Project Letter: HA-277

Here's another one of the pastor's letters we've received recently! This one is from Benji's center in Haiti. 

Dear Jessi,

My name is Jean Emile Imbry, the pastor of the Wesleyan Church Philippe in the region of Bainet; Bras-de-Croix. Our CDC is attended by your sponsored child. I thank you so very much for your supports towards Benji.

Our community is going further financially and socially. But, we have some challenges. Our school is not in good condition and then the church is too small. Also, I cannot satisfy all the people who are requesting to enter in the program. So, my aim for the church is to renovate the building and continue to evangelize more people. We are working to add more registered children. Now, we have 280 sponsored children.

Our children are more developed than the other children of the community because they have assistances from their sponsors like school fees, health care, school items, and gifts. One of our girls at the center was wounded by a stone hitting over her head and her parents couldn't afford to tend her. Thanks to the center and the assistance of Compassion Haiti, she had an operation and it happened well, thanks to God. Now, the child is healthy. From time to time, some organizations come to ask us a hand in order to repair the roads. Many parents of the children go to church; some of them attend my church and others go to other churches in the community.

The relationship between a child and a sponsor is so important and capital. A child is always excited to receive a letter from their sponsor. I think it is similar to the sponsors, too. I exhort the children to write good letters to their sponsors. I make sure that I am present by the time the letters are being written because I love to see the children's faces as they write. I hope you know the importance of your letters to Benji and will write often.

I sincerely want to assure you that your child is in good hands because I work in close collaboration with the employees in order to change the life condition of the children. We have a good staff that consists of teachers and instructors to teach the children Bible verses and stories.

I cannot stop thanking you for your supports towards Benji through Compassion International. At church, we are praying for you a lot so that God can bless you much more and give you good health. Please, pray for the children so that God can make a way for them and do efficient work in their lives and that they can always remain in Jesus!

101 Letter-Writing Ideas

I know I keep telling you guys how much I love my new job, and part of that is because I work with some amazing people. While I don't look forward to giving up my afternoons and evenings of Netflix-watching and house-organizing, once I get to work, I am having lots of fun, and I feel really content. Thursday nights in particular are a treat because I get to work with my friend Steph. We have so much fun! On a recent Thursday, we spent quite a bit of our downtime talking about Compassion and letter-writing. Steph started sponsoring a little girl in Ghana about two years ago, and she and I were talking about different things to write about in some upcoming letters. I think that soon she's going to send her a letter about the Derby Festival here in town, with plenty of pictures of the fireworks! While we were chatting, I rattled off some other random letter ideas, and told Steph she should just make a list for future reference. And then she told me to make a list. So I decided to write up these letter-writing ideas, as quickly as I can (as a fun challenge) and share it with you! If I missed anything, tell me in the comments!

*Note: these ideas include some specifically related to my city, Louisville, but they may inspire you to write similar letters about your own city (or you can write about Louisville, too, because there's some cool stuff going on here.)

