23 years after being abducted on his way to kindergarten, one lost boy has finally made his way back home with the help of Google Maps.

Lou Gang, originally from China's Sichuan province, was kidnapped at the age of 5 and taken to the southeastern province of Fujian, nearly 1,000 miles away.

After being abandoned there, Luo was adopted by a family that loved him as their own, and Luo's birth parents eventually gave up their search and adopted a daughter.

But Luo refused to abandon hope of ever finding his biological mother and father.

"Everyday before I went to bed, I forced myself to re-live the life spent in my old home," he told a Fujian news outlet. "So I wouldn’t forget."

Nearly a quarter-century later, his persistence finally paid off.

After posting what little he remembered of his hometown — a crude map with two bridges — to a Chinese website dedicated to "bringing lost babies home," Luo was informed that a couple who reported their son abducted 23 years ago lived in a small town in Sichuan matching the description he provided.

The South China Morning Post reports on what happened next:

Luo searched for pictures of the Sichuan town and found they looked familiar to him. To confirm his suspicions, he turned to the satellite version Google Maps. The minute he zoomed in on an area called “Yaojiaba” near the Sichuan town, Luo recognised the two bridges.

“That’s it! That’s my home,” shouted Luo, in tears.

Not long after, Luo — whose given name, it turns out, is Huang Jun — was finally reunited with his birth parents, Huang Qingyong and Dai Jianfang.

"I felt heartbroken," Luo's mother is quoted as saying. "I couldn't eat or sleep and I cried every day thinking my son was missing and didn't have enough food or clothes out there."

The Daily Telegraph cites the China Daily as reporting that some 76,000 Chinese children go missing each year, with as many as one million currently listed as lost.

[screengrabs via SCMP]

A woman in Sacramento who had been scheduled to undergo an upper-gastrointestinal endoscopy told her doctor she was concerned that her overly sensitive gag reflex might present a problem during the invasive procedure and was allegedly prescribed a less invasive means of ameliorating her condition: Oral sex.

Dr. J. Peter Zegarra reportedly suggested the unorthodox treatment to the woman and her husband after the former complained that she "gags at the dentist."

The patient "should be practicing twice a week on her husband by giving him a blowjob to address her gagging reflex," the colo-rectal surgery specialist reportedly advised.

The California Medical Board was subsequently alerted to the "playful suggestion," and Dr. Zegarra was issued an official public reprimand.

"This constituted unprofessional conduct, and so this is a message that this probably wasn’t appropriate," said California Medical Board rep Cassandra Hockenson. "A more appropriate response should have come with regards to dealing with her gag reflex issues."

[photos via Shutterstock, Sutter Health]

Waitress CeCe Bruce wasn't having the best of Wednesdays working the morning shift at an Indianapolis Steak 'n Shake.

"I was having a hard time at another table, but kept smiling and going on," she told WTHR.

Her mood ring changed colors quickly, however, when she went back to check on another customer and found that she had been left a $446 tip on a $5.97 bill.

That generous tipper, a regular identified only as "Miss Jo," didn't bother offering Bruce an explanation, but was very insistent that she accept the money nonetheless.

"I said 'Oh my gosh Miss Jo, I'm not taking that!'" Bruce recalled. "And she said, 'Yes, you're taking it' and I said no and she said 'You need to take it.'"

Explanation or no, the restaurant's general manager Greer Gooley is certain Bruce deserves it.

"She stays late, comes in early. Whenever we need her, she's here," Gooley told WISH-TV. "It just lets servers know that you work hard and it does pay off. There are people out there that [if] you do your job people reward you for it."

A part-time student at Martin University, Bruce says she has plenty of bills of her own that need paying, and she intends to do just that with her windfall.

[H/T: Eater, screengrabs via WISH, WTHR]

A Tribeca photographer has come under fire for taking clandestine photos of his neighbors and making them available for public consumption through a Chelsea art gallery without the consent of his subjects.

At Arne Svenson's Julie Saul Gallery exhibition, aptly titled "The Neighbors," the 60-year-old artist sells prints of his work for as much as $7,500.

The Associated Press describes some of the images on display:

In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.

Another photo shows young children being carried to bed, and residents of the Zinc Building — a glass-walled luxury loft complex across the street from Svenson — are livid.

