I don’t write to my sponsored children.
WHAT?! I know.
I was looking through my account the other day, and as an employee, I can see the last time I wrote a letter. I’m embarrassed to admit that it was eight months ago.
How did this happen? I’m passionate about children and fighting injustice. I work at Compassion. I explain the importance of letter writing daily. So why have eight months passed since the last time I wrote to my three little ones?
I think this happens to the best of us. Life gets a hold of us and we get distracted. We may even lose sight of the importance of our sponsorship. Compassion becomes just another organization to give to.
I’m certainly guilty of this, but how do I make a change?
A group of sponsors on OurCompassion have gotten together to write their sponsored children on the second Friday of each month … which was a few days ago. There are over 350 sponsors who participate.
I think I need to join. And I think I’ll be writing my children tonight.
What about you? How do you stay passionate about letter writing?
How do I stay passionate? I will think about the ways many adults in my family disappointed and hurt me when I was a child. After becoming an adult I told myself that I will never treat a child the way I and my foster brother and sisters were treated.
Because I work with children it is easy for me to practice treating children with respect. I admit that I have to pray when I work with a child who is difficult.
Then I imagine how my sponsored sons would feel if I didn’t write to them. I don’t want to disappoint them the way I was as a child.
I try to write at least 9 to 10 months out of the year and they still ask me to send more letters and pictures.
That’s what keeps me writing–memories of neglect and mistreatment. I never want a child to feel unwanted, unloved, or unworthy
Mid April I signed up to sponsor a beautiful 6 year-old girl in El Salvador and practically a month later I am no further along with communication so yesterday I sent an e-mail and cancelled the whole thing. Promises never seem to matter. I too have grown up since I was 7 years old in two orphanages with no love. I have 2 foster children and had part Maori boy that I adopted but was killed by a fall from a bridge in late 2002. After reading your comments I feel I need to have a change of mind otherwise I will be punishing my sponsored child who doesn’t deserve that. Thanks for your comments.
If you feel able to commit to paying the sponsorship fees for a child I would GLADLY be committed to write to your child until graduation.I write to my children very often and would be very happy to write to another child.Communicating with my sponsored children is something that comes very easily to me. Other things probably come easily to you, that I would not find myself able to do, we are all different.So if you ever feel led to sponsor please consider me to be your child’s correspondence sponsor.I would be my privilege to write & I would gladly share each correspondence I receive from the child, so that you would be up to date on what is happening in his/her life.God Bless You for your caring heart towards this child that you sponsored.
Please consider sponsoring a child again. Compassion matches children who do not receive letters with those who are happy to maintain correspondence with them. We are currently writing a boy who stopped getting letters from him sponsor, for whatever reason. We are looking forward to this new friendship and blessing him this way. So you could be blessing a child financially while someone else does the letter writing. Many cannot give financially but love letter writing.
I always remind myself that the shortest letter is still precious, so I have been known to send an email from Compassion that simple says, “I am thinking of you and praying for you today”. Getting into the habit that way means that writing the longer more thoughtful letters tends to come naturally.
While this will be way too organized for some people, I help keep myself accountable to write our 6 sponsored children by using a spreadsheet. I record details from each letter they send us, questions they have asked, when each letter was written and received and then do the same for the letters I have written each of them. I can review the spreadsheet and be reminded of what they have each told me, what needs they have expressed, and be sure to answer their questions like I hope they will answer mine.
My goal is to write once child each weekend so that every six weeks each gets a letter. Of course I am able to re-use some of the content for each round of letters and writing on-line makes it easy to do this as part of my weekend routine at my computer.
I hope that some day the on-line letter writing will support sending photos to be a part of our letters as well as that is one of the things I miss compared to sending letters through “snail mail.”
Win – I was thinking the same thing earlier today about how wonderful it would be to have the option of inserting photos into the on-line messages I send to our 3 Compassion children. I sponsored my first Compassion child nearly 30 years ago, and it is marvelous how simple it now is to send a quick message on-line. It is so quick and easy that I find myself sending many more letters than I might otherwise send.
We are lucky in UK, we can send 2 photos with each email. But we only get 1,600 characters and you get 5,000!
Well, first of all, I have a whole blog dedicated to Compassion and letter writing. Hundreds of ideas for sponsors who struggle with those letters. (Click my name in blue to check it out. Letter Writing Ideas can be found as links in the sidebar.)