1. The weather. Not as boring as it sounds. 
2. Snow. If it snows where you live, describe it to your kids. Keep in mind that most of the countries where Compassion works have a very warm climate and I'd wager that 90% of the kids will not see snow in their lifetime. 
3. The history of your country
4. The history of your state
5. Someone famous from your city or state 
6. A traditional dish your family prepares
7. Your experiences with eating food from your child's country (they LOVE this)
8. A hobby or craft you're good at
9. What you were like when you were your child's age
10. Your parents
11. Your grandparents
12. Your best friend
13. Your favorite childhood pet
14. Your job- what you do, why you like it, who your coworkers are
15. A list of your favorites- and send a blank list for your child to fill out and return (fingers crossed)
16. Something you want to learn to do
17. Your church
18. Your pastor
19. A recent sermon you enjoyed
20. Missionaries- talk about any missionaries you know or have met or have heard about
21. Someone you admire, even if it's someone you've never met
22. Watch a movie from your child's country and write to them about it
23. Try something new and write to your child about it
24. Tell them about your favorite teacher when you were a kid
25. Or what Sunday school was like
26. Or what summer vacation was like when you were a kid
27. Write about the Derby Festival
28. Or your last trip to the zoo
29. Or talk about Museum Row and the neat things that happen there (Frazier International History Museum, Slugger Museum, Science Museum) 
30. Write about horses and how they relate to Kentucky 
31. Flags- write about your country's flag and explain how it came to be. Talk about your child's flag and ask them what they know about it. 
32. Tell them about your neighborhood
33. Or your neighbors
34. Or your last trip to the beach
35. Or the mountains
36. Or the aquarium
37. Or a national monument
38. Tell them about your favorite period in history
39. Or your favorite historical figure
40. Share about your typical day
41. How does your family celebrate New Year's?
42. Or Valentine's Day?
43. Easter?
44. Father's Day and Mother's Day?
45. Memorial Day and Veteran's Day?
46. Thanksgiving?
47. Christmas?
48. Write about the seasons. A lot of our kids don't have four seasons- they have rainy and dry. Or their seasons are different than ours in other ways.
49. Fall festivals, pumpkin picking and other autumn activities
50. New babies- do you have a new baby in your family? Write about it! Send pictures! 
51. Gardening. Do you have a garden? What do you grow? What would you grow if you could? Ask your child if his family grows any fruits or vegetables. You might learn about a plant you've never heard of before! 
52. If you've been baptized, write about that experience
53. If you are a Christian, share your testimony with your child
54. What did you want to be when you grew up? How is it different than what you are doing now? 
55. What's your favorite sport? 
56. If you don't care about sports, maybe research one and write a letter about it anyway. Something familiar, like basketball, may not be very popular in your child's country. Or you could write about something a little more obscure, such as curling or sumo wrestling
57. Have you ever visited a cave? Caves are cool. Write about caves. Kentucky has Mammoth Cave, which is the longest cave system in the world. Run with that. Anything science-y, really. 
58. Write about your name!! If you don't know what it means, look it up. Share how you got that name, if there's a neat story behind it. Ask your child about her name. I did this recently, and received several responses! 
59. Share a story about a surprise blessing from God
60. Or how God has been faithful to your family
61. Or a prayer request. Your child is praying for you. Don't be ashamed to share how they can pray specifically for your life. 
62. Describe a way that you serve others
63. Or a way that you would like to serve
64. How are you praying for your sponsored child?
65. Share about a positive news story (be sure to include pictures!) 
66. Where do your parents work? What do they do? 
67. Where is your favorite place you've ever traveled?
68. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? 
69. Did you go to college? Write about what that was like, the challenges you faced, and how you got through them. 
70. Does anyone you know live on a farm? Write about farms. Many of our kids live in agricultural communities- it would be fun to compare and contrast farms where you live and farms where they live! 
71. Do you have a spiritual mentor or a really great prayer partner? Write about them!
72. Write about an instrument you play
73. Or your favorite painting
74. Or a poem you like
75. Have you ever been to a sports game? Write about that experience. 
76. Pick a national park and write about it. 
77. Seek out information about one of Compassion's graduates and write about them. 
78. Here's one to get you started.
79. Write about a sidewalk game. These games can be played without many extra toys or tools. Hannah has been sending lots of them to her kids, and they love them! 
80. Write about astronauts. Your child's country may never have sent people into space, and may not have much of a space program. Look up astronauts, the International Space Station, and info about rockets, and share it with them. 
81. Do you have a favorite plant? Perhaps a flower or tree you're particularly fond of? Write about it! 
82. Write about your favorite singer. One time I wrote my girls about Dolly Parton and shared about her Imagination Library program, and told them about the story behind her song "Coat of Many Colors." 
83. If your child has recently experienced a loss, write about a time you lost someone you love. Talk about what they meant to you and how you got through it. 
84. Look up news stories from your child's country, briefly share about them and tell your child about your prayers for their country. 
85. The Olympics are happening again next year (I think.) Write about them. 
86. Try writing a note to your child's parent or caregiver sometime. Tell them you're glad that your families are connected and you're praying for them. 
87. Same for their teacher, tutor, or helper at the project. 
88. What was your favorite subject in school? 
89. Was there a subject you struggled with? How did you deal with that? 
90. Was there a challenge you worked to overcome as a child? How did you do it? 
91. Write out a description of what you do at church- what time you get there, the order of the service, describe your pastor and share about any friends or family who go to your church (my kids love hearing how some Sundays, our family takes up a whole row of seats!)
92. Talk about your extended family, and what you do when you get together. 
93. If you're married, share how you met your spouse. 
94. Talk about weddings you've attended and describe some wedding traditions from your country. Ask your child about weddings in his or her country. 
95. Share about your talents, and ask your child about theirs. 
96. How do you remember your sponsor child? Is their picture hanging in your home? Do you keep a photo of them on your desk? Tell your child about this stuff! 
97. How has being a Compassion sponsor changed you? 
98. Have you ever influenced a friend or family member to become a sponsor? Share about that journey! 
99. This isn't really a topic, but just pick out a cute card and send it to your kid! The card company does all the thinking for you- and what a lovely surprise for your child! 
100. Has your child reached a milestone recently? Maybe they've moved up a grade at school, or participated in a competitive event at the project. Write them a note of encouragement about these things! 
101. Read back through your old letters from your child. Send them a note about how they've changed, what you thought when you first sponsored them, how excited you are to receive their letters. And how you hope to write letters for many years to come. :) 

