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.