Final China Update Email

Dear friends and family,

I will still be writing this email with the knowledge that my updates will be going to some sensitive areas, but feel free to reply candidly, as I am back in the US. Thanks for your understanding!

Thank you so much for bearing with me during this process of writing this final update. It's been a crazy (nearly) 3 weeks since I've moved to New York, and I've just finished my second week of training this past Friday. Now that I have adjusted a bit into my new surroundings, I thought that I would share with all of you some of my thoughts. As I had mentioned in my previous email, my experiences and lessons from working in the short-term m- arena actually were not at all what I had expected or "hoped" to learn going in.

Initial Expectations of What I Would Learn From My Trip
You could say that I originally went to China with the expectations that the Boss would change my heart so that I could love His children like He does, that my heart would be broken for the poor and the lost, that through my contact with the rural farmers via microfinance, I would be able to better understand the depth of the Boss's love and compassion. Especially because my work environment in New York is going to be one that celebrates self-indulgence and self-pleasure, I believed (and still believe) that learning to love others, especially the physically and sp*r*tually poor, was an important one to learn. It's a good expectation or hope to have in preparation for a m- trip, right? To be able to learn a lesson as important as this one?

However, the fact that my expectations for learning were not met during my trip ultimately ended up being the most important lesson of all. To make a long story short, I feel that as I prepared for my m- trip, I had the expectation that during the course of my trip, the Boss would work his wonders in my heart, transforming it from "a heart of stone" to "a heart of flesh" through my experiences. This sounds reasonable, but as I see it now, it was an "unreasonable" expectation, because I expected the Boss to do all the work for me. It was as if I no longer had any responsibility for my own sp*r* tual growth and development anymore, as if learning to love others wasn't a job for me, but a job for the Boss.

The Lessons that The Boss Ultimately Taught Me
But as it happened, my initial expectations weren't "fulfilled," so to speak. I had to search more deeply to find out what the Boss was trying to say to me, since I didn't feel that my heart had been "broken" by my experiences, per se. The lesson I learned in my searching was that I have to actively love others, as He does. I cannot expect Him to change my heart if I do not first demonstrate that my heart truly desires to change. What I learned is that for those like me, (those people for whom Chrst-like compassion does not come naturally), there is no magic solution that leads to loving others like He does. However, because of our love for the Boss, and because we know that He loves us, we must struggle with all our might to love (weak though our efforts may be), and ask that His sheer unaided power fills in for our human failings.

This trip has been a humbling reminder for me, a reminder of how the Boss works in His own ways and in His own timing to achieve His ends for us. As I have learned, these ends may not come in a manner that we expected or at a time that we initially hoped for, through whatever I do and experience, I must look to Him to see what He is trying to teach me.

Pr* yer Requests and Thank You
As I begin a two-year job commitment here in New York, please pr*y that I will continue looking to Him and that I would seek to actively love others and share the good news with them. One of my reasons for going into this job is because even though the Wall Street environment is not one of physical poverty, it is definitely one of sp*r *tual poverty. It is a place in need of good news, just like any other place.

As a result, please ask Him to give me the boldness to witness to others in the workplace, and please also pr* y that I would not give up hope, even when the going gets rough, or when I realize that my own sinful nature makes me a hypocrite as I try to share the good news with others.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of you again for your support and encouragement. Thank you for partnering with me on this trip and sharing in my experiences and lessons, which the Boss is using to continue "refining" me into the person He wants me to become. Maybe my future plans will involve Wall Street. Maybe they will involve more microfinance. Or maybe He will show me once again that my expectations and plans are not what I initially thought they would turn out to be. Regardless, I am grateful that you have been willing to be a part of this process with me. Thank you!

For His glory,
Mark

China Update Email 8

Dear friends and family,

I just wanted to send you a quick update to let you know that I have returned safely to the US! I am now in the process of transitioning back into life in the States and preparing for my move to New York. Currently, I am also still meditating on what the Father is teaching me through this China experience but I will send a final update and summary soon!

For His glory,
Mark

In Hong Kong Again!

Now that I'm in HK, I have blog access again, so I wanted to make a quick update. I was able to meet up with friends from my "club" in Philadelphia for dinner here, which was great, and I'm now sitting at my gate at HKIA before leaving for New York.

