Que Talento!

 

Megan exhausted after exercising her talent for climbing.

Que Talento!

(23 April 2024)

Last week we had the wonderful opportunity to watch Megan and Caleb compete in the South America Athletic Conference (SAAC) track meet at Colégio Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Lima Peru. I loved watching them compete! They both brought home several medals, multiple personal records, and many great friendships. I have always loved sports and competition and over the years I have especially loved to watch each of you participate, and see the personal growth that comes from such activities.

Caleb leading the pack in the SAAC 1500m run.

Megan passing into 2nd place in the home stretch during the SAAC 1500m run.

Sports and competition were very important during my childhood. They provided opportunities for teamwork, strengthening of mind and body, and developing talents in a competitive and fun environment. 

Picture of Ron and Scott’s elementary basketball team. (Now you know where the infamous yellow shorts came from).

Growing up I remember head stand contests in the living room and out on the lawn (the lawn was easier because you could grab onto the grass to not tip over) that lasted for tens of minutes. I remember Wayne being really good at sit ups, Keith cranking out a hundred pushups every night to train for football, and Lyle and I jumping rope many hundreds of times in the living room trying to best the other. And there are many other examples, not to even mention North Gem school sports, which we loved and in which we tended to do quite well. 

Eldon and Keith honing their table tennis talent.

Some people could find it strange that impromptu challenges occasionally appear out of seemingly nowhere during family gatherings, but it may make more sense knowing that the challenges are just an extension of our childhood contests. And to be honest, many of these impromptu challenges have been years in the making… and rumor has it that some might have even been training for that “impromptu” pull-up contest since they did fewer pull-ups than someone else two years previously! 

One of many wrestling contests in the Greenwood home.

Your mother was unwittingly the catalyst for one of those contests when she tried teaching me how to do back bends when we lived in Ohio. She was just so good at it, even while pregnant, and my body just didn’t seem to bend in that direction! But I worked at it and improved slightly. I was still not any good at back bends months later when we happened to be at a family gathering in Utah. But when a spontaneous back bend contest happened to arise, I am proud to say that I raised my back higher off the ground than my dad and all of my brothers that happened to be present!

*****This space is allocated for the picture of your mother doing a back bend while nearly full term with Caleb- one of the most magnificent back bends of all time, and something of a legend- just ask the Marek family!*****

I suppose these challenges could get out of hand, but generally I think they build unity and promote a desire to improve and develop talents. 

Of course talents come in many forms, not just sports, and as your parents, Marci and I love to see each of you developing your many talents and using them to bless others.

Kelsey has a pretty good shooting talent…

But maybe Kelsey’s ability to communicate, as this screenshot example from one of her superb social media posts is even more impressive. And of course we can’t forget Sydney’s amazing photogenic skills! 

Do April Fool’s jokes count as exercising talents? Or is surviving those jokes a greater talent?

Music is obviously a great talent, but did April really write this song, or did I write it first?

And we all know that Cameron is a stand-out PDAP officer, but what about his ability to create 13 winning medals, or make delicious tacos?

Mom and I looking “fly” at FSY.

A recent experience I had while Marci and I were serving at FSY helped me realize that God can use even our strangest talents to bless His children. We were serving as the “Casal Diretor” for our region’s FSY encampment with about 622 participants (as an aside, FSY is one of the hardest, and most amazing and miraculous, experiences that we have ever had). The start of this particular experience happened on the first day of FSY when I walked by as a young man was doing a handstand (plantando uma bananeira in Portuguese) on a retaining wall. His young adult leaders were concerned and trying to get him to stop. I stopped and asked him to show me how he was able to do that, but on the ground instead of the wall. He showed me how he started from a crouch, put his hands on the ground, and then pushed easily up into a hand stand. I felt I should try the feat, so I did, but was unable to push myself all the way up. Nonetheless, this interaction built a bond between us, and I told him “I have four more days to be able to do it!”. I did not practice much during FSY, but for several years I have been working off and on on my ability to do hand stands. I have tried to increase my shoulder strength and flexibility, and even got pointers in how to improve from Abby, Rudy Rhodehouse, and others. So three days later when this boy’s group arrived early to help set up for the dance we tried again, this time against a wall so I wasn’t worried about falling, and he was amazed that I was able to successfully push up into a hand stand after only three days! My ability to do this handstand, shaky as it was, was important for this boy. This boy is so important in God’s eyes that He helped me prepare years in advance for important interactions that I had no idea would happen.

So I guess the moral of the story is that we should never discount our talents- we should develop them! Rest assured that God has an important plan for them and will use them to bless His children.

Love Always,

Dad