Compassion Joys: January and February

Because I'm having a little trouble keeping up with my regularly recurring blog posts, I decided to space them out a little further. So I'm trying to share about my Compassion news every two months instead of every month. Let's see how it goes!

Letters! 

Between January and February, we received 53 letters!! The vast majority of those arrived in February, when we received between 2 and 5 letters most days. We also received some mistake letters, meaning some letters from kids that we lost as correspondents quite a long time ago were mistakenly given to us. It was nice to hear from Sithum, Elifagason, Jemal, and others, even though we weren't supposed to get those letters. :) There were also a few first letters mixed in there, including one from Anahi's brother Isai in Honduras!

Photo Updates!

A couple of our kids had photo updates in the new year, too! We are expecting plenty more as the year goes on, since many of our kids last had a photo update in 2015.

Prayer

Bauner

Anggi

Abdias

Extra Photos! 

This has been a good month for extra photos! We received a few gift photos from some of our kids, as well as a fun bonus photo or two. :)

Some kids at Milder's project celebrating Sponsor's Day

Gift photos of Carla in Boliva

Gift photo of William in Bolivia

New Kids

It's been exciting to receive a few new correspondents so far in 2017! Here are the new faces who have joined our family recently.

Simon, Bangladesh

Amilcar, Guatemala

Shanta, Bangladesh

Kenia in Nicaragua

Graduations

We had four graduations in the first two months of this year! Laura in the Dominican Republic actually graduated in November of last year, but because of some software updates going on, she sort of lingered on our account for a couple of months. We are now facebook friends and I'm happy that I get to see more of her life and get to know her better there! Yesenia in Peru also graduated in February. We had only received two letters from her in the time we had her as a correspondent, but I'm glad I was able to send her off with lots of letters! Austin in Kenya and Carlos in Peru also graduated early, which was a big surprise! I heard that Austin moved away to another city and has his own apartment, which is amazing, and he is working to open a garage with his mechanic skills! Carlos is currently working in Lima and is preparing to start some university classes this month! I am now also facebook friends with Carlos, and I am so ridiculously thankful for this opportunity to keep in touch with him. We have even chatted on Messenger a few times! It's awesome!



Prayer Requests

This week, we received a response from an inquiry for Said in Tanzania. I had asked about an inquiry because his information recently updated to say that there was only one child living at home. Said lost one sister a few years ago, but he still had one. I'm glad to learn that Moshi is ok, but sad to hear that they had to send her to another city to live with a relative because it was a financial struggle to keep the family together. I am praying about ways to help reunite the family that would be a long term solution for the family. Please pray that something will come up and Moshi can return to her family soon.

I am also working on putting together some fundraising opportunities to purchase a wheelchair for our Jefferson Joel in Ecuador. Seeing his photo makes me hurt for him, because he is all squished up in the stroller so they can move him around more easily. I have been praying about this since he was added to our account last month, and while we can't get a solid number on what exactly it would cost for him to get this chair at the moment, I do believe that God has given me the figure that I need to try to raise. Please pray that my fundraising efforts will be successful and that we will be able to provide him with this much needed device as soon as possible. And if you have some good fundraising ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Project Letter: GU-996

We recently received a letter from Bauner's project in Guatemala! All the photos are from Compassion's website.

My name is Javier C., pastor of Iglesia Bautista "Palestina," which partners with Compassion to (the project where your sponsored child attends. We are located in the region of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. Cordial greetings! I wish you blessings in all that you do.

As a pastor, I thank you for your monthly support to Bauner. He receives it with smiles and even tears in his eyes. All our beneficiaries have their own Holy Bibles, uniforms, school supplies, and delicious food received in their classrooms. We thank God for what you send Bauner.

We live in a region of hot weather. Our population speaks Queqchi and their educational level is sixth grade; just some students reach ninth grade. The main sources of income are corn, achoite (annatto) and chili farming. We count on water, electricity, transportation, and general dwelling. There are asphalted roads where heavy transportation travels. However, we are mainly affected by thefts, family problems, and violence.

My vision for this church is to be a united church, with love to the neighbor, firm in their Christian faith, reaching all families everywhere through Gospel preaching. My vision for this center is to show the way of truth in Jesus, teaching registered boys and girls how to generate income for their families and good health practices.

