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Church in Mumbai

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Chapel Area
Chapel Area

As readers know, Nina and I are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called The Mormons. Wherever we travel when Sunday comes around it’s Church day (unless, like last week, I was in the hospital undergoing angioplasty). Nothing got in the way today as we attended the Mumbai Branch of the New Delhi District of the India New Delhi Mission. The Branch meets in a newly constructed space configured for their needs. There is a main area with a rostrum at the front and space for about 100 chairs. The main area divides into three smaller areas by glass sliding partitions. In addition there are four classrooms.

Yesterday as we were driving back from Lonavala, Ty texted Heather from Branch Presidency Meeting (which is held via Skype since travel time is an important consideration) that they didn’t have speakers set up for Sunday and would Nina and I be willing to take ten minutes to bear our testimonies and talk about whatever? We agreed. We both spent quite a while last evening getting thoughts and scriptures together.

While many of the Branch members understand some English, even to those the Church vocabulary is new and difficult. There are others in the Branch that speak or understand no English. As a result, the standard practice at the Branch is after someone gives a speech in English, someone conversant in English and Hindi stands up and gives a summary of what was said. At the moment one of the missionaries has been given that summarization task.

Thinking of him, I wrote out an outline for my talk and printed a copy of the outline for him. That worked very well. Nina talked for just over eight minutes (ten minutes by the time the summary was delivered) and gave a lovely sermon on how the Lord loves his children all across the world, in every clime and nation. I talked about how the Church is the Lord’s Church, he knows what is needed to save his children, and that it is applicable around the world. Our talks seemed to be well received.

The Sunday School class was presented very well. The teacher conducted a lively and well-balanced discussion on the birth of our Savior. Priesthood was also well done. The instructor was well prepared and the discussion was very interesting. This was one of the better Church block of meetings we’ve attended in a while.

The Mumbai Branch baptized 23 people last year and hopes to baptize 40 people in 2015. The first one was baptized last Sunday and seems to be well received by the members of the Branch. There was one other American visiting (a student in a Masters program at MIT in Boston) and a French person from Strausborg, Germany (attending a conference in Mumbai).

Some pictures from Church today:

It’s Been a Busy Weekend!

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Sometimes the weekends are much busier than the rest of the preceding week. This weekend is certainly an example of that. It started on Saturday morning when I took our car in at 8:30 a.m. to have the front windshield replaced. The shop, Dave’s Tint & Glass, did a great job and I was out of there by 9:30. An interesting part of my time there was when an elderly fellow pulled up in a beat-up old pickup truck and came into the shop. The owner and his partner apparently knew him and got out a coffee mug for him and poured him a cup of coffee (they have coffee and donuts delivered to the shop every morning, even though neither of the partners drink coffee … it’s for their customers). They chatted with him while they were working on my car. One of them went to the fridge and pulled out a plastic sack and gave it to him. Then they showed him the pile of cardboard in the corner and helped him load it in his pickup. After he left, the owner Dave told me that the guy comes around a couple of times a week looking for cardboard, aluminum, and their empty glue cartridges. They thought he might not have a lot to eat, so they bring in some leftovers to give him when he comes around. This place has my business and my hearty recommendation for life. It was a real upper start to my weekend!

Then followed Peter Norda‘s funeral. The viewing was at 10 a.m. followed by a service at 11 a.m. More than 800 people attended the funeral and the service was very fitting. It isn’t often that a Federal Judge on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals speaks at your funeral! After the service the Ward Relief Society provided dinner to the family and about 250 people were there for the meal. We got home after the cleanup about 4:30 p.m. plenty tired. But, for Nina, the day wasn’t over yet, as she still was going to the County Jail to visit an inmate.

While she was gone, I worked on my Priesthood lesson for the next day and worked through the hymns that we would be singing in Church as well as at choir practice as I was substituting for the normal organist and accompanist. After resetting most of the clocks, I was off to bed for a fairly short night.

Today was Church in the morning (playing the organ for Sacrament Meeting, teaching in Priesthood meeting, playing for the choir practice). Then we drove over to Soda Springs this afternoon to spend some time with my mother and dad. We had dinner with them and drove back to Pocatello … passing at least a couple hundred deer on the way. Driving through Lava Hot Springs we passed three wrecked cars and three dead deer in the middle of the highway. All three drivers were talking on their cell phones (to their insurance companies?) as we made our way slowly past. We saw large herds of deer on both sides of the road much of the rest of the way home.

We’re home for the evening. We’ve a busy week ahead as we get ready to drive to Chandler, Arizona next week for some time with our daughter, son-in-law, and their three boys. We’re way excited!

‘Til We Meet Again, Peter Norda!

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The news on Monday evening, February 18th was shocking: Peter Norda had been transported to the Neurological Intensive Care Unit at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls after a skiing accident. Peter had been working on the Pebble Creek Ski Patrol that afternoon. The snippets of news in the intervening days were occasionally good but mostly cause for concern. His wife Judy was at his side when he died yesterday afternoon.

Peter and I had only a couple of things, but important things, in common. He was a successful small business owner … I have worked for other people my entire career, up to now. He loved the outdoors, skiing in particular … I can count on the fingers of one hand how often I’ve actually been at a ski resort and no fingers are required to count how often I’ve been on skis. In spite of that we became good Church friends as he also loved the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was an active, involved member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He loved to teach, as I do. For a while I would teach on the 2nd Sunday and he would teach on the 3rd Sunday. Then he was called as an Assistant to the High Priest Group Leader and would teach on the first Sunday of the month, once a quarter. He told me on a couple of occasions that he really missed the opportunity to regularly teach the gospel. I knew I could always count on Peter to substitute when I was out of town on my assigned day to teach. We would talk about gospel topics, how best to present them, the opportunities for discussion, and how to get to desired outcomes. When he taught he was always well prepared and would lead a thoughtful, change-provoking discussion.

Peter, while I know you’ve gone on to other important things, I shall miss you. I’ll miss meeting with you about my home teaching. I’ll miss your lessons. I’ll miss your enthusiastic and welcoming handshake. I’ll miss your characteristic “Good morning, brethren!” when you conducted our priesthood group meetings. You’re now on my list of people to be sure to look up in heaven. ‘Til we meet again!