President's Birthday, Crossing the Street and other Tidbits

Some of the Elders bought a cake for President Thomas for his Birthday.

Later, the Sisters brought in a cake as well.

For some it's not a big deal to cross busy streets with no crosswalks, no traffic lights, no stop signs, no yield signs, no speed limits, no one follows them if there is one, etc. We saw this sign. A little hard to read and worn out but it says, "Follow Traffic Rules".

While we carefully plan our strategy of where and when to run, dodge and maneuver, others are quite calm. This guy is quite calm looking on his phone while crossing the street.

Sometimes we just follow someone who is confident.

Crossing the streets of India. Ready, get set, GO!

And then driving you often see motorcycles, cars and occasional big truck driving on the wrong side of the road.

Got caught in a big rain storm walking to our apartment one day. It wasn't raining when we left for our 10 min walk there. I didn't take an umbrella and got soaked to the bone. Sister Martin had her umbrella but the driving rain soaked her purse, shoes etc. Her Cell phone was in her purse and the circuit board got fried, confirmed dead and unrepairable.

Just before we walked out the door we saw Gangadhar who does IT - computers and phones, Distribution Center, Visas, and more. He wears so many hats and he was sitting at the security desk for so long working on their computer, I put the security guard's hat on him.

Saw this fun little sign on ice cream toppings.

Arkansas Pecans? Wonder if Stephanie and Dave buy any of these?


When you leave the mission office in the later evening we can always here the screeching of bats above. You can also see them flying around in the darkness, but only silhouettes.

One morning we arrived at the office and this bat was hiding in a tree.

Then I took a close-up with the phone.

Another day we were walking around the church and saw a large lizard.

If we got too close though, he would run and hide in the bushes.

And then saw another lizard during one of our other walks.

Missionaries, Smart Phones and Cooking Adventures

Elder Raja and his mother, Manjula, leaving for the airport and then to the MTC in the Philippines. We had the opportunity of working with him a little in our missionary Prep class. He is now serving in our mission.

Elder Wilson departing. His family came to pick him up. His sisters and mother are behind him.

Elder Rather and Elder Rajikanni

We had the opportunity to join John Christopher Raju and his wife Ramya for dinner.

John Christopher showed us how he makes Biriyani and chapatis

And some curry.

We enjoyed learning some basic India cooking techniques.

Their friends Vijo George and Catherine also joined us

Enjoyed a nice meal and a pleasant Sunday afternoon with his family and friends.

Sister Martin, is the filter that dirty after only 2-3 months?

Since there has been a water shortage, the association for our apartment has had to order hundreds of truckloads of water. The tanker trucks all say "Drinking Water" but I'm not too sure I'd want to drink what comes out of the tap. After it passes through this first filter it goes through a multiple stage filters and Reverse Osmosis purifier before we drink it. Happy about the technology. We also installed a smaller filter on our shower. 

Another cooking adventure with the sisters. 

Sister Ravulapudi told me she was learning to make spicy Hyderabad Biryani. I was very interested since everyone says it is the spiciest and best kind of Biryani Rice. 

Since it takes so long to make, Sister Ravulapudi called me before coming and told me how to get things started. I started marinating the chicken over an hour before they arrived. 

She then called and had me start frying the onions. 

Make sure you fry those onions very dark brown, Elder Martin!

Sister Ravulapudi added more red pepper to the curd mixture to marinate the chicken. Apparently, I didn't add enough.

Sister Paduru chopping more onions.

Looking and smelling good.

Rice made with saffron, milk and Raita on the side.

It's ready! Let's eat!
I loved it. Especially leftovers when I was scraping the bottom since it was more spicy.

Elder Shurtliff, Elder Rather, Elder Kocherhans, Elder Skidmore - Finished 2 years of great service

Two years of service shoes

    Elder Gonder, Elder Johnson, Elder Mungamuri

Elder Joseph, Elder Peters and Elder Ostler

Elder Thivyanathan, Elder Ravindran, Elder Patnalavara

Elder Skidmore and his family

Elder Gonder and Elder Joseph (Assistants), Elder Raja arriving after the MTC in the Philippines, Elder Vishwanatan (just arrived) on the phone and Elder Rather on the right, departing for home

The Ensign and Liahona had India on the first inside pages

That church is Convent Rd Ward where we attended once. We set up a new apartment near there.

MLC and new SMART Phone training.

Our mission just introduced Smart phones. 

Elder Peters, Elder Anand, Elder Thamma, Elder Biggs and Elder Bangari

 Elder Baker is pretty Smart with those Smart phones. He's one of our specialists.

Invited Elder Joseph and Elder Gonder over for an American dinner. Is that Hot Dogs?

Yes. Sister Martin made some hot dogs with Broccoli and cheese. Good Broccoli, cheese and hot dogs are hard for us to find in India. It was a pleasant change of pace.

A new restaurant opened up near our apartment called Purnabramha. They serve Maharastra style Indian food. We had some good vegetarian dishes.

Sister Martin ordered the Caju (Cashew) Curry, in our small bowels. She said it was too spicy. We ordered mild and they said we received the least spicy option. I thought it was mild.

Had some Ukadiche Modak. Elder Joseph told us it's a sweet desert typically only available during festivals or holidays. He was excited to have one. They were pretty good.

We tried another Maharashtra dessert called Puranpoli. Also not bad.

Ocean/city views of Visakhapatnam, Toured construction site, a little disaster

Weekend away from the mission office - Took a cable car tram to the top of the mountain for some great views of the city, Visakhapatnam and the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean.

With Elder and Sister Goodsell in the cable car. This place is called Kailsagiri.

Some kind of small amusement park that we didn't go inside

Fun little train ride - it went super slow. Sister Martin gave candy to the children sitting beside and behind us.

Toured a future church stake center under construction. I wonder if there is going to be a steeple on top?  The membership is growing and it's great to see the progress not only in buildings, but in faith.

They said underground parking on two levels will accommodate up to 25 motor scooters and 25 cars.

The main room for the chapel and stage in the background.

Looks like a clerks office.

Interesting temporary hand rails - real tree branches

This building will be a great blessing for the members here. Right now, some of the meetings can't accommodate all the people that want to come.

With the Zone Leaders - Elder Gantner from Switzerland and Elder Kola from India 

Went to a nice place for dinner with Elder and Sister Goodsell.

Quite the flames back in the kitchen cooking our food.

Chicken Sizzler and a Prawn Sizzler. Excellent.

At church Sunday - Sister Martin attended Young Women's class. We met the Young Women President on the Street the day before. (Sister dressed in black/gold sari). They discussed keeping covenants. It was fun to recite the Young Women Theme with them.

Talked with a very confident young man named Davik. He will truly be a future leader. He recently moved back to India from Provo, Utah.

A little water disaster.
About midnight a pipe broke from a ceiling water heater/geyser in our apartment. I hurried down to the first floor to see if they could find a maintenance person. I went back up stairs and decided to investigate what was behind the false/removable ceiling. I found that the water heater had a broken pipe fitting and a convenient shutoff valve, stopping the gushing water. About 15 minutes later the maintenance worker came. He assessed the situation and said he would come in the morning and fix it.

He arrived as promised in the morning and installed the new flex pipe fitting part.  Then he handed me the bill. It totaled 250 rupees. That's a whopping $3.50 US dollars. Unbelievable. Sister Martin took a video below.