Portion for Orphans Newsletter

January 1, 2006

Happy New Year Everyone!

In the last few weeks since Josh and I finished up our time at the China Care Orphanage, we have traveled by plane, train and bus from Xiamen (China Beach) to Chengdu (Central China), and thru Tibet to the Nepal border where we are for New Year's Eve. It's been an incredible adventure. We've met lots of very interesting people and have learned so much about China and Tibet where Buddhism is the primary religion. This time has been a good refresher and somewhat of a vacation, including various different hostel stays that cost us no more than a few dollars per night (which are little communities in and of themselves that include people from all over the world, but rarely a heater :)), some incredible scenery including Mt. Everest and the Himalayas, as well as many different monasteries and Buddhist temples where we've learned a bit more about the people that we are interacting with each day, as well as an up close perspective of Buddhism.

This time has been a nice break leaving us looking very much forward to tomorrow when we will cross the border into Nepal and meet the new group of unique children with whom we will be spending the next month. We will be volunteering with HopenHome (www.hopenhome.org) at an orphanage just south of Kathmandu, Nepal. There are 35 girls ranging from 5-15 years of age. Attached is a photo of a few of them. Please be praying that we could be helpful and encouraging to the staff and the children, that we would have wisdom in determining how to use the portion that you all have set aside for these children, and that we would have opportunities to share the gospel.

*Jun Ping is the 4 year old little girl at China Care that we mentioned a few times in the updates. She is a bit delayed but we're not sure if that's due to neglect from a previous orphanage or to some other factor. Nevertheless, she is an absolute doll that seems to connect immediately with anyone she lays eyes on and has come so far with just a little bit of interaction. She's such a joy to be around. We recently found out that the lady who was working on adopting her changed her mind because she already has two small children. Jun Ping's adoption papers are still in the U.S. meaning it could be quite a bit easier and quicker for her to be adopted than many other children. If you are interested, please let me know.

Here are some of the children we'll be working with in Nepal:

Here's Jun Ping with Josh and with Mickey :)

China Beach (all credit to Josh for this one) and it was warm!

Buddhist Woman praying at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet

Josh making a new friend at the Buddhist Drepung Monastery

May God Bless all of you indeed in the upcoming year,

Sally.

P.S. It's always great to hear from you guys. :)