With the COVID pandemic still rampant, the Montgomery Branch held its first ever Mid-Autumn Moon Festival activity. At 7pm on October 10, Adam Fugal conducted the event on Zoom with 27 windows opened. President Charles Huang gave an enthusiastic welcome to all in attendance. After an invocation by Elder Lambert, one of our 5 full-time missionaries in our Branch, a video of previous Branch Moon Festival parties was shown, set to the music of two hymns and two popular Chinese Moon Festival songs. The full-time missionaries conducted two rounds of scripture Bingo, using Book of Mormon scriptures and Old Testament scriptures. Then President Charles Huang shared a family video, in which he shared a scripture from Moroni 6:2-6 and applied the principle of unity to our Branch family. Richard Huang recited a Tang poem by Li Bai (李白) entitled "Reflections on a Quite Evening" (靜夜思). This was followed by a video from the Fugal family who danced to the music of Macarena. Sister Yangyang Deng shared an animated video of the process of drawing Chang E using PaintToolSAI software. Sister Wang Danping explained story of Chang E in English. Then Yangyang demonstrated how to create a "Chinese paper-cut flower" using origami. The Tsai family shared a video, featuring all of their children far and wide with their wishes to Branch members. The benediction was given by Sister Gaoyang Yang, a former missionary in our Branch.
Although we were not allowed to gather physically and give handshakes and embraces, although we were not able to feast together and socialize in person, and although we were not privileged to enjoy the moon or moon cakes together, the Branch presidency created an excellent program which exceeded all expectations. Several surprises delighted participants. The personal family videos exuded a personal touch from the lives of Branch members and shared personal perspectives of eternal families. We had a lot of fun participating in the missionary activity with the scripture Bingo. Yangyang's two activities emphasized the deep cultural traditions of the moon festival and was also fun and engaging. Above all, the most worthwhile part of this activity was the opportunity to see and hear each other, both current members and those members who were once part of our Branch years ago. Happy Moon Festival to all.
"Chang E and the Moon" created by Yangyang Deng in PaintToolSAI
0 comments:
Post a Comment