My Sunday experience

Okay, I really didn't want to recreate this post so instead I'm going to simply include the original e-mail that I sent to my wife:

originally sent Sunday April 17, 2005

Well I have to tell you about my day today. First of all, yesterday on the way home, Colby noticed an LDS sign on a building not far from where we were staying. I told Colby that I was going to run over there this morning instead of running on the treadmill. He thought I was a bit nuts for running in the streets (even at 7:00 in the morning). The streets are crazy here. Anyhow, I did and I found the building and sure enough on the second floor was the chapel. Everything was locked and there was no one around (but what did I expect for 7 in the morning). I still thought it was pretty cool and I took a couple of pictures. I was in shorts anyhow so it was probably better that way. It was fun to run around the streets and I got lots of stares from people and I managed to not get run over.

Then we came here to the hotel where we've been working and across the hall from us Colby and I noticed a sign that said something about the Church of Jesus Christ. So we went to check it out and saw several missionaries. They were having a their multi-district conference today. So while Colby was teaching I went to the 2 hour meeting. There are 3 districts here and around Hyderabad and a few more down in the southern part of the country. There is just 1 mission here and the headquarters are in Bangalore. They are only allowed 16 proselyting visas so most of the missionaries are native. I met several of them including a few from Utah.

The meeting was SO cool. I was feeling bad because I really will not get to go to church much for the next few months but this experience I will always remember. There were probably 200 or so Indian members. We sang Love at Home, Families Can Be Together, but no sacrament. It was kind of a regional conference thing.

I also talked to several of the senior missionaries that are here on humanitarian missions. They are not allowed at all to talk about the church but just refer them to the full time missionaries.

The Spirit was so strong and I was bawling through most of the meeting. It was so cool to listen to the talks and hear their testimonies. In this part of the world where Hindu and Muslem faiths are so strong, it is so amazing that the church is alive and living here. We did the whole sustain the leadership of the church thing. They know that general conference happened a couple of weeks ago and in another few months from now they will be able to read and watch the conference talks.

The nearest temple is in Hong Kong and before that it was in the Philippines. So very few of them have been to the temple. They just have faith and hope that someday, there will be one built here in their country.

Again, what a wonderful experience it was to be with other Saints and feel of their love and spirit. I talked to this one native guy. He joined the church in 1985 and then 4 years ago his wife was baptised. He now works for the church and is like the public affairs person. He has been spending lots of time constructing/repairing wells to provide clean water to the people. He told me that they could really use our help.

During the meeting as I was sitting in the back listening to the Mission President and his wife and some of the other senior missionaries, I felt stronger than ever before about the importance of us going on missions once we have raised our kids. What a wonderful experience these people are having.

I'm pretty sure that I know some of the kids of the Mission President. They live in Draper and have 6 kids that are all grown up. I'm pretty sure that I went to Alta with some of them. The wife told how they were excited to be called as a Mission President and their call said that they would be at an English speaking mission. Then right before they left, they and their kids found out that the English mission that they would be serving in was India. Imagine their surprise. But they love it here even though it is hard and they are a long long way from home.

Well, sorry for the long novel but I wanted to tell you about the cool experience. It was so neat.

Well, I better go back and help Colby. One more day of teaching for him. Yesterday he wasn't feeling that well and didn't eat at all. I gave him some of the Imodium that I brought and that helped him. Even though I haven't been teaching my voice really hasn't recovered. I'm afraid of next week when I have to do it all over again.

Well, that is about it. Please give our children a big hug and kiss for me and don't forget family prayer. I pray every morning and night for you and the kids that you'll be safe and watched over.

Take care

Love ya

Highland -> Hyderabad (A long freakin’ way to India)

Wow! All I can say is that going from Highland to Hyderabad is a long WAY. What was even funnier was that I rode in the same plane from Salt Lake all the way to Mumbai. Of course we stopped in NYC, and then again in Paris. After about a 34 hour journey Colby and I reached Hyderabad. We are here for a couple of weeks to teach a group some groundwater and watershed modeling classes. We have students from India, Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia. I have to tell you, this country is CRAZY!!!. There are only 6 or 7 million people here in Hyderabad but I think all of then occupy the roads. I have never seen a crazier scene then driving around the roads of India.

We went to a outdoor craft area and saw the world’s largest rangoli. It’s a big colored sand painting. This week is the New Year for several different religions/sects. None are on the same day but they are all within a week or so. Some are based on the moon, others on the sun, and still others on some other calendar. We looked at different native dresses for the girls, hand carved tables and other beautiful wood items, and capped it all off with a mango soda.

Next stop was some big Fort. I can’t remember the name and even if I did, would anyone ever care? The fort is where the Sultan lived with his hundreds of wives/concubines. It was pretty cool. The fort was about 400 years old and built on top of this big hill. The funny part about the visit was all of the teenage boys that followed us around. They wanted to talk to us, touch us, and check out what we were saying and wearing. It was cracking me up.

Next stop was downtown in the city next to a big tower in the middle of the road surrounded by outdoor produce markets. It was so crazy but the view over the city was pretty neat. Again, lots of teenage boys following us around. I stuck out so much. Tall, white American boy in short, sunglasses, and sandals.

The night was capped off by eating at a restaurant serving North Indian food. Pretty dang hot! This is where I got introduced to the fine cuisine of silver. Although I’ve eaten some pretty crazy foods over the last few years, I can’t say that silver is one of them. Silver (according to the Indians) is very good for you and helps to improve your immune system. Now, not only do I get my silver every night, I usually have it with my rolled up and stuffed beetle leaf. Tasty!

The next several days have been pretty much the same. I get up early, go to the gym. I do a couple of miles on the treadmill and then some time on the rowing machine. Working out on the road really helps me cope. We tried ordering breakfast the first couple of mornings but it was a surprise what we ended up with. So now we just stick with the fruit bowl of bananas, grapes, and apples.

Everyone likes to talk to us, get things for us, shake our hands, and make sure we are completely taken care of. During the day we eat at two different buffets and eat pretty much the same thing everyday. The food is really good but 12 straight days of the same thing is a bit too much!!!!. Cucumbers, soup, rice curd, and how could I ever forget, BIRYANI. If it’s not mutton or chicken it’s rice. Besides that its beans/peas/sprouts of all sorts. Each day, I eat less and less. My desire is dwindling and it’s a good thing I only have a few more days.

Okay Spanky, let's take a walk and see if we can find one 'dem gators. 

Beware: Wild and Dangerous 

Take a walk on the wild side........STUPID!!!!

Okay, I've been putting this little story off for a few weeks now but I have a few minutes and so I think I'll tell the tale. As my last post indicated, I was doing some work in Panama City and on my last day I had a chance to go to St. Andrews State Park. My main interested was to go to the beach (since it had rained continously). Before getting to the beach I stopped at this place called "Gator Lake" I thought, "this ought to be cool. Maybe I'll see an alligator". I saw this sign that made me nervous (see next post). But what came next simply amazed me. A couple of local family arrived and asked me if I had seen any "gators". Nope. Afterwhich they left on the walking trail in seach of them. Crazy? I thought so. Maybe I'm just a whimp from the West but I thought it pretty strange that there would be a sign warning of the dangers of alligators and then the next sign shows the map of the walking trail around the lake.

Google Maps!

I still need to write about my alligator story but I found this today and I thought it was very cool. Now as an option for googling addresses you can get a decent aerial photo with it as well. Here is my neighborhood (albeit a year or so old).