Written by: Web Team
My name is Boer, James Boer. But you can call me Kees, which is pronounced “case.” My middle name is Jacobus, which translates to James. See, I’m Dutch, which means I grew up in the Netherlands, but doesn’t necessarily explain why I’m a Compassion Advocate, but I am … Dutch and a Compassion Advocate.
As I mentioned, I grew up in the Netherlands, and once in a great while we would have people visit our home from the United States. It was always such an exciting time. I used to love listening to them so I could imitate their English.
When I went to high school, I started learning English myself and was finally able to communicate with our guests. At the end of the visits, I’d be sure to get an address, and I would write letters and then wait and wait and pray that they would send a letter back
Some of them did, and I was always so excited. I wouldn’t receive more than a couple a year but getting one made my whole month. I’d read and reread the letters until I almost had them memorized. And I still have those letters after all of these years.
A few years ago I interviewed Wess Stafford. He shared a story about a huge flood in one of the countries Compassion works in. The local staff was evacuating the children, but one child kept trying to get back into her home. Finally, the worker let the child go. A couple minutes later, the child came back with a little pouch. In it were all the letters her sponsor had written her.
This is a sample of what my sponsored children write to me. Although the words are different, they often have the same message.
The first one is from Dulce, from Bolivia. She doesn’t have a father anymore. And although we have been writing each other for quite a long time, she didn’t actually know how to write then so someone from the child development center wrote for her.
“Dulce always shows your letter to everybody. She tells them that her father is named Kees and he is from the Netherlands.”
This one is from Gabriela, also from Bolivia.
“I like receiving your letters and reading these. I keep these in a small box; I hope you visit my country.”
Then this one from Jhoselin’s mom … also from Bolivia. I like Bolivia. 
“She feels so loved by you and when she feels sad, she looks at the letters and she feels glad to know there is someone who loves and helps her from afar.”
Then this one from Rasmané, a little boy in Burkina Faso, who I cosponsor.
“I was so glad to read your letter. I can’t find the words to express my joy. I love you so much!”
Then this last example is from Shedenka … Bolivia … again.
“Letters arrive often, but some children don’t get letters. I always receive a letter, thank you. I feel the most important girl, because I get your letter.”
That last letter reminded me of a trip I took with my Dad a couple months ago. It was to meet the child he sponsors.
When we met Cristina, she was happier than a dog with two tails! But I noticed her little sister crying. I asked her why and found out that she is also a sponsored child, but her sponsor never writes.
Every time the mail comes to the child development center (which doesn’t happen every day but rather once a month or so), she is excited to see if her sponsor wrote, but she never gets a letter. I took her under my wings for the visit to help convey her sponsor’s love, and had impressed upon me the importance of writing regularly.
Since then, I spoke with a Compassion sponsor relations representative in the call center, who told me that some children actually drop out of the program because they are so discouraged that their sponsor hasn’t written them. I don’t understand this. Nowadays, it’s so easy to write a letter to your sponsored child.
Have you written your child recently? Your letters are very important.
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May 20th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I really don’t get this. You can even e-mail your letter to Compassion these days — although I’m sure there’s nothing like getting a real, hand-written letter with pictures and other fun stuff.
There’s no justifiable excuse.
Beautiful story. And that picture made my heart smile. Broadly.
May 20th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Great post. I love writing letters to my sponsored children and getting letters from them. I agree with Kelly that the best kind are handwritten with stickers and photos. I also like to print the compassion stationary on brightly colored papers.
I got a letter from my little girl Uli in Indonesia (written by a project worker) which said.
“She is very glad and embarrassed when your letter is read in front of project friends. She really enjoys the stickers that you gave. She is proud when she shows all your letters to her friends.”
Whenever I read that I have to sit down and write another letter. I think that writing letters is one of the most important things a sponsor can do.
May 20th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I love writing to my little girl Evita in Indonesia. I recently got my first letter from her, and it was the sweetest thing. I try to space my letters out, but as soon as I read something like this I want to send another one.
Write to your child; it means so much to them.
May 20th, 2008 at 11:06 am
What an inspiring post. We just sent our first letter to our little girl in Peru. I packed it with stickers and fun paper. I told her to that I put extra stickers and paper in for her siblings just in case they didn’t have someone to send them extras. I thought I was going overboard, but I think you’ve made me see today that what I did was okay.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I just returned from a Compassion trip to El Salvador, and we visited one of the children’s home. We asked if they had a sponsor, and he quickly told us their names. Then, I asked if they ever wrote and with excited eyes he ran to his room, pulled out a tin box that was full of pictures and letters. They were so important to him!
There were a lot of things that I walked away with from this trip, but the number one thing is I am more passionate about write my little girl!
May 20th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I love this post. It encourages me to write my child more often. I do write occasionally, but not as often as I would prefer. Thanks for the small nudge.
May 20th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
The letter writing is what makes Compassion so different from other programs, and so effective. I love writing my sponsored children, but especially enjoy receiving their letters. They are all too young to write, but the pictures they draw and color are priceless! I admit putting a little bit of a guilt trip on my sister and my best friend for not writing their sponsored children. It worked, and now they write regularly!!
May 20th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Thanks Kees! You are like all over the place these days. May the Lord bless your comings and goings…
cd
May 20th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Hey Kees! I agree with Dave up there, seems like I’ve been seeing you around a lot lately. Thanks for sharing about the importance of writing to your kids. It can sometimes be hard to know what to say, but your child will love it no matter what.
Tina
May 20th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
On a home visit during my first sponsors tour, we met a lovely 13-year-old girl who had the brightest smile, until someone asked if she had a good relationship with her sponsor. As the question was being translated, her face fell, and she slowly shook her head. She had had one sponsor for the full 7 years she had been in the project. She had received one letter, early on, and not one thing, since then. A year before our visit, her father had been making repairs to their front door, when he had a massive heart attack and died. She wrote to her sponsor to tell her about her dad’s death; a year later, she was still waiting for a reply.
I noticed that, after this conversation had begun, she went to get her one letter. It took no time, at all. She knew exactly where it was, and it showed signs of having been handled many times.
None of us could believe that the sponsor had not responded, even when the girl’s father had died. Yet, none of us had any information about the sponsor’s circumstances, and as she had apparently paid, faithfully, for seven years, could we really judge her as a “bad sponsor”?
It’s tempting; I have to admit that: It’s tempting. But…not our place, is it.
May 20th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
[...] [Originally posted on the Compassion blog] [...]
May 20th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I should write more. When I don’t write for a while I try to give a small gift as penance… which always seems to be enough for a large piece of furniture!?
May 21st, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I’ve always been concerned about those children who don’t receive correspondance from their sponsors. It makes me ill that children are heartbroken over this.