Compassion's program has impacted our beneficiaries, since they are now responsible, know Jesus, love God, and are respectful wherever they go, different from those children who are not part of the program, who are irreverent, don't know Jesus, and misbehave everywhere. Last year 30 children came to Christ at the center.

Regarding the health area, 27 beneficiaries are recovering from a contagious disease and we are helping them through medical treatment and follow ups, thanks to your help. Another girl had a surgery due to a hernia, and thanks to God all of them are now stronger and healthier. Their parents are also very grateful to God and to sponsors.

We have 273 registered children, and 89 of them are attending regular services at church. 88 beneficiaries have sponsors, and 28 families belong to the Baptist church and are now active members.

Letters between children and sponsors are very useful, since they can be in direct communication with one another. Children are able to thank their sponsors for their monthly contribution, with their own words, and learn about their health, job, etc. Boys and girls become really excited when they receive a letter and are encourage to participate in activities in the center. However, those who don't receive any correspondence feel sad and ask why their sponsors don't write to them. Please make a time to write often to Bauner; just a few lines means so much to them.

I ask your prayers for the provision of the necessary funds to solve the problem of the church's land. Pray for the 27 beneficiaries who were affected by the virus to be strengthened and completely healed. Also pray for jobs to those parents who don't have a job. Thank you very much for your contribution to our children. Thank you also for reading this letter. May God bless your paths and your family.




If you're interested in sponsoring a child from Bauner's project, please consider sweet little Sonia! She has two siblings at home and helps her family take care of their animals! Read more about her here.

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!

Outgoing Mail: Gifts of the Magi

I've been sending a lot of letter replies recently, still catching up from letters received a few weeks ago. One "new" letter I've sent this month is about Christmas!

A few weeks ago, maybe during Thanksgiving week, my pastor was talking about gifts and the things for which we are thankful. He told a cute story about his grandson that I immediately knew I wanted to share with our kids! The short version is that they were playing a "treasure hunt" game, and the treasure that the grandson chose to hide was very unexpected- but it was still precious to him. Our pastor then asked the parents of the church to talk to their kids about what kind of gift they would give Jesus if they could. They are then supposed to bring those to our Christmas Day service, and they'll be placed at the altar. I know he's asked the parents to include a note explaining why the kids chose that gift, and he'll use that in a later message. So I, in turn, asked *my* kids what kind of gift they would give baby Jesus! I also told them about a treasure that is important to me. I really hope that I hear back from several of the kids on this. I tried numbering the questions so the translators or tutors will know to pay special attention to them, as has been recommended on Compassion's website before. We'll see if it works!

I'm sharing the text of the letter here, so you can tweak it if you like. It might be fun to talk to your own sponsor kids about the gifts of the wisemen, and ask them what they would give! I also sent a nativity coloring page (which I found using Google) which you can download and send. And Compassion has two different nativity-themed pieces of stationery on their website!

Hello! Greetings from my family to yours. I can't believe that Christmas is just two weeks away. My pastor shared an interesting story in church last week, and I wanted to pass it along to you. It really had me thinking! Many of his sermons have been about Christmas recently, since the holiday is almost here. He was speaking about gifts. I think we all have gifts on our mind during Christmas, because of the gifts we give each other, and the gifts we receive. We even read about gifts in the Bible, when we read about the wise men who traveled to see baby Jesus and present him with gifts of gold and precious perfumes. My pastor (his name is Bill) had a question for us that had me thinking quite a bit- if we could give a gift to God, what would it be? We usually think about the gifts God gives us, but what would we give him if we had the chance? Bill then told us about an afternoon he spent with his grandson (I think he is 6 years old.) Bill and his wife were visiting their daughter and her family for Thanksgiving. The grandson likes to play a game called "treasure hunt," where he hides a treasure in a box and then they make a map to go find it. And he said "it has to be a treasure!" A treasure is something very special and valuable- even if it is not worth a lot of money, it may have a special emotional value. So the grandson hid the treasure, and Bill followed the map to find it. When he opened the box, he was surprised to see that the treasure was a bread roll from Thanksgiving dinner the day before! At first, it didn't seem like a treasure- but then Bill remembered that his grandson had eaten four or five of those rolls during dinner! He loved them so much and they were his favorite part of the meal- and he would have eaten more if he could! So this was a treasure to him. Something very special that he wanted to share with his grandfather. Bill asked us what gift we could give to Jesus if we had the chance, and asked the parents in our church to ask their children the same question. On Christmas, the children can bring their gifts and leave them at the altar as a symbol of their gift to God. I can't wait to see what they bring. I wanted to ask you two questions. 1. What is something that you treasure? 2. What would you give to baby Jesus if you had been there when he was born? For me, something I treasure is the Bible that belonged to my friend and mentor Betty, who passed away a few years ago. And I think I would make a soft blanket of the finest yarn for baby Jesus, so he wouldn't have to sleep wrapped in rags and dirty cloths in the manger. 
I hope to hear from you soon! I love you so much and I am praying for you every day. I can't wait to learn about your replies to my questions! 
Love, Jessi

