Merry Christmas! Pedersen Family Letter 2011

Merry Christmas to all! We haven't updated our blog much, but wanted to give you a link to our Christmas letter.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-2d6PCF1XPJYzg2ODkyMDMtNWRkYi00ZmEzLWEzNTctNTQyNDJhZmM4YjQ0

If you want to see the pictures in more detail than the preview just use the download original link in Google docs.

Spencer & Crystal Pedersen

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone! Below is a link to our Christmas letter.


https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B-2d6PCF1XPJODY3YWUwYjEtZjUyYy00ZWM0LTk0YmMtZWJlZWQ3NWYxNGY0&hl=en

Halloween in Hyderabad

Halloween this year was a blast. We went to a party hosted by the Ernteman's at Aparna Orchids. The food was great and the entertainment as well (except for some not so shinning moments in the Fire Dancer's performance where he took his shirt off and we were all hoping nothing else would come off). The kids loved the Fire Dancer (I hope no pyromaniacs were born tonight: especially among our boys). They also loved the bounce house despite many close encounters that left some of them crying for mommy. Crystal and I won a prize for our matching costumes as Escaped Convicts (We weren't quite sure how the neighborhood security was going to react when they saw us, but we did make it through to the party).

We had some trick or treaters in our neighborhood and all the kids loved the candy we gave out. I was surprised to see some of the local kids from India trick or treating. I guess word gets out when candy is being distributed by the neighbors. Some of the expat families did a good job of getting the word out ahead of the holiday by giving a flyer to all the neighbors.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Our first week at church was very good. We went to the meetings for the Madinaguda 2nd Branch because they had services at 2pm in the afternoon. The other option was Madinaguda 1st Branch which meets at 9:30am. That is a tough time to get to church when you get off of work at 3am in the morning some nights. Two things surprised us: 1) all the meetings are in English and not Telegu (except for Relief Society sometimes)and 2) our house is located in the Madinaguda 1st Branch so we will be going to church this year at 9:30am. It is also nice that the church is only about a 15 minute drive from our house so it is very close.

We are the only family from outside of India in the Branch so it is easy to spot us. I think we are also the largest family in the branch with 4 children. We have Elders from the US in the branch but the missionaries are having a hard time getting Visas so that may change soon once the current Elder's Visas expire. The sisters love Lexi and she is the most popular branch member. The sisters call her "Baby Doll" and she gets passed around R.S. every week.

We have gone to several baptisms so far (Spencer was a witness for one sister that was baptized). There are about 125 members that come each week and we are growing. Spencer is an instructor in the Elder's Quorum and Crystal is the Relief Society Meetings coordinator. She is also helping to teach the branch members some more of the Hymns. The primary is small so all of the children stay together for the full two hours except the Valiants have a short separate lesson.

We had a branch activity at a resort outside of the city in September. The resort had a large kids area, a cricket field, badminton, a large swimming pool with a water slide and some indoor games. The kids all had a blast on the slide and in the pool. Aubrey also got the hand of badminton. They had the resort cater an Indian meal for the branch and the kids had Briyanny and Curry over rice and Nan bread. William said "Mommy, my mouth is steaming" when he ate the Curry. We had Gulab Jamun (Deep Fried bread balls covered in Sweet syrup) and vanilla ice cream for desert. I think William and Logan had about 3-4 servings of this.

The branch presidency had a small fireside presentation after dinner about temple attendance and urging members to save for a trip. We are in the Hong Kong, China temple district but many members go to one of the temples in the Philippines because it is cheaper travel and accommodations. The presidency asked Crystal and I to bear our testimonies of the importance of temple attendance. It was nice to have a chance to teach them the principles of the gospel and feel the spirit. I hope the meeting inspired some of the families to save for a temple trip. The cost is about $1,200 USD for a family of four to go and get endowments and sealings done. For some families this is more than their annual wages so it is a difficult thing for many to save for. Hong Kong Temple Here We Come!!

Authentic Indian Meal at Home!

Today Crystal and I made our first Indian meal. Cashew Nut Lemon Rice and Raita (Plain Yogurt with Fresh Vegatables: Tomatoes, Celantro/Coriander, Onions, Salt to taste). Getting all the ingredients was inexpensive, but preparation time is pretty long like most Indian dishes. Coriander in the U.S. may be expensive, but you can use other greens. The Green, White and Red colors may make this a new Christmas holiday favorite dip or side dish for us. We eat this dish regularly. The Kids can stomach this one as long as they don't get one of the curry leaves or peppers in their rice. They are still getting used to the Indian spicy foods (so is Crystal).

