We were really looking forward to meeting our relatives in Llanwddyn - Thomas Erfyl & Kathleen Isaac, and their four sons, Selwyn, Alun, Gareth & Timothy.

Kathleen began researching Thomas' family a dozen or so years ago. She has done extensive research about the Isaac family in the area. Meanwhile, Donna Dean, who lives in California, submitted information about some Isaacs to the LDS Family History Centers in the 1970s, and that information is now available to view on the Internet. After seeing her information, both Kathleen and I wrote to Donna, and Donna put us together. Thomas Erfyl and Mom (Carolyn) are third cousins. Kathleen has sent us many pictures of relatives and lots of information about the family that she has collected. She and Thomas have lived in the area all their lives, and they know the farm names and history so incredibly well - they were amazing!

Thomas & Kathleen were fabulous, and went out of their way to show us around the area, to different chapels and farmhouses and places that had significance to the family. They took us to meet more "relis", as Kath calls them - although there are so many relatives we still have to meet when we return! They took us to see where Thomas works, too - he's been a shepherd in the hills around Lake Vyrnwy since 1964, and has several shepherding dogs that he's trained himself. They took us to the the barns where the sheep are held in the winter, and Welsh Black beef cattle, and also to Fron Las, the farm where Thomas and most of his brothers and sisters were born.

We loved talking with Thomas & Kath and their four sons. We tortured them all with tons of pictures, and a million questions, and they were soo patient with us, and also with our inability to understand words, phrases and accents that were brand new to us. We sometimes had them repeat what they were saying several times over - sometimes a joke, which would totally lose its punch by then!! It wasn't til most of the way through our trip that it dawned on us that there's no way we'd be able to remember their voices and accent like we wanted to, so we got out the little tape recorder and figured out the video part of our camera, and tried to preserve their voices for us to listen to after we were gone.