Sweet Greetings from Tanzania, Burkina Faso and Mexico

Hooray for Mail Call Monday! It's always nice when I have mail to share!

Our first letter this week was from Said in Tanzania!

I'm really impressed with how quickly some of our letters have been arriving lately! Said's letter was just written on June 7. Usually, it takes over two months for Said's letters to arrive! Said shared well wishes and said that he is doing fine. At the time of his letter writing, he was on a school holiday. He went back to school on July 8th. He says that this year in school, he was 11th in his class! Last year I believe he was 16th. He says "I will struggle hard on December exams and be number 1." I am so proud of his hard work- when we started writing to Said, he was really struggling in school. I truly believe he can be at the top of his class and achieve his dream of becoming a doctor! Said also says in his letter that he hurt his leg. I believe this is a new injury (you may remember that Said broke his leg in an accident last fall, and showed me the surgical scar when we visited in March) since he had fully recovered from his old injury, and he knew that I already knew about it. We are doing an inquiry with the field office to see if he did indeed injure himself again, and to see if this injury has negatively impacted his family in any way (he is the man of the house and has so many responsibilities....being laid up with an injury would be a big challenge to his whole family!) Hopefully we will hear back from them soon! 

The next letter was from Barry in Burkina Faso!

This letter was a tremendous surprise- we just got Barry (his preferred name on the website is Omar, but the letter mentions his third name, Barry) on June 17. The letter was dated June 10. I'm very glad that we received this letter- it was a required letter written to his financial sponsor, who wrote four letters back in 2011 and then stopped. We must have picked Barry up as soon as he was listed as waiting for a correspondent! 

In Barry's letter, we learn that he has several friends- four are listed, but their names are a little hard to read. He says his best friend is Mohamed, and that Mohamed is special "because he shares his bread with me." I identify strongly with this- I like to eat bread with my best friend, too! : ) Barry also says that his favorite activities to do with his friends include playing and washing clothes. He met Mohamed at school, and Mohamed also attends the project with him. Barry asked what I do for a job (or his financial sponsor....but he's going to find out about me!) And he asked that we pray for his school. This was the first letter I have received from Burkina Faso. I like the way the form letters are designed! For future letters, there is also a spot for responses and thanks. These spots were blank on Barry's letter, since he hasn't had any letters. Next time there should be even more writing in there, though! 

The last letter arrived today- a surprise letter from Brenda in Mexico! 

We just got a letter two weeks ago from Brenda, so it was a big surprise to see another letter from her! This week's letter was a form letter about her typical week. Brenda says that she gets up at 8:30 and takes a shower. In the afternoon, she rests from school. She also said that she likes to watch TV in the evenings, and that she goes to bed at 10:30! I remember being really proud of myself when I was allowed to stay up until 9 at her age! I'm also glad to read about the shower and TV because that indicates to me that Brenda has at least some access to plumbing and electricity. This is probably due in part to the fact that she lives in a suburb of Mexico City. Brenda says she goes to school Monday through Friday, and she attends the project Thursday through Saturday. She asked that we pray for her health and her family's health, and she included a pretty drawing of the mountains. Brenda's artwork is usually a collection of random things and animals, so it was a little different to see a landscape drawing from her! She said in the open portion of the letter that she saw a painting at school and really liked it, so she wanted to send me one! "I made it with lots of love."