Boarding has begun, so I've gotta go, but please keep me, my co-workers in DL, and the villagers we worked with in your p ra yers!

China Update Email 7

Dear brothers and sisters,

I'm finishing up my last day of work here in China! It's hard to believe that an entire month has already passed. In a little while I will be presenting my work to my boss, leaving me the weekend to prepare to return to the States. I think it'll be of assistance to the microfinance work being done here, so thank the Boss!

Please keep speaking to the Boss for me, that I would be able to get home safely, and that I can maintain my health as I transition back to a Western environment. Please also ask for my preparation for moving to New York and for full-time work, since I am a bit concerned that I will have a difficult adjusting back as it is.

Finally, as I wrap up, please continue asking for the hearts of the people here, that they would be softened, as well as for my own heart, that I would remember what I have seen and experienced here.

I'll try and post up pictures as soon as I can when I can access my blog again in the States, but I've attached just one for the time being. This is the official church in the Old City part of town. The building has been around for over 100 years, having been established by Hudson Taylor's group back in the day. I hope you like it!

For His glory,
Mark

China Update Email 6

Dear brothers and sisters,

Our trip to the village was extended a little longer than expected, but we are now back in the city as of this (Friday) afternoon. I know all of you have been talking to the boss a lot, because my health was much better than expected. Thanks so much!

This trip was very productive! My boss (XY) and I were able to visit several houses, and in addition to talking with the farmers like last time, I was able to take some pictures of the farmers' living standards for one of the projects that I am working on. For this particular project, I am working on a way for the company to measure these village farmers' advancement in terms of standard of living. In order to gauge our progress, we need to be able to see whether the lives of the people we are reaching out to are actually improving or not, and in what ways. In addition to the "outward" measures, we are also trying to figure out how to measure "inner" change and improvement. This is much more difficult to do, but we trust that the boss will give us guidance!

The lady in the picture that I have attached to this email has indeed seen many outward changes in her life, with her financial condition improving significantly in the past few years. However, she has also seen other changes as well, now that she is part of the family. Please talk to the boss today about her!

For His glory,
Mark

China Update Email 5

Dear brothers and sisters,

As of this week, my stay here is more than half over now, and I wanted to give you a quick update. I am getting ready to begin my second trip down to DT and SZ again, to see a bit more of the farmers' context there and to assist my boss with his house visits.

Please continue asking the Boss on my behalf, that my eyes would continue to be opened and that my heart would be moved as His heart is.

Also, please ask the Boss that I would be able to maintain my health. I was pretty sick during the last time I was in the village, and just today, I've come down with another case of diarrhea. One of my co-workers was telling me today about her experience with the amazing provision of the Boss as a result of her supporters' petitioning, so I'd like to ask you to do the same for me. Thank you to all of those who have already been petitioning in this regard.

I should be able to update you again on Friday, after I come back, so stay tuned!

For His glory,
Mark

China Update Email 4

Dear brothers and sisters,

I've been out in the countryside for the past 4 days but have made it safely back to the city and am now back at work in the office. Being back in the city is definitely a contrast to the farming villages of DT, SZ, and CL where I visited, but I think that the differences in standard of living make it even clearer what needs there are. Now that I have email access again, I wanted to update you on what I have seen!

During my stay in the countryside, the head of the microfinance department (XY) and I stayed in DT village, although we also saw several other villages in process of making house visits with clients who have received loans from our company. Even in a small geographic area, you can also see significant differences in the the standard of living among the different villages. The poorest among those in our area, SZ village, is one that to my American mind reminds me most of frontier living in early American history. The housing conditions remind me more of 1809 than 2009, to be completely honest.

There are a few loan recipients among the farmers of SZ, but with the conditions as impoverished as they are and with education levels as low as they are, it is difficult to imagine a sudden, magical turnaround for them. One thing that has become clear to me is that while some cases of poverty alleviation can be rather rapid and seemingly magical, the context here is such that transformation is something that will likely happen only with the passage of a generation, not with just a single year. Related to that is the realization that having a loan but not the resources or education to use it properly is not of much impact, which is why the education of China's children is so important.