How do I stay passionate? I remember the words of a young man that I met who went through the sponsorship program and then the LDP. He shared the joy of getting letters at the project and also the devastation suffered by those children who went Mail Call after Mail Call without their names being called.
I have read countless blogs and seen videos from formerly sponsored children who shared just how crucial those words of love and encouragement are. Those words stick with me and drive me to continue the cause of helping sponsors figure out what to write and why it is so important.
I may never have the funds to visit my sponsored child and I may never be chosen as one of the Compassion Bloggers, but I feel that God has made it clear to me that my job is to encourage sponsors to make the most of their ministry to these children.
Poverty whispers lies into the ears of these little ones. “You don’t matter…. You’re not important…” We, as sponsors, have the opportunity to battle these lies. We can lift up these kids and let them know that they ARE loved, they DO have potential.
We aim to write to all nine of our Compassion children at least twice a month. Yes, it takes time and effort. As a homeschooling Mom to my girls and caretaker of the home, time is sometimes in short supply. I have to be sure to set a few hours aside every month to fulfill this incredible responsibility our family has to these children. It is all worth it. So very worth it.
I pray for sponsors who do not yet know the importance of their role to their sponsored children. I pray for those who feel that they do not have the time. For those who just need a little inspiration, I hope that the time I put into my blog can give ideas and tips that will help their ministry.
I wasn’t passionate about letter writing with our first 3 sponsored children! But now, with my 3 youngest daughters, we wrtite and draw pictures with the Our Compassion virtual parrty, and it is becoming a morning I look forward to all month! I’ve also started list of topics help us get started on those mornings, so we don’t sit and look at a blank piece of paper. This month it was “my dreams for the future.”
I think back on all of the topics and activities that my kids have been involved in at school or in scouting. I also write about the places our family has visited. Going to an educational toy store or a good book store can give you great ideas for letters.
I have a word document that I use to write each month. I keep the old letters below the new ones so I can look back at what I wrote last month or last year…. It’s one long word document. I just copy and past the new letter online. I try to write something each month even if it’s short. When I receive a letter I answer questions and make the letters longer. I live in Asia (Taiwan/ China) so I have had the chance to visit the children (and project workers at the center who help write letters) I sponsor in the Philippines. I put less effort into each letter than some people I see but I make sure to send something each month…the case worker said…you never miss a month…I started doing this after I visited the first child I sponsored. Seeing them makes it more real and urgent.
I am not sure if people should feel guilty about not sending something each month. We should do what we can do. I don’t send stickers, and long hand written letters it’s just not practical for me. I send an email each month and a family gift every year…it’s what I can do. Other people might be able to spend a lot of time making cool things to send…but only do it a few times a year.
I think if them as my own children. I would never go without contact with them. We sponsor 5 kids and write to them usually all at one time. Sometimes God prompts me to write to one particular child, and I have learned to obey that spirit calling.
I have always been a decent letter writer, but in the last year have made some good friends (like Michelle from Blogging From the Boonies) who encourage me to stay on top of letter writing.
A couple years ago I became a correspondent, in addition to being a sponsor, because I realized the importance of letter writing. Sponsorship is NOT about money – it’s about relationship – and that can only happen through letters.
I had the wonderful opportunity to go on my first Compassion trip this past year – to Peru. While there I met two of my correspondent kids – one LDP and one in CDSP. I didn’t have any sponsored kids I was meeting, and yet it didn’t matter. It proved to me that this is not about the financial side of things.
Between my sponsored children and our correspondent children, I have a lot of letters to write (18). I write monthly and it’s quite a production, but creating the relationships makes it worth all the effort. I’ve started getting my family involved and that helps. I write a general letter to all of our kids, and then go through the letters I’ve received to personalize and answer questions. It’s a system that has been working well for me and helps me stay on top of it all.
Like Michelle, I have started a blog to encourage families to get more out of the sponsorship experience. While Michelle’s blog is more letter-writing focused, mine is focused more on doing sponsorship as a family. I would encourage other sponsors to become friends (in real life or virtually) that inspire and encourage you to be a better sponsor. I have gotten so many ideas and encouragement from Michelle and highly recommend everyone read her blog regularly for letter writing ideas.
