One of the traditions that we started when we first arrived in India was that of taking the missionaries out to lunch every Wednesday. We originally started out taking both sets of Elders out, but then we found that we weren’t able to have as in depth conversations because there were so many of us, so then we switched to just taking 2 Elders out each week and rotating back and forth between the two sets. That seemed to be a lot easier (both to get seats and to talk), but funny enough only lasted one time and then we were back to taking all the Elders out as our time to leave India was quickly arriving and we just wanted to spend as much time with the missionaries as we could! đ
When we first arrived in Bangalore we started taking Elder Larson, Coleman, Saroha (who we called Elder Samosa) and Nielson out to lunch, but then transfers happened and we lost Elder Larson & Nielson and got some new Elders in. For the most part though Elder Coleman and Saroha were constants in our Bangalore branch and are who we became the closest too. Elder Saroha in particular just really loved the kids and was always trying just once to get Ady to shake his hand, give him a high five, or smile at him just because.
So when we learned that Elder Saroha was being transferred we were all quite sad and had one last lunch at our favorite restaurant Truffles to say our goodbyes. We all ordered juices, a main dish, AND dessert which you can see all over the kids faces. We sure are sad to lose one of our favorite Elders but are so excited for his chance to touch the lives of more people in other areas throughout the mission. Good luck Elder Saroha! We will miss you and your bright happy smile!
French Toast with chocolate syrup anyone?
Elder Saroha is on the right. The missionaries here in Bangalore are actually not allowed to wear name tags except on Sundays and only during church meetings, as there is a heavy Muslim population here and the Elders are not allowed to proselyte or teach Muslim families at this time as there are some pretty severe penalties in the Muslim religion (like being hung, stoned, or killed) if Muslims are caught going outside the Muslim faith. Hopefully that will change someday, but for the time being the Church doesn’t want to cause any problems with Muslim investigators.