Yes, sponsors should be writing on their own volition. BUT I have to put this back on Compassion somewhat. What is Compassion doing to further help facilitate correspondence?
I know that when a sponsor joins, they are sent a “get-to-know-me form” that they can fill out and attach their photos to — and this will go to the sponsored child. I LOVE that! Could Compassion perhaps come up with a yearly “here’s-what-I-did-this-year-form?” They could be sent out to sponsors on a yearly basis to fill out and send back. Perhaps there could be a space for a photo, and some prepared questions that the sponsor could answer.
It wouldn’t have to be that expensive — not more expensive than any other mailing that Compassion sends. Perhaps an 8X10 printed cardstock folded in half.
For those of us who are excellent correspondents — of course we’d go above and beyond a yearly picture/Q&A form — but for those who it just doesn’t even occur to to write their child, this would be a prompt — and something easy to fill out and send back — and at least their kids would get ONE letter each year.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:03 pm
OR perhaps the database of sponsors could be set up in such a way that, if a child hasn’t received a letter during that calendar year, the organization would be alerted and a form of this type could be generated and sent…that way the form doesn’t have to be sent to all sponsors each year.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Hello all, my name is Gayle. I work at Compassion and I feel intimately involved with this conversation for many reasons.
First, I’ve met kids who don’t get letters and it breaks my heart too. I think everyone at Compassion feels the same way.
Second, we are always trying to find new ways to help sponsors who don’t write write more and children who don’t get letters feel loved despite that. It used to be a very important part of my job but I’m not the only one putting energy into this topic.
Third, we know kids who get letters do better overall even though there are kids who don’t get letters who still succeed in so many ways. We actually have a desire for 100% of children in our programs to get at least one letter per year.
So, all that to say. Yes, Compassion is doing something. 1. We send a tri-fold postcard to sponsors who haven’t written in 10 months (If you have written you wouldn’t receive this). This card is easy to return and we even pay the return postage too. 2. We also send stationary with every letter the child writes hoping that this is the most inspiring time to write back 3. we have a correspondence network . . . if a sponsor tells us they can’t write we find a volunteer who will write for them . . . but we don’t over encourage this because it really is best for the child to hear from the sponsor.
We’ve even considered sending cards to kids from people who just care but do not carry on a long term relationship . . . but again . . . What the child wants and needs is the long term love and care that the letters show.
Actually, right now, too we are looking at redesigning the stationary to make it simpler like you mention above. So, yes, we feel the heartache too and we try to do all we can to get more sponsors to write . . . but then as the one post said we don’t know what is going on with the sponsor either and we want to respect people who step up to sponsor whether they are writing or not . . .
So would ya’ll (yes, I’m from Texas) PRAY for the sponsors who don’t write with us? We do that too here. We seriously pray for our sponsors even by name even when we don’t know them or their situation. We believe God can impress upon those who are not writing how important it is.
Thanks for praying with us. Hopefully someday we will have 100% of our sponsors writing!!!
May 21st, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I just wanted to add that in my experience as a poor letter writing sponsor, Compassion does what it can to stress the importance. Yes, I have gotten my “Dear Sponsor, you haven’t written your child in more than a year, please at least send this card” letters before.
It was shortly after I received my boy’s folder and agreed to be his sponsor that his mother walked out on him. To my knowledge he has barely known his father. Just after I received the letter informing me of this, I began at least 5 years of hell (at last that’s all I can think to describe it as). 2001 was a bad year all the way around.
I have tried to keep up letter writing while not causing my child worry. But it’s very difficult to support someone else when you have no support and even more so to find words to write when you haven’t anything to say to anybody…only rivers of tears to cry.
I know that no matter how hard I try, what happens to me affects my children. That’s the way God created human relationships. My children have been through bankruptcy, heartbreak and all with me, mostly unbeknownst to them. And God has been faithful. At least, I managed to stay off of the streets.
Now that my boy is 15 years old and asked, I have explained briefly. I tell him all the time what a rock our God is. I know this from deep personal experience.
May 21st, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Hi, I thank you all for the kind comments on this post. I didn’t know that it would make such a difference I’m especially so thankful that several children have been written a letter. That makes such a difference and I’m so thankful.
Miriam, I appreciate your thoughts too. I’m praying for you as I’m tying this. God is a rock. His understanding truly has no limit.
If you can’t write, I would be happy to be the correspondent for your child for a while. But only if you would like me to and if it would truly help you.
Gayle, thank for your great insight. I appreciate you praying for the sponsors too. I never thought of that. I thought the children are the ones praying for the sponsors, but didn’t realize that the staff of Compassion is praying too. That is amazing!!! Thank you so much!
Tina and Dave, yes… we know each other through Myspace! It’s fun to see you all on this too. This is almost like a little forum!
Blessings,
Kees
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:32 am
The letters I get are so irresistibly sweet that I feel like I have to write.
I do have one question, though. One of my sponsored children said something in a letter about how my granddaughter must be so beautiful. I am 28 and single. Could there have been a mix-up?
May 22nd, 2008 at 8:58 am
Hi, Amy,
I wonder if there is mistranslation somewhere??? I gave a gift to a six year old girl for her birthday and I got a letter back saying that she bought a Dora backpack with it and a plunger. Now, unless this little 6 year old is quite enterpernurial and wants to start a plumbing business, I couldn’t imagine what she would do with a plunger. I looked at the Spanish and it looked like the word for blouse was used, which would make sense.
You could maybe ask her.
Kees
May 22nd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Gayle, thank you SO much for taking the time to respond to my post! It sounds like you’ve got some great programs implemented and you’re on the case! It’s awesome to hear some of the things you’re already doing to address this.
I will add this issue to my daily prayer time, for sure.
I know this is one of the arguments people use against one-on-one child sponsorship — that some kids end up feeling rejected when their sponsors don’t write — so I’m glad to hear it is an area in which you are focused & innovative.
p.s. I like the redesigned stationary idea A LOT! Perhaps turn the form into something that would be fun for a sponsor — or a sponsor’s children — to fill out. Something colorful w/cool questions to answer. Something that could be a family project to complete and send off. The current form is just so painfully blah.
May 22nd, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I love writing to my kids and I appreciate your nudge to those who aren’t writing. I’ve begun to have “Letter Writing Nights” for my friends who sponsor kids but don’t write to them where we all get together and write to our kids. The first one opened my eyes because a friend of mine hadn’t written because she felt that she had nothing in her life to write about. We were able to talk through about writing letters and then I found some resources on the Compassion website which have helped immensely. But all of us getting together makes it such a wonderful time of sharing what God has done in our lives and what God is doing in our kid’s lives!