Pastor's Letter: Ecuador (EC-261)

Here's a letter from the pastor of the church which is the central focus of EC261. I'd heard about this "center" for a while before I had a child there- unlike most centers, which you can think of as after-school programs based out of churches, this center covers a huge area in the Amazon jungle. Some of the little communities are closer to major infrastructure, but a lot of them are only visited by little airplanes piloted by missionaries every few months. So by and large, people don't get letters from these kids very often. And I hate it when they complain about it. We shouldn't be doing this because of the number of letters we receive- that goes right back to my gratitude post last week, where I said we should try to check our motives for giving. Anyway. I thought about the center and the people with kids there as I was reading this letter. It's so sweet. 

Dear Jessi,

Greetings and a big hug in the love of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.

My name is Lloyd Daniel Rogers. I am the pastor of the church "Mision Evangelica Ecuador para Cristo" and the Child Development Center, Copataza, where Mary Paola is sponsored. The center is located in the Amazon Jungle of Ecuador. In this area of the jungle there are indigenous communities like Quichua, Huaorani, Zapara, Shuar, and Achuar.

Our vision is to be leaders in planting churches with the healthy doctrine of contributing to the integral development of children, youth, and their families. This is done in various activities held each year including conferences, summer schools, camps, and sporting events.

Through this letter I want to express my sincere gratitude for the sponsorship and the help offered to our children and youth, and I thank God for it is He who puts in the hearts of people the desire to support and be a part of the life of each of our children and youth.

Our Center serves over 250 children in their education through the provision of school materials and supplies. We assist in the physical area with medical care, and socio-emotional and spiritual areas through various activities. In these months we are making individual medical checkups with the help of volunteer doctors. We also provide some food for each child to supplement their diet because in the jungle we do not have all the necessary vitamins. This year we are planning to have summer camps, conferences, and celebrate their birthdays; in the Center we celebrate all their birthdays because it is really nice to see the happiness of the children when we do so.

Our Center has been greatly blessed by the Complementary Interventions funds in transportation, which has allowed us to reach a wider range of children in the region. We also received the Complementary Intervention for individual medical attention. This fund helps us to buy medicine and pay for the doctor's flights into the area who help us detect and prevent diseases, and if necessary, transport children to larger hospitals with specialists.

The impact that Compassion has on the lives of children and youth of our Center is reflected in their attitudes and actions and faithfulness to God. The Center itself has led to a great change in the lives of people and communities sharing the Word of God and respecting their culture, which has allowed us to raise men and women that have become responsible leaders in their communities and in the local church. Many of the youth have finished school and felt the call of the Lord, continued to the Bible Institute, and have returned to their communities to collaborate and support in various areas in their churches. Some of them have decided to serve God in helping in the Center.

Our children and youth are very shy and do not express their feelings too much, but when they receive a letter from their sponsors they show so much joy and happiness. For them it is very important because in their culture they do not communicate through letters. The dream of every child is to someday meet their sponsors. We have had several visits and this has been an unforgettable experience.

My prayer request is for you to continue praying for the lives of children, youth, families, and Center workers so together we can glorify the Lord and be an example of the love of Christ where he has placed us.

I am grateful to God for your ministry through the sponsorship of Mary Paola. Thank you for your great work and being part of what God is doing in the jungle of Ecuador.

May God bless you and reward you.

Project Letter: LK-408

Here's a letter from our Sithum's pastor in Sri Lanka!

