John Jung wrote many letters to one of his elementary school teachers and she saved all of them because she sensed they provided a perspective on his personality development. Of course, we have no copies of her letters sent to John. In contrast, I saved all of the letters sent to me after I left Georgia at age 15 from two white adult men who 'mentored' and befriended me when I was growing up.
It was fascinating for me to write about the 'two sides of the coin' for the correspondence from North Dakota John Jung to his teacher and the letters from my mentors to me. Both attest to the powerful and positive influences that two Chinese boys, growing up in cultural isolation, received from supportive and nurturant non Chinese in their communities.