May 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Hi, Hannah,
That’s a great idea to have a letter writing party. I should do that in my church. How did you find out, who sponsored the children? I’d love to do something like that. I’ve been writing 2 times/month. Sometimes, when I wonder what to write, I tell the children how special they are and I sometimes write stories to them. Some of them funny, but sometimes also stories like The Hiding Place or maybe even a Biblical story. Or I might share a verse and what I’m learning from it.
One time I wrote all my children a letter and I just wrote a very short letter. I wrote:
“I just wanted to tell you that I’m so thankful that I can sponsor you. I’m praying for you every day. Remember the Lord is watching you every minute of the day and you are very precious to Him. Love, Kees”
I wanted to keep it short, because I wanted them to really know that. Maybe I should have written a longer letter. LOL.
I really care for the children a lot and pray for them all by name daily.
Kees
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:20 am
Thanks for the offer, Kees. The clouds are lifting (or at least the hellraiser is gone). My boy has gotten at least one letter from me this year, maybe two. I don’t remember. I am working on another one when I can get my film developed.
I only offered my story as an example of the types of things that can make it difficult for a sponsor to write.
I think sponsors supporting other sponsors is a good thing. There is no substitute for community. But organizations don’t create community. People do or don’t as the case may be.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 am
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Kees! And I’ve loved reading the responses too. It’s amazing how much a letter means to each child. And it is a simple thing but it takes time. Sending money is easy - giving time requires more effort, doesn’t it? I am reminded of the time that God spends watching and waiting for me. He didn’t do the quick thing, did He? What an example for us!
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Hello again all, what a fun conversation we are all having. Lisa, I’ll keep working on that stationary. It might be a little while but I suspect you will see something one of these days. You wouldn’t believe all that is going on here.
Miriam, bless you, bless you, bless you. God is taking care of you and your children. Thank you for your commitment and care. It’s amazing they way God brings us all together. Thanks for the comments on community. Yes, it is so true. Organizations don’t create community. People do.
I love all the letter writing ideas here. I think I’d like to have a party, too. Compassion won’t give out sponsor information though due to privacy reasons . . . however if you get a bunch of friends to sponsor then you can have a party with your friends. :)Cool!
May 24th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
I love writing to all three of my sponsored children. I was on a Compassion trip last year and meet my sponsored child in the Philippines. Since meeting Florence our letters have continued on a regular basis and she continues to grow and develop in so many ways.
We heard several LDP graduates talk and share how much hearing from their sponsors made a difference in their lives. The relationship developed between sponsor and child is so special and unique. By the end of the night not a dry eye was left. It was so moving and powerful we left with a renewed commitment to do everything we could to help our sponsored children in any way.
I received a letter yesterday from my newly sponsored third child. He stated he loved the Valentine card I sent and that he is “taking care” of the card and letter I sent him.
Also, I was talking with a Compassion representative and she stated sponsors can send a few more items, beyond stickers and bookmarks. She indicated customs is ok with
1. 2 or 3 deflated ballons.
2. Craft foam, not sure how to explain that one.
3. Singing cards.
I recently bought the singing cards that Hallmark displayed for Mother’s Day. I recorded my voice, (only 10 seconds) and also sent blank cards over for them so they can send them back to me with their voices recorded.
May 24th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I am getting so many great ideas through reading these comments. We just recently began sponsoring a little boy from Brazil, but have sponsored a little girl from India through another program. I am amazed at the difference in the programs. The other program really does not encourage letter writing so much. They have standard cards they send us to sign and send back with some money, but that’s about it. I love that Compassion encourages us to build a relationship with our sponsored child and equips us withthe tools necessary to do it.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
We only recently started sponsoring a child. I am still anxiously awaiting a letter from her. I have sent her a letter with each payment, but I have done it from the web site. I will make the extra effort to send a handwritten one.
May 24th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Hey, Julie,
That is wonderful! Your child is treasuring those letters a lot. It will take a little bit for the letters to start coming back, because sometimes it can take up 3 or 4 months for the letter to get there and then 3 or 4 months for a letter to get from them to you. It all depends where the child is, I guess.
Kees
May 24th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Great post… I’m Dutch, too - een echte kaaskop ;-). Thanks for the inspiration!!!!
May 24th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Hi, Maxime,
Gewelding, or (wonderful in Dutch!) I’ve got a sticker saying: ‘Yer not much, if you ain’t Dutch!’ It’s kind of funny. I appreciate your blog on courtship too! So, do you speak Dutch too? If so, you might enjoy my dad’s website with the Compassion stuff on it. It’s http://www.arieboer.com
Blessings,
Kees
May 24th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
How do you come up with what to say in a letter to your sponsered child? I can never figure out what to say. I’m always worried I’ll say something wrong. That my letters will somehow shout, “Look what we’ve got here that you don’t have there!”
May 25th, 2008 at 4:10 am
@JoAnn
@Mary
Here are some FAQ links for compassion.com.
What should I write about? Is there anything I shouldn’t write about?
Can I send a package to my child?
Tips for mailing small gifts
May 25th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi Kees,
Ik ben zo Hollands als maar kan zijn :-). Woon sinds vorig jaar Juni in Denver, dus vers van de boot. Dankje voor de link naar je vader website, wat fijn om iets te lezen in het Nederlands waar God ook een blangrijke rol speelt! Iets wat je steeds minder vaak tegen komt in Nederland.
-Maxime
May 25th, 2008 at 10:48 am
Hi, Maxine,
Great to hear from you. I worked with a 007 Bond girl for a couple years, whose name was Maxine. Denver is quite a bit different than Holland. It’s so flat over there, unless you’re in Limburg. Yes, Compassion in the Netherlands is doing a wonderful job. If you go compassion.nl, they have a lot of good stories too. I like reading them, because it educates me more about Compassion. My dad’s story is on there too. It’s says something like Sponsor, 82 years old visits his child. This is the link: http://compassion.nl/index.php?id=nieuws/verhalen/Sponsor%20(82)%20bezoekt%20sponsorkind/
Kees
May 25th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Hi, Maxine,
I don’t know how to go back and edit that post, but the %20 should be replaced by a space, otherwise it’s in the Nieuwsarchief.
Kees
May 25th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Thanks for this reminder. Writing to our girl in Bolivia has been hard to keep as a priority for me. She has never expressed that they are meaningful to her, and hers to us are always about the same–like they’re just dictated or copied. It’s hard to know what to write sometimes. Could you do another post on creative communication?
May 25th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Hi, Kim,
That’s awesome that you sponsored a little girl in Bolivia. All the children that I sponsored myself are in Bolivia. (I cosponsor some with actors). I wonder if your little girl knows any of my children.
