Where Are They Now? ---> Michael Chang

I served as a missionary in MCB from 2008 to 2009. My missionary companions were Elders Cheng, McCully, Chiang, Lin, and Lo. My mission President was President Mansell.

One of my memorable experiences in the branch was the Chinese New Year celebration at the Stake Center. The YM’s lion dance, YW singing, and the decoration in the chapel were amazing. The costumes that members and friends put on especially enriched the Chinese New Year festivity. The Christmas party was a lot of fun too. The Primary children and the youth acted the nativity scenes, and then everyone sang part of 12 days of Christmas from each of the table. The young Primary kids rode their bicycles around at the end be like future missionaries. Another of my favourite activities was singing hymns at the English class. It’s memorable because nobody in the English knew how to sing initially, but by the end we were becoming more confident in singing English songs. I will always remember the song, ’America the Beautiful,’ Hymn #338, because we sang it over and over every week for 3 months. I am forever thankful for the many opportunities to serve in the branch and be able to learn from faithful members in the branch. The love and kindness that many members in MCB possess has motivated me to carry on this journey of labour of love. A small example that I always remind myself is that I should try to feed the missionaries every month now like I used to be fed in MCB.

I have been serving as a branch mission leader and 2nd counselor in the branch presidency in the Chinese branch in Oakland California for more than a year. In a way the branch in Oakland functions a lot like MCB, but there are a few obvious differences. We have 3 sets of Chinese missionaries (2 sets of Elders and 1 set of Sisters) and 1 senior couple serving in the branch to accommodate the huge demand of Chinese population in Oakland Chinatown and East Bay Area. 80% of the Chinese population here speaks Cantonese, which is a lot different from the folks whom I am used to interact with, bu my Cantonese has only improved slightly since I arrived. It’s often that you will see the lessons/talks at Church get translated into three languages – Mandarin, Cantonese, English. The English class in Chinatown is extremely popular in this area, where we have 80 people on average on Saturday and also 3 other time slots during the weekdays. The Oakland branch doesn’t have as many families and kids as MCB, and we know families are important to build growth and stability in the branch and kids are the future of the Church.

I am working in a freight forwarding company, doing import customer service. I am dating a RM girl from Hong Kong, and we are planning to get married next year. I have 6 wonderful roommates from Nepal. They cook really nice curry for me almost every day. I am trying to learn how to cook good Chinese food for them, so that I don’t get kicked out of the apartment. I am still deciding where to live and settle down in the future. I miss New Zealand a lot and want to see my grandma there. And yes! All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup this year, so life is good even though my car was stolen twice in a week last summer. I am very grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and the love and tender mercy of God every day. I am very excited to see how things will unfold as to where I will be staying, and I will only know until the next post!