"A grown man should not be able to photograph kids in their rooms with a telephoto lens," resident Clifford Finn told the New York Post. Said another resident, "If he’s waiting there for hours with his camera, who knows what kind of footage he has."

For his part, Svenson remains unapologetic.

In a statement released through the galley, he says the Zinc Building tenants have brought this invasion of privacy on themselves.

"For my subjects there is no question of privacy; they are performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high," Svenson says. "The Neighbors don’t know they are being photographed; I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs."

He goes on to compare his actions to birdwatching.

Svenson's birds, meanwhile, are considering taking legal action against him.

However, at least one legal expert told the AP that they may have a fight in front of them since not of the neighbors' faces are visible in the photos, making them virtually unidentifiable.

[photo via AP]

The victim of a home invasion managed to turn the tables on his attackers after they unwittingly forced him into his own gun closet.

The unidentified man was in his Houston home on Tuesday when three burglars suddenly kicked in the door, beat him up, and put him in an upstairs closet.

Little did they know, that closet just so happened to be where the man kept his guns.

Waiting until the coast was clear, the victim armed himself and exited the closet. He proceeded downstairs, where he encountered one of the three perps, and gunfire was exchanged.

The burglar was struck in the shoulder and leg; the victim was unharmed.

The two other intruders quickly fled the scene in a Chevy Tahoe. Their injured accomplice chased after them for a short while before collapsing on the street.

A neighbor told the Houston Chronicle that at least two other break-ins have occurred in the last three weeks.

"With what's happening, my neighbors and I are aware they're all connected," he said. ""What happened today is exactly what guns are supposed to do - to protect your home and defend your life and your family."

[H/T: Opposing Views, screengrab via ABC 13]

A Potsdam, New York, man was arrested Wednesday and charged with public lewdness for allegedly rubbing a grocery store's packaged pepperoni stick on his exposed penis and then putting it back on the shelf.

John Allison, 41, had a sudden late-night craving for fondling cured meat, so he drove to the Hannaford in Massena and proceeded to do his thing.

Unfortunately for Allison, a loss prevention security officer was observing his shenanigans on closed-circuit TV and got the entire thing on tape.

Sadly, the footage has not been released for public amusement.

In addition to the lewdness charge, Allison was also booked on a count of fourth-degree criminal mischief because the store had to dispose of the pepperoni for some reason.

Allison was released from St. Lawrence County jail after posting a $2,000 bond.

[H/T: Fark, photo via Shutterstock, mug shot via WNYF]

A working mother who has had a negative experience with law enforcement officials in the past took to her private Facebook account to express her thoughts on the matter — and was promptly fired for it.

Ashley Warden of Piedmont was a waitress at a local Chili's restaurant until her employer was alerted to a Facebook post in which she published a photo of three Oklahoma County Sheriff's deputies outside a Chili's along with the caption "Stupid Cops better hope I'm not their server FDP."

The post went viral on law enforcement sites and garnered significant outrage — significant enough that he employer was notified and she was summarily dismissed.

In a statement to the press, a Chili's spokesperson said Warden violated the company's Social Media Guidelines.

"Here at Chili's, the privacy and safety of our guests as well as the quality of food we serve each day is of utmost importance," read the statement. "With the changing world of digital and social media, Chili's has Social Media Guidelines in place, asking our team members to always be respectful of our guests and to use proper judgment when discussing actions in the work place."

Piedmont Police Chief Alex Oblein told KFOR-TV the post could have meant anything.

"It could mean bad service, it could mean tampering with food," he said. "You don’t know what it means. It just makes you a little weary."

Referencing her previous interaction with the local police department, Oblein noted that the men in the photo were Oklahoma County Deputies.

"[They] had nothing to do with Piedmont, but I guess she got a bad taste in her mouth for law enforcement in general," he said.

That "bad taste" stems from the last time Warden was in the news — when she received a $2,500 fine for allowing her 3-year-old son to urinate in the front yard of their rural house.

A world-renowned Japanese chef passed away this week after being brutally attacked by two men who had apparently left his restaurant unsatisfied.

Miki Nozawa, whose sought after Japanese-Italian fusion dishes have been served to the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev and Denzel Washington, had reportedly suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at the hands of two German patrons of his popular eponymous restaurant in the resort island of Sylt.

