Holsby alum in Asia
Imagine our surprise when we learned about a Holsby “alum” way over in Asia!
Yes, Wally and I went to visit our son and his family a month ago. Our daughter-in-law had just returned from a spring trip with the high school senior class. One day she said – You’ll never guess who we met on this trip. And so the story unfolded about one of our Holsby alums (from 1978-79) now serving in this Asian country.
I wrote to her to find out more about what they are involved with. And she responded …
“Holsby and Capernwray were such an important time for me as God did so much work in my life and drew me close to Himself. I am so thankful for the time I had at both schools.
While in university I felt the Lord calling me to this country. I came in 1985 to do two years of language study. After completing these classes, I started teaching English in a small college. Two years later, I went back to the States to get a masters in TESOL, returning again in 1990 to start teaching. After meeting and marrying a young man I met here, I taught in a small college for 10 years. While we were there we started a development company … to help the poor in our area. We started by offering micro development loans to poor families of our students. Over the years we helped over 3000 families with small loans of around 100-200 USD – mostly agricultural loans. [Later they had to discontinue this because of the country’s laws]. We also started to help poor families in our area with student scholarships [which still continues] since many of the village kids couldn’t afford to go to high school or college. In 2004, at the request of the local government, we started a beef cattle farm to bring in higher quality beef to our area. We have 1300 acres of grass lands at the top of the mountains. Along with raising cows, we hold camps at the farm as well as other training and projects throughout the year. There are very few believers, so we know we are here for more than just cows!”
If you want to know more specifics, you can write me personally (donna[AT]holsby.org).
Of course, I deeply desire your updates!