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