The altercation allegedly started after the two men, aged 36 and 50, ordered a beef, vegetable and fried noodle dish, but refused to pay, finding the meal not to their liking.

Later that evening, Nozawa ran into the duo again at a stripclub, and asked them to pay the €20 they owed him for the food.

Refusing for a second time, the inebriated men and Nozawa again began to quarrel and the heated verbal exchange eventually turned physical.

The German newspaper Bild reports that Nowaza sustained a "big purple bruise" on the left side of his body, and was rushed to a local hospital with massive internal bleeding.

Doctors fought for his life, but he ultimately succumbed to his injuries.

According to at least one report, the men, described as "skilled laborers" by trade, were detained following the fight, but "released due to lack of evidence."

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Before moving to Sylt, Nozawa was the head chef at Flavio Briatore's Billionaire Club in Sardinia.

[H/T: tomuban, photo via Bild]

After selling cocaine to undercover cops at least 19 times over the last two years, a Papa John's delivery guy from Brooklyn was finally arrested this week for trying to unload $27,500 worth of the drug along with a large pizza and a box of Papa's Chicken Poppers.

Prosecutors say 45-year-old Ramon Rodriguez had been using his gig at the Fifth Avenue Papa John's in Sunset Park as a cover for his cocaine dealings, often hiding the stuff in pizza boxes and engaging in handoffs while in uniform.

Undercover officers had apparently been buying drugs from Rodriguez since the fall of 2011, but only arrested him this past Wednesday.

He was booked on charges of of criminal sale of a controlled substance (multiple counts) and criminal possession of a controlled substance (one count).

Another man, Jonathan Martinez, was also arrested for allegedly selling $1,200 of cocaine to an undercover cop in a meeting arranged by Rodriguez.

[photos via handout]

It has since been picked up by Best Vines and uploaded to YouTube where it received the distinct honor of being referred to as possibly "the best video" on the site.

Not bad for six seconds.

[H/T: Pleated-Jeans]

It took three police officers to safely extract an adult McDonald's patron from a toddler's high chair in which he had somehow managed to get himself stuck.

The Cork, Ireland, resident was enjoying a late dinner last Tuesday at the restaurant's Winthrop Street location when he spontaneously decided to see if McDonald's' baby seats could comfortably sustain an adult-sized derriere.

While he was able to successfully lodge himself in the chair, he was unfortunately unable to subsequently remove himself from it.

Witnesses say alcohol may have played a factor in the man's ill-advised science experiment.

The police were eventually alerted to the situation, and arrived to free the customer from his childish prison.

Huffington Post UK notes that the man was apparently dining alone, but says it is unclear if he had arrived solo "or his friends left him after his practical joke went wrong."

After a photo of the incident went viral, McDonald's piled on with a tongue-in-cheek release reiterating its recommendation that "children don’t use the high-chair without adult supervision."

[H/T: Brooklyn Mutt, photo via Twitter]

A pastor at a Methodist Episcopal Church in Florida who also worked as a custodial manager for Disney World was arrested this week for allegedly using the computer in his office to download child porn and solicit minors.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office was alerted last month to Cedric Cuthbert's on-the-clock activities by Disney, which noted that the 49-year-old was attempting to access blocked website through his work computer.

Investigators say that in addition to viewing child pornography, Cuthbert was also sending messages to underage girls on YouTube telling them he though they had a "great sexy bodi (sic)" and asking them to "send me a private vid."

The same computer was also used by Cuthbert on at least two occasions to pen Sunday sermons for Historic St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church in Sanford where he has been serving as pastor for the last three years.

Traces of semen were also found in his office.

Cuthbert was able to bond out of jail under the condition that he avoid all contact with all minors, except his 8 and 11-year-old sons.

[screengrab via WKMG]

Having had enough of arguing with his girlfriend over his drinking habit, a man in Keelung City, Taiwan, reportedly retreated to the bathroom with a pair of scissors in hand, and proceeded to slice off his own penis.

Local media outlets say the 46-year-old had spent most of the day at home consuming alcohol, and when his girlfriend arrived in the evening she began to hassle him about being inebriated.

The argument abruptly ended after the man grabbed a pair of household scissors and went into the bathroom to snip off his sex organ.