I am Antony Robert, leader of the church in Sri Lanka that runs the Peace Makers Foundation, the child development center attended by Sithum.

The Peace Makers Foundation is very pleased and much thankful to you for giving us this wonderful occasion to serve the children. At the moment there are 157 children registered and out of that 89 are sponsored. We can see there are real changes visible in the lives of the children so we encourage you to continue supporting Compassion International. 

In the beginning parents didn't show much desire to send their children to the church for the center, but now they willingly send their children to the center. In the beginning there were lots of misunderstandings about the center but those all were clarified.

The center is conducted in the church and we face some challenges with the facilities we have at the moment. We have a committed and skillful staff. Teachers are doing the curriculum well and freely. Parents regularly appreciate and give thanks to the church and the sponsors for the development they see in their children. 

There is a big challenge we face on the languages. Most of our teachers are Sinhala but there are many parents who only know Tamil. So it is very difficult for the teachers to communicate with the parents.

In the past year our center has seen changes happening in the lives of the children and the parents. Compared with other children, our children have the opportunity to spend the school holidays meaningfully by coming to the center. We regularly see and hear from the parents that our children are practicing and share the things they learn from the center like good behaviors, songs, and stories.

We see that children like very much to write to their sponsors. They show such willingness to write to their sponsors and they expect immediate answers. The correspondence itself provides encouragement and desire for the children to participate in the center.

We had a wonderful opportunity to support the community on two disaster situations due to flooding and a burnt house. We strongly believe and trust that God may change and use these children to make a real difference in this area.

Once again we appreciate and give many thanks to Compassion International for giving us this valuable opportunity to fulfill the church vision for children. We pray for you all and please pray for us to continue in this commitment and win all challenges to make this vision a reality.

Thank you again for sponsoring Sithum. May God bless you.

Nilupul attends the same center as Sithum and he needs a sponsor! Read more about him here. 

Four out of five ain't bad.

This week's gratitude post is a little awkward. I am supposed to list five things I like about myself, and why or how I'm grateful for those things. Which is super awkward because I have to talk about myself in a way that, to me, feels like bragging, and to be honest, with my self-esteem issues and depression, it can be hard to think of one thing I like about myself most days. So I don't know if I'll be able to come up with five things, but we'll try.

1. I like my strength. I don't like the fact that I have an anxiety disorder, or that most of my childhood memories are filled with miserable panic attacks. But I do like the fact that it's made me a stronger person. I'm pretty good at pushing through stuff that makes me uncomfortable. And I hate chickening out about stuff, because that makes me feel like my anxiety's winning, and I like being in control of my life, thank you very much. So my anxiety has made me a stronger person, and I like that. In counseling a few weeks ago, I was asked if I could imagine my life without the specter of anxiety, and I said that I could envision a life without panic attacks because I've had a few "off years" where it wasn't really an issue for me. Then she asked if I could imagine removing anxiety from my past- like, what life would have been like growing up without it. I said no. It's a part of me. It's not a great part, but it has helped to shape who I am. 
2. I like my craftiness. And by that, I don't mean shadiness. I like my artistic ability, which took a while to discover. It may mean my house is cluttered with craft supplies, but I also have a bunch of fun hobbies and the ability to make things that make people happy, whether it's helping with projects at work, making things for my sponsor kids, or planning crafts for the kids in Tanzania. It's fun. I like to create. 
3. I like my giving spirit. And I'm not talking about monetary stuff, because I don't have a lot of money. But I like the fact that I like giving people things to make them happy, whether it's writing letters to my sponsor kids, putting a lot of thought into people's Christmas presents, or baking a cobbler just because for my coworkers. I like giving and sharing and making people smile. I'm thankful that I'm built that way. Some people aren't. 
4. I like that it's easy for me to love. I love people. And animals, too. I am an overly empathetic person- that bit can be annoying sometimes, because I cry a lot at silly things, like movie scenes that don't make anyone else cry. Or commercials. Or books. But I think that the empathy makes it easier for me to be compassionate and see both sides of a situation and figure out what I can do to help. I'm glad I'm not a grumpy old mean person. I'm thankful that I worry about what other people are feeling, because it keeps me from hurting others sometimes with my sassy mouth (and it makes me properly apologetic when I do let something slip.) I have had more than my fair share of run-ins with nasty people over the past couple of years, and have experienced a lot of betrayal. And sometimes I wonder how those people got that way- how do you get to the point where you actively try to hurt people? Or how do you get to the point where you think it's ok to be hurtful? And I'm thankful that the way my heart is designed, I don't think that I'll ever be that way. 

