We weaved in and out of Lima, Peru this week dusting ourselves off. Throwing off little pieces of dust with each flick of the wrist. I was throwing off my flesh too. It sticks too close. Enslaving my mind to selfish thoughts, and back home errands, and dull desires.

We also reached out. Grabbing eagerly for each story, every memory, all the smiles and tucking it in our hearts.

“Sit in here”

I said to the memories.

“Don’t move. Please don’t let me forget.”

We have been stuffing ourselves full like Thanksgiving came early.

We went back for seconds, thirds, and fourths.

We promised each child, student, and mother that we would prepare a feast back home too.

This week Thanksgiving did come early. And, in case you missed it, we’ve captured it all for you here.

And it case you wanted to see it, I’d like to show you what Peru looks like.

Peru looks like shantytowns spanning as far as the eye can see. Homes confusing the gravel as they steadily stake their claim.

Peru looks like pathways carpeted with dirt and rocks and little footprints.

Peru looks like ducks and dogs and cats filling the streets. Coming and going, Citizens through and through.

Peru looks like little faces peering out windows, making you check your step, your hurried pace, with their steady gaze.

Peru looks like her.

Prepared for the rain in her little pink boots. In a dry Peru were it never rains. Faithful. Waiting.

Peru looks like women gathering their time, picking up their feet and forming hopeful strides. Arriving at the local church, wearing smiles that will ease the weariness of little souls. Volunteering their time so a child in poverty can eat, and study, and know Jesus, and thrive.

Peru looks like little boys, just like him.

So few years on this earth and already he’s blazing this world with just a look. Ready to be poured into. Prayed over. Loved on. Brought to the feet of his Savior.

Peru looks like my Thanksgiving.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Meet Christian and his mom Nicolasa.

Their home, Nicolasa explained, was the proof she needed that there is a God.

Her home is how she first knew she was not alone.

Then Nicolasa’s eyes glazed, no, not glazed – danced, with tears and she repeated, “Gracias. Gracias. Gracias. Muchas gracias,” and I knew her heart had not been hardened by her circumstances. I knew her heart was softened by gratitude.

Gratitude. It’s mysterious, isn’t it? Like hot water that melts away the hopelessness and the loneliness and the, “why am I here” resistance.

Gratitude that forged a deeper truth in Nicolasa, deeper than what her story could.

Nicolasa’s husband was abusive. In fact, one night he tried to murder her and her children. So Nicolasa fled. With her children and nothing else.

Shortly after they fled Christian, her son, was registered at the local Compassion center, El Buen Pastor Student Center.

The church that is partnered with this center became aware of Christian’s situation and intervened. They were able to intervene through our Highly Vulnerable Children’s Fund.

What is the Highly Vulnerable Children’s (HVC) fund?

First of all, “highly vulnerable children” is another name for children who are considered at greater risk compared to their peers in our Child Sponsorship Program. The HVC fund steps in when there is a need that cannot be covered by monthly sponsorship funds.

Children who have been orphaned by AIDS, war and disasters, and children who are disabled or have extra special needs, are children often identified through the local development centers as at-risk.

When a child is sponsored through Compassion, the local church enters the life of his family. They become well acquainted with him and his needs. They are able to notice if the child is in danger or if there is an issue at home.

If they identify that there is an issue, one that puts the child’s life or his future at-risk then they are able to respond through the HVC fund.

The Highly Vulnerable Children’s fund provides interventions that can include:

• emergency care and support for newly orphaned babies, children and students.
• legal support in the case of human rights violations.
• family-based or foster care and a nurturing home environment.
• food and nutritional supplements.
• trauma counseling and psychological support.
• skills training and income-generating projects for older orphans and caregivers.

When Christian was registered through Compassion he had nothing. Neither did his mom. Not even a permanent place to live. Now, they have a home that was built through the HVC fund.

The walk to her home was rough but the fact was, we had a home to walk to. Nicolasa has a home.

What gift has been given to you that strengthened your faith, or as Nicolasa said, that helped you realize you are not alone?