Then, as the horrified girlfriend watched on, he flushed his severed member down the toilet.

The woman managed to get the critically injured man to the hospital just before he bled out.

Though doctors were unable to do much for the man besides stop the bleeding, they say he should have no problem urinating out of the three centimeters (1.1") that remained.

Little solace for the man, who awoke to discover what he had done and was extremely disappointed in himself.

Witnesses said he "freaked out and screamed while his girlfriend was seen praying with her hands clasped outside."

[photo via Shutterstock]

A Metro Atlanta man is being sought by police after he allegedly set fire to his neighbor's house over the state of his lawn.

Authorities in Cartersville are warning that 58-year-old Phillip Roger Bennett has a criminal past, and should be considered armed and dangerous.

According to Bennett's neighbor, Marty Corbitt, the whole thing started about a week ago, when Bennett showed up at his home to complain about the unkempt grass.

"Slapped me across the face and said, 'Mow your grass," Corbitt told 11Alive. "My grass was too tall for him. I was going to cut it today, and then he set my house on fire."

It was Wednesday morning when Bennett confronted Corbitt again about the lawn situation — this time threatening to kill him over it.

"He kicks my door, tells me I've got five seconds to come outside," Corbitt recalled. "I turn around and call 911. And while I'm on the phone he comes back with two gas cans in his hand. Walks up to my kitchen door again, takes a gas can, smashes it against the glass, breaks the first pane. Then he turns around and grabs a brick, throws it through the window. And then he grabs a gas can and starts pouring it into the kitchen. And as he's pouring he takes his lighter and lights it. And flames were everywhere. I ran back to my little girl's room, grabbed her, ran out the back door over to my neighbor's and watched the house burn."

Both Corbitt and his 3-year-old daughter Kylie made it out of the flames unharmed, but Corbitt says the fire took everything else.

According to Corbitt, Bennett was a "pretty good neighbor" until last week when "he just went complete psycho."

[photos via WBHF]

A 24-year-old Ogilvy & Mather employee dropped dead suddenly of a massive heart attack in the august ad agency's Beijing offices after working extremely long hours for an entire month.

Colleagues say Li Yuan would arrive early and stay in the office until 11 PM every night in the month leading up to his untimely demise.

On Tuesday, Li collapsed after suffering an apparent cardiac arrest. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead a short time later.

Ogilvy China later confirmed the sad details of Li's passing in a tweet.

Shanghaiist quotes the China Youth Daily as attributing some 600,000 deaths a year in China to "work exhaustion."

[photos via Weibo]

Stopping his patrol car in the middle of the road, Officer James exited the vehicle to ensure that the ducks had safe passage before he went on about his duty.

And sometimes the Portlandia episodes just write themselves.

[H/T: Tastefully Offensive]

While reciting her teleprompter script about a soccer match in Amsterdam, Kelly suddenly came across the line "how good are the [hash] cookies there," which, of course, she had no choice but to read.

"Karl, you've won the battle. The war has just begun, though," Kelly told Stefanovic, suggesting that viewers should expect the shenanigans to escalate quickly.

[H/T: Reddit]

Sean "P.uff Di/addy" Combs took to his Twitter account yesterday to announce that, incredibly, he had been cast as the first black cast member of the popular Masterpiece Classic series Downton Abbey.

Incredibly, that is, because there was absolutely no way that was true.

WGBH Boston confirmed as much when they released a statement saying,"Very funny, but it's simply not true."

Not true, perhaps, but "very funny"? That's for the viewers to decide: As promised, Diddy released the "preview" of his Downton Abbey debut at midnight via Funny or Die.

Diddy plays Lord Wilcott, the new owner of Downton Abbey, who apparently doesn't know how to pronounce the name of his own house.

Something tells me this character will be cut before the show returns in January.

[screengrab via Funny or Die]

"Stop talking about the cheating!" the televangelist orders a viewer who sought his wisdom on the subject. "He cheated on you, well, he's a man."

Seriously, why are you getting all worked up over your husband going behind your back and sleeping with another woman when you could instead be focusing on what your idyllic life was like before you found out he's an adulterous scumbag: "Does he provide a home for you to live in, does he provide food for you to eat, does he provide clothes for you to wear, is he nice to the children…is he handsome?"