These are some things to share with the children that I’ve done.
I’ve sent them pictures of natural things, such as a mountainrange, a beautiful flower, or something that doesn’t show any wealth.
My dad and I visited cargo ships growing up. So, I searched and found a lot of pictures of cargo ships. Some of them have names like the child and I’ve sent the children pictures of the cargoship with the same name. For instance I sponsor a girl named Eliana, so I go to the website http://www.shipspotting.com and I find a ship with that name and there it is: http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=63084
Then you can share Scriptures with them and what they mean to you.
You can share stories of various Christians and what they have gone through. If you on line behind the story of the various hymns, some of them are very encouraging. For instance the story of the hymn: “What a friend we have in Jesus” was written after a person lost his fiancee to a fatal accident and then lost another fiancee again that way.
The children in Bolivia really like Dora. You can go to Walmart and buy a Dora coloring book as long as it isn’t too thick.
You can sent them pictures of you and your family. You can email the pictures too by using the email address: compassionsponsormail@us.ci.org. Be sure to put your sponsor number and the child number in the email address.
You can scan the picture that they sent you in the childpacket in and then print out several copies of them, so that they can give them away. That can be a blessing to the family.
You can ask them questions about the way things work at the project. Such as: “How did you find out how you were sponsored?” “How did you find out about Compassion?” “How often does the mail come to your project?” etc, etc…
Even if you just tell them that you’re thinking about them and that you pray for them and to keep going, that can be an encouragement.
You can dedicate something to them and then sent it to them. I write articles for the newspaper and every week, I’ve been able to dedicate it to a different child. So, then when their week came, I wrote them and told them that they are in the newspaper! Then I sent them copies of the page, so that they can see it. I realize not many people write for a newspaper, but maybe you do something else that you can dedicate to them.
If you are around actors that give out autographs, you can ask them for an autographed picture made out to your child. Make sure that the actor is a fairly good role model though. I have a friend, who played the lead in the movie Gracie and she used to play on the Lizzie McGuire show and movie. She just sent me a stack of autographed pictures made out to each child with a saying that said: “You can do whatever you desire.”
You can sent pictures of your pets. They love that. Most of my chidren pray for Corgi every day! (http://www.aboutcorgi.com)
If you let me know the project number, who knows, I might see her.
I hope that helps!
Kees
May 25th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
You can sent them pictures of you and your family. You can email the pictures too by using the email address: compassionsponsormail@us.ci.org. Be sure to put your sponsor number and the child number in the email address.
I was just rereading this and I meant to say, be sure to put your sponsor number and the child number in the subject heading! LOL!
Kees
May 25th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Thanks for the reminder of the importance of our Compassion letters.
Also, thanks for the suggestion on emailing photos. I didn’t know that.
Blessings,
Alicia
May 26th, 2008 at 12:45 am
I’ve sent one email since starting a sponsership in April. I’ve wanted to write again a couple of times but wasn’t sure how often we should write. Seeing the comment that mentioned writing twice a month makes me feel good. I’d love to write more and now that I know I can, I certainly will. Very glad I followed a link here.
May 26th, 2008 at 6:01 am
Wonderful post! I sponsored my first child in February, and have written about every two weeks since. Words cannot express the love in the three letters I’ve received from her. Hands down, writing is the best thing you can do, and it will bring SOOO much joy back to you. Great idea about asking how she found out she was sponsored. I wondered about that — she had been unsponsored for more than six months before I discovered her.
I write about what my kids are doing in school, what we are doing in church… basic everyday stuff. I’ve sent her one handwritten letter besides the “get to know your sponsor” packet. I’m dying to hear about how that letter (with stickers) was received!
Folks, this can be such a blessing to you as well as your child. WRITE!!!
May 26th, 2008 at 9:52 am
How do we send something larger than the envelope provided? I see someone mentioned a singing card. Can we send any size envelope as long as it is flat?
May 26th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hi, Kim,
There are certain guidelines as to what can be sent and the size of it. It has to do with the shipping contract, I believe.
But it can’t be bigger than 8 1/2 by 11 inches and not thicker than either 1/8th or 1/4rth of an inch. (I’ve seen both written in the guidelines, maybe someone can clarify. I guess if you stay under 1/8th of an inch, it will be fine.). It has to be either paper or cloth.
If it doesn’t go through, Compassion contacts you. I sent a little book one time and it had a CD in it. I actually discovered the CD after I bought the book. It was the story of Moses. I had no use of the CD and I thought that I could sent it. So, I mailed to the child and then I got a call from Compassion and they mentioned that I couldn’t sent a CD and they were wondering if I wanted the CDs back or if they could donate it to a local charity. I was encouraged by the integrity displayed, but also I was encouraged to know that if something isn’t right, that they would contact me.
Just make sure to always include your name and the child name and both of the numbers on the item.
What I did was I printed out some labels with the information on it and now, I just put the label on there.
On the issue of asking questions, one thing to keep in mind is that it takes about 3 months for the letter to reach the child and it takes about 3 months for the letter from the child to get back. So, if you ask a question, it can easily take 1/2 year for the answer to come back. I actually wrote that in the letters to the children too. I remember writing a letter to one child. While I was writing the letter, I was eating peanuts. I mentioned it in the letter and half year later I got a letter back, asking me how the peanuts were!
Kees
May 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Kees,
I’m finally checking back! And I know who sponsors in our church because, first of all, our church is small and when we have a Compassion Sunday, I know personally each person who sponsors a child. Also, because Compassion is such a passion of mine and I have a relationship with my kids, I can’t help talking about them! And so I eventually meet more sponsors because they tell me about their kids. So I guess that’s how I meet them.
Thanks for sharing about how you tell them a story. I tell them Bible stories, but have never thought to share stories like the Hiding Place! That’s a great idea! I can’t wait to tell them more stories like that!
I love to pray for my kids too…and I ask them to pray for me. They always are faithful to pray for me and to ask if God has answered my prayers. I’ve found it helpful to write down important details about my kids on index cards and whenever I write I refer to those cards (they have information about their families and friends and prayer requests).
Hannah
May 26th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Hi, Hannah,
I’m a part of a fairly big church. They hold 3 different services and together they sponsor close to 400 children. The pastor sponsors several of them.
I like the idea of a party. Did you call people and just invite them on a certain day?
I like the idea of the index cards. I put all of my letters in a binder in sheet protectors. Then I end up reading them many times. I think about the kids all the time. They are very important t me. And I can understand how you can talk about the children, just naturally, because they are on your mind.
One thing that really put things in prospective for me was during the interview I did with Wess Stafford. He said that he saw the sponsor as a disciple of the child. That prospective helped me a lot in knowing what to write.
