...we have obtained a land of promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord…there shall none come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. 2 Nephi 1: 5-6
I was born in Shanghai, China in 1930 and fondly remember my childhood memories. I lived an idyllic life until 1938 when Japan invaded China. My family lived under Japanese occupation through WWII. Shortly after the war ended, we thought we could return to normality. But soon the Communist regime overran China and we were forced to flee to Taiwan as refugees. I was 18 years old at the time. I remember the fear and trepidation as we crammed aboard a cargo ship to escape my home, never to return. Where would the future lead us?
My family continued to live in Taiwan until 1952 when I felt I needed to go to the United States to continue my college education. America was the land of opportunity. Taiwan was still a third world country at that time, so I left on my own with two suitcases and $2000, believing it would be best for me. However, I soon realized, studying as a foreign student with only a basic grasp of English was a very daunting task. This caused me to want to return home daily. Dealing with homesickness and loneliness did not help either. But I forced myself to stay and continue, so with an English to Chinese dictionary to help translate nearly every word when reading various American literary novels, I persisted as I cried myself to sleep nearly every night. My professors must have felt compassion towards this poor Chinese girl holed up everyday in the library until closing. After four years of this, the hard work finally paid off as I graduated from Ohio University with honors.
After graduation, I went to the East coast to work. There I got married and we lived there for several years. Ultimately job opportunities brought us to California. We didn’t make much money so we saved and scrimped every penny. We were able to buy a home and after a few years were even able to invest in a rental home to earn some secondary income.
It was from that second home that we met this peculiar family who were our tenants. We were impressed with this wholesome family and their friendliness. Our family was young and just getting started so we were intrigued what made theirs so happy. One day, after collecting the monthly rent, my husband felt prompted to invite them to dinner to get to know them better. This led to them reciprocating and inviting us over on a Monday night for what they referred to as a “family night.” Over the course of a year we continued to develop this relationship with this family and learned of their church as their “source of happiness.” We were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1977. A year later we were sealed as an eternal family in the Los Angeles temple.
Reflecting back on this I see blessings the Lord has provided. This has developed into a family legacy now spanning 4 generations, resulting in 11 temple marriages and 13 full-time missions served. Leaving China in 1952 with truly not much more than the clothes on my back I can now see that we were truly directed “by the hand of the Lord.”
-Madeline Chao, a member of our Wood Canyon congregation and mother of Ed Chao and Frances Eyre
