showered and got dressed for church. We got a taxi to take us there and we didn't even get lost too much. It is a nice English speaking ward and one of the missionaries had family in Waterloo long ago. It was fun to see him. There are plenty of expat families in the church there and it was the Primary program, so that was fun.

We got back to the hotel, had some lunch, then went to tour the Grand Palace. Unfortunately, for the second week in a row, we missed it! I guess that means we have an excuse to return to Thailand. We had another street dinner in Chinatown, then went back to rest in our room. We checked out at 11:30 p.m. and took a taxi to the airport. Our plane was supposed to leave at 2:30 a.m. and actually left at 3:30
a.m. We had to eat Dairy Queen and Burger King to use up all our Thai Bhat. It was kind of sad to be eating those fun things at 1 or 2 in the morning. Oh well! Our plane finally left and got to Delhi, was delayed again, and we finally made it to Mumbai at 10:30 a.m. Our driver was there waiting for us and we took off for Pune. It took another 4 hours to drive home and we got here around 2:30 p.m. Too
much traveling!

While we were at the beach, it rained quite a lot. We had to get those Thai massages. I decided that was what I wanted to get everyone for Christmas. Then the second day when I was all bruised up, I decided maybe some of you wouldn't like that so well. Dad kept going (3 days straight) and complained about how tough it was, but kept going. I thought I ought to pay the lady extra to keep him longer so
we wouldn't have to walk around in the rain so much! We got our laundry done -- 30 bhat per kilogram of clothes. What a bargain! We also had fun buying pirated DVD's. We mostly got them because it was so rainy and we needed something to do. We got Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ratatouille, High School Musical 2, and some other crazy Indian movie. They weren't the greatest quality, but what
do you expect for $3? Really, the most entertaining part was how badly the English captioning was. Forget the movie -- the subtitles were so bad they were funny!

We like Thai food. Thailand is very civilized compared to India. There's plenty to do there. Doug posted the pictures on the blog, so enjoy them.

We are glad to be home.

Love, Lucinda

7 Nov 2007

Hi Everyone --

We have been having a great time in Thailand. We had a nice day in Bangkok touring around a visiting Buddha temples and interesting architecture. We had a nice dinner cruise up the river by evening and saw the city lit up at night. We had good food and Thai dancers. They snagged Hannah to dance with them at the end. It was very beautiful and interesting. We will get the pictures posted when we get back to India. They are pretty fun! We were kidnapped by a Tuk-Tuk driver for the morning. He took us to one temple then we went to a "government" store selling jewelry (where he gets a commission if we buy something), then to a clothing store (where he gets a commission if we buy something), and then to another jeweler (where he gets a commission if we buy something). We just weren't cooperating, so he finally dropped us off at the mall and left us there. We were thankful to get away. This must have been the mall where Gordon and his family watched Harry Potter movies and ate at McDonalds on their last trip to Bangkok. It was quite a huge place -- note the picture of all the escalators!

Monday morning we were picked up by our travel tour at the hotel and he drove us to a floating market. We got into a long boat/type canoe and he took us to the first shop set up along the way to the market. Then the next (where his sister was) and then the next and next and next. They feel really bad if you don't buy something at every shop. After a bit, I was even sick of shopping and telling everyone no. It's really interesting though, because in the big shopping part, every boat had someone selling something. Women had a propane tank and were cooking right there in the water on their boat. Rice, noodles, vegetables, spring rolls were lunch items. There were also boats with fruit -- bananas, coconuts, other fruit. There were boats with vegetables, boats with cold drinks, boats with everything.

Our driver then took us to the cemetery of the 2nd World War in Thailand. These were mostly graves of prisoners who died building the bridge over the River Kwai. We saw the bridge that is there today and we rode on the train for a ways past the cave that was a hospital. It was quite remarkable how they did all they did in the jungle.

We went to the Tiger Temple, where the Buddhist Monks care for the tigers that are orphaned or hurt from the jungle. We were able to get up close and have our picture taken with them. Then after, we walked up and got our pictures taken with the cubs. They were very cute and very fun. These pictures should be great too.