To that end, our company (like I have mentioned previously) does not just give out loans to the farmers here, but also has an education department, as well as a health department and agriculture department. Please request that the people here would not simply have more material goods but that their minds and bodies would also be improved. Most important of all, of course, is that there is inner change, if you know what I mean, so please ask the Boss for that.

Before I go, I want to leave you with a picture of a village woman that our company has reached out to. I took this picture while my department supervisor XY and I visited her house. She has actually just became a part of the family two weeks ago, and in this picture here, you can see XY speaking with her. Amazing! Please ask that she would continue to be learning.

I thank you for your support, and as before, please do not reply to this email until I return home on June 23rd. Thanks for your understanding!

For His glory,
Mark

China Update Email 3

Dear brothers and sisters,

Just as a preface, please do not reply to this email because of the sensitivity of what I am doing here. But please to ask the Boss for me every day if you can! :)

This past Monday, I started my first day working with the organization here, and it has been quite an experience! The group here is composed 1/3 of internationals (all from the US) and 2/3 of Chinese nationals, and they range in age from kids my age all the way up to those who are married with teenage kids. Also, even among the Chinese nationals here, there is great ethnic diversity. This province is well-known for the presence of ethnic minorities, and in fact, the minorities actually make up a majority of the Chinese staff. Having only had contact with Han Chinese previously, it has been an eye-opening experience working with different types of people here. As you can see, I have encountered many different types of diversity here!

I have begun working on the microfinance projects that I hope to complete by the end of this month, but I have quickly realized that all of my training and education are barely applicable unless I understand the context of the people that this organization works with. I am trying to learn as much as I can while I am in the city (which is already substantial), but I know that truly understanding the villagers' situation will only happen once I see them and live with them.

I will be visiting the village for the first time this Sunday, and I hope to learn a lot. It is several hours away by car, and so when the organization visits, it's usually for several days at a time. I look forward to spending time there but am also a bit nervous about communication, as the local dialect can be difficult to understand. Even some of the co-workers at the organization have no knowledge of English, so that has been a challenge so far. If you could ask the Boss for me to trust in His provision and for Him to grant all of us patience as we work with each other, that would be great!

Unfortunately, blogs are highly restricted here, even more than they were previously, so I apologize for not being able to update my blog very often. I will try my best to do so, but cannot guarantee anything. I will still be able to send email updates, though, so I hope that you can keep up-to-date and ask the Boss for me.

I hope to update you again soon!

In Him,
Mark

Safe and Sound!

So I've arrived here safe and sound! I got in last night by bus and slept in my apartment for the first time, an apartment I'm sharing with another guy from the company, who does a lot of the accounting and such.

I got an orientation this morning and afternoon, and got to spend time with the boss's family and also with another girl from the States who is also working here. Got a pancake breakfast!

Local food-wise, everything has been tasty so far, and my stomach seems to be cooperating. Hopefully that will continue to be the case over the course of the next month or so!

The weather has been nice thus far, with no rain and little humidity, although daytime temperatures have been higher than I expected, but maybe it's just because of the bright sunshine here, unlike a certain city where I went to college. :)

I've gotten to find out a little more about the work that the company does, and it sounds like they've grown a lot! In fact, they celebrated a 6th year anniversary just this week, and I hope that the next several years will be just as productive.

My first day in the office will be Monday, so we'll see how that goes. I trust that I'll have more to share by then!

Safely in Hong Kong!

I'm here now for a 5 hour layover before embarking on my final leg. Here's the travel tally thus far:

30th Street Station (Philly) to JFK International (NYC): 4 hours
Wait at JFK: 4 hours
NYC to Vancouver: 5 hours
Vancouver stop: 1 hour
Vancouver to Hong Kong: 13 hours
Hong Kong layover: 5 hours

Total: 32 hours

Whew, after HK, 7.5 hours to go before I finally arrive. Talk to you then!

Microfinance Article from TIME Magazine

With the economic crisis that has been hitting the US and the world, you may be wondering how this may be affecting microfinance and the people it serves--the poorest of the poor. In this article from December, TIME Magazine interviews the CEO of a microfinance organization to discuss some of these recent events. Please click here to read the article. I hope you find it interesting!

This will be my last post from the US, but I will update you again in Asia!

China Update Email 1

Dear Friends and Family,

I just wanted to write you a quick update before I leave for East Asia tomorrow!

