Sweet Greetings from Honduras, Brazil, India and Ecuador

Happy Mail Call Monday, everyone!

We were blessed to receive four letters this week- and two were first letters!

The first letter we received was from Eduardo in Honduras.

Eduardo's letter was a long time coming. By the time it arrived, we had been sponsoring him for six months, one week and a day. In some ways it was frustrating to wait that long, but I had a feeling that Eduardo might have some special challenges in his life that might keep him busy or distracted, based on some things in his profile. I was encouraged to see that Eduardo addressed me as his "dear friend"- I am glad to know that he thinks of me as a friend, and hopefully this means that he has enjoyed reading all my letters and feels encouraged by them. He says that his favorite hobbies are playing soccer and going out with his friends. He also watches TV- it's always nice to learn this because it means that our kids have at least some access to electricity. That's a good thing! He asked if I like animals, and said that he has a pretty dog named Jugueton. He also wanted to know my favorite Bible verses. Eduardo asked that we pray for his mom, as she is sick. He also mentioned the small birthday gift that we sent for him earlier this year- he bought jeans, a shirt, and hair gel! I was very happy to get an extra photo of Eduardo posing with his birthday gifts. I couldn't help but feel a little sad, though, because Eduardo look sad or stressed to me. He also looks thinner in this photo than he does in his "official" photo. Since we were able to send a gift to Eduardo when Kim visited Honduras back in May, I'm kind of hoping that we get another photo of him with that gift as well!

A few days later, two letters arrived on the same day. The first one I opened was from Patricia in Brazil. 

In my imagination, Patricia is a social butterfly. Her letters are usually pretty short, and so friendly. She always ends them really sweetly- "Kisses! Patricia", sometimes with butterflies, hearts, or little lips drawn around there. So cute. Patricia's letter was written in May, and she responded to some of my letters by saying she was sad to hear about Brandon's grandfather passing away but she was very excited that my family adopted a dog. She also said that at Christmastime in Brazil, people set off fireworks, and it makes the sky "very beautiful!" 

Then came a letter from Jayid in India! 

Jayid's letters are interesting to see- usually they just have what looks like four or five words written in Hindi on the front, and then a full page written by a child development worker on the back. The child development workers write on behalf of Jayid, since they know English, but I always wonder what those few scribbles on the front say! Jayid says that he is taking English lessons and is participating in martial arts lessons at the project. He is excited about learning English. He has been learning new songs and Bible verses, and made a new friend named Sahil. 

Lastly, we got our first letter from Erick in Ecuador!

We just got Erick as a correspondence child in June, about two weeks before he turned five. The letter must have been written right away, since he says in his letter that he is four years old! It was also an "about me" form letter usually reserved for financial sponsors, so it was exciting to get to know more about Erick so quickly! Erick says that he lives in Pulucate Centro. His favorite color is red, his favorite class in school is drawing, his favorite activity is playing, and his favorite sport is running. He says that his favorite food is "potato and guinea pig!" He describes himself as "robust, tall, playful and cheerful" and says that he lives "beside the stadium, the church and the trees." The letter was written by his mom Monica! 

Erick also drew this neat picture- I think it's really good considering it was drawn by an almost 5 year old!