2022-12聖誕晚會 Christmas Party

This year's Christmas was most unusual and amazing. Walking into the cultural hall for the first time, the visitor will immediately notice the transformation of the basketball court into a fancy museum, with walls covered with black and about 30 paintings equally spaced around the room, each with its own placard description and its own light. Each painting was created many hundred years ago by a famous painter, which required acquiring proper permissions for reprinting Each painting was carefully selected to relate part of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. All this in itself was very mind boggling and impressive, but when the program began to share the story of Christ's birth, we were even more astounded beyond expectation. This part of the program was the finale of the evening's celebration and will be related below.

In the middle of the cultural hall, about 20 rows of chairs were arranged for spectators. The night began with a potluck dinner. Since there was no room in the cultural hall, the serving tables were placed in the eastern lobby, with dining tables laid out in the overflow.

Jason Liu and Liz Huffaker organized the event. Jason also served as the emcee. Our new branch president, President Da Zhao, officially welcomed everyone. A narration of the nativity was shared by Jason Liu and Rich Huang, with a specially prepared slideshow playing in the background. They alternately narrated the story of Christ's birth in Bethlehem and in the Americas. Next, the Primary children sang and shared Christmas greetings through a prerecorded video. Then Abbey Zhao presented gifts to Sisters Burdett and Yang. Sister Yang played the ukelele, while Sister Burdett sang. Abbey presented gifts to Elders Frame, Farnsworth, and Cook. The three elders then shared a special message of Jesus Christ.      

 -Brother Ben Tsai

On December 23rd, 2022 we had our Branch Christmas party. The gym was decorated like a museum, with paintings about the birth of Christ and a great big star hanging from the ceiling. Everyone brought food to share and we had a feast of plenty to celebrate.

After everyone had a chance to eat, we gathered for the Christmas Program. Jiachen Liu and Richard Huang read the narration "Christmas on Two Continents" about the two witnesses in the scriptures we have about the birth of Jesus Christ. A video played in the background with the scenes from the Book of Mormon and Bible. Elizabeth Huffaker and Cayleigh Zhao provided the English narration.

This was followed by an ukelele performance by Sister Yang, a new missionary to the branch.

Gifts were presented to all the missionaries in our branch: Elder Farnsworth, Elder Cook, Elder Frame, Sister Burdett, Sister Yang, and Sister Stubbs.

The elders gave a spiritual message and then we concluded with a narration of the whole story of Jesus's birth.

This was recorded by Sandra Turley and timed to a light show with the paintings of Christ.

In the end, we had many friends gathered together from the ward and the community to celebrate the wonder of Christ's birth.

-Sister Liz Huffaker

2022年12月23日星期五晚上7點，耶穌基督後期聖徒教會蒙哥馬利中文分會在肯特蘭教堂舉辦了一年一度的聖誕晚會。本次聖誕晚會是有新任的趙達幟會長主領。

晚7時許，來參加的弟兄姊妹們陸續到達，大家見到彼此十分歡愉，並送上了溫馨的聖誕祝福。晚會在一片祥和歡欣的氣氛下拉開了帷幕。

7點15分，在分會會長團第二諮理劉佳琛弟兄的主持下晚會正式開始，首先是葛玉涵姐妹做了開會祈禱和祝福了晚餐所用的食物，趙會長代表分會做了歡迎詞。

晚餐的食物美味可口，除了分會訂購了一些食物之外，來參加晚會的弟兄姊妹們也都帶了食物來分享。

在晚餐之後，聖誕晚會的節目正式開始。首先是由劉佳琛弟兄和黃有禾弟兄帶來的「來自兩個大陸的聖誕節」視頻展示。這個節目的主題是關於對於救主耶穌基督降生在聖經和摩爾門經中的紀錄和證言。

接下來是有分會初級會的小朋友製作的聖誕視頻，視頻中小朋友們表演了聖誕歌曲也送上了他們對大家的聖誕祝福。

在初級會的節目之後，分會慈助會會長趙姐妹代表分會給在分會服務的傳教士們送上了驚喜的聖誕禮物。傳教士們在收到禮物後都很開心和感動，並和大家分享了他們對於救主耶穌基督的見證，楊姐妹和布姐妹還表演了烏克麗麗聖誕歌曲。

聖誕晚會的最後，大家欣賞了由肯特蘭分會準備的聖誕燈光秀。

-Liz刘姐妹