Towles taking part of Owen back to China

This summer, starting July 18, Kasey and John Randall Towles will be returning to China with Blessing Hands Charity.  This time, they will be joined by Kasey’s son Patrick.
Blessing Hands is seven years old and has helped over 972  Chinese students stay in school.
After her first visit, Kasey Towles said it was good to see firsthand the difference that it makes to help these students and their families.
She was able to meet her sponsored child in person and it was one of the most meaningful experiences in her life, she said.
Blessing Hands will be directing a Friendship Camp in Yangshuo during the first week. The purpose of the camp is to build international friendships and exchanges that will mingle languages, exercises, music, art, dance, drama and speech.
All of the teachers from the United States are volunteers who cover their own expenses and even contribute to the camp.  Kasey Towles will be teaching on holidays and their meanings including Easter, Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
 “Our home church, Long Ridge Baptist, is sponsoring 20 students and purchasing ceiling fans for the dorm rooms,” Kasey Towles said.
After the camp, they will go on visiting with other students, their families, and teachers that they met last year from Longfu and Guizhou, a very rural and mountainous area of the Guangxi Province, Kasey Towles said.
“We will also be visiting Anlong, Dewo, Dashuijing, and Wanfenghu,” Kasey Towles said. “All of these places are located in the Guizhou province in which Buyi and Miao people live.”
Many of these kids come from the poorest of rural homes, and their families can’t afford their school tuition or meals, Kasey Towles said.
“Often only a single parent or grandparent sends them off to school with what little food they have to share,” Kasey Towles said. “Without help, they might not have school tuition, supplies or food at all. Some of the parents have to leave their children with grandparents and they go to the bigger cities to make better wages in order to afford their children’s tuition.”
Kasey Towles has been touched not only the the friendship and love she’s discovered through these Chinese students, but by the level of support she has received at home.
“I just love Owen County,”  Kasey Towles said.  “I love their heart for giving and being so supportive. It feels like we are taking their support, love and prayers with us each time we go.
New Liberty Baptist collected toys and money to purchase toys during its vacation Bible school this time.
“They showed our pictures of the kids from last year who will actually be receiving the toys again this year. These kids just light up when we pass out the toys,” Kasey Towles said. “It is a good way to be able to spend time playing with them and to share God’s love. They enjoy the attention from us since they are not often able to meet visitors to their country.”
Kasey Towles said Mount Zion Baptist made a cash donation to help with traveling expenses.
“This will help us so much. I believe that more people would go on mission trips if it wasn’t so expensive,” Kasey Towles said “The people who support mission trips make it all possible. We also have had family and Christian friends who have helped toward our travel as well.”
Kasey Towles said the second trip to China will give her and others a chance to experience the results of hard work and compassion.
“We planted a seed last year and I feel like we have an opportunity to go back and water it,” Kasey Towles said. “It has been amazing to meet and spend time with the ones we are helping half way around the world.”
Kasey Towles said she would like to share her experiences and the impact they are having with children half a world away and would like to see every Owen countian join her efforts in making the lives of these children better.
“After we return, I would love to share my pictures and experiences with the people who are supporting this mission trip or anyone else,” Towles said.
If you would like to learn more about how the people of Owen County are affecting the rural mountain regions of China or to support her efforts, call Kasey Towles at 484-5127.
 

The girls from the village of Longfu asked Owen County resident Kasey Towles (center) for American names so she gave the names of girls in her chuch - Long Ridge Baptist. The girls of church have drawn pictures and given Towles photographs of themselves to share with their Chinese namesakes.

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