Greetings from China in this the Year of the Monkey!
It seems as soon as I return, the battles rage but God's grace has been and will continue to be there for me and the people I love. I was reading in 2 John yesterday and this verse summarized it for me and the kids and the Christian adults I work with.
"Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love." 2 John verse 3
Notice the Grace, mercy and peace are already with us and it all comes to use in truth and love. What more do we need. I must tell you though, the things I face are virtually impossible Here is a quick list of things we need to pray for.
1. Release of Blaza, David, Hannah, James, Rebekah, John John, Joanna, Sarah, Joseph and Deborah from what is now 433 days of captivity.
2. Healing of Jiang Jia Yi. She lays in a comatose state and the dad is bedside all day and the mother is bedside all night now for almost 4 months. Although she seems to slowly improve, the doctors constantly are "tempted" to give up on her. I keep the pressure on to continue efforts holding out hope of a miracle for her.
3. Phoebe's body still held in the hospital morgue, as bizarre as this seems, it reflects how difficult my work has been through the onslaught of attacks.
4. Knowing my police report submitted to authorities has had huge impact for all orphans in China and also for foster care and adoption, how does this relate to helping me and the 10?
5. Now that the 3 boys have returned to the State orphanage, how do I continue to have a positive spiritual impact on their lives.
6. Although I am not in the least obligated to assist in paying more hospital bills for anyone, I feel a burden to assist in the 50 thousand dollars in hospital bills for Jiang Jia Yi. This is way beyond my ability and for sure beyond the young Christian couple and entire family's ability to pay.
7. Little "Mean Show" is back in her province and has apparently been adopted by a couple that could not have a child. Pray I can meet them, lead them to Christ and continue to follow this little girls life. We have invested over 7,000 dollars to save her life not to mention the half a million dollars saved to get her the life saving surgery. It also must be remembered that the Mordecai and Esther Foundation spent 13,000 dollars for the medical team flights and 4,500 for hotel costs for the week of surgeries.
8. I have Gold Bar (now a 17 month old boy) and Gold Flower (a 4 year old autistic Chinese girl) but do not have Gold Egg (a 7 and a half year old Chinese boy that was chained to the pole in 2010) Pray the dad will see the value of this boy coming to be with his brother and sister and being raised in a safe loving environment.
9. And lastly, and yes least, we need more money to do this wonderful work. The "little things" are needed too. Amen?!
Luke 16:10 says it so true but for sure I send a big thank you all for your generosity.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Thank you for praying about these things. Ray+10+Gold kids plus many more.
Enclosed is a picture looking back on Joseph and a recent one now.
It's no wonder when the leaders asked me what was wrong with Joseph they learned just how successful I had been with finding the right surgeon, procedure and right time for this little precious cleft palate, cleft lip abandoned Chinese newborn. The leader shook her head in disbelief. I encouraged them to work with me. Pray they do!
It seems as soon as I return, the battles rage but God's grace has been and will continue to be there for me and the people I love. I was reading in 2 John yesterday and this verse summarized it for me and the kids and the Christian adults I work with.
"Grace, mercy and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love." 2 John verse 3
Notice the Grace, mercy and peace are already with us and it all comes to use in truth and love. What more do we need. I must tell you though, the things I face are virtually impossible Here is a quick list of things we need to pray for.
1. Release of Blaza, David, Hannah, James, Rebekah, John John, Joanna, Sarah, Joseph and Deborah from what is now 433 days of captivity.
2. Healing of Jiang Jia Yi. She lays in a comatose state and the dad is bedside all day and the mother is bedside all night now for almost 4 months. Although she seems to slowly improve, the doctors constantly are "tempted" to give up on her. I keep the pressure on to continue efforts holding out hope of a miracle for her.
3. Phoebe's body still held in the hospital morgue, as bizarre as this seems, it reflects how difficult my work has been through the onslaught of attacks.
4. Knowing my police report submitted to authorities has had huge impact for all orphans in China and also for foster care and adoption, how does this relate to helping me and the 10?
5. Now that the 3 boys have returned to the State orphanage, how do I continue to have a positive spiritual impact on their lives.
6. Although I am not in the least obligated to assist in paying more hospital bills for anyone, I feel a burden to assist in the 50 thousand dollars in hospital bills for Jiang Jia Yi. This is way beyond my ability and for sure beyond the young Christian couple and entire family's ability to pay.
7. Little "Mean Show" is back in her province and has apparently been adopted by a couple that could not have a child. Pray I can meet them, lead them to Christ and continue to follow this little girls life. We have invested over 7,000 dollars to save her life not to mention the half a million dollars saved to get her the life saving surgery. It also must be remembered that the Mordecai and Esther Foundation spent 13,000 dollars for the medical team flights and 4,500 for hotel costs for the week of surgeries.
8. I have Gold Bar (now a 17 month old boy) and Gold Flower (a 4 year old autistic Chinese girl) but do not have Gold Egg (a 7 and a half year old Chinese boy that was chained to the pole in 2010) Pray the dad will see the value of this boy coming to be with his brother and sister and being raised in a safe loving environment.
9. And lastly, and yes least, we need more money to do this wonderful work. The "little things" are needed too. Amen?!
Luke 16:10 says it so true but for sure I send a big thank you all for your generosity.
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.
Thank you for praying about these things. Ray+10+Gold kids plus many more.
Enclosed is a picture looking back on Joseph and a recent one now.
It's no wonder when the leaders asked me what was wrong with Joseph they learned just how successful I had been with finding the right surgeon, procedure and right time for this little precious cleft palate, cleft lip abandoned Chinese newborn. The leader shook her head in disbelief. I encouraged them to work with me. Pray they do!