10 March 2012 Saturday

I didn’t have any clue that we would still be in India today. And yet! Here we are. We didn’t get up until after 7:00 am. In fact, I was still asleep, Gene had been up and had the computer on and was back in bed reading. I finally stirred and got up. It wasn’t long and Chad and Konnie called wondering how things are going. Then Lenore called and also Nathan. I’m thankful for the love and support shown to us. We also talked to Alison for a few minutes. Then Jason called. How blessed we are to have Skype and technology today. It sure makes the world a smaller place.

At the Lotus Temple in Delhi, India

LOTS of people....few white faces.

 

Lots of places we have to remove our shoes to go in.

Gene helped me and we carefully washed my hair, making sure we didn’t get too close to the incision. Boy! Does that feel good. We both got cleaned up and went down and had breakfast in the hotel. It wasn’t long and we headed out the door. We caught a auto rickshaw and drove over to the Lotus Temple. The Lotus Temple is huge and we didn't know much about it. We had seen pictures before but found out that since its inauguration to public worship and visits in December 1986, the Bahá’í House of Worship in New Delhi, India has drawn more than 70 million visitors, making it one of the most visited edifices in the world. On an average, 8,000 to 10,000 people visit the Bahá’í House of Worship each day. We can believe that as there were many people there.

We learned the Bahá'í Faith is a world religion whose purpose is to unite all races and peoples in one universal Cause and one common Faith. Bahá’is are the followers of Bahá’u’lláh, Who they believe is the Promised One of all Ages.We  learned the traditions of almost every people include the promise of a future when peace and harmony will be established on earth and humankind will live in prosperity. They believe that the promised hour has come and that Bahá’u’lláh is the great Personage Whose teachings will enable humanity to build a new world.

From there we caught another auto rickshaw and drove over to the Red Fort. As we are zipping around in a ton of traffic, I ask Gene if he felt safe. He asks me, “Where’s your faith?” I do know Heavenly Father is watching over us and I have always felt safe while we’ve been on our mission. I know many prayers are offered in our behalf and we really appreciate that blessing.

At the Red Fort

The grounds are well kept and manicured.

Lots of history in Delhi...

Lots of craftsmanship.

 

The Red Fort is in the walled city of Old Delhi and served as the residence of the Mughal Emperors. It also served as the capital of the Mughals until 1857 when the emperor was exiled by the British Indian government. There were lots of people there as well. I don’t know if being Saturday made a difference. We still really stood out – even without a bandage on my head. The Fort is a huge complex and covers about 121 acres.

We thought take-out sounded like a good idea. Wish we had a #.

After walking around there a while I was getting a little tired and we returned to the hotel via auto rickshaw. Gene asked me if I remember filling in the missionary questioner asking if we would feel comfortable being in a strange land and navigating around. That’s not exactly how it’s worded, but we answered we could do that. And we are doing that. We feel pretty comfortable in the auto rickshaws, but still, we just trust they will take us where we want to go. We find many of them have to stop along the way and ask directions. We are glad they do that. So far, so good!

What fun to visit with Elder Adhikari from Kathamndu

This evening we took another auto rickshaw and went to the church meeting place. It's in a residential area and it's very nice. Inside really feels like a church. We met Elder Adhikari, an Elder from Kathmandu serving his mission here in Delhi. He looked great and so happy to be serving a mission. He wanted to know what was going on in Nepal and we tried to fill him in on the Branch happenings. He said he hasn't heard from anyone at home. He took our card and said he will email us, then we can email him back and stay in touch that way. We can share his address and hopefully some of the branch members will email him as well.

The other two couples serving here in India were at a meeting at the church and we met up with them and went to dinner. It was delightful. Ther are Elder and Sister Crookston from Provo and Elder and Sister Capener from Perry, UT. We had Chinese food and it was just a fun evening. It was way after 11:00 pm when we got home. Is that too late for Senior Couples? It was a great time.