Tuesday we went to an elephant camp. Since logging is no longer legal in Thailand, the elephants are out of a job, so now they take tourists around. We signed up for an elephant ride and to bathe the elephants. We put on our swimsuits and went down to the water. We sat right on their neck and they wandered into the river. We scrubbed them with a brush and some shampoo. Very clean elephants! Hannah's elephant liked to fill his trunk with water and spray her right in the face. Doug's elephant liked to go very deep in the water and hold his breath for a long period of time. We had a great time and then we took them for a walk through the village and up over the hill in the jungle. It was very fun.

We made it back to Bangkok to catch our train to Koh Samui. We got our tickets straightened out and paid for -- 2nd class sleeper. It was quite an adventure -- something that Doug has always wanted to do. He found out rather quickly that the beds are not built for 6'2" Americans, but just small Asian people. We made it to the next station, found our bus, took it to the pier to get on our ferry. Again, I am not a sailor and do not like being on the water. It was about 2-1/2 hours trip to the island. I was about done for when we got there. It was pouring rain too. The rain still hasn't stopped. They say that it will keep raining until it's time for us to leave in two days. Our hotel is very nice -- we have a cute bungalow on stilts with mahogany floor and fun decorating.

Since it is raining, we are on the Internet today, we're getting our laundry done, and we are contemplating a world famous "Thai Massage". We have caught up on our sleep and are feeling better today.

Well, that's it for now. We should be home on Monday afternoon (India time). We are having a great time.
Love, Lucinda

3 Nov 2007

Hi Everyone --

We made it to Thailand! It was a tough journey. We left Pune at 7 p.m. and drove 4 hours to Mumbai and got there at 11 p.m. Feroz dropped us off at a fancy hotel and we went in to have dinner. They are not far from the airport, so we had one of their cars take us to the airport at 1 a.m. They weren't open to take our bags, so we just sat on the floor like the other Indians. We finally got through about 3 a.m. then we went and sat in the gate area until we boarded. Our flight left at 6 a.m. We had stop in Delhi and continued on to Bangkok.

The airport here is really nice and the streets are nice and the traffic flows and everything is clean. Isn't it funny how one's perception can change so quickly! We took at hot pink taxi to our hotel -- the Grand China Princess, in the middle of Chinatown. Our room is on the 20th floor. Hannah got a shower and she is now in bed and we are unable to move her. We went out for some Chinese food and to look around a bit.

We haven't been able to figure out the church timings, even though we do have 5 addresses. We don't know which ones are English speaking either. We will keep trying! Maybe they haven't put them on the website because of security issues.

Bangkok is quite a large city, but the drivers know how to stay in the lines. They do drive on the wrong side of the road like India does. They also have rickshaws, which are fancier and bigger and even sneakier than the ones in India.

Time to go to bed. We hope all is well with you!
Love, Lucinda

(Click on link at left to see pictures)

2007-10-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone --

Today was the biggest day we had all week. We went to church in Mumbai since the mission president and his wife were visiting there. Then, on the way home, we stopped at one of our Pune home group members and made dinner. We got home at 7:30 p.m. That's a long day that started at 8:30 a.m. It was a good meeting and President Nichols told us about the vision of the church in India. It was very enlightening and informative. He encouraged us to share the gospel with everyone -- especially those that speak English, since the gospel is taught here in English. There are not more missionaries here because India won't give visas for them. The vision is that the church is on the edge of exploding here in India. I can see that happening easily, but there needs to be some time for leadership training, experience, building, etc. For the time being, however, no missionaries will be in Mumbai or Pune. So we will just carry on.

We had to get Hannah a swimsuit this week. That was an experience! They sell swimsuits in lingerie stores here. So there were plenty of strange and kinky things to look at. The shops were a step or two below Victoria's Secret, but there were plenty of pink walls and subdued lighting. When we asked for swimsuits, they took out huge blue plastic bags and started piling them on the counter for us to see. One shop insisted all would fit Hannah because they were stretchy. The second shop was a little better and they at least found the proper size for her to try. She did find one that worked for 650 rupees (about $17.50). I hope it will work for her in Thailand.