I mark on my calendar when to write so I can make sure each of my kids get something once a month, twice when I can manage it.
I keep binders with copies of their letters and mine and reviewing those reminds me of what we’ve shared or what else I want to share with them.I also keep stacking plastic drawers ( 1 per child) with things I find (maps, stickers, postcards,family photos, etc..) so I always have something to send along with a letter for them or for them to share with others. Five of my children are 14 or older
( I love the older kids!) and when writing the older ones I feel more of a sense of urgency to share with them about Jesus and dialogue with them about their future. Keeps me motivated!!
The abundant love I have for my kids keeps me passionate about writing. Knowing that I am the advocate for, cheerleader for, friend of, advisor to these kids makes me want to stay in constant contact with them. How excited are we when we get letters from our kids?? Imagine their excitement also, as a child, when they get mail! I cannot imagine disappointing them on mail day. Between my husband and myself, we have 19 sponsored and correspondent children, so it is a time committment. But one I look forward to each evening, when I sit down to write someone. I write to everyone at least once a month, and sometimes with other cards or occasions or a reply letter, they will get more.
So what keeps me passionate about writing is just my great love for God’s precious children that I have been entrusted with, to help care for.
Shaina, thanks for your honesty in sharing this note. I would imagine at one time or another most sponsors have been in similar situations as yourself, where more time than we’d like has passed since our last correspondence. I know that I have. The reminder I always go back to, on occasion, is having THAT meeting with your sponsor child, and being humbled in so many ways. The first thing Katerin wanted to show me when I visited her home in Peru was every letter, post card, every anything that I had ever sent to her. Without me asking her, her desire for me to see this really opened up my eyes that these seemingly small gestures on our part, can really mean a lot. Now when I sit down to write I no longer do so out of obligation (never really did I don’t think), but more so with a hope to bring a smile to the child’s face.
Another situation where my child put me in my place so-to-speak was when I was going through a busy, even a bit crazy stressful time of life. Ashamedly, one of the things I allowed to slip was my regular monthly correspondence. So after not hearing from me in a little while Ever, from Ecuador, expressed sadness in a letter, saying he really missed receiving my letters because I was one of his best friends and he liked my advice.
Prior to sharing this, I haven’t had an opportunity to read the above comments, so please forgive me if I am sounding like a broken record. But I suppose what keeps me passionate about writing is just the knowledge that a dear child of God on the receiving end is anxiously waiting. What an honor we have, as sponsors, to remind our kids they are special and precious in Jesus’ eyes.
Something that has worked well with me and I know my kids have appreciated (they’ve said in letters) is to always take a picture of me holding any drawing or special gift given from the child. Then send it to them with love. Sorry for the long answer here.
Thanks for all you do, Shaina.
Hmmmm…… Well…… this is a tough one…. You know what the letters do for the children…. You know a lot….. Let me see what I can come up with:
1. Read my interview with Dr. Wess Stafford:
http://www.positive-entertainment.com/interviews/drwessstafford.htm
2. Then read my interview with Michelle Tolentino:
http://www.positive-entertainment.com/interviews/michelletolentino/
Be sure to watch the video afterwards….
3. If you can, go visit the children in the projects.
4. Write down a list of what happens when you write to the children, then write down a list as to what happens when you don’t write the children.
5. Ask Chris Giovagnoni if you can write a blog on the difference that you see when you did write the children…. (and tell him “hi” from me.)
6. When you do write your child, treat yourself to some desert or something….
7. Realize (as you do already) that the letter to the child is not read by just the child, but also by the translator, the sponsorship responsible of the project, probably the family, and then maybe even the family. So, you have quite a ministry there in your letter. I have a friend, who translates letters in Bolivia and his wife got saved, because she saw the letters from the sponsors!!!
8. Realize that since you are a regular communicator with sponsors, they will tend to follow what you do, not what you say. (Luke 6:40) Somehow that will be communicated to them. Maybe that your words might have a lot less power then if you wrote more.
9. Think about your child being called out of the project to come to the office of the project to receive the letter from you and how excited they will be…. “Mi madrina escribe una carta!!!” (I hope you’re sponsoring in Bolivia, otherwise, you need to add a child
)
10. Well, since the average sponsor writes one letter/year to their child, don’t beat yourself up too much (just a little bit), because if your child gets one letter every 8 months, they are still doing better than the average. Of course never shoot to be average…. that’s like “the worst of the best” or “the best of the worst.”
