Hope is in the house

Hope has been “in the house” since Monday morning, December 23, and stayed until Friday, December 27, 2024. Li Chenyang, (her given Chinese name), came to visit us as the final leg of her “American Family Goodbye Tour.” Her first stop on this tour was to stay with Kevin and Christy Hesslen, who have sponsored her through Agape Asia for the last 20 plus years.

A little backstory - Early in her life Hope was an inspiration of faith and perseverance. Her father died before she was born and she was abandoned by her mother as a two-year-old while living with her grandparents. In 2004 she was taken into the Agape Asia ministry when the Hesslen’s became her sponsors. They continued to pray, communicate, and donate to her care and well-being.  Hope had some life-threatening health care issues that caused her to turn to God for relief. Soon thereafter she was baptized and began a faith walk of healing that has been nothing short of miraculous.
 
In 2015 Hope met Jeff and Phyllis Robertson, when she lived with them as an Exchange Student and attending her junior year of high school in 2015-2016 in Fairfax, Virginia, though a cooperated effort of Agape Asia.
 
In April of 2018 I was asked by Jeff Robertson to meet Hope in her hometown of Xi’an China in May while I was on my annual trek through China as a visiting professor. Jeff wanted to see if I could meet up with her to help facilitate her acceptance into Harding University where I was on faculty at the time.
 
I arrived early to meet her at the pre-arranged location of Xing Ba Ke (Starbucks), with one of my former Harding Chinese students.  At the agreed upon time, Li Chenyang entered and walked right up to me introducing herself as the one I was there to meet! She was bright, friendly and seemed to have a good grasp of her English. Chenyang had the confidence and the moxie of a much older young-adult, but she looked much younger.  I smiled at her and asked how she knew I was the one to meet? With a twinkle in her eye, she laughed and said, “I looked around and you were the only American in the room, so I knew you must be the one I was looking for.”
 
I soon realized that meeting this young, prospective Harding University student in China reminded me there are days and experiences that are turning points in life, and this day was one of those days that I would remember forever. 
 
A couple of months after meeting Hope in Xi’an, Hope travelled to Searcy, Arkansas and we welcomed her to our home and family. She began her college life at Harding University. We also began sponsoring her through Agape Asia.
 
During the last 6-1/2 years she has, attended classes, worked in the cafeteria, lived in the dormitories and apartments on campus, was socially popular, active in a Chinese church on campus, and generally became the “Belle-of-the Ball.”
 
When the story of her childhood survival became known as she was loved and admired by all who knew her. She studied hard, and earned good grades. She also struggled her way from a different culture, and into a new way of life. Along the way she blossomed into an amazing and beautiful young Christian woman! She became like a shared daughter to all three families who were sponsoring her and all of us couldn’t be prouder to call Hope our Chinese daughter!
 
A few years ago, one of my friends met Hope, and after learning about her story said, “Only a loving God could take an orphaned and abandoned child halfway around the world, and give her three Christian families to love, and be parents to her.”
 
After four years of living at Harding University, in May of 2020, Hope graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Education. But, after doing her student teaching, she made the hard decision that instead of teaching children, she would proceed further to get her masters degree in professional counseling, so that she could help people who are struggling with trauma in their lives.
 
Two-and-a-half years later, after multiple classes and internships with experience in counseling with trauma clients Li Chenyang, our Hope, received her Master’s degree in Professional Counseling and Mental Health. All three of her American families were there to celebrate with her. Each of us has been a part of her life for as many as 20 years. She is such an amazing story of God's providence and purpose. I told her that she is the poster child for Agape Asia!
 
Since she arrived at our house, she has rested, ate great meals, watched Christmas movies, made cookies, (Donna’s secret family recipe for PB&J cookies), helped cook a Christmas day meal, shared gifts, and just reveled being in the company of each other.
 
Hope expressed her heartfelt thanks to each of us for what she called our “unconditional love” for her. Yesterday, after being here for 6-1/2 years we took her to the airport in Atlanta to fly home to be reunited with her sister and aging grandparents. Hope plans to play with her nephew for whom she has never seen in person, seek out employment at a counseling center, and work in the white fields of harvest in China by living out the next chapter of her life that God is preparing for her.
 
For more information on sponsoring an abandoned or vulnerable child in Asia please go to the Agape Asia web page at https://www.agapeasia.org/

The photo on the left was taken at a Starbucks in Xi'an, China on the first day we met
The photo on the right was taken at a Starbucks in Atlanta on the last day we saw each other.

>>>> Next Story >>>>