What has gratitude melted in your heart?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

First there is Monday. It can be crazy. It’s also like a rebirth. Then, next thing you know, it’s Wednesday, that’s hump day. Some weeks you blink and it’s Friday. Others are more of a gradual uphill climb. That’s the standard week.

There are coffee breaks. Early morning wake-up calls. Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. Family dinners. Unexpected gatherings. Repetition.

But one day, one unexpected someday, we are reminded that this day is not conquered by us. Not created by us. Never ever truly what we thought it would be.

Last month I was reminded of this. October was going to be a normal month with planned dinner dates and errand running and church on Sundays…but one evening, one thing changed, and it changed everything.

For me, that one thing was a death.

And all the normal, “business as usual” days that were supposed to be, became something else.

With this came a reminder I did not want. That anything can change, anywhere and at anytime.

Being in Peru this week, warmed by smiling faces, challenged by hardworking mothers, reminded me that those days when the world stops don’t have to be moments of tragedy or unquenchable sorrow.

I was reminded of that today when I met Rafael. Since entering our program, his favorite thing has been to go to church. In fact, he has never missed one day of Sunday school. In fact, he loves memorizing scripture.

He recited his favorite verse, as I stood in his room, watching him clean up. (He loves when his room is clean!)

“Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding…” –Proverbs 2:2, NASB

Then, he pulled out letters from his sponsor. Then, he told me he wants to be an engineer, or a doctor.

And then I realized that for all of Rafael’s life, he has lived in poverty. His normal is poverty.

But one day, in the midst of his normal, he was told he had a sponsor. And that one thing changed everything.

Now he has a dream for the future. A dream that now looks like hope. And that moment when he was told he had a sponsor and then that moment when he received his first letter, changed everything.

Today, maybe your everything will change. Or, maybe today you can change someone’s everything.

A side note: On this trip, I have been challenged as I have looked over the letters from sponsors. Their letters are powerful. I’ve seen a lot of the letters that end with a blessing, almost like a benediction spoken over their sponsored child.

How do you end your letters to your sponsored child? What do you leave them with? How do you change their day? Maybe even their everything?

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

What do you go to?

What do you go to in that moment when a bad day turns into the worst day? When that altercation turned into a situation and that situation is now a reality that is lingering and sticking?

What did you go to when your heart cracked and fell and darkness was suddenly not just the sun setting?

I thought I knew the answer to that question for Marco. I had heard it so many times.

Marco was a sponsored child. His sponsor wrote him faithfully for several years. At age twelve Marco’s life darkened when a family situation (which he did not divulge) left him feeling hopeless.

He explained to us that in those days he needed encouragement. He needed hope.

Before he could finish his sentence I ran through all the options. ALL the options for a child in poverty, as if the list were vast?

The options that people I knew had run to: Drugs. Violence. Alcohol.

I waited for Marco’s response, with less than bated breath, because I had already figured it out.

He responded,

“I turned to the letters from my sponsor.”

He went to his room when the pain had become too heavy. He opened the box that held all the letters, all the letters that maybe his sponsor wondered if he received and read. He pulled each letter out. He read them. Over and over and over.

As he explained about the hope and encouragement that he extracted from those letters, one thought had taken up complete residence within me,

What if my letters were the alternative to drugs? To violence? To a path of hopelessness?

Marco shared his situation with his sponsor. His sponsor continued to write and pray and ask Marco how he was doing. One year later, Marco was baptized.

Today, Marco works for Compassion. He still talks to his former sponsor. They’ve met.

What if today, your sponsored child needs to hear she is loved? Or prayed for? Or that God has a plan for his life? What if God wanted to use your letters to pave a path of hope for a child in poverty who had next to nothing to turn to in the midst of distress?

Ok, I’m laying it on thick. I get that. But I’m not relenting. Not this time. This time there is a face and a name and a future that was realized.

This time, a boy in poverty was welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven, forever saved from an eternity apart from God. Saved from the other choices that would have tried to boast hope in an otherwise hopeless situation.

Your words to a child in a poverty are too precious to set aside. Too precious to become buried in a list of to-dos. They were all too precious to Marco.

You should write a letter to your sponsored child today.

