Story and photos by Cecilia Yepez, Compassion Ecuador Field Communications Specialist.

In the colloquial language of Ecuador, a doctor’s visit means a very short visit, a courtesy visit. It’s more like a social ritual through which someone shows his gentleness to others. The name also reflects the short length of a regular visit to the doctor in the city, where this encounter — usually impersonal and cold — lasts only for a couple of minutes.

But Dr. Pablo’s visits are not like that. (more…)

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Hey! Remember way back in mid-August when we asked you to join our Flickr group and to upload photos.

Do you remember that we also said, “It’s time to change our banner. And we want the next photo up there to be yours.”?

Well…we did. And you did.

• 22 people joined the group. (And we still have room for more!)
• 652 photos were uploaded. Woo hoo! (And we still have room for more! Are you getting that? )
• One photo was chosen for our new blog banner. Here it is, courtesy of AlyssaEryn.

I took this picture last summer in Tena, Ecuador. It’s a small village that is actually about 20 miles away from the place where Jim Elliot and Nate Saint where killed in 1956. I was there doing a Bible camp for kids living along the river.

The little boy in the picture is named Christian, and he stole my heart from the very first day. At the time of the photo he was five years old, but I’m not sure of his exact birthday. A natural model, he would often pose so I would take his picture, then run over to me to view the tiny screen on the back of my camera. - Alyssa

Our next blog banner could be yours. We’ll be doing this again in a few months, so keep uploading.

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If you’re new here, our CEO, Wess Stafford, didn’t write this post, but he did answer the question. We recorded his answer and transcribed it for your reading pleasure.

Read all the posts in the Wess Speaks series.

• What are the first names of the children you sponsor, and what countries? Any special stories you like to tell about them? (Juli Jarvis)

1. Emmanuel (India)
2. Rene (Haiti)
3. Diego (Ecuador)
4. Laura (Bolivia)
5. Alba (Ecuador)
6. Mercedes (Ecuador)
7. Yolanda (Ecuador)
8. Veronica (Bolivia)
9. Sisay (Ethiopia)
10. Fatuma (Uganda)
11. Viola (Uganda)
12. Melecio (Bolivia)
13. Peter (Tanzania)
14. Eliana (Ecuador)
15. azmin (Ecuador)
16. Soinkan (Kenya)
17. Edithe (Burkina Faso)

I know these kids because if you come to our house, you’ll see a big poster next to our breakfast nook with these kids and their progressive pictures over the years. I have visited them all. These kids have been in our lives. About half of them have graduated from the program now, but they are still in my prayers. Some of them I am still in contact with.

Emmanuel now owns his own bicycle business. Rene is a pastor. Mercedes is an architect. Yolanda is the health worker in the Compassion project in Otavalo. Sisay just graduated from the program.

I would love to be a part of the Leadership Development Program. The minute one of our kids qualifies for the program, we’ll do that.

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We recently gave you the opportunity ask our president, Wess Stafford, any questions you like. We’re publishing his transcribed answers one day at a time. Here’s the background skinny.

• How do you balance your priorities between a “job” that is way more than a job and your family? (Amar Rama)
• I’d love to hear how Wess navigates the two worlds he inhabits. On one hand, he lives in a world of poverty and need. On the other, he lives in … well, America. (Kelly @ Love Well)
• I would like to know how you think your daughters were shaped and influenced by growing up in the midst of Compassion’s ministry. How did you balance giving them the joys of a carefree childhood while at the same time exposing them to the needs of the world in order to grow in them a heart for those living in poverty? (Jennie Thengvall)

It has been tough to go back and forth between these two worlds. My wife Donna and I determined we would give our lives in ministry to the poor but we promised each other that it would never come at the expense of our own children. That was a commitment that we made –- we would work very hard on behalf of the children of the world but not at the expense of our own. And so I have worked far harder at my role as father than I have even as Compassion’s president.

God gave me two daughters, Jenny and Katie. When my children were young and I was traveling, they knew that I would always rather be home with them more than with anybody else, no matter where I was in the world. So I sent postcards. (It was before e-mail.) I would call my children the last minute before I climbed on a plane to leave America and the first minute I was back.