Kees
May 26th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I love writting to my children. But I also make a copy of each letter that I send. Also, when I buy a postcard, stickers or any other items I buy enough to send some and to keep one for myself. I have a file folder in which all of the childrens letters go in..as well as copies of all that I have sent. Eventually I plan to create a scrapbook for each sponsored child. That way I can see how the child has grown in their letters (and in their pictures) over time. I will also be able to see what I have written (for nostalgia’s sake).
I am hoping that by creating and flipping through the scrapbooks my own children will feel a greater connection to our sponsored children. We pray for them each night by name, but viewing their letters and pictures makes it seem more real. Knowing that I am going to have a new addition to the scrapbook makes me even more excited to write.
I really wish Compassion would come up with some type of “Compassion Scrapbook” - perhaps one with a place for the sponsored child’s picture on the front?
One of my children is now nine and is just now going to school and learning how to write. He sent me a page in which he had written his upper and lower case letters and his numbers to 100. Talk about bringing tears to your eyes! That made it all worth it!!!!
May 27th, 2008 at 9:42 am
When I write letters to my kids, I start by typing the letter on the computer. When I am happy with what I have, I hand write it on the stationary.
Using the computer allows me to quickly edit the letter and to save details about what kind of paper, stickers, and add-ins I put in the letter. This way I make sure I don’t send the exact same things over and over.
May 27th, 2008 at 9:57 am
I do the same thing. I do almost everything on the computer. My handwriting has gotten lousy though. LOL!!!
I also keep my eyes open for any thing that doesn’t cost something, but that the children might enjoy. When I was a child in Holland, I remember an American missionary bringing me stuff from America when he went there. Sometimes they were things like a postcard with a Howard Johnson on it. I was really excited to get that from a “foreign country.” Now, I realize that he probably picked it up for free! LOL! I don’t sent junk, but when I see something that is appropriate, nice, within the size-guidelines of Compassion, I’ll pick several of them up.
For instance, a couple of weeks ago, I was working in a store that sells really nice paintings. I believe the painter is a Christian. In order to sell the paintings, they have free postcards with pictures of the paintings on the front. So, I told the owner of the store, what I was doing with Compassion and asked him, if I could take some of the postcards. He gave me a lot of them.
So, I’m sending the children the postcards in the letter. Now, I try to send a few postcards per child. And I give them an instruction. I tell them that one of the postcards is for them and to give the other postcards to children, who don’t get letters as a gift. It does a couple of things. It gives the child the opportunity to be a blessing to others and to learn to give and of course the child that never gets letters or so will be blessed, because they get something.
It actually was a little convicting to me. I thought about how I would feel if I went to visit the child and the child told me that instead of giving what they had away, they had decided to keep it for themselves. I would almost be a little disappointed, though I would still really love the child. Then I thought about the Lord, how He blessed me with so much and how He blessed me, so that I can be a blessing to others. How would God feel if I kept something for myself, which was meant for others.
Kees
May 27th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I’ve made one scrapbook of my little girl out of Nicaragua. I’m getting ready to start the 2nd one. I love looking through it over and over. She’s colored me beauiful pictures, which I’ll treasure forever. It’s amazing how much love you can have for these children. I feel like she really mine. I keep her picture on my desk, and email often because I see her sweet face. I also make her cards with glitter and her name spelled out with stickers. Someday if the Lord will provide fiancially, I will visit her. I’m sad because there is a trip scheduled for June 14, 2008, and I’m not a part of it, but if anyone out there is going that sees this, please tell the children how much they are loved, even if there sponsor could not make the trip. My beauitful little girls name is Joselin. thank you!!
May 27th, 2008 at 10:21 am
Can we send plastic page protectors with our letters?
I am making a scrapbook for one of my children and I was wondering if I could send the page protectors so that my child could put the pages in a binder.
Is this allowed?
May 27th, 2008 at 10:27 am
I sponsor a girl named Jhoselin too, only she in Bolivia.
I don’t think, one can send the plastic sheet protectors, but you could call Compassion. One thing to keep in mind is that some countries have different size paper then the United States. Thus they might have a different size binders and the sheet protectors might not fit. Maybe a way to work around it is to give a gift through Compassion to the child and specify that maybe it could be used for a binder with sheetprotectors. I know the Dutch sheet protectors are different than the American ones.
Kees
May 27th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I did laminate pictures with my childs name and ID # as well as my name , sponsor # and info about the photo. I’ve not recieved any news that it wasn’t acceptable from compassion, and it was mailed back in Jan. 08, I guess if you wanted to laminate your letter, as long as it was small enough that would be ok to.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Kees, do you know if they have a special day or month in Nicaragua that they have letter day? Do they save all the letters and distribute them at that time?
May 27th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Hi, Linda,
That’s a great idea to laminate the pictures. When I went with my dad to visit his child in Mexico, I noticed that Compassion had laminated the picture for him.
When I got the news about the CD that I couldn’t sent, it was within a couple of weeks. I would be suprised if hadn’t gone through since you hadn’t heard anything. Now, it might take 1/2 year to hear back from the child.
I don’t know many specifics about Nicaragua itself. All the children that I sponsor by myself are in Bolivia. Then there are three children that I cosponsor with actors and they are in Indonesia, Burkina Faso, and Columbia. You might call Compassion and ask them about it, because I think it is different for each country.
Kees
May 27th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Kees,
I usually email or call those who I know sponsor and invite them over to my house for a “Compassion Letter Party”. It’s nothing fancy….we just sit down at a table and write letters together.
I put all my children’s letters and photos and drawings and everything in plastic sheet protectors too! I love re-reading them. I think my greatest treasure is their letters.
Thanks for sharing about Wess Staford saying that he sees the sponsor as discipling the child. That will help me in my future letters!
I also liked the idea of your sending postcards for the kids to give to their friends. I send extra stickers if I know that my child has siblings and I ask them to give the stickers to their brother or sister.
Hannah
May 27th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Hello all, I just love all of this conversation. It is so great to hear how letters impact kids and sponsors.
One thing occured to me though. I know it can be frustrating for sponsors who don’t feel the letters from their children are easy to connect to. Maybe they are not even written by the child.
I wanted to encourage those sponsors with a few things. It may take some time to build a connection with your child through letters and because of the lapse in time due to postal delivery and customs issues it can take longer than seems right. Please hang on though, sometimes the child just has a hard time connecting or their personality takes a longer time to adjust to letter writing. All of your letters are making a difference though. The children are getting the letters even if it doesn’t seem like it in their letters back to you. It took awhile for me and one of my kids (multiple years) but then something broke through and it’s much better now.
