Southern Mormon Talent Show

These two cute old men performed a piano duet. What duet, you ask? Chopsticks. Hilarious.

In the Mormon Church, there are two types of congregations - wards and branches. Wards are larger congregations with enough members of the group to easily divvy up the responsibilities and assignments to help run the church. Branches are smaller congregations, leaving a larger load to be carried among the few faithful members of the church in their geographical area.

Living in rural North Carolina, it is no surprise that Jackson and I attend a small, quirky, Southern branch. Belonging to a branch has its challenges, but we have immersed ourselves and liken our little branch to our Southern Family. They look out for us, rely on us, give us rides, visit us, and make us smile every week (for example, one time our Sunday program had instructions on the back in case we wanted to write the only missionary serving from the branch at "the Mission Base." That's Southern code for the MTC, I guess.)

So last night we had the privilege of attending our branch talent night - showcasing the talents and personalities of our branch family. In the back of the room were displays of talents - including paintings, drawings, cross stitches, trophies and a lego room built by a little 5 year old. Super cute.

This little girl did an Irish jig.

This kid blew us all away. Jackson is getting his first Karate lesson this Tuesday!

Talents performed included poetry, acting, singing, martial arts, gymnastics, and of course, a missionary performing a Primary song on the recorder. Pitiful, really. Jackson shared two of his talents - one of his compositions of a Hymn "God Speed the Right," and he also shared his talent of U.S. Presidential trivia. While his piano-playing was beautiful and moving, the trivia was mind-boggling. He challenged the audience to either call out the name of a President or any number between 1 and 44. He then stated the name or number of the President, his party affiliation, and at least one interesting fact about him. I called out number 27 and he explained that William Howard Taft, a Republican, was so fat (over 330 lbs) that at one point he got STUCK in the presidential bathtub and it took SIX white house aides to pry him out. True story.

This guys last name is Jester. Is this a talent?

Jackson also signed me up to share a talent, so I taught the audience the Spanish alphabet using a song that I teach to my high-schoolers. Mind-boggling? Probably not. But at the very least, entertaining.

It was a wonderful evening, and a great time to reflect on how fortunate we are to have such a great support system so far away from home. While all the acts were special in their own way, the highlight of the evening was little Jonathan Abbott and his Papa performing a Southern gospel song that brought down the house. He is 11 years old and has one of the most powerful voices I've ever heard. Enjoy.