Logan Turn's 6 (In India). Happy Birthday Logan!!

Sept 4, 2010 - Logan's first birthday in India went great. We all had to improvise in wrapping the gifts because the grocery stores and department stores do not carry wrapping paper (Don't you just love the blue suitcases). Logan had a great time with our new friends the Coles.
I think Callen (4 yr old girl) was just as interested in playing with the Hot Wheels set as Logan (and William). The day before his birthday Logan got a huge fat lip, but that didn't dampen his spirit.












The Cake was great and everyone had a wonderful time at the party!!



















Aubrey, Logan, & William were happy to help make the cake.


































Logan's fat lip! (His sister gave it to him or the marble floor. Take your pick).




Logan Smiling with his fat lip!!

Mysterious Cell Phone Companies

So we had some issues with our Cell Phone service. (Nothing surprises us anymore when it comes to customer service, but at the time this took us by complete surprise). After about two weeks of using our cell phones we kept getting calls that we had to make a payment. I had recieved an SMS text that I had a bill due on Sept 9th, so I thought it was a reminder to pay. Each time we made a call we would get the same message. Then on Saturday at the end of August suddenly our phones would not work at all. Below is an email we sent to resolve the issue. All of the fuss was over some mistakes on our account when it was setup resulting in extra charges and our credit limit on the account being about $20.00 USD. After correcting the issues we get cell phone service and data on both our phones for about $18 per month (Cell phone minutes here are about $.01 USD per minute and incoming calls/texts are free. I wish it were that cheap in the US). They increased our credit limit to $200 USD after this incident so I doubt we will have the issue again, but you never know in India. The customer Service Mantra here seems to be "Overpromise to your customers and then underdeliver with no explanation and above all never appologize when things go wrong."


To Whom It May Concern:

We have some very serious issues with our vodafone account. Our numbers are 9581950999 and 9581960999. Our phones have been cutoff due to our charges going over our credit limit for the account of 1,200 Rs. We signed up for the Deloitte 199 NEW plan and the 500MB data plan for 199 RS (Total of 398 Rs/Month for each phone). This should have been around 800 Rs for both phones for the month of August. Additionally, Services were setup on the 9581960999 number that we did not sign up for and we do not want and this has caused us to go over our credit limit and lose the use of our phones for calls and data as of this Saturday.

Here is a list of the issues we have with our account that have cause the service to be stopped.

A) SLIR was added to 9581960999 with a charge of over 316 Rs. This has been a serious inconvience for us as we cannot see who is calling and people we are calling cannot see our caller ID. We have missed out on several social engagements becuase of this limit on the phone and because of this charge we have gone over the limit and cannot use our phones now. We did not sign up for this service and it has been a terrible inconvience.

B) Vodafone Mobile Connect on 9581960999 with charges of over 315 RS. What happend to the 199 Rs for 500MB of data?

C) SMS Charges on 9581950999 and 9581960999 of 3 Rs each when the SMS charges disclosed on your rate sheet shows 0.50 Rs per SMS to Local and National and 5 Rs to International. The line on the bill says SMS - Special Numbers. Why is this not 0.50 Rs per SMS?

D) Data Plan setup for 9581950999 (iPhone) are being charged at 200 Rs / Month and allowing only 100MB of free data limit each month. Why is this not 500MB of data for 199 Rs as stated on the fees sheet I received?

Below is a list of items I need resolved. Who is the appropriate party to resolve these issues as soon as possible so that we can continue our service?

1) We would like a refund/credit of the SLIR charges. We did not sign up for this and did not benefit from it at all.

2) We would like the SLIR service deactivated for 9581960999. I tried to do this online, but I am not sure if it worked.

3) We would like a refund/credit of the difference between the 315 Rs charged and the 199 Rs data plan we signed up for. this would be a Refund/credit of 116 Rs.

4) We would like the data plan for 9581960999 to be deactivated. I tried to do this through SMS but I am not sure if it worked.

5) We would like the proper iPhone plan with 500MB of data for 199 Rs/Month per your rate sheet to be activated for 9581950999 instead of the 100MB data plan for 200 Rs/Month currently on that phone

6) I would like an explanation for the 3 Rs charged per SMS noted in Item C) of our issues above and make sure that the proper 0.50 local/National and 5.0 RS International SMS rate is properly applied to both 9581950999 and 9581960999.

Thank you for your prompt response. We hope to be using our phones on Monday if possible upon resolution of these issues. In the meantime we have purchased a prepaid mobile phone and SIM Card to meet our communication needs. If these issues cannot be resolved quickly we may just cancel both or one of these postpaid plans and continue with the prepaid phone.