Also, regarding the email address to send photos. We don’t have color printers at the field level that can handle the volume of photos people might send over email. And since the plan is to send emails directly to the country office I’m not sure when that functionality will actually be available in all countries. It is happening in some already.
What happens now is that someone at the Colorado Springs office prints the photo you send to that email address on a black and white printer and then sends it to the child. We don’t have color printers to do this because it is only a short term solution. The only time savings for the letter to get to the child is on the postage time within the US.
Just wanted to let ya’ll know. Compassion is wanting to spend money on the long term solution rather than a short term solution and since we have over 25 country offices it just takes us a little time.
Love, love, love all these great ideas. It is such a blessing to know how fabulous Compassion sponsors are. Much love to all you.
May 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Thanks for clarifying that about the color printers and particularly the time involvement. So, I get from the fastest way to get some information to the child is to do via the form on the internet under your account, i.e. contact your child.
If I can ask for a prayer request. I just got a letter from Eliana, one of the children, I sponsor in Bolivia. She’s having fainting spells and they took her to the doctor and they discovered she has a problem with her heart. Please, pray for her and her family. She is a girl, full of dreams and love of life. (She wants to be a singer, or a doctor and visit Los Angeles!)
Kees
May 28th, 2008 at 5:15 am
Kees,
How can someone become a co-sponsor? What does that involve?
May 28th, 2008 at 8:40 am
Compassion does not do co-sponsorhsip. We believe in the one-to-one model so that the child does not get confused and the sponsor understands their role in the child’s life is a critical one.
Now, if a family is sponsoring or two friends agree to sponsor and they manage this on their own and relate to the child together that is perfectly fine to do. But Compassion doesn’t link more than one sponsor to a child.
If you are referring to the correspondent piece I mentioned earlier . . . basically what happens is the sponsor who is funding the sponsorship calls us and says hey, I sponsor 50 kids and I don’t have time to write to them all can you find someone else to write? We say sure we can help with that.
What this means is that the correspondent then becomes the sponsor in the child’s mind. It is very hard for the child to understand that the person writing is not the sponsor and we don’t think it is crucial for the child to understand this. The only problem with this is that the correspondent is at the mercy of the person who is funding the sponsorship. If that person stops paying then the correspondent relationship is ended so that the child can get a new sponsor.
This is a problem but we believe in the letter writing relationship portion of the sponsorship so much that we allow for it anyway. Because sponsors in a correspondent relationship are typically adults they have a better understanding of what the issues are.
Did this answer your question?
May 28th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Hi, Linda,
I don’t know whether the term “Co-Sponsor” is actually even an “official” term. If for instance, you wanted to do that, it would mean that you and a friend decide to sponsor a particular child together. You and the friend would work out who does what. Maybe you do the writing and anything it involves, while they pay, or you split it or however you work it out. The only thing that I different with those is that I set up a different account number. This way both of you have access to the account and it avoids any confusion as to who sponsors who. For instance, if you sponsored Carlos in Mexico by yourself and you and Sally decided to sponsor Angela in Guatemala. If you added Angela to your account, Sally might not be able to access the account, because it’s in your name or if you do give her access to the account, she’ll have access to Carlos’ information. And if her name goes with that account, she might look like she is liable for any payment that Carlos might need.
I hope that helps.
Kees
May 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I would love to help someone write to their child if they don’t have the time. Could you direct me to who ever would put me on the list. I wish I could sponsor more children, but my income isn’t enough where I feel like I could take on another child as of now. I like to be able to send extra gifts, birthday, family etc. but writing just takes time and love-and I don’t have much time, I make it though, and I have lots and lots of love,…….so….
May 28th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Hi,
My response is in regards to Linda’s (Milby)question. I have been a correspondent person.
I called Compassion at the 800 number and asked for my name to be put on the correspondence list. Any of the compassion representatives should be able to handle this request.
It took a month and I had a new little girl to write to. Keep in mind that it can take longer if you have a specific request, say a boy from India or a girl from Tanzania. I was willing to be open to a boy or girl.
It is wonderful. However, the sponsor couldn’t continue financially supporting her. So, I was given the chance to become her sponsor. I couldn’t. So, my heart was broken and I had to say goodbye to her.
I had asked Compassion to let me know if the sponsor couldn’t continue and that is why I was given the option. I had asked for it. It doesn’t happen automatically that you would be contacted.
Also, I asked Compassion if a correspondence person can take a trip to see the child they write to. Yes, you can!!!!
I hope this helps.
May 28th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Just call 800.336.7676 and tell a sponsor relations rep that you would like to be on the correspondent list. There may be a waiting list but they will have that kind of accurate information.
blessings~gayle
May 28th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Hi, Mary,
Yes, that’s true, you can visit your child that your correspond with. In a month, I’m visiting my two children that I correspond with in Bolivia. I’m actually also visiting my dad’s two children and then my own children, all in Bolivia. I can’t wait!!!
Gayle, I’m kind of curious though. During the time that they look for a new sponsor for the child, can the correspondent continue writing the child? Or is it so, that as soon as the child’s sponsor quits, the correspondent can’t write any more. If that’s the case, will the correspondent be able to write a letter of “final letter?”
Kees
May 29th, 2008 at 7:57 am
Yes, Kees
Final letters can be written. We do everything we can to respect the relationship that has been built. In fact, what Mary said above about offering the sponsorship to the correspondent happens more often then one might expect. Sometimes God blesses the correspondent to be able to take on the sponsorship.
As far as your other question about if the relationship can be maintained until a new sponsor is found . . . I don’t think that happens but I could be wrong. If you call the 800 number they can tell you for sure.
May 29th, 2008 at 8:46 am
The correspondent program was a great idea. I have had the chance to correspond with two children so far. I would love to be able to sponsor more children but with full time college I can’t pull it off. The program gives me a chance to affect the lives of more children and do the part of sponsorship that I love best.
One of the sponsors I was writing for stoped sponsoring the child and I had to stop writing. Before the relationship was severed, a compassion rep called and asked if I would like to sponsor the child (saddly I couldn’t). I had never asked for this consideration so I assume it must be automatic.
Anyway, I think that it is a great system.
May 29th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
We have a correspondent child, as well, and that is excellent to know that if the paying sponsor decides to stop sponsoring, the correspondent has the option to pick up the sponsorship. That is something we would do, if the situation arises.
Wow, I am learning so much from this message thread!!!
