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Back from Yushu Prefecture

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Last week, Jamin returned from an 8 day journey to Yushu Prefecture. Jamin, along with 2 Tibetan friends, made the long drive to the prefecture capital of Jyekundo in a little less than 14 hours. The main reasons for going to Yushu Prefecture were to see how the rebuilding is progressing since the earthquake, visit some of our many friends who live in the area and to research possibilities about returning to the area.

It has now been 3 years since a 7.1 magnitude earthquake destroyed all of Jyekundo and much of the surrounding area. When Jamin was in the area in September 2012, the majority of people affected by the earthquake (85,000+ people) were still living in small government aid tents, even though it had been nearly 2 1/2 years since the earthquake. Though these tents only measured 160 square feet, they usually held 5 or 6 family members. Tent communities were spread across the region. As many as 4000 tents with over 20,000 people would be set up on the grasslands. These tent communities would not have any toilets, electricity and were extremely filthy. They were basically huge slums set among the grasslands.

When Jamin returned to the region last week, he was surprised to see that most of the tents had been removed and most people had moved into their new homes. The town of Jyekundo is now about 80% rebuilt. Though the area still only has very limited electricity (10 to 12 hours per week), the streets in town are finished and most businesses, including hotels, are operating. This is a huge improvement from 7 months ago!

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Snow-capped peaks found between Jyekundo and Surmang

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In heavy snow near the village of Surmang

One of our goals this year is to assist some of our friends in moving into their new homes or to assist them in starting a new business. After the earthquake, the government promised to give each family a new home or building for commercial purposes. While a lot of our friends have moved into their new home, we still have several good friends that are still waiting to move in or are waiting to be given their building that they can use for a small business.While in Jyekundo, Jamin was able to meet with 2 long-time friends who are hoping to start new businesses later this year. One friend, TS, we have know for about 8 years. He moved to Kangding/Dartsedo with us when we worked at a guesthouse ministry there. The guesthouse also had a cafe, which our friend TS worked at each day. From that experience, TS now wants to start his own cafe in Jyekundo and has asked us to help him. We are in the process of giving him ideas as well as simple “business education” classes. Another friend of ours, TD, is starting a small hotel. Since we have a years experience managing a guesthouse, he has asked for our assistance.

Both TS and TD have been close friends of our for over 8 years and have heard about the Creator in detail from us and some of our colleagues. Pray with us that through our close relationship with them, they will be open to hearing more and that the Holy Spirit will open their eyes to the Truth.

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Old Tibetan woman with her prayer wheel and prayer beads. Most older Tibetans have these two items in their hands at all times as a way to earn “karma”. With enough karma, Tibetans believe they can be reborn into something higher than they are now.

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Sharda, capital town of Nangchen county, surrounded by snow-capped mountains

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Badra Forest: While most of Yushu prefecture is tree-less, the Badra is a relatively large evergreen forest region that is quite beautiful.

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A lone monk sitting outside of Surmang Monastery in the village of Modrong.

After spending a few days in Jyekundo, Jamin traveled to Nangchen county, the furthest southern county in Yushu prefecture. Nangchen county did not receive any damage from the 2010 earthquake. Nangchen county has the highest percentage of Buddhists monks and nuns in all of Tibet. Approximately 10% of all the people in Nangchen county are either monks or nuns. This percentage is much higher than the rest of Tibet. Jamin spent several days driving to the remote villages in Nangchen county. Most of these villages don’t have a single person who can speak Chinese (closest area with Chinese speaking people is often a 2+ day drive away) and have never come across a foreigner before. These villages have no electricity, no running water, no schools and no hospitals. This area, like nearly all areas of Tibet, has never heard the Gospel before and has no believers. Jamin was able to spend a few days driving through the region praying that the area would have access to the Gospel.

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The new and improved road to Modrong village. The road drops off over 3000 feet to the valley below.

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Tibetan man spinning a large prayer wheel inside a monastery

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A Buddhist nun from Gechak Nunnery leading some yaks out to graze.

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Prayer flags at Dhana Monastery

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Old Tibetan woman earning karma by walking around a temple in Lhadro

At this point, it remains highly unlikely that we will be able to return to living in Yushu Prefecture. This is due mainly because there is no visa we can get that would allow us to live in the area long-term. Currently, the best visa we could hope for would only allow us to stay in the area for 60 (and maybe 90) days. After that, we would all need to make a “visa run” which would require us to leave the country. To make a visa run from Yushu Prefecture, it would require us to make a 13 to 15 hour drive (each way) back to the city and then take at least 2 or 3 flights (each way) to reach places like Thailand, Malaysia or India where we could apply for a new visa. Not only is this extremely expensive, it is extremely stressful to do with 2 young children. We had to do this from late 2009 until early 2012 and it is not fun! Pray with us as we seek the Lord for direction for the future! Thanks!

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A few of the hundreds of thousands of carved prayer stones found at a temple in Sharda. These rocks contain Buddhist mantra’s that Tibetans believe will protect them from evil spirits.


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