Back from the trip

We are back to Seattle safe. Thanks for remembering us.Please mark in your calender that there is a public sharing about the tripon 1/31 Sat 7.30pm in CBC.We did go deep into the earthquake zone this time. The road was very, verybumpy. The deeper in, the less resources. I was standing there bundled upand I would tremble after a little while, but they had to stay there 24-7.Please continue to pray for them. The snow is probably going to make itworse. We baught cooking oil and some warm clothing and hauled the load in.PTL that we were able to find the driver who was willing to drive the ruffroad.I'm very impressed with the local field workers. Many of them have beenthere since day one of the earthquake. Not easy at all. I thank God fortheir dedication. I met 2 workers who are even contemplating to move andlive in a villege deep in the earthquake zone. Amazing! BTW, I ended updoing a short pre-marital counseling for them.We have 2 main purposes in the earthquake zone. We want to support andencourage the earthquake survivers, and we want also to support the localworkers. The local workers have done a wonderful job in the field. Thevillegers love them. What testimony. I'm just honored to work alongside themto share the good news and hope. God has indeed provided amazingopportunities for that beyond what we asked for.And yet, I ask you to pray for the field workers. They are doing verydifficult work. They can get tired physically, mentally and physically.I thank God for our team unity and always willingness to serve. There waslanguage barrier, but that did not stop the team to reach out. There was nohot water to shower, but the team did not complain. And we did get a bigpresent from God on Christmas day. There was a brief period of hot water forshower! God is so good.On 12/25, my son took me from the earthquake zone to Chongqing. He does notread chinese road sign very well and I'm blind and we tried to find outwayto the school for the blind. It was quite a trip. But we did getthere by the grace of God. Principal Li was worried about us.Oh the kids are so so cute. I don't know why the community does not givethem much opportunity. I know God sees them very differently for sure. Sincewe are now there the fifth year, we know the people in the school very well.
They are like our own children. We are so happy to see them taller each ear.
There are many moments for deep sharing with them. Hey, let's not forget theteachers. We have lots of good bonding and sharing time with them, too.Talking about teachers, did you know that one of the teachers is studying inBoston this year? A sister donated an air ticket for her to come over theSeattle for Christmas. She was surrounded by love and PTL she became ourfamily member.After Chongqing, several of us went to Beijing for several days. We spentsome time sharing and encouraging a group of disabled people there.Before the trip, I remember we prayed for God to raiase up more disabledleaders, to heal the broken hearted in the earthquake zone, to enableharvesting among our long term contacts and even good fellowship among thebrothers and sisters back home. We see God doing all these and more. God isgood all the time. Thanks so much for your faithful prayer and support!

Reporting from the field

The following was what I wrote on 12/17/08 when I was still in China.
I'm now writing to you from Mianyang, very near the hardest hit earthquakearea. We (Gloria, Roger and I) should be moving deeper into it tomorrow todo prep work. Bosco is now in CQ preparing for the team. I just want to giveyou a quick update while I still have email access.
So far, we visited many people that we have been working with in the past.It's amazing to see how they opened up so much to us and to him. Forexample, we visited 5 families of sponsored children. They feel so touchedwhen we visited them. J did the same to us, didn't he. One father said thatthe school has a lot of programs, but after he read the letters from thesponsor, he knows that the rainbow project is different. We also went to thehospital to meet xinyang, the 13-year-old boy for whom we have beenarranging arm/hand surgery. The operation happened about 2 weeks ago. He isrecovering well. PTL! We shared with him and his aunty. They were veryreceptive. Please remember his PT in your thoughts.
In this trip so far, we met many young people struggling. The economy isgetting worse. They are graduating or have just graduated. Life is tough.Many of them even have disability. That really puts them in a super hardposition. We had a lot of deep sharing together and encourage each other. Werecognize that everything else changes and is inherently unstable, but he isalways there for us. Please remember their future in your thoughts.
Roger and Gloria love hot food, but I'm staying away from it as much aspossible. The weather in CQ and Sichuan is not too cold. So far we arestaying very healthy. Thanks for your thoughts.
The teams should be arriving soon. Please remember their trip.

Xinyang's Update

Xinyang came up to Chengdu with his sister and sister's boyfriend this week. We took him to see the operating surgeon and Joy Phang (HK's Standing Tall organization and supervising physical therapist (PT) for Xinyang). Xinyang has obvious improvement in his arm rotation and arm movements. His hand is in a much more 'released' position. Although he is able to move his fingers from the base of the fingers, the movement is still quite limited. In discussion with both the doctor and PT, they're saying that further improvement is hopeful, but it will still take some time, citing that it's been a long while that he hasn't been able to use his hand. Due to the previous injury, his forearm muscle, which would govern the closing his fingers, is significantly atrophied and needs strength to be restored. Also, since his forearm tendons were cut and reattached, the point of reconnection has, as what the doctor termed, over-healed, which has stiffened the tendon. The doctor and PT agreed that, in 2-3 months, Xinyang should undergo a second significantly-less-involved surgery to remove some of the over-growth, to allow for more flexibility in the tendon, which should encourage further movement/motion in the forearm muscle. Overall, I felt encouraged by the examination. I am touched by the doctor's personal involvement and interest in Xinyang, and our Hong Kong friends' commitment to him! Thank you Father! Xinyang was taught new exercises to get more flexibility out of his fingers, thumb, and arm rotation. In addition, Miss Chen (Miss Phang's colleague) helped to make another arm/hand splint to encourage the straightening of Xinyang's palm/fingers. As I write this email, Xinyang and his sister/boyfriend are on their way back to Qinchuan.

Xinyang is in good spirits - he's obviously pretty happy about the new movement in his arm/hands and is hopeful for improvement. It was so good to see him and his sweet smile!

Please continue to lift him and his family up.