Seriously, though, is he? Because handsome men get carte blanche to cheat. Actually, make that all men. It's the law. Well, not God's law. Nature's law. Which is apparently what Pat Robertson believes in now: "Like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit."

But all is not lost: "What you want to do is make a home so wonderful that he doesn’t want to wander."

Of course. So simple. Then what?: "Begin to thank God that you have a marriage that is together and that you live in America and good things are happening."

Boom. Solved. Next.

[H/T: Christian Nightmares]

The world-famous 54-foot-tall "Rubber Duck" that's been seen floating in bodies of water all around the globe has met an untimely, albeit temporary demise in the rough waves of Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman's inflatable sculpture had the wind knocked out of it sometime overnight, and many in China immediately rushed to suggest that someone had deliberately deflated the duck.

Several hours later, however, Harbour City officials suddenly claimed the deflation was part of planned maintenance work, and the duck merely "needs to freshen up."

In a statement to AFP, a spokesman for the event organizers said the "scheduled body check" will take two days, and "if everything is fine we can inflate it as soon as possible and the public can appreciate it again."

Once up and sailing again, and barring another unfortunate bout of "bird flu," the duck is expected to remain in the Harbour until June 9th.

[photos via AP]

Earlier this week, residents of the Pukou district in Nanjing, China, noticed a foul-smelling foam-like substance creeping out of a crack in the street and started asking questions.

Like: What in holy Hell is that thing?

So far, no one has been able to provide locals with a straight answer — so they've taken to social networking sites to make up their own.

Immediately following the ooze's mysterious arrival, authorities arrived at the scene and cordoned off the area, ordering evacuations of nearby homes.

The substance soon retreated back into the street cracks from whence it came, leaving open the very real possibility that it was also sentient.

The local branch of the Propaganda Ministry has since released a statement claiming a material being used to soften the soil for nearby subway construction "accidentally" leaked.

Citizens were assured that the material was as harmless as "ordinary soap bubbles."

For some reason, many remain unimpressed by the official explanation, preferring instead to attribute the mess to the country's increasingly lax workmanship and corner cutting.

Or, at the very least, to the remnants of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters.

[H/T: RocketNews24, Who Forted?]

It's OK, they left a note: Arizona State University student and Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity member Aidan Mohr was found passed out outside Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital last Saturday afternoon having been dumped there by his frat bros with a Post-it note attached to his body explaining the situation.

The 20-year-old had been drinking with his friends to celebrate the end of the semester when someone suggested a shot-drinking contest.

By the competition's conclusion, Mohr had consumed some 20 shots of tequila and his BAC was .471%.

Possibility of death starts at .30%.

When Mohr lost consciousness, his frat buddies decided something needed to be done, but they couldn't decide what. Did he need to sleep it off or go to the hospital?

They brought Mohr to a friend's house where they were informed that, yes, he did indeed require immediate medical attention.

Not wanting to be too responsible, they agreed to drive him to Tempe St. Luke’s and leave him outside in a wheelchair with a note attached explaining the drinking contest.

They also provided a number to call in case, you know, whatever.

"He was turning blue in the wheelchair and he was... having difficulties breathing," said Tempe Police Department spokesman Sgt. Mike Pooley. "The emergency room staff treat him very quickly, they’re able to get him checked out and they’re able to actually save his life."

Good thing for the frat bros, Pooley added, because had Mohr died, they might actually face consequences.

With Mohr expected to recover, he and his friends will likely be cited for alcohol violations but that's about it.

"He’s lucky that there were at least a few individuals that were there that cared enough to take bring him to get medical attention," said Sgt. Pooley.

[screengrab via MyFoxPhoenix]

A child porn producer's penchant for Rold Gold pretzels may end up precipitating his downfall.

Alerted by the Danish National Police to four videos featuring the same man that were posted online over the last few weeks, law enforcement officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement decided to review the footage for clues to the suspect's whereabouts.

In all four videos, "John Doe" can be seen sexually abusing a girl believed to be between the ages of 7 and 9.

One shot in particular drew the attention of investigators because it contained a bag of Frito-Lay-brand Rold Gold "Thins" pretzels.

The ICE officials visited the Frito-Lay web site and soon found out that the bag in question is distributed exclusively in the United States [pdf].

