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