Project Letter: BO-361

Here's a letter from Carla's project in Bolivia!  All the photos came from Compassion's website. 

Fraternal greetings in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, hoping that the grace and peace of the Highest One overwhelms you.

My name is Roberto R. I am the Pastor in the (church) in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We work with the Child Development Center where you sponsor Carla.

We are deeply thankful for the work and social help you give to Carla. Sponsorship is a great blessing for us and this is a great tool to teach the Gospel to the families that are receiving this benefit. We know that this is the great commission for the church; to preach the good news. The letters that the sponsored children receive are an encouragement where their worries are transformed into strength.

The church is located in a neighborhood that is growing in population because a lot of people from the center of Santa Cruz are starting to move here. Many people are moving to the suburbs of the city so we, as a church, have the need to preach the gospel to families that don't know the way to salvation. A really good way to reach them is to get to the families with food and education based on Biblical principles and Christian values. During these times we have been struggling with social insecurity, alcoholism, and drug addictions. Sadly our neighborhood is involved in these same social misbehaviors, but we firmly stand with the conviction that only God can change men from their sins.

The church is accomplishing the work in the measure of our possibilities, knowing that the center is a social tool of the church for this community. We have enthusiasm but we struggle with problems like family disintegration, very low family commitment, social dangers, etc.

We see big differences in sponsored children. They are healthy and have Christian values. The student center is an oasis inside their world where their reality is another one. Some of them do not have food, they don't have affection compensation, nor any advice, despite that all, they try to overcome their reality making a difference. We have former sponsored children that already graduated from different professions and they are also spiritual leaders in their churches.

This last year we have been putting an emphasis on missions, we are forming missionary teams, and we are also doing recess with the children from the suburbs and going to schools. The reception of letters and gifts are priceless for our sponsored children, we can see the great joy in their faces when they know that somebody remembers them. This has even more value because they don't physically know their sponsor, they feel that someone cares for them unconditionally, and that feeds their self-esteem. One can see the difference with the other children who don't receive anything, they feel sad. We know that sponsors have little time, but we encourage sponsors to please continue writing letters if they can. We know that this is a great encouragement for the boys and girls.

We ask you to please pray for the students and the people responsible of the student center, because it is a really delicate work. I say goodbye with a fraternal hug, wishing many blessings from our Lord Jesus Christ for your support of Carla.

I also found a video filmed at Carla's project! It was shared by Compassion Canada's facebook page, and I recognized the uniform shirts. :) I asked them just to be sure that it was her project, and I was right! 




If you are interested in sponsoring a child from Carla's project, precious Dulce has been waiting over six months for a sponsor! She's 9 years old and her birthday is July 11. You can read more about her here!