Phone conversation with Tu Ting Ting

Many of you already know Tu Ting Ting, as she is the first heart patient we brought to the U.S. for surgery three years ago. She is 22 now. She has been attending a technical school since she returned to China. Members at Peachtree City have supported her. This is her last year and she is on-the-job training. She's working at a factory but does not like her job very much. The first job the school sent her to did not work out because they saw she had suffered with heart disease and were afraid to hire her. She is perfectly healthy now but they said they thought they heard something unusual with her heart.

She lives at the factory where she works. It is a four-hour trip from Shanghai. We will try to meet up with her on our way back through Shanghai. She was hoping to see us.

Ron spoke Chinese to Ting Ting and she understood. He said she was almost crying as she talked with him. I spoke with her briefly so she could hear my voice even if she could not understand me. I asked her "Can we go shopping?" and she started laughing and saying: "shopping, shopping."

Ya Ning asked her some questions and talked with her a while. She told Ya Ning that she needs to go back to the school in July to get her certificate of completion. She mentioned possibly working at one of our orphanages. We will discuss the possibility with the directors at North Canton Care Center to see if they would be willing for her to come work with them. It would not be a long distance to the home of her uncle and aunt so I think she would like it there. I believe she would be good working with the children since she is an orphan. She is a very sweet, compassionate girl anyway. It was so good to get to talk with her.

Tu Ting Ting is on the phone now with Ya Ning. She said her aunt and uncle wanted to invite us to visit them during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). That is at the end of January and we do not know our plans that far in advance. If David and Ya Ning do not get back well in advance of Chinese New Year, they will not be able to get train or plane tickets during that time. It could be a problem for us as well because we need to be in Beijing every Sunday. We are grateful for Ting Ting's relatives' invitation but we do not know if that would work out. It would really be great if it worked out for us to go.