Kerala, India - A Beautiful State

Sister Martin and I were invited to attend a wedding in India's southwest state of Kerala. Kerala is often called in India, "God's Own Country".

Areekkal Water Falls, Kerala, India

At first we said we were too busy but then we decided to somehow squeeze it in to a long weekend. Brother Issac, father of the bride, who we often see at church, personally asked us to come. They also sent us this beautiful invitation.

Several months ago, his younger daughter had served in our mission. The oldest daughter was getting married in Kerala at an Orthodox Christian Church.

We decided to see a few of the interesting sites in the area. Our first stop was Fort Kochi. We found a nice hotel. When we landed I requested an Uber to take us to the hotel. That's mainly how we travel in India.

A mural in the lobby of the hotel at Fort Kochi 

Our friend and co-worker in the mission office, Vasanth came with us for part of the trip. We rented a car and had him drive during part of the little trip.

Saw a few sites in the area like this church

Would you like to buy some fresh fish?

We watched people catch fish from the ocean with these Chinese Fish Nets.

They lower these big nets down into the water.

A few minutes later they bring the nets up and gather the fish caught in the nets.

Dropped by this old church built in 1503 by the Portuguese.

Walked by the small Fort Kochi Beach.

Sister Martin bought a new hat that folds up small and flat

The Indian Navel Maritime Museum

 Next stop was Allapuzha, closer to the place where the wedding would be held. Along the way we stopped at a couple of beaches. This one was called Marari beach.

I heard this restaurant was one of the best around (highest reviews) but it was closed during the off-season.

Took a two hour boat ride at the backwaters of Alleppey.

It's called a Shikara boat.

Some call this place the "Venice of India", because of all the water canals. They have had too much rain lately and a lot of homes and rice patty fields were flooded.

A lot of interesting people and house boats along the journey.

Saw this bald eagle along the way.

More flooding over the levee

Our rental car at a B&B we stayed at by Alleppey Beach

Then off to the wedding at this Orthodox Christian Church.

 Sister Issac used to be a missionary in our mission. Her sister was the bride.

To the right, bride and groom after they were married.

We went to a beautiful wedding reception following the wedding.

Picture with the bride and groom

When thinking of weddings and marriage we often think of, "The Family, A Proclamation to the World".
It says, "WE, THE FIRST PRESIDENCY and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children."

Link to the complete document...Family Proclamation



On the way back to the airport we decided to stop at Vaipur hanging bridge

We ran into the Wilson family at the Chinese Fish nets and they said they had also come for the wedding. We see them in church almost every week. We decided to go to the bridge together.

The Manimala River in the background

Last stop before reaching the airport for our flight back was at Areekkal Water Falls. Another beautiful spot in Kerala, India.

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.