And, after you write your sponsored child, be sure to keep following the Compassion Bloggers in Peru. They are brimming with stories. Their hearts are bursting and you can read why now.

Also, you can join a Twitter chat happening tonight at 9:00pm EST. The Compassion Bloggers will be online waiting to chat with you and answer your questions! Just log onto Twitter and search for #compassion. Then you’re in.

I am telling you, there is nothing like a twitter party! Get your party hats out and leave your party pants at home (mostly because you will be joining from the comfort of your home ☺)

Tweet ya later!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Hello, my name is Brianne and I cancelled my Compassion sponsorship.

File that tidbit right under, the thing I didn’t want any of my co-workers to know. And definitely something I didn’t want you to know.

But I am currently suspended in the air, wrapped up in a metal vessel, headed back to a country that haunts me. Peru.

Peru, the first country I visited outside of the United States. Peru, my first overseas mission trip. Peru, the first place I saw the beach.

The country I sponsored my first Compassion child.

I don’t live in the age when jazz is on its rise, a hot scene. Or when the industry is booming.

I live in the “social injustice” age.

When I was in college poverty, social injustice, and the depravity of the world was hot. It was burn-your-heart hot.

Most of my friends were involved in missions work and worked to bring awareness to our campus.

When I was in college the question wasn’t,

“What company do you want to work for when you graduate?”

It was,

“What mission field are you going to move to?”

I think technology had a huge role in this. All of a sudden Africa, Asia and South America weren’t a faraway land. It had people, and we saw their pictures. It had statistics, and we could look them up.

Family in Peru

It wasn’t a world away, it was one Hotwire or Cheap Tickets purchase away.

When I was in college, I wanted to get out. I wanted to go help. I wanted to be the solution. Not the ignorance. Not the problem.

Amidst this I went on a mission trip to Peru. A rip-my-heart-out trip, an “I don’t think I ever cried on that trip, never, not even after I came back home because I was afraid I’d never stop crying” kind of trip.

And then I went to a conference and heard about Compassion.

I marched myself directly to a table after I heard a Compassion Leadership Development Student speak. I looked and looked and looked at the pictures and there she was. A girl from Peru. That day I became her sponsor.

I was told that I could write her letters and she would write me too. I was told she would know she now has a sponsor. Shortly after the conference I received materials from Compassion about their program and their financial integrity.

Quickly, too quickly, I forgot about what that Compassion student said. I was sure that it was not truly her writing me letters. A girl in poverty? Writing me?

Sponsored children in Peru

And Compassion somehow keeps track of that? And gets the letter to me? And then takes the time to process and translate my letter and get it to her? Um, right. But thanks for the warm fuzzies.

A few years later I decided to cancel my sponsorship.

The problem with the burn I experienced from all the social injustice hype in college was that I only let it burn me, not brand me.

After awhile I was all of a sudden graduating college. I was going to be dropped from health insurance. Oh my gosh. I needed to pay for health insurance. And then there was the real growing up.

Several of my friends did go to the mission field. But I didn’t feel that pull anymore. I needed to get a job. I needed to pay bills. I needed health insurance.

And then one day I realized I didn’t believe in what Compassion was doing. I never researched the ministry. I never read the materials they sent me. I barely even read the letters from my sponsored child.

So, I cancelled. Surely, she wouldn’t know. I mean, she didn’t even know I existed. Right?

Years later, God did call me to minister to the poor in Thailand. And then He called me to work at Compassion.

I remember when I started working here thinking, “And now I will see the underbelly of a ministry that so many people I know support.”

I’ve almost been here for five years. I now have two sponsored children. I believe in what Compassion does. I know my sponsored children know my name. And I know they read my letters.

Now, I’m branded. I’m not branded by hype or an emerging movement. I am not even branded by Compassion. I am branded by the heart of God.

He showed me the beat of His heart. He showed me that He is close to the poor. I want to be close to Him. I want to be close to whatever it is that He is close to – even if it means being in the throes of too many, “will I ever stop crying? It’s all so much to take in” sessions.

The problem is, not everyone reads the mail they receive. Or looks up information on the ministry they support.