May 29th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
One of the things that I find so encouraging about sponsoring and writing with a child is that when a child gets sponsors, it doesn’t affect just the child, but the entire community around that child. I heard Wess Stafford say on a CD that on the average about 30 people get reached with the Gospel for every child. Now, that’s amazing and it really is awesome if you think of that. Because instead of Compassion reaching one million children right now, they are reaching 30 million people. For instance I sponsored Dulce. She got saved and then we were praying for her mother to get saved. Her mother got saved. Just recently I started receiving letters how little Dulce and her mother are sharing the love of Christ with all of the children in the neighbourhood! And Dulce is just 9 years old right now. Can you imagine how many people will have been reached by Dulce by the time, she goes home to be with Lord??? God can use these children in ways that we can not even imagine!!! And God loves to use the weak to comfound the wise. So, I’m so excited, because the children are the fruit right now, but just like real fruit, there are seeds in the fruit and we are only beginning now to see the harvest. That’s why you can have a huge ministry, even corresponding with these children.
Kees
May 30th, 2008 at 6:30 am
It’s so great to be a part of such loving people. This is where we can be apart of God’s Holy word and work. Romans 8:28 becomes alive when we think, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” These children can live that verse, and we get to see and be a part of the miracles…wow—We serve a Great God!!! It’s so much fun to be a Christian!!
May 30th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Wow, Kees and Linda, that was inspirational. Have either of you read Wess’ book Too Small to Ignore?
May 30th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Yes, that is a great book and if any one hasn’t read that book, I would highly suggest it! There isn’t a whole lot about Compassion in it as an organization, but there is a lot of compassion in it. (I hope that makes sense!)LOL!
Kees
May 31st, 2008 at 9:40 am
I am so glad that I found this blog and read all the comments! It’s been both informative and inspirational. I recently started to support Monica from El Salvador, put her picture on our fridge, prayed for her and kept meaning to write her a letter, but never did. I picked up stickers, etc. for her but just kept putting off writing a letter. Well, shame on me, a letter came to me first! She is only 4 so a worker wrote the letter for her but she colored a picture on the back. It was so sweet! I made sure to write her back right away and I have another letter ready to mail today.
I have a question, though, Kees. Could you possibly do a post about what exactly we are allowed to send. I read through the comments that cloth is allowed, but someone at Compassion told me on the phone that I could not send ribbon. I thought I could mail a pretty ribbon for Monica to put in her hair. If cloth is allowed can we send things like ribbon and felt? It might be neat to send felt figures.
It would be nice to read a post with all the things that are permissible through Compassion in one place. I would really appreciate that and I’m sure other sponsors would as well!
I plan to send Monica some paper dolls and clothes that I bought for her so that is an idea for anyone who has a little girl. Also, in many stores you can find notepads and stickers with names on them. I’ve been looking for anything with the name Monica on it to send to her. Of course, this is easiest if you have a child that has an American-type name. Someone mentioned that you can send stick gum. Is that true?
I’ll make sure to come back and read some more. Thank you so very much, Kees!!!
May God bless all the sponsors and their children.
May 31st, 2008 at 10:54 am
Hi, Rebecca,
I got this in an email:
“New Ways to Engage with your Child!
Sponsors can now send plastic, craft foam and small pieces of cloth along with all paper items to their kids. We still have the 8 1/2″ x 11″x 1/4″ size restriction. However, they can now use a quart sized zip lock baggie, the flat kind without the slider. Some new items that can be sent: a small flat plastic ruler, 2-3 deflated balloons, a handkerchief, a cloth bookmark, and a flat ribbon that will fit in an envelope or baggie. We still can NOT send any metal including jewelry, ornaments, magnets, perishable items (gum, candy & flower seeds), and larger items (soccer balls, clothes).”
I got that around the 20th of April, so it’s fairly new. I have been able to send smaller books. There are stores called dollartrees in this area. I’m not sure if they are a nationwide chain, but I’ve found some nice things there and then Walmart has some nice colorbooks. A friend of mine went over to Bolivia and she offered to take some things for the children. So, I bought one of my children a viewmaster, with a few disks. At the time, I thought that anything could be sent over as long as it was small enough and of course appropriate, so I thought this would be nice, because I could send over viewmaster disks. Then later, I found out that CDs could not be sent over. So, I don’t know if the viewmaster disks can be sent over. Maybe someone at Compassion can answer that.
Kees
May 31st, 2008 at 4:25 pm
The basic rule of thumb, with the recent additions as quoted by Kees, is anything you can send in an 8-1/2″ x 11-1/4″ envelope, 1/8″ thick. Coloring books are great ideas, but you’ll probably need to send a few sheets at a time. Any baggie or envelope that will go to the child (as opposed to Colorado Springs) should have your name and sponsor number, and the child’s name and number, as well.
I scrolled up a ways to read recent comments in the thread, but I’ve missed a lot of them. If I have duplicated what someone else said, above, I do apologize.
I have a list of 20 things you can send, a compilation of suggestions from area coordinators in the *old* southwest region, not long before some of us were shifted. If you would like me to send it to you, click on my name and that should enable you to get a request to me.
May 31st, 2008 at 4:26 pm
Oh, well. Clicking on my name will take you to my blog. In the sidebar on the right, below the Sponsor Me! widget, scroll down a little more to the link called “Email me.” That’ll work.
May 31st, 2008 at 4:42 pm
You can also check out the “For Sponsors and Donors” section of the Compassion webiste. There is a link at the top of the home page actually called “For Sponsors and Donors”. The letter writing and gift giving stuff is under “Connect with your Child” in the left navigation bar. Here is a link to the FAQs like what you were asking.
http://www.compassion.com/sponsordonor/connecting/faq.htm
~gayle
May 31st, 2008 at 10:01 pm
These are a couple of places from which you can print out Christian coloring pages, which might be fun to print out and sent to the children:
http://www.christiananswers.net/kids/clr-indx.html
http://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/artscraftsideaskids/coloringpages/biblecoloringpages.html
I must say though that I haven’t thoroughly investigated each of these websites, so I’m not sure the group that made the website. I like some of the coloring paper that I saw though.
Kees
June 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 am
Thank you, Kees and Vicki and Gayle for answering my questions. I truly appreciate you taking the time to do that. I’m printing everything out and putting it in a Compassion binder along with Monica’s information. I know she’ll appreciate it even more than me!
June 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I am a sponsor of one child and interested in becoming a correpondent to another.Can anyone who is a correspondent tell me…do you receive pictures and information about the child (just as sponsors do) or strictly letters?
June 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Hi, Stephanie,
I had that same question. You actually get all of the information of the child in a child packet just as if you were the sponsor.
You get the letters from the child and as far as the child is concerned, you are their sponsor, of course you don’t have to pay for the sponsorship.
The only ‘downside’ of it could be that if the sponsor were to quit sponsoring the child for any reason, the correspondence would also not continue, because the new sponsor would most likely want to write the child themselves.
