In the Mormon church, twice a year we have a Stake Conference -- the local congregations who are part of a larger organization called a stake meet together. The Ikoyi Ward, where we meet and worship each Sunday, is part of the Lagos South Stake, which is made up of 8 congregations from different areas. Lagos has 3 Stakes and the South Stake Center is in Festac. One thing that I always enjoy about the Stake Conferences is the choir. The singers are not especially well trained, but they practice hard and always sing with spirit and enthusiasm and they always look good! I don't know if it's the Nigerian penchant for dressing alike -- they really seem to enjoy this -- or if the church members here see how the Mormon Tabernacle choir dresses alike and feel like they need to follow suit. But they come up with different matching outfits each Conference. On Saturday the women had jaunty little hats attached to the side of their heads (how DO they do that?), bow ties, and white and black outfits.
For the Sunday meetings, the women were in pretty blue long dresses. Not very Nigerian looking, but they looked very nice.
The guys had these matching beaded ties.
I took these pictures when they were rehearsing outside before the meeting.
This is Israel, one of my piano students. He's a very talented musician -- very good at playing by ear.
This is Eddidiong Patrick. He likes to go by Patrick or Eddie. He was also a very talented piano student of mine and is now a church missionary in Calabar.
I took this picture when they were singing some postlude hymns after the meeting.
This is my good friend Blessing and her darling daughter Emmanuela.
Here's some of the Ikoyi Ward expat women. Love these ladies!
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