In fact, once in a marketing meeting I was asked,

“What can we do to really bring the reality of Compassion’s ministry to the hearts of people?”

I thought and thought about it and I could only respond with two answers. It wasn’t sending more mail. It wasn’t pushing people to get online and research us. It was either to hire everyone to work at Compassion (which is how my Compassion conversion happened) or to take every sponsor to the field. That was it.

Thankfully, in a room I wasn’t in, a few brilliant people decided that we do need to take people on trips. Trips that people who can’t go on trips could follow. And thus the birth of Compassion blog trips. You might not actually get to board the plane and walk through the villages but it is so very close.

Church partner and child development center in Peru

When you follow a blog trip you see through the eyes of several different bloggers and you read what they have to say about Compassion’s ministry.

They are in the field asking the hard questions, going through filing cabinets, asking about how finances are handled. They are faithfully conveying, the best they can, about what this thing called Compassion is and where God is in all of it.

Have you cancelled your sponsorship? Do you want to? Or have you thought about it? Do you have questions about letter writing, financial integrity, and what people without a filter have to say as they put Compassion under a microscope? Then follow them.

In fact, you can follow them this week. I know they’ll be tackling some of these questions in Peru.

If you are a sponsor, do you remember why you’re a sponsor? Are you branded by God and His heart for the poor?

Your heart for the poor can only carry you so far. My heart for the poor led me to cancel a sponsorship.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

Our team of Compassion Bloggers will be in Peru November 13 through November 17, 2012.

Throughout this week you will experience a unique glimpse of what it is like to live in the beautiful country of Peru. Be sure to follow this journey through the eyes of:

• Angie
• Jennifer
• Kevin and Layla
• Shaun

Whether or not you sponsor a child in Peru, you can still tell others about this great adventure!

Are you on Facebook? Use a blog trip Facebook cover.

Do you tweet? Follow the team on Twitter.

Don’t have a Twitter account? Not a worry — you can always follow the latest news about this trip here or at compassionbloggers.com.

And let’s not forget Pinterest. You can find blog trip pins on our Pinterest board or Shaun Groves’ board.

As we share about this trip, we welcome any questions you may have. So be sure to check in often to read what God is doing to eradicate poverty in Peru. Let the adventure begin!

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

UPDATED Oct. 1, 2012: Our final sponsorship total for Blog Month is 3,159.

When a team of bloggers visits the field, challenging questions often come up in response to what they experience. For Brianne McKoy that question was, “Would Jesus sponsor a child in poverty?”

On Brianne’s blogger trip to the Philippines she pondered and researched that question. Below is the answer she received.

God is truly faithful to provide us answers when we come to Him with our questions!

Speaking of faithful…

So many of you have faithfully written about children in poverty throughout Blog Month. We are grateful for each and every one of you!

Throughout October we will highlight several of the best posts submitted by you. And be on the lookout next Monday for an announcement of the Blog Month winners!

Where is the verse that says,

“Thou shalt sponsor a child in poverty”?

I know the verses in the Bible about helping the needy and giving to the poor.

But is sponsorship the way to accomplish this?

This question made itself at home in my mind while traveling to the Philippines. It’s been kicking around up there for five days now. And you know what? I didn’t know how to answer it.

So the pondering and the research began …

Then I thought of this verse,

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:14 (NIV)

This came from the mouth of Jesus. Jesus said,

“Let the little children come to me.”

Something incredible has been happening every time I have stepped into a child development center this week. I meet children living in desperate poverty and they’re praying. They’re reading the Bible. They’re reciting the Word of the Lord.

They’re children. And they are being brought to Jesus. Their circumstances aren’t hindering them. The lack of all things material is not hindering them. Living in a home that would cause most of us to lose all hope isn’t hindering them.

Someone is bringing the little children to Jesus.

Today the Compassion Bloggers and I visited Kapatirang Kristiyano sa Coloong Child Development Center.

At this center I met a girl named Mary Rose. I asked her what her favorite verse is.