OK, so I didn't get to 5. I tried. But all things considered, I think that I did pretty well. 

So here's my encouragement for you this week. I'm not going to say "think about how awesome you are" because that's weird and is totally missing the point. I'm going to ask you to think about what makes you you. What makes you unique, what makes you special. Even if it's stuff that seems bad on the surface, like my anxiety. And be grateful for it. Be thankful to God for making you that way. Be thankful to your family for shaping your mind and your life growing up. Be thankful for the tough experiences that have made you a better person. 

A Fork in the Road

Hey folks,

I am going to be blogging in two places from now on- you can expect the same content on this blog, but I am going to share personal posts of a particular nature on another, newer blog. I just feel like it's what I need to do in this season of my life. This blog is about adoption- and while I need to make it clear that Brandon and I are not currently in any sort of official stage of adopting a child (sorry to disappoint), that's where those kind of posts are going to be, and I'll be sharing my heart about the topic there in the meantime. You can read more about what's going on in my head in the first post, which you'll find here. And I invite you to follow along, because maybe from time to time I will have some interesting things to say. I'll definitely be sharing lots of prayer requests and related posts there, too.

Oh, and the nice thing about this particular fork in the road is that you can keep following both roads at once. : ) I just couldn't think of a better phrase at the time of this writing!

Edit: Also, I am sharing this post on my facebook page and other "media outlets" (har) because if I were to share a post from "Jones, Party of Three" on there right now, people would skip the crucial step of actually reading/thinking and start congratulating me or whatever. So I am rolling it out slowly, and covering it up (for the moment) with *this* blog so some certain people don't get the wrong idea! I feel like I've just fed you some clickbait- sorry! But there's a reason behind it! 

Pastor's Letter: Thailand (TH-817)

We have been receiving a few more pastor's letters recently! Technically this is from a project director rather than a pastor, but....same difference! This is from Tinnakorn's project in Thailand. 

My name is Mr. Nipon Banditjaroenwong. I am the director of Poeng Kloeng Church CDC where we minister to Tinnakorn.

Thank you very much for sponsoring Tinnaorn and supporting our ministry and center. We are located in a very poor community and our vision is to serve the children, to holistically develop them, and release them from poverty in the name of Jesus.

We offer many outstanding activities which are useful for the children at the center, such as memorizing Bible verses, singing praises, and playing games. For the language foundation activity, we teach the children basic English, basic Myanmar, and basic Karen tribal. For older children, we train them in different careers such as raising the fish, making flowers from the yarn or paper to use in the important day or event. We also teach them how to cook in order for them to develop and make a career out of it. Besides the above mentioned, we also teach them about agricultural work by teaching them how to take care of the vegetables in order for them to grow well. We also celebrate birthdays with the children every month, singing and playing. Many of them have never had this before. And we celebrate holidays.

Besides the above outstanding activities that I've mentioned, the center has many more activities, such as setting up training for the staff. They learn and understand more knowledge of how to take care and develop the children in different age groups. The workers can apply this knowledge and use in their job. We've invited a guest speaker that is an expert in this area to come to share this knowledge with us. The center uses the holistic curriculum of Compassion to develop the children in the four areas of social, physical, cognitive, and spiritual development. The children benefit in their transformation from this, but so do the staff and the community and parents. The children are noticeably different from the ones in the community who do not attend the program at the center and they are admired. The children here are very happy and it is clear to be seen. 

The letters that the children receive from their sponsors make them very happy. They feel the warmth and love of their sponsors when they read the prayers and words of encouragement. These letters help to develop their self-esteem and motivate them to continue in the program and at school and at church. They are very eager and proud to share news about their lives with their sponsors and write letters back. It's very important to provide this avenue for joy for Tinnakorn and correspond regularly.

Thank you for loving Tinnakorn and for supporting us in our mission at this ministry and center. You are quite a blessing. May God bless you more and more. Amen.



Little Jorweysoe attends the same center as Tinnakorn, and he is waiting for a sponsor! Read more about him here.