Young Women Activity

On an easy-going Monday with no school due to Professional Day, the young women took advantage of their time off from school to learn something useful and delicious. About five young women met in the home of experienced mom cook, Abbey Zhao, to learn and watch how to make Chinese turnip cakes. The experience was all worth it throughout the afternoon, but savoring the scrumptious turnip cakes was definitely the climax of the activity. Thanks, Abbey.

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Baptism of Isaiah Shen

On January 16, the baptism of Isaiah Daoyuen Shen finally came.  It was actually no different than anyone else's baptism.  Yet he was able to select his own hymns to sing, and everyone in the family was involved by praying, speaking, bearing their testimony, and singing.

Having worship services on Sunday afternoon allowed more members to attend the baptism.  I am really grateful that our children can learn and grown in the environment of the gospel and can know that Jesus Christ is their example on the road of life.  Although at eight years old, he perhaps did not fully understand the future impact of the gospel in his life, but I know that we are very fortunate to be part of the true Church of Jesus Christ. Once again, thanks to all of the brothers and sisters who attended the baptism.

Meili Shen

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Where Are They Now? ---> Cassandra Tsai

Since most of you might not know me, I would like to take a few sentences to introduce myself. I attended the Montgomery Chinese Branch from 2006 to 2008. My name is Lin Tsai. In 2006, I lived in Virginia and attended GW graduated school in Washington DC. Usually I attended the local Arlington ward in Virginia. However, my friend’s family lived in Gaithersburg which was close to Montgomery Chinese Branch. So when I visited my friend in Gaithersburg, I attended the Chinese Branch.

After attending the Chinese Branch a couple of times, I was invited to join them. It’s a hard decision for me to decide which ward I should attend. And finally when I decided to attend that Chinese Branch, on that Sunday I received a calling in my local ward. It’s very embarrassing that I got released right after I was called since I transferred my membership record to Chinese Branch and told my bishop about the situation. Since I still lived in Virginia and did not have a car as well as a driving license, it took me almost an hour to take the metro to go to Gaithersburg. Besides, I need someone to come to the metro station to pick me up and give me a ride to the Church. There were so many wonderful members that were willing to give me a ride to the Church. I cannot name them one by one, but their love always reminding me of our Savior’s love.

One time I was invited to give a speech during the sacrament meeting. However, for some reasons, when I called for a ride I could not reach anyone since everybody was practicing the choir that morning. Finally, I found brother Adam Fugal was available to give me a ride. The reason he was not in a choir that was because he got a very serious flu and was not able to go to Church. I felt terrible to ask him to give me a ride, but he said if I needed to give a speech, he would do everything to make sure that I was able to deliver my speech on that Sunday.

It’s the heritage of Chinese Branch—Christ’s like love and charity. Montgomery Chinese Branch was so dear to me because I always feel love and accepted when I attended the Church meetings and the activities. For me, the Branch was just like a big family, and I was part of them. I was single at that time, well, still single now, but I never felt alone because I had a big family over there.

I was blessed to serve as a member of Relief Society presidency at that time. We studied scriptures together and learn from one another. It’s such a blessing to attend Chinese Branch and feel the Lord’s spirit every sacrament. I love the Washington DC temple and went there with the faithful Branch members often. I feel so grateful that I could be one of those faithful members. Now, I moved to California and work as a teacher. Oh, how I miss Maryland and the Chinese Branch!

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Relief Society Enrichment Activity

In the first enrichment meeting of this brand new year, we invited Doctor Chen, who is a Traditional Chinese Medicine Expert, to teach us about personal health care. She shared with us some valuable knowledge about self-care and maintaining family health. Sisters were actively involved in discussions. We had a wonderful time together sharing our ideas.

We are also grateful for our Relief Society leaders for this wonderful event and the delicious refreshments. We are so grateful for their kind service and love towards the sisters.

Once again, we gained testimonies and our faith grew. We are so grateful for the love from our dear Father in Heaven.  “Charity Never Faileth"

XiaoJun Jones

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90th Birthday Celebration for Sid Foulger

On January 9, a few friends gathered at the home of Sid Foulger, our beloved alumni and past branch president, to celebrate his 90th birthday.  To find out more about this event, click here.

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Newsletter January 2011

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Where Are They Now? ---> George and Betty Chiang

I was a member of our branch. My calling was President of our branch. Sister Betty Chiang was called as a counselor to the Young Women President.

I have two memorable experiences shown below:

• On December 18, 1997, Presidents Foulger and Holmstead from Stake Presidency visited my family in our home. Sister Chiang and I thought it was a Christmas visit only, but to our surprise, it was more than holiday visit and I was called to be President of Montgomery Chinese Branch. I knew that I have no reason to refuse the calling from God. However, I was overwhelmed and felt I need a lot of guidance from our Lord, Jesus Christ and Holy Ghost. Also, I need a lot of support and Help from members of Chinese Branch. I am grateful to Father in Heaven provided me the opportunity to serve members of the Chinese Branch. The service afforded me and my family joy, pleasure, constant satisfaction and many other blessings. The service strengthened my testimony and faith in Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ.

• During my tenure as president of the branch, every July and August of each year, our branch was responsible to clean our church meetinghouse. Because we did not have many members in our branch, each family and the missionaries took turns to clean our chapel up to three times a year. Although we had less members than other wards in the stake, each week we cleaned our chapel thoroughly. Our building engineer once commented that “Your branch has cleaned the chapel very well, the best of all.”

I and my wife Betty have been retired over 10 years and have been doing a lot of service work. We have 6 grandchildren now as shown in the attached picture.

George

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