INDIA: RETURN TO DELHI AND SUNDAY CHURCH IN AN LDS WARD

 December 21-22, 2024

Bob left early in the morning for one more birding trip with Bablu while the rest of us enjoyed a slower morning with time to pack and eat breakfast. A van and driver picked us up around 10:30 AM and we began the long trek back to Guwahati and the airport. This time I sat up front, and the driver was much, much smoother. We also seemed to be on better roads, so I wonder if we took a different (perhaps longer?) route. Anyway, I survived without motion sickness.

We had another difficult pass through the airport. We had no ticket confirmations or boarding passes, which apparently were required just to get through the first door. The officials finally let us in, but three of us had to stay near the entrance guards while Bob picked up our boarding passes. Our time in Guwahati and Kaziranga was the only part of the trip where we were not with Audley Travel, the agency Bob used to plan the rest of the trip, and it reinforced that when you travel to India, it is a good idea NOT to do it on your own. We are pretty experienced, savvy travelers, and it was almost too much for us!

When we had arrived in Guwahati four days before, we didn't stay long in the airport. This time we were there for several hours waiting for our departure time.  We admired the holiday decor. 

We tried to understand why these signs were on the trash cans.

We hunted and hunted for something for dinner and finally ordered a veggie pizza that came with corn, green olives, green peppers, onions and ketchup.  Yeah, no.

When we finally boarded the plane, we admired their window washing technique. Even more impressive is that we were seated in Row 1! I think this was our first flight that our travel company was involved with. Bless their hearts.

We were met at the airport by an Audley Travel agent and ushered to a van that took us to the luxurious hotel they had booked for us, the five-star Imperial Hotel, probably the poshest hotel we will ever stay in. The public areas were filled with Christmas decorations and the air was heavy with the scent of orange blossoms (likely from a spray bottle but still very convincing).

Both couples had been upgraded to a suite with two full bathrooms, two televisions, a separate sitting room with lots of seating, etc.

There were even delicious tapas-like snacks in the sitting room, and they sure beat the pizza at the airport!

We had a good night's sleep, and after a scrumptious, extensive buffet breakfast--just what you would expect from a five-star hotel--we met our guide Sajeet and driver Vinod. The latter turned out to be an amazing driver. We never ever want to drive anywhere in India ourselves.

Off we went into the wild gray yonder with its 393 AQI.

We had scouted out an LDS ward before we left home. There are 15,454 members of the LDS Church (aka Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in India comprising 45 congregations and 4 stakes. The first branch of the Church was established in 1978 in Hyderabad, the first mission was organized in 1993 (now there are 2 missions and 3 districts), and the first stake was organized in Hyderabad in 2012.

We arrived at the building about 25 minutes early. Stan invited our guide Sajeet to join us, and he accepted the invitation, which surprised us. We were to learn that he has a special interest in religion, and so I think he was curious about these Americans who wanted to attend a church he probably hadn't even heard of before.

When we arrived, they were just beginning to take down what looked like decorations from a previous event. Not many chairs were filled at the starting time of 10:00, but by the end of the service there were at least 50-60 in attendance, all locals. They sang familiar Christmas songs for the opening, rest, and closing hymns, which is what I was hoping for as the only Christmas music we were hearing was secular. The speakers were a counselor in the bishopric, whom we could hardly hear and who slipped into Hindi for most of his talk, and the bishop, who was easier to understand and hear. The ward members were very friendly, almost all of them coming to shake our hands before and after the service.