We are getting excited about our trip. We talked to a family today at church that just got back from there, and they have lots of good travel tips and suggestions for us. We have a few more loose ends to tie up before we leave. Our plane leaves at 6 a.m. on Saturday. So, do we drive to Mumbai (4 hours) at 5 p.m. Friday, 10 p.m. Friday, 3 a.m. Saturday ? . ? . . ? We still need to get that worked out, but it doesn't look very comfortable any way we look at it.

We have the pottery pictures to post on the blog -- they are so interesting. The kids with the pink things on the sticks are selling cotton candy it little bags. I don't have any idea where they make it or what they make it out of, but the kids wanted to sell us some. The kids were coming home from school and stopped to get their picture taken, but ended up to be too shy and ran away.

Grandma Wright had eye surgery for 1 cataract this week. She is doing fine and plans to be up and about doing regular things on Monday. She was brave and did a great job. She told me her next eye surgery is scheduled for November 13. She plans to show up for that.

We are hoping to keep in touch when we get to Thailand -- by using an Internet cafe. That should be fun and exciting! I think we are in for a big adventure.

Have a good week!
Love, Lucinda

2007-10-21T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

It's hard to believe October is nearly over. There is no sense of "seasons" that we are used to here in India. There are seasons, but they are Monsoon, "winter" (or cool weather), beginning to get hot, and Hot. There are no leaves changing colors and falling from the trees. It is cooler at night, but hot in the day still. November starts the cool weather here.

I had an interesting and busy week last week. I asked my driver to take us ladies to the antique furniture places here in town. So he drove us across town and we went into a small shop. The man inside said something like the things in the shop weren't for sale, but follow him. So we walked outside the shop, back to the parking lot, and went down a steep ramp into the basement of the building. There was a huge room with lots of old antique furniture stacked on top of each other. We wandered through the dark underground completely amazed. There were workers down there too -- repairing, refinishing, and restoring the old pieces that someone else had purchased. They looked pretty good. I'm not sure I have the eye to choose something totally old, broken, and dirty and see the potential in it. Once they had started the refinishing process, it was easy to see the beauty and value. I will have to take Doug back there some time. I know he would be fascinated by the workmen, sitting on the floor, working by the light of one electric bulb per station. No electric tools for them. I think they even slept and lived down there.

As if that weren't enough, the next day we decided to see how the pottery is made in Pune. So we went with one of the other gals' drivers. He took us to a small community of people that make pots. The first place we went, the gal was making a big tandoori pot. They use these as ovens and bake bread on the inside of the pot and also bar-b-cue meat in them. These pots are about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide at the widest part. They are just made by forming the shape and continuing to add clay -- no turning or coiling. The clay is a mixture of manure and clay dirt. The kiln is a 3-sided brick area where they put all the pots inside and then somehow put a fire in there and let it burn for 3-4 days. We didn't get to see that part of the process. In another house, they were making turned pots. The wheel sat on the ground and the man just turned it by hand. His wife did prepare the clay, however (which can sometimes be the hardest part). He would put a large slab of clay on the wheel, then make a small 4" pot, cut it off, then draw the next piece of clay up to make the next pot. He was pretty fast, making a pot every 30 seconds or so. He had a yard full of small 4" pots to fire.

This is the beginning of the Diwali season -- the Festival of Lights. The people in India put out oil lamps every night for their lights. They are small clay dishes (decorated very nicely) with oil in them and a wick. Then the wick is lit and the lamp stays lit for 2-3-4 hours. I bought 50 of these little lamps, so I will probably burn the house down. Luckily, our house is made of cement, so there's not too much danger.

We finally found a piano store in Pune. They've only been open for a month. They were happy to invite us to purchase a piano -- Pearl River, B Steiner, Boston, Yamaha, or Steinway. They said all these were made in Indonesia. They are also heavily lacquered with a high shine finish. It was fun to look at them, as well as through the whole music store, with violins, guitars, drums, keyboards, and traditional Indian instruments.

