Where Mooncakes Come From

This week was pretty short since we had our last P-day just a few days ago. But, the short week was filled was some great experiences.

Friends with us at church

Thanks to the awesome missionary work of the members here, Sister Park and I are now working with many new investigators. It is so cute when members are so excited to tell their friend or cousin or someone about the gospel. You can tell how much they love and appreciate it. I really love their examples.

On Saturday evening our branch had our annual Mid-Autumn Festival branch party. The missionaries were in charge of the program. The point of the program was to show how mooncakes (which is what everyone eats during this festival) relate to the gospel. It is actually really cool! The mooncakes are very symbolic of family unity and so we decided to share about how the gospel also emphasizes the importance of families and also that through the gospel our families can become eternal. As part of the program we did a play with shadow acting and we told a traditional Chinese story about mooncakes. Here is a short summary:

Mandarin-speaking Sisters

A man named Houyi is really awesome and is really good at bow and arrow. He really loves is wife Chang'e. One day, nine extra suns appear in the sky. Everyone is scared but then Houyi shoots all the suns down and he saves the day. The immortal in the sky sees Houyi and as a reward for his heroism gives him an elixir that will make him immortal too. Houyi only wants to drink it if he and his wife can both become immortal. But, the elixir will only work for one person. Houyi decides not to drink it because he wants to be with his wife. Then, he is called away to save some foreign lands. He gives the elixir to his wife, Chang'e, for safe keeping. While he is gone his apprentice, Pengmeng, wants the elixir. He tries to take it from Chang'e. But, to save it from him she has to drink it herself. Now, because she is immortal she decides to go to the moon. She is alone with nothing but a rabbit for company. When Houyi returns he finds out what happens and is really upset. So he goes and bakes all of his wife's favorite desserts and cakes and gives them to her. Hence "mooncakes". This story is a bit sad because the wife and husband are seperated. But, the great thing about the gospel is that we know that families can be together forever!!!