Brilliant Kees! My letters to Dayana are passed round the family & one of her older sisters wrote that they are all so excited to hear from me. On that note Dayana is a Bolivian child, & Kees is right, if you do not sponsor a Bolivian child, you need to add at the very least one immediately, I have 7!
We ARE sponsering a child from Bolivia! We are new sponsers (1 and 1/2 months!)and are excited and are priveleged to have been chosen by GOD to do this for our little girl there. I love that the 2nd Friday is set apart for letter writing…not that we have yet to write on that aprticular day, but it at least keeps us in check, and are constantly reminded that the day has passed and we need to write. Just thinking about our girl going home disappointed when other kids get their letters motivates me to be consistent in writing her. ALthough, we prefer to send actual handwritten mails, I love that there is a way we can write her letters via email for those times we get too busy to actually sit and write on paper. We also would like to send something, cards, stickers, pretty stationary at least once a month-another thing, I am finding hard to keep up with. Praying that the LORD keeps reminding us of the impact we have on this child and her family in the long run and that we never become too busy to write and tell her how importnat she is to us and Jesus.
Well, we know of course that our first reason for being passionate (about writing to our children, or doing any good deed) is the love of Jesus Christ. But on a tangible, everyday level, what does that look like? How can we make it real?
I think it’s very inspiring to look at what other people are doing and see what kinds of ideas you can get from them. I know there are a number of people here who blog about their letter writing and post pictures of the letters they’ve written, ‘little extras’ mailed with the letters, etc. It really helps me to see examples of what good letters can look like and makes me want to try it myself.
In my own experience so far, the most helpful thing is this blog, and the people who participate in it! Nothing fosters motivation and creativity like a community of people who share their ideas. It’s also a kind of accountability, I think. And Shaina, I know you are one of those who helps keep it going – so, for myself and on behalf of the hundreds of people who read this – thank you!
I use my Google calendar, I still miss sometimes but I get a reminder from my google account to write on the 2nd Friday of every month. Now that doesn’t always work because last month came and went with no letter using that method. This month I did write and I fully intend to write at least once a month. We am so blessed to be able to sponsor a child.
Google calendar–what a great idea! I’m going to use your technique, Michele. Thank you for sharing!
I think about the children’s faces when mail day in their village comes…what it would look like when they do or don’t receive a letter when everyone else is getting theirs… that look of disappointment or joy that can come. I want to put that look of joy on the faces of the sweet, precious faces of the girls I sponsor as often as possible. So I write letters often– even if it is just a short letter to say “Hi, I am thinking of you today and praying for you.”
I have joined the letter writing group that you have spoken about. Anytime I think of my children, I take that time to right a letter by both e-mail and snail mail. I make it a priority to send a letter at least once every quarter but have found that it ends up being more often. Anytime there is a holiday or birthday I send a letter as well. It’s all about making it a priority even when life gets a little too busy.
A trip to the .99 store or the Dollar General and I’m on the lookout for anything to send our little Ceidy! Stickers, books in Spanish (very thin ones), band-aids, coloring books (from Family Christian Bookstore). Add photos of ourselves or our dog or a trip we went on…I find myself writing her every other week! Her last letter to me made my day with “I pray for you every night”! What an inspiration she is!
I picture my sponsored child going through his day and I want to be a part of it, I want to know what he does and how he feels. I know I should write even more and it is difficult knowing each letter takes so long to finally get to him because of the processing and translating involved. With all that time in between I should probably write him a quick note every week. I love sending little things with the letters like stickers and pix of the family etc. He is in Haiti and I hopefully will be able to travel there soon.
As a busy pastor’s wife, I don’t have a lot of personal time, but when those letters come from our four sponsored children the world stops. After reading a letter (more than once), I sit down immediately to respond. We are grandparents of 16, but we feel that these precious children are equally deserving of our time and attention. They tell me how they treasure the letters and save them to read over and over. I do the same with theirs! We feel they are God’s gift to us, and we value them as such.
