You Never Know What to Expect!

District Youth Conference at PLT Mountain Resort

This week Sister Roberts and I attended a portion of a District Youth Conference (DYC).  We were impressed at how well organized it was.  It was held at a beautiful resort near Solano, about a 2-hour drive from the Mission Home.  It had several large swimming pools, dormitory sleeping for the youth and “matrimonial’ rooms for the adults.  In the Philippines ‘Matrimonial’ means a full-size bed.  When we checked in, the desk clerk seemed concerned and wanted to make very sure that we were aware we were staying in a ‘matrimonial’ room.  For some reason, she had doubts that that is what we really wanted.

That night, the youth had a dance & dance contest.  We were told, in advance, that we would ‘judge’ the dance contest but no details were given.  As the evening began, we were told that each of the seven Branches had prepared a dance presentation and that one couple from each Branch was to get an award and we needed to select the categories.  This was no small request since we did not know any of their names.  All we could do was make notes to ourselves like ‘short girl with peach skirt’ and ‘tall boy with turquoise suspenders’.  As the dance presentations progressed, one branch decided to sing instead of dance and another didn’t do anything at all.  You can only imagine how awkward it felt to be judging this ‘competition’.  In the end, we decided to point out one outstanding quality for each group and then tap one boy and one girl in the group as recipients’ of a prize without any regard as to whether they danced as a couple or not.  I’m not sure what we accomplished, but we were just glad it was over.

The evening actually began with open dancing to 60’s and 70’s music.  The hall was decorated accordingly, and we learned that youth are the same all around the world when it comes to dancing.  They were more interest in posing and taking pictures of each other than actually dancing.  Sister Roberts and I were just sitting enjoying the music when the MC announced, “Now, 'Couple Roberts' will show us how to do the TWIST.”  It had to be the most pathetic demonstration of TWIST since the dance was invented.  Nevertheless, it had the desired effect of getting some of the youth out on the dance floor.

Last week, two of the Elders we work with told us that the mother of a man we were teaching had died just prior to Mothers Day.  We went to visit him and express our condolences.  Late Friday afternoon, he came by the Mission Office, with his nephew, to invite us to the funeral the next morning.  Funerals in the Philippines usually involve a walking procession from their home to the church.  He asked us to follow him to the place where they would begin the procession so we would know how to get there, and, that we would need to be there at 5:30 Saturday morning.  Fortunately for us, it was not a terribly long walk.  As we left our apartment, Sister Roberts said, “I think they are going to ask you to offer a prayer”.  I said, “Where did you get that idea?  Nobody said anything to me!”  Well, she was right.  They ushered us into the room with the open casket and everybody bowed their head.  I guess everyone knew but me.  There was an awkward silence and I leaned over to the son and said: “Do you want me to pray?”  “Yes, Yes” was the reply.  I guess it was equivalent to the ‘family prayer’ we have at LDS funerals.

Family of the deceased.  Her husband is the older man standing near the front, not wearing white.

Bless, Bless.  This is the gathering prior to the procession to the church.

We proceeded to OUR LADY OF THE PILLARS Catholic Church where Sister Roberts enjoyed her first MASS.  I was surprised that the service was actually for 6 deceased persons.  Five more caskets were rolled in followed by family mourners.