You will be able to write a “departure letter” though, so it won’t be that the child will be out of your life without having had the chance to say “good-bye” to them.
Kees
June 22nd, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Hi, Stephanie, and thanks for asking about this. Kees is a great person to have responded, because he is a correspondent sponsor to several children, I think, in addition to those he sponsors. I will simply add that if you are a correspondent sponsor and the paying sponsor terminates the relationship, Compassion will ask if you want and are able to pick up the sponsorship in full. A friend of mine just did that, last month.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:22 am
Hallo Maxime, Ik las je brief nummer 34 en ik wil je wel verrtellen dat ook ik een Nederlander ben, in feite een Brabander.
Ook ik sponsor enkele kinderen en ben erg trots op hen, heb een van hen dit jaar bez=ocht en gelkoof me of niet, dat geeft wel zó een grote voldoening dat ik het iedereen kan aanraden om je sponsorkind te bezoeken.
Ik probeer hen twee keer per maand te schrijven.
In het begin wist ik eigenlijk niet waarover te schrijven, maar later kreeg ik door dat je kunt vertellen wat je zoal meemaakt en daar dan een bemoediging aan vast koppelen, ook gebruik ik dikwijls het nieuws en maak daar een goede boodschap van. Bij voorbeeld: (ik veranderde de naam van het sponsorkind in XXXXX).
Voorbeeld van een positieve brief:
Today it was the second day of the Nijmeegse Vierdaagse. I will tell you about a typical Dutch event:
The Nijmeegse vierdaagse is a typical marching festival during the third week of July, in which people march for four days, each day 50 kilometres, and that for four days in a row.
Every marching day starts at 04 o’clock in the morning from the town Nijmegen and ends also in Nijmegen.
As a Marine I myself did this in two successive years. One year it was very hot weather and we marched with our helmets on. We also carried a rifle and a backpack filled with at least 10 kilograms luggage.
This was difficult, but the next year we had a constant rain, which was even worse than the sunshine. Every inch of our uniform was soaked and I had blisters all under my feet, Most of the Marines had the same problem. Not only were our uniforms soaked, but also we had to carry these dripping clothes with us, which also added the weight we had to carry.
Still we enjoyed each day during the whole trip. We had four drummers walking in front of our platoon which made it easy to march. We marched through several towns and villages. Everywhere from most houses our National Flag was waving and people sheered at us and they gave us all kind of delicious food like apples, pears etc.
Everyday it was feast in Nymegentown.
But there was there also pain, fatigue,. exhaustion, hardship and trouble!!!!
Sure there were, and a lot more of these factors. There were the blisters, the painful knees, the fatigue, the exhaustion yes, but there was also the encouragements of our friends and especially the Corpsdicipline which says: “I will never surrender”. That all gave us an experience that we were able to conquer defeat and to have victory over our problems, and that, my dear Cristnna is what I want also for you. After the four days of marching, pain, blisters under our feet, fatigue, but also endurance, everyone got a medal and everybody knew that he really earned it.
The apostle Paul also marched
See I Corinthians 9 : 24 ¿No sabéis que los que corren en el estadio, todos a la verdad corren, pero uno solo se lleva el premio? Corred de tal manera que lo obtengáis. Todo aquel que lucha, de todo se abstiene; ellos, a la verdad, para recibir una corona corruptible, pero nosotros, una incorruptible. Así que, yo de esta manera corro, no como a la ventura; de esta manera peleo, no como quien golpea el aire, sino que golpeo mi cuerpo, y lo pongo en servidumbre, no sea que habiendo sido heraldo para otros, yo mismo venga a ser eliminado.
Dear XXXXXXX,
I told you this real story to show you that it is possible to do the impossible as long as you are dedicated to reach your goal, in spite of pain and difficulties. I know that you are able to overcome the problems in your life, only set your goal today. And think about your life and your own future. Dream big and make plans to let your dreams come true. You are a Child of the Creator of heaven and earth, He made you. Read in your Bible Psalm 139 and be sure to remember that HE wants you to live like a Royal Princes, because you are a Royal princes, the Lord created you that way and HE is not a part of a system. Therefore my dear XXXXX, hold your head high, because you are worth it. Ik hoop dat dit voorbeeld van een brief veel anderen naar de pen doet grijpen zodat ook zij regelmatig hun sponsorkinderen gaan schrijven.
Hartelijke groeten uit een nat, miezerig en kil Nunspeet van Arie en Cobie Boer
July 20th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Hi, BTW, that was my dad, who just gave that reply. He’s the one in the picture above with his sponsored child. I really like that letter and sent it to all my children too.
Kees
August 10th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I’m a volunteer at the Korea Compassion Mate. I translate the Korean sponsors’ mails into English for the sponsored children. And I somtimes get frustrated with the letters that seems lazy. Not all letters are like that, but many of them are. Just just write their name, age, hobby, and where they live. I just wish that people would write with more love or something. It’s just that I feel bad when I think about a child who would recieve that letter.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Hi, Alex,
Thank you so much for that input. You must have read many, many letters. Do you have any input as to what you have seen some sponsors write about that you thought was really creative or encouraging to the children.
Thank you for translating.
Kees
August 12th, 2008 at 5:37 am
Alex & Kees,
I must admit, when I first sponsored my little girl, I really didn’t know what to write. It takes so long for cross correspondence that I really didn’t know much about the child. I have though from several years of getting to “know” my little girl, that I have grown to love her deeply, and care about “everything” she does. Although it’s still hard to write about some things, it’s easy to tell of God’s love, and my love for her! Some things have been interpeted wrong, and it takes sometimes 6 to 8 months to find out and correct. Plus remembering what you wrote……..sometimes it’s hard not to dupilcate. I would appreciate any and all tips—-it’s always nice to be more creative. And I want to be as encouraging as possible.
August 12th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I’ve been sponsoring a little girl for about 6 months now. I make a copy of every letter before I send it and keep it in a binder so that I can refer back and not repeat something that has already been said. On each copy I note what day I sent the letter out and what was included (stickers, postcard,etc.)
I have talked about a family trip to some caverns. I explained what it was like inside the cave and sent postcards so she could see it. I also told a story about my childhood in one letter. In another, I told the story of Noah since we had just been to see a play about Noah and I sent some Noah coloring sheets along. In every letter I include a promise from the Bible. I also always send some stickers and something else. I try to be creative. I went to http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/ and typed out my child’s name, printed the worksheets and sent them to her so she can practice spelling her name.
I hope some of these ideas have been helpful.
August 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Linda,
I have three kids and I understand how difficult it can be sometimes to keep track of what you