I love my sponsored children so very much, & think of them & pray for them so many times each day,I have to reign myself in from writing several times a week. I think that because I write often my children write often, so I receive many letters, photographs and prayer requests from them. I would not be able to forget to write as I probably get an absolute minimum of 6 letters a week, I sometimes get 9 in one day, which serve as a constant reminder to me of how much these children love getting letters from me. Quite a few say that they reread my letters when they are feeling sad.I also have 18 correspondence children, many of these have had 4, 5 & even 6 different sponsors. I feel that as I take these children on it is my duty not to let them down. I want to make up for the disappointment they have felt loosing sponsors & waiting for someone to write to them.My Jose waited 4 years for someone to write to him.He was so upset about this, that one of his project workers set up a prayer group that met once a week to pray for Jose to get a sponsor who would write. Knowing that, how could I forget to write to him? I would add that these children give far more to me than I give to them, through them God blesses me more than they could dream. I just want my children to know how precious they are to God, and by writing I am able to try to get the message across.
I notice you are a frequent comment writer to Compassion and have a great concern for all children but my concern is that my sponsored child doesn’t answer questions that I ask her. She has just turned 7 years of age. I suspect her mother does the answering. I am a communicator having spent 10 years on community radio as a compiler and presenter and 2 years on children’s christian TV as well as a lifetime as a typesetter and newspaper worker. Am I too old for this type of thing?. I love all children but being a male seems to make it harder.-RLG
Many times when children don’t answer questions, it’s because they receive the letters, take them home with them and then when they write a letter to the sponsor, they don’t have the letters in front of them. This can be an especially busy time for the center, when all the children write to their sponsors. So, the tutor or the person at the center responsible for the letters might not catch it when they review the letter. Imagine having to work with over 400 letters or so. (That gets especially difficult when they have to hunt the couple of children down, who aren’t at the center that week, because they are not in the area or they are sick or what have you…. So, you can imagine the amount of work that the staff of that center does.
Having said that, Compassion is in the process of changing this, so that the sponsor’s questions do get answered….
In the mean time, you can help the child to answer the questions if you can highlight and number them. That way they are easier to find and the staff will be able to help the child answer them. Especially when the child is just 7 years old.
But again, you should see a change in this in the near future.
I began sponsoring an 11-year-old boy late last year. The first letter I received was written by a social worker; the second one, written by my child, arrived last Saturday. I don’t think he realized he had a new sponsor, for he wrote, “…I would like to see your photo with the baby. I will also try and send mine. I have spent long without your letter or even a photo. I want to know the names of your baby.” I called the Compassion office and was told he hasn’t had a sponsor since 2009; who knows how much longer it had been since he’d received a letter. Those words have stopped me in my tracks — “I have spent long without your letter or even a photo.” I can’t imagine the disappointment and rejection he must have felt all this time. Receiving this letter has given me new passion to write regularly — I don’t ever want to give him, or the other child I sponsor, reason to feel like that!
How do we stay passionate about anything?
1. Love God with all our heart, soul, and mind
2. Love our neighbor as ourself
Really, there’s nothing else to it. If we find ourselves losing passion for something that God has put on our heart, we have lost our vision and let something get in the way of doing one of those two things. When that happens, we need to identify what that thing is, stop making excuses and get it out of the way, refocus on our vision, and continue on doing what we’re supposed to be doing (in this case, loving the kids enough to write a letter).
What keeps me passionate, is knowing that I have the chance to influence my child greatly for Jesus, or not. And that really keeps me writing every month or two. I can make a big difference or a HUGE difference, I think I will choose the Huge even though it might make my schedule a little bit more hectic sometimes. In the end it is TOTALLY WORTH IT!
Every time I read a child’s letter, I am encouraged to keep writing. Several times, a letter will come and I can feel the love and joy the child has over my letters. Some of them (esp. the older ones) will thank me for writing so often. The kids are how I stay passionate about writing.
Also, I started a letter writing group that meets once a month. Knowing that the group is coming up motivates me to keep writing.
I have only been a sponsor since November and I am still waiting for the first letter from my child in Uganda. I know how it feels to open my mailbox and not see a letter from her among the other mail but I do have other mail. What are the odds that my Brenda will get any other mail on mail day? I don’t want her to EVER feel disappointed to not have anything in her mailbox so I email her twice a month and send snail mail with stickers and other stuff once a month. I don’t know when her mail day is but I want to be sure there is always something there for her.