She was so excited I asked her! Her whole face lit up and she said in one breath,

“Mark 10:14, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.’” (NIV)

As you can imagine, I was beyond delighted to hear this.

I asked Mary Rose why she loves that verse and she explained (with a passion I rarely see),

“Because the children need to know who Jesus is. I want to teach children who He is.”

She’s 14 by the way.

After talking to her, my question popped up into my head again,

“Would Jesus sponsor a child in poverty?”

Then Janna came up and grabbed my hand and asked if I would sit with her for lunch. What a treat!

I asked her what she wanted to be when she grows up. You’ll never believe what she said. (You’ll have to listen closely. The background noise makes it difficult to hear her.)

She wants to be a missionary. She wants to tell people that Jesus died for their sins.

And then my question dropped from me.

I’m not going to say whether I think Jesus would or would not sponsor a child in poverty. I will say that Jesus wanted the children to come to Him.

I think a church – located in the midst of poverty, ministering to all the needs of the children (physical, spiritual, socio-emotional and cognitive) and sharing what the ultimate hope is, sharing that the children have a Savior and He knows their names – well, I think that is a pretty good way to bring the children to Jesus.

As a sponsor, I was really encouraged today. Today, I received a subtle affirmation,

“You are bringing the children to Me.”

Do you know what Jesus did after the children were brought to Him?

“And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them.” Mark 10:16 (NIV)

Thank you for bringing the little ones to Jesus.

Note: This post was originally published in June, 2011 as part of the Philippines Blogger Trip.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

The sights, sounds and smells experienced at a child development center create memories that will stay with you forever.

We know that not everyone is able to visit his or her sponsored child, so we do all we can to bring the child development center experience to you — like with these Guatemala Blog Trip videos from Shaun Groves!

As we come into week four of Blog Month, we have a unique assignment for you. Will you share from the perspective of your sponsored child?

And, as you watch these videos, think of what life is like for these children living in Guatemala. What is life like for your sponsored child? What do they see and hear on a day-to-day basis?

We can hardly believe that Blog Month is almost over. Let’s make the last week of Blog Month the best yet!

From Cristo Rey de Gloria Student Center (GU-970) in Guatemala. Shaun Groves takes you on a two-minute tour of the church and child development center. And then shows you what the center looks and sounds like when the children are there.

Note: This post was originally published in September, 2010 as part of the Guatemala Blogger Trip.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

We never know what we are going to experience on a Blogger Trip.

Certainly each day is planned out — Child Development Center visits, meeting sponsored children for the first time, home visits — but there is often something special that occurs that touches the heart of a blogger.

Author and blogger, Ann Voskamp had one such experience on the Ecuador Blogger Trip.

You can read her story below. Oh and, you may want to pull out a kleenex or two before you start reading.

The prize for this week’s Blog Month winner just so happens to be a copy of Ann’s book, One Thousand Gifts.

Did we say yet how much we love Ann?

Lastly, this week’s Blog Month assignment is posted and ready to go!

Maybe you’ll be the next blogger to go on a Blogger Trip with us and have an experience like Ann.

From Emanuel Student Center (EC-273) in Ecuador.

We find Jonathan in the jungle, off the banks of the Amazon. He’s fifteen.

He is scared. He shakes like a thin leaf in wind.

“My mother, she runs out on us when I was four.” He tells the translator this.

His voice’s a whisper, not even a ripple.

“I do not know where she lives.” I don’t need translation to know his fear, hear how his voice quakes.

“I have seen my mother only once in my life again.”

Jonathan keeps twisting his own hands, a wringing out of pain.

“My father, he leaves the city when my mother runs out. He brings us back to the jungle, so my grandparents can help us live.” A skinny hen clucks behind him.

“But there is no work for him here and he goes up the river to work at a village.” Jonathan glances out towards the Amazon.

“So, his grandparents are still here?” I look towards the translator —

The translator repeats the question in Spanish.

“No.” Jonathan shakes his head. “No grandparents anymore.”

I am trying to understand. Make sense of this.

“So you are here alone?” I glance up at this hut propped into sky. At all this jungle.

“My father, he takes my brother with him when he goes.”

I nod slow.

