5 Questions with...Sarah Zimmerman

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian? 2017 was a big year for me. I married, left the business I'd started in Washington, D.C., and moved across the world for my new husband's new job. After the recommendations of many friends in our D.C. church community, we visited Friendship on our first Sunday in Taiwan. We ultimately chose to join up with a church closer to our home in Tianmu, but in the fall of 2018, we returned to FPC and became members.

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday? My days are varied, but full. I work at Taipei American School as a substitute and proctor, and I teach piano at our home piano studio in Tianmu. Adjusting to life in a foreign country can sometimes feel like a job in and of itself!

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you? Before I started my piano teaching business in D.C., I worked for seven years in the event industry. During that time, one of my big events was on the field of the [American football team] the St. Louis Rams.

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today? Christianity as a religious label encompasses many theological views in the current cultural climate. Because of this, there are many around the globe who claim to be Christian but do not live according to God's word or the truth of the gospel. Some do not even know what the gospel is! With identity at the forefront of the western debate, I think one of the biggest challenges is to help friends and family understand the difference between a gospel-centered worldview and any pre-conceived notions they have about Christianity as a religion. 

5. What is one of your favorite books of the Bible? The Gospel of Luke is one of my favorites. It clearly and methodically tells us who Jesus is, what he came to do, and how all of the Old Testament had been pointing to this point in history. My home church in Washington, D.C. had a year-long sermon series on Luke the year after a particularly wayward season in my life. It was the weekly meditation on who Jesus really was that helped bring me from darkness into light; it exposed my sinful ways and helped me to see the deep grace of a loving Father who sent his one and only Son to die the death I deserved so that I could live a life that was reconciled to my creator. 

New Members

We always rejoice to welcome new members into the FPC family. Jesus said that his true family was not made up of those he shared blood with, but those who do the will of God (Mark 3:31-35). Please seek out and greet your new brothers and sisters!

5 Questions with...James Cheng-Hsien Chiang

1. How did you first get involved with Friendship Presbyterian? I first met [FPC members] James and Monica Jih through a reunion with a mutual friend, Mike, who was my pastor in Pittsburgh. I am from Taiwan and spent two years in Pittsburgh as a visiting scholar doing research with a prestigious professor. Mike came to Taiwan with his wife to visit his father in-law and also caught up with James and Monica.

2. What do you do Monday through Saturday? I have a full-time job as an engineer in an auto-injector manufacturing company. I work Monday through Friday and stay chill on Saturday. 

3. What is something people might be surprised to know about you? I have done skydiving with friends from a height of 15,000 feet from a helicopter. The experience was scary, but amazing.

4. What do you find most challenging about being a Christian today? To use time smartly. Because there are so many temptations out there in the world that make every effort to steal your attention away from serving God. 

5. What is one of your favorite books of the Bible? I love the stories of King David. He escaped and suffered a lot before he really became the king on the throne. Also, in many ways, his story is as down-to-earth as any living person here today. David succeeded and failed in different areas of his life. So my favorite books are 1st and 2nd Samuel.