Miss Mitra didn't want to be a Sunday school teacher any longer. The students there were all rude and never listened to her. "I give up." She shouted at the students. "Cool." Rick said. He was the most impolite kid in this school. Two months later, Miss Betty Ray came to the school. She looked young. The students thought that she wouldn't stay very long.

    "Have any of you ever been out of state?" She asked in a friendly tone. A few hands went up.

    "Anyone has traveled to California?" One hand went up as the disrespectful(无礼的) laugh reduced.

    "Anyone visited outside the country?" No hands went up now. The silent kids were puzzled.

    Betty took a map of the world from her bag.

    "What else do you have there? Lunch?" Someone cracked.

    Betty smiled lightly and answered, "Cookies for later." "Cool," Rick quipped(困惑的).

    Then she pointed at a place on the map, "I was born here, and I lived here until I was about your age."

    "Is that Texas?" Someone asked.

    "No. Quite a long way from here. It is Mumbai in India."

    Betty fumbled again in her bag, this time pulling out some old wrinkled pictures along with a box of chocolate chip cookies. They passed the pictures around, viewing each with great interest.

    The kids studied them as they bit into the sweets.

    The hour quickly slid by as she told them her stories about faraway places and what the people were like there and how they lived.

    "Wow, this is as exciting as TV!" One young girl told her.

    Sunday after Sunday, Betty came to class, tying her lessons to their everyday lives. She told the kids how they could make a difference right now. The students grew to love her.

    Betty taught that Sunday school class for thirty years. At last, her hair grew into a natural gray.

    Every now and then, she received a letter from a former student. There was a doctor, a research scientist, a homemaker, a businessman, and many teachers among them. One day she pulled out a blue envelope from her mailbox. And there was a photo in it. Squinting her eyes, she smiled at the man in the photo, still seeing the boy in him. Standing in the rubble(瓦砾), in the city of Delhi, India, he came to help the homeless people in the earthquake. Some words were written in the upper part of the photo, "Because of you, I am here now."

    Although half a century has passed, Shao Guohua never forgot the film ticket his teacher gave him that warmed his heart when he was a boy.  Shao entered primary school in Zigong, Sichuan Province, in 1960, Back then, sports and watching movies were the students' favorite times.

    Once, the school organized a trip to the movies for the students, and many of Shao's classmates signed (签约)  up for it.  But the boy had no money to buy the 0. 05-yuau ticket. When his classmates lined up to enter the movie theater, the boy stood alone outside. Then Shao's Chinese teacher Mo Xunru saw him and bought a ticket for him.

    He can't remember what movie it was, but Shao never stopped being thankful to his teacher. “Ms. Mo made forty or fifty yuan a month back then, so a 0.05-yuan ticket may not be a big deal for her. But for me, it moved me deeply,” said 63-year-old Shao.

    After graduating from primary school, Shao moved to another city along with his parents. In the following years, he tried to find his former teachers and classmates, but failed. It wasn't until this year that Shao visited his teacher Mo Xunru after 50 years.

    “The reunion (重聚) was emotional,” said Shao, who is over sixty himself now. “The 89-year old Mo did not hear well anymore and seemed to not know me at first sight, but she was still as kind as she used to be.” Shaoleft 1, 000 yuan to his teacher as well as a letter which reads: “Dear Ms. Mo, wish you good health. Your student: Shao Guohua.”

    Lisa was a single mother who lived with her little son. She lost her job two years ago and they had a very hard life. Being poor was terrible. Her heart was broken every time her son asked, "Can I have some more bread and jam please, Mommy?"

    One day, when her son asked the same question again, she decided to prepare a big meal for him with the only 6 dollars in her hand. She went to the supermarket, bought some food and cooked at home. Lisa was a shy mother, but she was strong— minded. "It's time to make a change, "she thought. She used to love writing. In order to make some money, she began to write articles for magazines day and night.

    Things went better. The local food bank started to provide her with some free vegetables every month. Her son finally had enough to eat. Once he told Lisa that the dishes she made were delicious. Suddenly, an idea came to Lisa's mind, "Why not share my recipes (食谱) on the Internet? "She did. Many people liked her recipes and she became popular.

    Soon after that, some reporters interviewed her and asked her to write a book on cooking. When Lisa got the money for the book she wrote, she had a good sleep for the first night during the two years. Now Lisa has a well—paid job and a beautiful home, but she'll never forget the days when she worked hard for a good life.