Project Letter: DR-385

Here's a letter from Yarianny's project in the Dominican Republic! All the photos came from Compassion's website.

Hello! I hope you are doing well. May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus reign in your home. My name is Ramon P., and I am a pastor of (the church) in the northern region of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Here we minister to Yarianny, your sponsored child, in (the project.)

I want to thank you for your great effort and determination you have shown in seeing to Yarianny's well-being. Thanks to that, we have been able to provide for several needs. Through you, we have been able to reach our children in a more complete way, with all the benefits of a Dominican childhood.

We belong to a community whose growth and development is a little scarce. Due to that, we see ourselves as having the responsibility to contribute to such growth. It is a challenge for us to work for the growth of this community, since we see so much delinquency and corruption in it, and the youths are oftentimes involved in such acts.But in Jesus' name, we will take our children away from the enemy!

Our vision for our church and center is to reach both children and their parents and closest family members, and therefore, create healthy families. Where there are healthy families and communities, as well as a growing and healthy church, God is glorified.

Currently 11 of the center's children's families attend our church. We also have 7 youths who have completed the program, and some of them are part of our youth ministry.

I want to highlight that it is really important for children to receive their letters, since they get really happy when they receive them. They also get very sad when they see other children get letters and they don't. I want to motivate you to write to your child. If you already do, I encourage you to continue in this good action.

Without further ado, hoping the Lord provides for your needs and compensates you for your good actions, I say farewell.




If you're interested in sponsoring a child from Yarianny's project, check out sweet Juan! He's so happy! Juan is 5 years old and has been waiting over 9 months for a sponsor.

Sweet Greetings from Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Haiti, Brazil, and Bolivia

Happy Mail Call Monday!

Mary A.

This year our Ghana girls have been writing pretty short letters. I was excited that Mary not only responded to each prompt on her stationery, but that she wrote a whole extra page! Mary said they've been learning about decision making and consequences at the project. and her family is doing really well. She said she really enjoyed the animal letters I sent this fall. She said she's been learning bead making, sewing, and cooking at the project. She also wrote about the Odwira festival, which you can read about here. I always love it when the kids tell me about local festivals. I get to learn a little about their culture, and I get a better idea about where they live!

Francisco

We hadn't heard from Francisco for 7 or 8 months, so it was great to get his letter! He didn't say too much, but he did mention his visit with the Canadian sponsor tour group and getting to meet Jennifer and Katrina! He said he was so happy to meet my friends and he was really grateful that they spent time with him. The form portion of his letter was about holidays and special events. His favorite holiday is Carnival and he likes throwing fireworks! He also said that when they have school holidays, he goes fishing with his dad. And he said he was sending lots of kisses and hugs! He also drew this picture.

Carla

We also got our first letter from little Carla in Bolivia this week! We've had Carla since the spring and hadn't heard from her. I'm so thankful that Bolivia letters are on the move again. Carla's letter was also about her holidays. Her favorite is Christmas, and when she's on holiday she likes to play and watch movies. And at Christmas, when she's with her family, she plays and talks to everybody! Carla wrote that she greets me with the peace of the Lord, which is lovely. Carla said she got to go to the zoo recently! That's so fun! She said she hoped that we would send more letters, and drew this lovely picture! 