Hi, Carolyn, I worked with the letters in the country office of Bolivia and I got to see the types of letters that the children receive. If you sent that many letters to your child, she must feel very excited to receive that many letters. About 10 % of the children get letters any given months. The vast majority are the stationary ones that you get when you receive a letter. (In the USA, the beige one, that looks like a military interdepartment MEMO) A very small percentage of the children get the letters with the little extras like stickers. So, she is very fortunate to get these letters. Your mail is probably all the mail that she has received in her life. I don’t know how the mail system works in Uganda at the projects. (I can ask Ouma, he used to be a director of a Compassion project) But if it works like in Bolivia, when the letters come into the project, there is a staff member of that church, called a “sponsorship responsible” who handles the mail. Once that mail is logged and everything at the project, when she comes to the project, she will probably be told that she has a letter and she goes to the project office to pick it up. I believe Uganda is reciprocal, from what Ouma tells me, so she probably also gets a piece of stationary to reply on. She will reply on it within a certain time period, like 10 days or so and then it gets sent back and eventually come back to your home.
Here is something to think about. If she is less than 10 years old, it might take her a lot of work to reply to each letter. I’ve heard of real young children spending more than 4 hours/letter to send a letter back to the sponsor. The letters generally get written first in a scratch paper, which is generally filed in a book they have and then the letter gets copied onto the stationary that the country office has generated and that comes back to you. With the young little ones, I write once a month. When they turn more than 10, I start to write 2 times a month. Many of my children have mentioned that they get more mail than anyone else in their student center. So, I think you’re doing a great job with your letters!!!
Reading the Compassion blog regularly has upped my passion quotient a lot! I used to be a terrible letter writer, because, heck, I work two full-time jobs (I’m a teacher and I am a freelance editor to pay for my teaching habit), do some volunteer work, play in my church’s worship team–I’m BUSY. But the blog has convinced me that letter-writing is too important to let slide.
To that end, I got permission from my school to start a second-Saturday sponsored child letter writing group. We will start next month. One of the moms at our school who is a passionate scrapbooker has even volunteered to donate supplies and to teach us simple crafts that we can make and send to our kids!
We’ll see how it goes. We are a Christian school, so many families sponsor with Compassion or World Vision–and many agree that it’s sometimes hard to know what to write. I’m hoping that as a group we can help each other to keep it on the calendar, and in the forefront of our minds.
I try to remember that it could be my son or daughter waiting for assistence and encouragement from someone a world away and the reason it is not them is because the Lord has blessed me to live where I do and given me the resources to share with those who have none. I think of my Compassion kids face when they do not hear their name for “mail call”. And I think of how excited my kids here get to recieve anything in the mail- how much more for a child who has so little.
I wish I could click on “Like” like I do on Facebook. I like what you said here. Some countries don’t have mailcall. The child gets pulled from the classroom (for lack of a better word) in their project and they are given the letter in the office. Remember only 10% of a project gets letters any given month. Thus if the project gets letters once a month, that might only 2 – 3% of the center each week on the average. So, a project of 300 children might only get about 7 letters or so that week.
Thanks for the info. :O)
I’m ashamed to say that I can get so excited about writing a letter one day, and feel totally different the next. One thing I have started to do is keep folders for each of my kids with their letters inside. Whenever I receive a new letter, I read it and also read the last couple letters I received. It brings me back into their world, and then I am so excited to be a part of it again.
I just wanted to say that I have been just as guilty about writing my letters. I know this does not make it right but I have been feeling guilty every second thinking about the not writing so I know my child has been in my thoughts and prayers but he needs to know that also. I did just finish writing my letter to him and I have made a promise to write him every month on the 2nd Friday.
Sending prayers and best wishes to everyone who is a part of Compassion.
Hi Tiffany! The folders are a great idea. I only have one sponsored child, and have commandeered a plastic storage box. I was so thrilled to become a sponsor, I went to all our local stores, bargain hunting for stickers, colouring books, dot-to-dot books, sticker activity books etc. I recently took a trip and bought some photos, and have ordered prints from the pictures we took. The box is filling up already! I’m getting some A4 envelopes today, so I can share out all the books and stickers for over the next 6 months, ready to have a letter popped in and sent away (It’ll keep the box tidier as well as it’s getting a bit crazy in there!) I’m also keeping a log of what I send her, so I can make sure I vary items from one packet to the next and not have anything too similar being sent out following the last packet sent. I started writing to my little girl on 9th of the month, so have ages to wait, yet my packet’s ready to go, but for writing a letter about recent news!