And why not Jonathan?

“My brother is my Father’s favorite.”

“My father tells me to stay here. My father leaves me alone here.”

Something flashes – and I understand. And I don’t at all.

Someone named him Jonathan — but no one loves Jonathan like a brother.

No one loves him like their own soul.

Jonathan is a boy abandoned in the jungle. And only for a moment —

I am looking into the whites of his eyes.

How do you turn away?

What do you say to a son right between the ages of your two oldest sons, a son with no courage left, both halves of his heart leaving him here at the edge of the Amazon river – the river streaming on without him?

How do you abandon a child to poverty when you’ve looked right into the begging whites of his eyes?

Read the entire post by Ann Voskamp.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates

My return to Haiti was amazing in every way. As I reviewed the thoughts I shared with you prior to this trip, one statement jumped out at me:

“I have a feeling it will be very different from what I expect.”

What did I expect?

Since I was traveling with a medical missions team, I expected to have very little involvement with Compassion, except on the day my individual child visit had been arranged. But I was pleasantly surprised to see that the ministry was with me every day in a variety of ways.

An Enthusiastic Sponsor

One of the first team members I met was Jason, a Compassion sponsor. He sponsors children in two countries – the Philippines and Honduras.

Having been to the Philippines to visit a Leadership Development Program student last year, I was eager to encourage him to visit his children, and now he definitely wants to follow up on it. He enjoys getting letters from his children and would love to go visit them.

The Man in the Shirt

One of the first Haitian people I met was a kind man wearing a “Start Small – Think Big” T-shirt, so I asked about his involvement with Compassion. He had none; it was a shirt that had been left behind by a previous traveler!

Joy, the Missionary

Then I met this wonderful missionary, Joy.

When she heard that I was in Haiti to visit my sponsored child, she told me of her great respect for the ministry saying,

“Many of our churches partner with Compassion. We did a study recently and found that in every way the churches partnering with Compassion are healthier physically, financially and spiritually, and just healthier all-round. No one else compares.”

The Compassion UK Sponsor and a New Hospital

We traveled by boat to the island of La Gonave and arrived at the mission compound where we would be staying. One of our options that day was to tour the hospital complex and a new construction project, which I was eager to see.

Julian, the construction manager, began our tour by telling us about a sponsor from Scotland. He said that this man sponsored a child in Haiti, and he came to the island to see if Compassion delivered on all its promises for the child.

This sponsor found all areas were covered well – spiritually, educationally, socially, financially – but the hospital on the island was in need of replacement. (We all agreed, having just seen the old complex.)

With the help of Compassion UK and its partners, a new hospital is now being built.

The hospital will have two wards that house 24 beds each, including clean bathrooms and an area for patients with infectious diseases.

This ward will attach to the main building, for which a large hole is currently being dug. This building will include a surgical unit, examination rooms, a sanitation department and power station.

Julian explained that the hole is being dug by pick and shovel rather than with large excavators.

“Because Compassion asked that, rather than hiring one man to work the excavator, we hire lots of local men in order to help as many as possible. Although these men would gladly work for anything offered to them, Compassion requires us to pay a wage that compares to the national average. This is now the largest work force on the island.

Compassion also asked us to not use pre-made items from the United States so we can develop the local economy and teach the workers skills they can use in the future. This same work model will be used for building Compassion child development centers in the future.”

By now my jaw had dropped as I was taking all this in! I was impressed with the fact that the plan for the new hospital includes modern-day “green” concepts such as clerestory windows for air circulation, shaded walkways along outer walls and solar panels for the roof. (These panels will save about $50,000 per year in energy costs.)

This hospital began as a “lean-to” hut in the ’50s, so it’s thrilling to see what is becoming of it today. Many of the earthquake victims were brought in for treatment at this center; now it is being modernized.

Throughout the week, I was amazed at all the connections with Compassion. I was told about many formerly sponsored children on La Gonave; a doctor, several nurses, teachers, translators and child development center workers — some of whom I met. It is clear that Compassion is making a huge impact in many ways.

My Account l Sponsor a Child l Help Babies and Moms l Crisis Updates