I also went sari shopping with my friend from Michigan. She has a big party to go to and needed a sari. When you go to buy a sari, they usually take you to the top floor of the store (2-3 floors). When you get there you take your shoes off and sit on one of the huge mats all over the floor. They ask what type of sari you are looking for -- wedding, party, South India, North India, casual, etc. etc. Then they start bringing out the saris and piling them on top of each other in front of you. Since we were white, they were extra patient and let my friend try them on. Of course, she didn't know how to wrap a sari, so the man did it for her. I wish we had pictures of this -- it was quite an experience. When she decided which one she wanted, they cut the last 36" off to make the blouse. She paid for the sari, then took us to the petticoat shop. She bought a petticoat (slip) to go under it. Then we went down a narrow alley, up 2 flights of stairs to the tailor. His shop was about 5' by 7'. My friend looked through the pattern books and chose a "V" neck in the front, and square in the back. He then measured her everywhere and said it would take 2 days to finish. He would sew the blouse with lining, and also put a lining on the bottom of the sari where it gets kicked when you walk -- all for 350 rupees (about $8). It is very hard work to shop for saris. There were plenty of Indian women in the shop, too, offering their comments and suggestions!

So if these events were not enough, we had the cane furniture guys come to get our patio furniture. It needed to be refinished, and their way was to come and pick it up, take it to the shop, sand and put varnish on it (2 coats, please), and then drive it back to our house. They did this in 2 days (don't forget that it took them 3 weeks to come) and it cost 600 rupees (about $15). It looks very nice, and now the rain is over, it's out on the terrace.

I don't have pictures of the antique trip or the pottery adventure yet. When I get those, Doug will post them on the on the blog. We will send a notice to you and let you know they are there.

We miss everyone and love you lots!
Lucinda

2007-10-14T05:00:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

It's been a busy week in Pune. I was only home on Tuesday! Monday I went grocery shopping and to the market and then went out to lunch with friends. We spent only 100 rupees each ($2.50) for a huge lunch with dessert. Wednesday we went out for our weekly outing and we had a new John Deere wife with us. She has 2 small children (9 months and 4 years) and got a babysitter for them. We went to an appliance store after and I got Doug a small food chopper. He was very excited! I can't even remember what I did on Thursday. Friday Doug had off work, so we had to go do something. He went to find some electrical widgets, and then we got invited to see at fort in town, so we toured that (very old -- 18th century) and we went to the Tulsi-baug market. Doug had never been there. It has really changed since they took all the small shops down and now the only shops are in the buildings. The walk way is a small street width rather than just 2 people wide. I got Ella-marie some bangles to go with her new outfit.

We went out to eat that night with some other new friends (he works for GM) and we went to an Iranian restaurant (which serves chicken, lamb, and beef!) with hooka facilities. Hooka is like smoking apple, orange, coconut, etc. in a huge water pipe. Very strange and very weird! Our dinner took so long to come, there was no time to smoke -- what a relief! We did find a piano store right next to this restaurant though. We were told there were no pianos in Pune at all, but they were wrong.

Doug was also off work on Saturday. We went shopping for things for his Indian meal he was going to prepare (now that he has his small chopper). He just had to try out his two new Indian cookbooks. He made Indian rice, a chicken dish, and fried okra. The fried okra was a bit sketchy, but the other was good. We had it at our home group pot luck on Sunday. Our driver is Muslim and they just finished Ramzan so he asked for Sunday and Monday off. It has been a long month of fasting for them. Since we didn't want to drive to Mumbai with a different driver, we decided to stay here and have church, so all our Pune members came to our house. We watched Saturday afternoon General Conference and had pot luck. It was nice to visit.

I have 23 baby blankets done, and I need to get more flannel. I got some crochet thread here in town and it's variegated, so that has been fun on solid colors. I'm almost half way done with my goal of 50!

Our trip to Thailand is coming into shape. We have all our plane, hotel, jungle tour, sleeper train, and beach resort reservations. It's less than 3 weeks away!

Hannah just finished her first quarter exams this week. The French teacher finally showed up to give a test that the kids hadn't had any instruction for. What a way to do things!

We are all well and fine here. The rain is about over -- only occasional showers. It is hot in the day, however, when the sun is shining. It will cool down in Nov. and Dec. That will be nice!

Have a great week!
Love, Lucinda