"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them."

As you're no doubt aware, we had an incredibly successful visit by the Jangchub Choeling Tibetan nuns at the Lincoln City Cultural Center in October of 2024.
Their week-long visit included a number of teachings by Geshema Yeshi Sangmo, as well as the creation of the beautiful Avalokiteshvara Sand Mandala; a meditation workshop; a cultural program that included the colorful Dakini dance and a slide show on life at the Jangchub Choeling nunnery, narrated by the translator and tour director, Chimé; and a demonstration of Tibetan sacred chant and music.
While in Lincoln City, they also did a number of house and personal blessings, and we even found time to get them to the beach (for most of them, their first time at an ocean beach!), shared a wonderful community potluck with many LC Friends of Tibet members and the nuns, and even went on a couple of foraging adventures for wild mushrooms and blackberries, much to the delight of the Geshema, who turned out to be a seasoned forager! (See PHOTOS GALLERY - Jangchub Choeling 2024)
We are deeply grateful for the help that the greater North/Central Coast community of Tibet supporters provided to make this extraordinary visit possible. Your smiles, your donations of time, money, and energy, and the love you offered the nuns are the essential ingredients of such a successful visit.
We especially want to recognize Niki Price, (now-retired) Director of the Lincoln City Cultural Center, as well as her wonderful staff (especially Judy), who all helped provide the essential support and help during the daily activities at the Center, and who made the nuns feel most welcome at the Center. 
We also want to extend a deep bow of gratitude to all the many Lincoln County Friends of Tibet volunteers and others who provided meals, greeted guests, set up and took down the chairs for the various events, put up posters, ran errands, etc, and especially to Julia Hay, who provided a more-than-welcoming home for the nuns during their stay. She even affectionately earned the title of "Mommy", given to her by the nuns for her loving care. 
Another deep bow of gratitude, too, to all of you who donated much needed funds for preparation for the visit through our GoFundMe page, and who continued to be financially generous throughout their visit. The funds raised during the visit far-exceeded our own, and the nuns’ expectations, and are essential for the ongoing survival of the Jangchub Choeling nunnery in Mundgod, India, and even more importantly, help ensure the survival of Tibetan culture during their long exile from their homeland.
The nuns safely returned to the nunnery in India, and have continued with their studies and practice, even as they are in the process of planning for the next visit to the United States. We don’t have any solid information as to when that might be or what it might be comprised of yet. It’s possible that it may be a teaching tour by two of the Geshemas (senior nuns), but we just don’t know yet. All we do know is that the nuns are planning a new tour as I write this.

Back in June of 2024, we also hosted a visit by our friends and almost-yearly visitors from the Tibetan Gaden Shartse Monastery in India. 
It too was incredibly successful, and drew large audiences to all the ceremonies, empowerments, talks, and workshops held at the Samaritan Center for Health Education in Newport. 
It was, once again, an incredibly successful visit, with great attendance at all the events, and with very generous financial donations for the monks. (See PHOTO GALLERY - Gaden Shartse 2024)

With the visits in 2024 by the Gaden Shartse monks in Newport in June, and the Jangchub Choeling nuns in Lincoln City in October, the timing didn’t work out to bring the Gaden Shartse monks back in 2025. However, a new Gaden Shartse tour group begins its tour (with our “young” monk friend Shanu staying on with the new tour group to coordinate and organize) in 2026-2028, and we’re hoping to bring them back to our area either in 2026, or early 2027. And with enough good fundraising “pre-tour”, we are hoping we will be able to host the creation of a sacred sand mandala as part of their return visit to Newport.
We’ve uploaded a couple of galleries of photos from the visits by the monks, and the nuns for your enjoyment. And if you have photos you’d like to share with us, please email them to LCFriendsTibet@gmail.com.
Finally, a word about Lincoln County Friends of Tibet.
Lincoln County Friends of Tibet is an ad hoc group of individuals comprised of volunteers and supporters from throughout the greater coastal region of the Central and North Coast, but also extending as far as Portland, Salem, and Eugene, and points beyond.
We are not a formal 501(c)3 non-profit (although we might look into that for the future), but rather a group of individuals from all kinds of backgrounds and faith traditions, ages and interests, who appreciate the beauty and deep compassion of the Tibetan culture and Buddhist traditions, as well as the necessity to share and ensure the survival of the Tibetan culture and people, both in Tibet and exile.
We are open to anyone wanting to help us in that effort.