One more Departing Elder

Elder Pimsakul left the IBM (India Bangalore Mission) to return home to his family.

 Elder Benz Pimsakul worked as Assistant to the President in the office at the next desk for about 4 months of our mission.  We had some great times and got to know him well.

 This looks like a serious visit going on.

 We sure enjoyed knowing Elder Pimsakul 

(well, we still know him, he's not dead yet, just one of the dearly departed!)

 Elder Pimsakul posing for a picture with me, Sister Wigg.  We are 'birthday buds' as we share the same birthday.

The last photo with President Funk.  So long, Elder, we will miss you.

Conglomeration

Today, I'm creating a conglomeration of posts.

Enjoy!

 Just hanging out at the Office.

Finally, a picture with Flat Stanley.

We enjoy the help of one of the best Return Missionaries in the mission, Brother Uday Teki.

 Elder & Sister Kellerstrass spent about 7 weeks here working on special projects.

This is their last day before heading back to Sri Lanka.  We miss them.

But..."these are not the droids you are looking for..." will always make me laugh.

 The returned Elder Vaibhav John is posing here with his fiancee Bhanu, soon to be wed.

 Brother Vaibhav John

 These 2 young men served in this mission at the same time and are good friends.

 Uday cooked special veg rice with Butter Chicken.  It was fabulous!

 We had a really fun dinner with Elder & Sister Kellerstrass.

 Here is Uday posing with the new Elders and their trainers in the office just before they head out to their new areas of service.

We had 7 new American Elders arrive last week.  This is their picture with their trainers and the Assistants, along with myself, Sister Wigg.

2 New Couples

We are so happy to have 2 new couples come into the mission.  

We met them each at the airport couple weeks ago.

Elder & Sister Allison

 Elder & Sister Allison arrived without their luggage.  It did show up 2 days later, so that was good.

 Elder Smith, Elder Fitzpatrick & Elder Prabhakar joined us for lunch.

We had lunch at Laajawab buffet across the street from the Office.

Supper together with the Allison's and the Kellerstrass' at the Spaghetti Kitchen.

Elder & Sister Hatch

 Elder & Sister Hatch arrived in Bangalore 45 minutes early at the same time the Allison's were departing for Rajahmundry.

 Elder & Sister Hatch had their bags as scheduled!

We ate out lunch with them and Elder & Sister Kellerstrass at 'The Four Seasons', one of our favourite restaurants.

Elder & Sister Hatch in the courtyard of Bangalore 1st Branch after Church with Terrence and Mike.

Then the next day they departed for Hyderabad.

Flat Stanley

We had a wonderful couple weeks with Flat Stanley, who came to visit Bangalore, India from Clearfield, Utah, USA.

Flat Stanley is a character in a book who gets smashed flat as a pancake and gets to go on an adventure through the mail.

These are some of the places he has visited and people that he has met.

In Bangalore 1st Branch

 Here Flat Stanley is posing with the Elders, both current Elders Sodadasi & Sommer, & future Elders.

 Jake, Terrence and Mike, the 3 cousin brothers are giving Stanley a tug-o-war pull, but he's not bothered by it!

 Beautiful Young Women in the Bangalore 1st Branch.

 Primary children also love Flat Stanley.

 Elder and Sister Wigg are here with the Young Women.

 Elder Wigg is joined by Terrence and Jake to pose with Flat Stanley.

Sister Jennifer with 2 young women.

At supper at Elder & Sister Wigg's apartment

 We had a wonderful dinner with President and Sister Funk, President & Sister Watson and Elder & Sister Kellerstrass.  After dinner we managed a picture with Flat Stanley.

So he even got to meet a member of the Asia Area Presidency.  That was pretty cool, I think.

At the Mission Office

 This is Tony, a young man preparing for his mission in a couple weeks, and Uday, a returned missionary who served in this mission.  They are both wonderful young men who love to serve.  

Flat Stanley is lucky to meet these 2 great guys.

And last, but not least, we are Elder & Sister Wigg, serving in the Mission Office on our Senior volunteer service mission in the India Bangalore Mission.

New Friends in Vizag

We attended 2 Branches on Sunday in Vizag.  It was fun to see the members in the Visakhapatnam 1st and 2nd Branches and listen to their words.  We also spoke in Church of both meetings.

 Asha with her sweet little guy, Jonathan.

 We can see where Jonathan gets his good looks from.  Well, his Dad is handsome, too.

 A few of the girls in Vizag 2nd Branch.

 Remember Elder Katuka, my trainer!  It was so good to see him again and to see Elder Vinck, his companion, as well.

 Elder Stoll and Elder P. Kumar serve in Vizag as well.

 Some of the young women in Vizag 2nd Branch.

 Posing with the Young Women and their leaders.

 This sign shows us where to come for Church.  It was still not easy to find.  First we walked straight past it and then when we went back we still had to be shown the exact staircase to take up to the meeting rooms.

This is the sun setting on the lovely weekend in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, right on the Bay of Bengal.