Unfortunately, not much is known beyond the man's country of residence, which is why the agency is turning to the public for assistance in tracking him down.

"Without the public's help, we may not be able (to find the man) and more importantly stop the ongoing abuse of this victim," Special Agent Brian Korzak told CNN.

Anyone with information is being asked to phone the ICE Tip Line at 866-347-2423 or visit www.ICE.gov/tips and fill out the online tip form.

UPDATE: Suspected child pornographer "John Doe" has been arrested thanks to a tip phoned in to the ICE tip line tip by member of the public.

[H/T: Boing Boing, photos via ICE]

John Potter, a decorated World War II vet, just wants to keep living in the house he built himself over half a century ago. But if his daughter Janice Cottrill gets her way, the 91-year-old will be evicted from his Zaleski, Ohio home next month.

It all started in 2004, when Potter fell ill and he and his wife, since deceased, gave Cottrill power of attorney over their affairs, as well as over Joe, Potter's 63-year-old autistic son who had been living at home since birth.

Four years later, Cottrill and her husband Dean assumed full custody of Joe, and an argument with Potter over visitation rights ensued.

In 2010, in a bid to end the legal challenges brought against them by Potter, the Cottrills used their power of attorney to transfer the deed to Potter's house to themselves.

Learning of this, Potter transferred the power of attorney to Cottrill's daughter, Jaclyn Fraley (above, left), and sued Cottrill for fraud.

Though a Vinton County Court ruled in Potter's favor, an appeals court overturned the decision, saying the four-year statute of limitations on fraud had expired.

Buoyed by victory, the Cottrills then proceeded to up the ante — ordering Potter out of the house.

Janice has refused to comment on the story, but Dean did tell WCMH the couple was willing to let Potter stay in his home if he stopped trying to take them to court over Joe.

Fraley, meanwhile, is attempting to keep Potter put by raising funds online in the hopes of buying the house from her mom and stepdad.

Through GoFundMe.com, Fraley has successfully raised over $40,000, but is still well short of her $125,000 goal.

Though she hasn't spoken to her mom in two years, Fraley is still willing to defend her actions.

"People have commented that my mother is 'evil', but I always say she's a human too," the 35-year-old told ABC News. "Do I think she deserves the money? No, but my grandfather deserves to stay in his home as long as he possibly can. If he wants to leave, it should be his decision."

The eviction hearing has been set for June 12th — almost exactly three weeks after Potter turns 92.

[photo via Facebook]

Liza Morong, a 21-year-old theater major living in Boston, considers her 2011 conversion to the Mormon faith a blessing — and says she owes it all to satirical Broadway musical The Book of Mormon.

Penned by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer and lyricist Robert Lopez, the play follows the misadventures of two young Mormon missionaries as they attempt to spread their faith to the inhabitants of a remote village in northern Uganda.

The musical is meant to be taken as a reflection on the overly literal application of religious dogma, but Morong instead saw it as a perfect jumping off point to learning more about the Mormon faith.

Logging on to Mormon.org shortly after seeing the play in September 2011, Morong accepted a chat request from a missionary named Elder Trevor Boardman.

"I thought, ‘These clowns are in for a treat with me,'" she told the Deseret News, an LDS Church mouthpiece. "But (Elder Boardman) was so incredibly nice. I could not be mean to him."

The friendly chats took a serious turn a few weeks later when Morong, who was raised a Congregationalist, agreed to read and pray from the actual Book of Mormon.

The Suffolk University student soon began to attend meeting of the Church's local Young Single Adults ward, and was ultimately persuaded to undergo a baptism.

In December, just four months after seeing The Book of Mormon on Broadway, Morong found herself in Mapleton, Utah, waist-deep in baptismal water, being converted to Mormonism by Elder Boardman.

"My mom will sometimes say, ‘I can’t believe I brought you to that show. None of this would have happened,'" Morong said. "I tell her that it still would have, just in a different way."

But it did happen this way, and Morong acknowledges that.

She even finds herself singing the satirical songs from the play, which she says have lyrics of "special, sentimental value" to her.

"Because of this musical, a beautiful chapter in my life started and continues to grow," Morong recently wrote on her blog. "I am so grateful for my church, what a blessing it is in my life."

[photo via Liza Morong]