26feb，07，10
Version 3 Vol. #7 February 7th, 2009
Greeting from the Unique City of San Ming, China,
San Ming Times
Chinese New Year’s
In china we are gearing up for the big New Years festival. Most of the children and staff returned home to their countryside and relative’s homes to celebrate the New Years. Only Steven (the oldest boy) and I remain at the village. This is a good time for me to catch up on some much needed rest. It also gives me time to finish some projects I was working on. It is quiet without all the children running around. It makes me miss the children. When the children were here and everyday literally “pulling out my hair” I would look forward to this day of peace and quiet, but after several days of quiet I am tired of the quiet. I will probably never be satisfied.
Taking a Certified TEFL Course
During the New Year break I signed up for an online certification course for teaching English. This is a 100 hour to 150 hour course. I so far I have about 20 hours completed. Yes, it is very hard work. It is hard for me to sit down and study for several hours a day, but I hope after all the money and efforts I will have my official TESOL certificate.
Hot Pot
The night before the staff return to their homes, for the New Years we gather together for supper and had a traditional Chinese “hot pot”. Chinese hot pot is where we have a boiling pot of water in the center of the table on the outsides of the table we have dishes of meat, tofu, vegetables, squid, fish, shrimp and mushrooms. You cook your own food by putting it into the pot in the center of the table. We even had little live fish you could put into the pot. After you put this fish into the pot you could watch as he splashes around before he becomes cooked. The hot pot was quite delicious, but I could not get myself to eat the little live fish. It was a good night to relate to the staff having a relaxed fun attitude without having a working atmosphere. See my picture for more details. 
Future Plans
February 20th I will be flying to Cambodia to meet my father and some other pastors from America. We will be in Cambodia for a week and we will be participating in a pastor’s seminar. 
For the month of March I will be visiting IGO in Chiang Mei Thailand. 
In April I will be visiting Randy and Lisa Petersheim in Bangladesh after Bangladesh I will be returning to the USA to renewal my China visa. I will be America for about three weeks. 
May I will be returning to the children village. I will be at the village thru summer until December 2010. 
The goal of my travels is to visit and encourage those who are working in the Lord’s missionfield, but I also plan to visit several other orphanages and gather ideas and experiences that will help me for when I take care of my children. I ask for your prayers and support as I do what the Lord would have me to do! Thanks in advanced. 
Thanks,
Stephen Burkholder
PS: Never forget in whatever you do to “MAKE IT COUNT”! Ecclesiastes 9:10