I was wondering if anyone has tried to thank the ones that translate our letter for us? I know it is thier job but I am one that feels something more then a” thank you” once in awhile is nice. Any tips would be great. Thank you.
Yes, I sometimes address the translators in the letters. I thank them for their work. I think that is a great idea.
Hi R L.
I’m sorry to hear about so many hardships you have had to endure. How wonderful that you are a foster parent. I was just going to tell you that Compassion has a Correspondence program to help sponsors with letter writing. It has to be requested by the sponsor but basically they would asign your child to a correspondent who will do all the writing and communication. This is helpful for sponsor that have a hard time writing or companies that sponsor children. It is also helpful for those of us who cannot afford to sponsor another child but have the extra time to write. I’m sure if you are at all interested in this a quick call to Compassion can sort things out for you.
Thank you for this post. In the past several months I have found it difficult to write to my two sponsored children. Not long before a child I sponsored left the program. She was older and we never really established a relationship but I wrote and found myself caring very much, in fact growing to love her. Somehow losing this child (I still pray for her) seemed to merge with a few other loses and I have been struggling with depression.
I feel so sad that I don’t seem to have much to give, either to the boy who I’ve sponsored for a couple of years and is so very special, or to the new child. And the love is there for the new girl. She is beautiful! Both are older. Letting them down adds to the depression because it is so selfish.
When I wrote today I wrote uplifting words, but something inside feels hollow. I will make a great effort to write once a month but, how I pray that the passion returns along with the joy of having a small part in their lives.
I am grateful that we can use email. I used to enjoy sending snail mail and little gifts but for now emai is possible. Would appreciate your prayers.
Peg… I would write what you feel about…what’s going on in your life…the good the bad…the happy the sad…in many ways your child might relate to you more because you are just like them…you do not have a perfect life…how can they help you…how does God help you. They have as much to give you as you have to give them….
I don’t want to write about my health problems (which are chronic pain and dehabilitating but not dangerous) because I don’t want them to worry that they might lose their sponsor.
I do tell them that I am unable to walk far, but try to focus on the blessings of simple things, like singing birds and how good it is, now that it is Spring where I live to be able to open windows and enjoy fresh air. Also that God is a joy and support when I am having a difficult time.
The thing I hate most is the loss of desire to communicate with them and the joy that used to be there when their letters arrived. Perhaps I could word it differently. Maybe that I am having sad feelings and would love their prayers. Which is true. Thanks for helping me to think that one through!
I have found that using the email feature on Compassion.com helps me keep in contact with my children much more quickly and easily. I met one of my sponsored children about a year ago, and I was struck by how similar he is to kids here in the U.S. They just want to know that you love them and care about them! So I write all the time to tell him what I’m doing. I ask him to pray for simple things that he can understand. And I ask him questions about similar topics.
After visiting my child, it was much easier to write. So maybe that’s the answer – go see them, and then you’ll never want to stop communication!
Just curious, but how often is too often to write? The email option makes it easy to send a quick note, but I don’t want to overdo it. I’ve only been sponsoring for a couple of months and originally planned to email once a month and send a letter/pictures/stickers, etc. once a month to each of our kids. So that would be two correspondences a month. We were very excited to receive our first letter and would like to go ahead and send an email to say thank you and answer some of her questions. But would sending another email note within the same month be too much? Thanks in advance for any feedback!
Hi Kari! You’re welcome to write as many times as you would like. For sponsors who love to correspond, I normally recommend once a week at most so the child is not overwhelmed. However, don’t worry about the timing- if you have something to say, go ahead and write to your sponsored child. I know they’ll be delighted to hear from you.
In the Philippines the kids get the letters once a month, don’t know about other places… so if I write 2 or 3 letters a month they get them all at the same time. They are still happy…they will say wow we got 3 letters from you today…I try to make sure I say something very different in each letter I write.
We received a letter, today, from Fana, in Ethiopia. He is still young and I’m not sure he is writing his own letters, yet, so the letter was very, very short and on a form. One of the items was a statement of what he wants from us, and the translator wrote, “He longs for your letters.” I wanted to cry. And my husband has already replied to his letter. We are both caught up on our letter writing, which we share: My husband writes to the boys, and I write to the girls.
