Day #7

It’s Sunday, you know what that means. I didn’t have a camera, we got home soo late the other night that I thought I left it in the car, but instead I left it at home. A lot has changed at my parents’ church, they’ve moved down the hill to the middle school and renovating the original campus. What a set up! I was impressed how much has changed. I didn’t know a lot of people there, but I did see members of the Garza family. They were the family our family grew up with. I, of course, saw Mrs. Garza who lost a lot of weight and looks great! She was taking care of her grandson. I ran into Yolanda, Mrs. Garza's oldest daughter, and she looked exactly as I remembered her. I didn’t get to ask where her sons where. Last time I was there, they were in a Hawaiian/Pop style band and actually pretty popular. I then saw Armando Garza, who used to live in Texas, and was gracious to be a host when I first moved to Texas to go to TCU. My parents also had connections to a Church of Christ Filipino congregation which some of them now attend their church and provide the Ilocano-only speaking service. I ran into the Gorospe family and they actually recognized me after years of not seeing me.

After church, we headed across the street for some Korean BBQ (Yes, Marc, I'm sure it's not as authentic as what you had). My dad had a meeting with his Samoa mission people so Mom, the boys, and myself had to entertain ourselves that afternoon. We headed to Pearlridge Shopping Center and went to Fun Factory, a video arcade. Grant was a bit sleepy so I carried him around almost the entire time. Mom and Gannon tore up the place and went crazy. I have never seen my mom and Gannon soo addicted in winning, getting tokens, excited because they got a bunch of tickets....it was ridiculous. I had a hard time trying to pull both of them away from the place and kept saying, "THERE ARE NO MORE TICKETS, TOKENS, or MONEY!!!" I told them to give me the game card so Grant could play too, so needless to say, Grant and I watched them play a lot.

After we finally walked out, my mom comments on how she couldn't believe how long we stayed there and then I said, "When Gannon turns 21, I'm sure he'll be your slot machine buddy in Vegas." She laughed and then Gannon says (not prompted), "So do you want to go home and play poker?" My dad laughed too when he found out how long it took me to get them out of there.