Patricia 

Patricia shared that recently there was some flooding in her town, when "the river got full." She said that the project then opened the door to everyone and handed out clothes and food! She also shared that she's started taking drawing classes at the project, and she loves it. She also said her church is called Church of Peace and she's involved in the youth group there, and she likes to go with her sisters! 

Zalifina

Zalifina's letter arrived just five days after she wrote it! She lives in the Manyara region, named for the big lake there (which I have seen, from a distance!) It's just a couple hours away from where the field office is. How neat that her letter came so fast! Zalifina said she'd taken the national exam and she was confident she had passed because of what she had read in the Bible. She said she keeps rejoicing when she gets letters, and she prays that I keep writing with the same heart. She shared that the mangoes on the trees were ripe, and she really likes mangoes (me too!) She asked how many trees I've planted! 

Teresia

Teresia's letter arrived the same day as Zalifina's, but it was written a bit earlier. Teresia's family isn't planting mangoes, they're planting maize and millet! She said she prays every day for me to have a long life, which is so sweet. And she invited me to come spend Christmas with her! If only I could! I think Tanzania would be a wonderful place to spend the holidays. Joy and praise are overflowing there. It would be hard not to be in the Christmas spirit. 

Said

It was a good week for Tanzania letters! Said said his family is doing fine. I am going to do an inquiry for him when I can, though, because his family description online has changed a bit in a way that concerns me. Said said that he liked learning that it was hot where we live this summer. I'm glad someone enjoyed it! :) And he liked hearing about the summer reading program at the library! Said wants to know if our church has a project like his church does! And he enjoyed reading about the "animal garden" (the zoo) and told me he's visited a national park before and seen animals there! 

Benji

This was our first letter from Haiti since the Hurricane. Benji didn't have a lot to say, but he did say that the hurricane didn't really affect his family, and asked us to pray for the families that lost their homes and crops. 

Fatuma

Fatuma shared that every day, her family goes to the mosque. I'm thankful that her family is open to her attending the project and based on what she has described to me in her letters, they aren't really in opposition to Christian teaching. I like knowing when my kids live in places where people get along. :) Fatuma said that they have been discussing business plans at the project, which is pretty impressive since she's so young! She said she wants to open her own business selling mangoes and oranges. She said that her favorite thing to eat at the project is pilau, and they also get a fruit with their meals. 

Gloria

Two letters from Gloria arrived this week, which was great since we hadn't heard from her in over six months! Gloria asked how I am doing and said "I think you are fine." Gloria has been away at school- she wrote to me a while back that she was starting a new school, but I didn't realize it was a boarding school! Her teacher is named Edith and there are 35 students in her class. She also shared the names of her family members- her mom's name is Charity and her dad's name is Leonard! She also said "my teachers love me because I am well behaved." She is such a sweet little girl- I don't doubt that! 

Also, just as a general sort of announcement, I am thinking of taking a break from this after the holidays. I've been struggling with blogging lately for a couple of reasons. Most of the time I just feel like I'm talking to myself. When this started there was a nice little community of sponsors who were blogging for Compassion and we were all communicating with each other. Now, most of the women who got me interested in both Compassion and blogging have sort of dropped out. And I don't think blogs are as much of a "thing" as they used to be anyway. I'm not sure what people are doing now instead. Maybe live facebook videos. I don't know. But it's been a few weeks since anyone commented on here and I don't think there's much of a "readership" anymore. Plus the advocacy part doesn't seem as effective- in two years only one person has sponsored from this blog, and I'm at the point now where I feel like if my friends and family were going to sponsor, they would have done it. I might still share waiting kids or pastor letters on my personal facebook page, but with no interaction from people reading this (if anyone is) and no known fruits of my labor, I guess you'd call it, motivation is kind of tough to come by. I love telling people about my kids, but on Sunday nights or Monday mornings, when I think of how I "have to" come here and post, I feel a little frustrated and like I want to procrastinate. And I don't like that feeling. I might change my mind, and I hope to have some updates to share on my other blog about our adoption, but I just wanted to share what's on my mind and why you might see a lack of posts in the new year.