The passion to write to them recently came back, for me, after a very long absence. One source was the encouragement and a couple of ideas from my friend Kees; the other was the receipt of a letter from a girl in the same project as one of my girls, but the letter belonged to another sponsor. I was so greatly disappointed, that I actually sat here and POUTED, as I wrote the note to Compassion, explaining why I was returning the letter! But I realized that, as much as I wanted to hear from Tausi, I know she wants even more to hear from me. So I wrote to her right away.
I’m now recommitted to writing to all of my girls every month…not counting the two that I share with my friend Janet; I wrote about that in a post, here, that appeared in September. Then I added another girl to our “family” last month! She, too, contributed to a return of the passion for writing.
And one more source of passion: I received a letter about 5 weeks ago from Semira, asking me about sin. Other than murder and stealing, what things are sin? She had formed the impression that many things are sin, and she asked, “If everything is sin, what hope do we have?” What an opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, the one real source of hope for all of us!
I told her that, yes, different people would have different lists of things they believe are sin. However, I then told her that the one really big sin is to reject the grace that is offered to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. I emphasized the love of God that sent Jesus to earth, to the cross and the grave, and the power of God that raised Jesus from the grave. (She’s 19 years old; I figured she must have heard all of this, at least at the project.) I told her I hope that all of our sponsored children will have received Jesus in their heart, and that I look forward to seeing all who do when we are all with Jesus and the Father, in heaven, one day.
That letter from her really lit a fire in me to be sure every one of our kids understands the gift of God in Jesus Christ, and that He is their hope, not only for a future here, but for life with Him ever after.
So…several different influences, and the point is, whatever works, ride that horse!
I LOVE writing my children. I let them know how important they are in my life. I tell them God called on me to help them so they can improve their life by studying and keeping faith. I nurture them emotionally and spiritually. I teach them to believe they matter. That all things are possible and they can improve there quality of life if they do their studies. I ask them questions so they know what to answer. Examples are: what is your favorite color, do they like to dance, what is their favorite food, what is your home like, what do they like to play? How is your family. Is my help making a difference. I also write to them monthly so they know someone cares about them. I send stickers, word puzzles, pictures of my family and even funny ones. We write monthly, and I can guarantee when you receive their letters you will be touched more deeply. So enjoy the letter writing. God called on all of us to help these poor children. God Bless.
Sunday Prescott
I stay passionate about writing because I know it is all these children have, and I know that I have the opportunity to,by writing simple letters to these children whom I love, to change their lives by praying for them and by raising their self esteem. Poverty has spoken to them for years, “you are no good. you don’t matter, it will never change, God does not care about me, TO I DO matter, I am valued, God loves me and his /her self esteem takes off, all of the sudden they try, they know they can and there lives change, and they know that GOd does love them and I do too, I write my 6 children EVERY week!! I send a packet of goodies EVERY week, and I pray for them every day! I send gifts EVERY other month, We are so blessed, and we are called to be a blessing to others. So get started today, a simple letter will change their lives and it takes less than 5 minutes to write it!
another thing I do, is i add a small packet in a plastic bag filled with smaller versions of most of the things I am sending my child, and I ask the child to share it with someone who did not receive a letter this week, and give her a lesson all about how good it is to share, and how God wants us to share with others, etc, and then a child who never gets mail , gets a blessing ,and feels loved too. Its a good lesson for alll I think. If we all did that , there would be few without letters!
My wife Barbara and I sponsor four children. She takes care of the financial side of it and I am the “designated” letter writer. I love to write our kids because it builds relationship and provides an opportunity for me to encourage them in their walk of faith and to share some wisdom about life in general. Most of our kids have a single parent, usually the mother, and I am able to be an earthly “father” to them as a result of the relationship we have developed through our letters. I write six or more a year to each child.
I started sponsoring a boy in Ethiopia five years ago as a single woman. Busy with my life as a new teacher and social activities, I wrote my child only twice in that time. Five months ago my husband and I welcomed our first child. From my new mommy perspective, I can’t describe the regret I feel at all the wasted time I could have been writing notes, sending stickers, and giving birthday money. I now use the online letter writing with gusto and send monthly goodie packages. Do not waste time with your sponsored child. It will become a painful regret when you realize the effect it’s had on that child.