Events of Late May

We have been busy.  On the 22^nd to the 24^th we were at a resort called the cozy place for a youth conference. The kids were typical teenagers.  A good pool cooled many passions.  The kids are great. They are teachable and learning.  Several just graduated from high school at 16.  Some are preparing for a mission.  Rose taught a great class to the youth about standing in holy places. The dance that night was fun.  They have a local style of group dancing.

 It is not much fun being the official grump but someone has to do it. I get a lot of respect just showing up as a senior American missionary.  Whenever someone makes a decision, they look to me to ratify it.

We had fun.  On Monday the 27^th we went to Ilocos Sur to meet some of Rose’s cousins. We had picked up her sisters in Urdaneta the afternoon before.  We went through Dagupan and then north. It is about 120 miles. We made it in 5 hours. Traffic through the cities is really slow. When we got there, some guys met us in town and lead us out through the hills to a small community in the back woods.  We were in time for the funeral of her cousin.  We were offered seats of honor. They fed us a great meal. The funeral home had a slide show projected on a screen of his life.  Then the minister conducted the services. She was from the Methodist church. The choir was with her and knew the songs. Many sounded familiar even in a different dialect. The late cousin was in a nice coffin at one side of the room. The room had a dirt floor and the tin roof made the place really hot. We went outside for a breath of air. The neighbors turned the karaoke down and more food was served. Then the procession to the cemetery started. We walked the hundred yards to the cemetery with everyone else. They had opened the family vault and mixed some cement for the coffin to rest in.  we later went to town and left some family group sheet s with another cousin to fill in. we will get some of the family history from there. The trip home was late and dark and rainy. I missed a fork in the road and wound up in Sison. We took the long way home. At least I knew the way. Go to google maps and look at Pangasinan.

The next day we took her sister’s home to Baguio. We made a detour to look at some land for her sister.

I almost hit a big truck at the turnoff the main highway.  He was going way too fast. We were stuck in a line of cars and buses.  The trip up Kennon road was slow with all the rain.  The wipers could not keep up with the water. We had to wait for the rains to slow before we could go home.  The road crew had a lot of rocks to clear off the road.  That trip is still better than any roller coaster ride. It takes five hours to get to Baguio and five hours to go home.

We sent some youth to the temple late the night of the 29^th. They had a five hour bus ride, then five hours in the temple before coming home. We went back to the resort with the young single adults from our district the next day.  One of our young men is a pretty good magician.  We got home late and slept in the next day.  We have driven  many miles in the slow lane in this month. We also went to another funeral in our branch.  We have paid to get one member out of one hospital. We have another member in a different hospital. We don’t know if he will live. We also went to the national statistics office in Calisiao for a birth certificate for a member.  When the door there opened there were 400 people already in line. Rose went to the head of the line and got the papers in only one hour. She is amazing.

Life is not boring. We have also met with some other cousins in Dagupan.  Some names here are fairly common.  Everyone wants to be you’re cousin.  Especially if you are rich.  All Americans are rich. 

We were approved for a new building in our branch . At least the funding. We hope it will happen in the next two months. It sure be better than where we are meeting now.  We will send more later.  Thank you for your prayers.

Ken and Rose

it is hard to get pictures to load to the internet. I don't know why. sorry