She was never voted "most likely to succeed" by her high school classmates. In fact, by the time she completed her high school education, Beth Wanjiru Ngugi was almost 22 years old. Her secondary education had been delayed due to her father's death from cancer when she was 14. When a poor breadwinner dies in Kenya, that is often the end of his children's hope for an education.

It was impossible to look at An Xiang (pronounced awn-shy-awng) without feeling pity for him. He was lying on a crude wooden bed in the corner of the room, his arms and legs contorted and atrophied. We had just hiked into his remote village in China's Yunnan Province, up miles of narrow mountain paths, arriving in the darkness. Xiang's room was illuminated by a cooking fire beside his bed, over which a blackened tea pot was suspended. Smoke filled the room. Although Xiang had limited ability to control his arms, legs and facial expressions, he smiled as he looked at us, his unexpected visitors.

2010 was Heaven's Family's eighth year of ministry, and it certainly was our most fruitful one, due to God's goodness and the 1,461 people who gave a combined total of $1,529,193.