guten abend

i had my first full day here...but first a funny story....last night i was so tired after flying..i was trying to stay awake and finally went to bed about 9 pm...which if any of you know me...that's soooo early...anyway...before going to bed i had asked for a 7 am wake up call...i woke up and looked at my watch...it said 7...i thought..'why didn't the desk call me?'...then i thought...it's still so dark..but, figured it just didn't get light for awhile...i was really tired, but knew i had to wake up...well, after sitting there for awhile i was getting up, looked at my watch again and realized it was really 1 am! i had read my watch upside down...i was really glad i could go back to sleep...glad when it was light in the morning...well, when i did finally get up...i got ready for church...barbara picked me up...she also picks up about 5 other people...we got to church at about 10 after 9...church starts at 9:30...i was amazed that everyone was there so early! not like our ward when we all walk in about 10 minutes late! everyone was very friendly...quite a few english speakers...barbara had one of the sister missionaries translate for me...that was nice...only problem there...no air conditioning, they don't seem to think they need it here...let me tell you...they do! it was soooo hot...a couple hours after church bernd picked me up and we went to there house for dinner...the sister missionaries were there..it was very nice...fun to see where they live...barbara and i went to see her sister race in a rowing race..it was over at the auto strade...where vw has built this huge museum, amusement area, park etc...a really nice place...it was fun to watch...then she showed me different areas of wolfsburg...it's a really pretty city, it doesn't seem like a big city because there is so much countryside everywhere...so that was the day today...more later....

church in mumbai

we went to church today..which usually is pretty easy...but, there is only one branch in all of mumbai...it's about an hour away..in navi mumbai, which means new mumbai...a suburb...so we drove through alot of the city...so many slums..it's unreal...we saw where 'slumdog' was filmed...we saw the 'new ' government housing for the slum people which look like they are 50 years old and they are brand new...can't figure out what happens to those buildings...there are the roadsiders, they are people that don't even live in the slums, they are more like homeless...so we got to church about 20 min. early...it's in a muslim home that is rented as the church...they have a guard standing outside the house...we went inside..a small room with about 40 chairs set up...people started arriving and everyone of them said hi, introduced themselves and shook our hands...very friendly...we met the branch pres...a very young indian man..very nice...met a few americans, one john lee who is from camarillo...small world...i think we will hang out with his wife next week...they were very nice and he loved talking to russ about surfing...he knew just from looking at russ that he hurt his nose on the surfboard! they are here for 3 years...the meeting started...they had the prayer, they welcomed us...had the sacrament..one deacon...they asked kathy to speak...she had brought a wonderful talk...then the deacon spoke and gave a great talk on Christ...i was very impressed...afterwards we sang, along to cd music...prayer...then we split up for rs and priesthood meeting...their church is only 2 hours..so every other week they have rs/priesthood and then the other is sunday school...not sure if they have primary...they have a primary pres...but only 2 little children about 3 and 5...there were 8 of us in rs...the primary pres. gave the lesson..it was her first time giving one...i thought she did a great job...very sweet...2 of the sisters were baptized last week...one of them broke down crying, saying how her life is so hard...etc.etc...i guess that doesn't happen ever...it was very sweet...afterwards we said goodbye...they were very sweet and loving...so hard to be a mormon in india! what strong people they must be...some take 3 hours to get to church..amazing...then, we had lunch on the way back to our hotel...so, it basically took all day...it was very nice...