These past few weeks have been busy, indeed. I actually graduated from college just yesterday, and these past few weeks have been a great time. At the same time, I have been preparing as much as I can for my upcoming trip and have been trying to continue learning as much as possible about my work before I leave. It's been overwhelming at times trying to juggle everything on my plate, but the past few weeks have also served as a reminder of my need to rely on Him, and not on myself.

In addition to the previous prayer requests I have mentioned, I have a specific one stemming from the past few weeks: Please pray for the swine flu situation, and especially for the situation in East Asia,because the quarantines and restrictions there have been severe. I even have a friend of a friend who was banned from entering at all, because she holds Mexican citizenship. I have not encountered obstacles as severe as that, but please ask Him to watch over me and the people in my flight as we enter East Asia.

Also, I wanted to update all of you with the blog I will be updating throughout the course of the trip. You can find the address at: http://mfmark.blogspot.com/. I hope you will enjoy reading about the work that I will be doing, and I pray that my experiences will help inform you as you pray for the people there.

As one final note--please be careful with your communication to me from May 20th to June 22nd (email, blog, etc.), because of the sensitivity of the work that I will be doing. I should have email access at least some of the time during my trip, but please forgive me if any responses are delayed.

Thanks again for all of your support!

For His glory,

Mark

How Microfinance Works - A Ping Pong Story

During my first semester senior year at Penn, I had the privilege to work with a newly-formed microfinance institution (MFI) that has now begun working in Southern Sudan. The girl who is the executive director of this MFI has a favorite story that may give you a better idea of how microfinance works:

"The best microfinance story I’ve heard is about a little boy in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. He asked for a $50 loan from a loan officer. The loan officer asked him what he was going to do with that money.

'Buy a ping pong table and wheels and paddles and ping pong balls,' the boy said. And that’s what he did… wheeled a ping pong table around town, charging a penny a game. Very quickly, he paid back the loan and asked for another bigger loan.

'What are you going to do with this one?'

He made a portable shower, wheeled it around town with a water tank and charged a nickel per shower.

With the money he earned and saved, he not only supported himself, but also paid for his brothers’ and sisters’ school fees.

And it only took $50 to start.

This is what microfinance is. The microfinance concept rests on the clear observation that the majority of the working poor do not lack the skills to move up the socio-economic ladder, but rather the capital to utilize these skills practically in the form of operating small businesses. With the lack of banking systems in developing countries, microfinance has become a substitute means for capital infusion for the poor."

Microfinance Overview

To find out more about the type of work I'll be doing, and how it serves as a tool of poverty alleviation, please check out Microfinance Gateway.

If you're interested more specifically in how this type of work applies in a faith-based context, please check out this website.

First Update

I am so grateful for your support (both p and financially) in the
past few months since my plans were finalized. It has been amazing
to see how much the Big Guy has helped me to grow during college and to see how He has provided for me in my preparation to go on this journey.

Please ask Him to help me prepare my heart and mind for this upcoming trip!

Missions Email Update

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I am so grateful for your prayers and for your financial support in the past few months since my missions plans were finalized. It has been amazing to see how much God has helped me to grow during college and to see how He has provided for me in my preparation to go to Yunnan. I just wanted to send an update email to all of you to tell you a little bit more about my preparation and to ask for continued prayer.

Praise the Lord! Since you last heard from me in my support letter, God has definitely blessed my preparation! I have bought my plane tickets, received my visa, purchased a Chinese/pinyin/English New Testament, and have also reached my fundraising goal. Also, through a class I'm currently taking this semester, I have been delving deeper into microfinance and have been learning many things that I hope will be useful for the work I'll be doing in the villages of Yunnan province.

This past week, I finished the last classes of my college career and am now preparing for graduation. It's an exciting time, as well as a busy one, and I ask you to pray that I would take the time to adequately prepare my heart as I finish the last bits of my schoolwork and other graduation activities.

I'd like to leave you with a verse from the benediction this morning in Sunday service, words that I think really hit me, because they highlight the reason for why we go on missions. In Romans chapter 10:12-15, it says:

"For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.' How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"

Thank you for reading this, and please continue keeping me in your prayers!

For His Glory,
Mark