In the evenings when I was home, I never missed a chance to put my daughters to bed. I thought bedtime was about the most teachable, precious moment I had. I taught my girls hymns every night. I told them a story every night of growing up in Africa. I was determined not to leave my girls behind. I didn’t want them to resent the poor. I didn’t want them to resent Compassion. I wanted them to know that this was their ministry, too.

I prayed with my daughters. One of the reasons they love Compassion is because it’s been a part of their lives since they were 2 and 3 years old. From the time my little girls could lisp a prayer, they prayed for the children that we sponsored.

I honored their mother. I spoke so well of their mother –- about what a hero she was –- doing so much in the house, which allowed me to travel overseas and not worry about my own home. Every three years I took them somewhere with me to see the work. Haiti, Brazil, Ecuador, Africa … I built it into their lives. The best proof is that they now sponsor kids with their own money.

In my book Too Small To Ignore there is a whole chapter on how we blended those two worlds. (By the way, all of the royalties from the book go straight to Compassion.)

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I’ve been working at Compassion for eight months, and I dig it. I dig it like Dig ‘Em digs Honey Smacks. There’s good people here, plenty of parking, a fantastic view of Pikes Peak, stellar lunch specials at the New Dehli Café and of course, a job that makes a difference.

Howwwever, I work on a computer. And I tend to work on that computer all day long, with nary a break. I don’t often make it to the café to enjoy my self-serve special for $4.99, and it really is special because I have a hand that serves and serves and serves.

I also frequently forget to take a breath and enjoy the view or even say cheerio to my co-workers. I glue my rear to my seat and my eyes to my monitor and there I stay for the day. Ugh!

And when I’m in this all-work mode, I often lose sight of why I’m working. I only see trees, no forest.

But all throughout the Global Ministry Center hangs artwork created by children in our sponsorship program. It’s amazing artwork, not only because of the talent it illustrates but because it exists.

What if Compassion wasn’t in this child’s life? Would this talent have had an opportunity to develop? Would it be given the chance to enrich other people lives, like it does mine when I scrape my eyes from my computer screen?

Here’s what I’m talking about.

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People often ask me what I REALLY do for my job. It’s a valid question since for some of my friends it doesn’t seem like working with artists is that demanding of a job. Actually, the time I spend traveling for this job should tell you how demanding it really is. I travel on average about 120 days out of the year. As I try to master the art of video blogs, I’m going to bring you “A Day On The Road With Spence.” I’m sure you all will be glued to your seats for this Spielberg-like master piece.

So what does this have to do with taking artists to the next level? Not a whole lot other than I needed some sort of intro for this blog. On to the post….

When an artist decides they want to work with Compassion, I know going into this relationship that they have a heart for children living in poverty. For most of us, that seems like its a “given.” For some artists, though they have a heart for it, they’ve never really seen the kind of poverty we are talking about and dealing with on a daily basis. So on Compassion’s Artist Relations team, we take these artists overseas to see our work first hand. It’s a great experience for them and one of my favorite parts is watching these artist “get it.” Meaning, you actually see them being transformed by what they are experiencing as they meet these children and their families and by learning how the local church is involved in these children’s lives on every level. It’s at this point that an artist’s passion for releasing children from poverty goes to the next level. It becomes a part of their everyday lives. Not just a part of their show.

Last spring, I took country artist Bryan White to Ecuador to meet his sponsored child. It was an awesome trip! After we got home, Bryan called me and said, “Spence, I wish I could travel with Compassion to visit every child in the program. This has changed me forever.” You know…he was right. He talks to everyone he knows about children in poverty and how sponsoring a child changes children’s lives forever.

I love Bryan’s attitude. It’s what taking things to the next level is all about.

For Michael W. Smith, he has been talking about Compassion for over 20 years now. He’s been to see our work 11 times — 10 to Ecuador to see his sponsored child and once to Kenya. I took Michael to Kenya in January of 2007, and we shot this video below. What you see on this video was a small example of watching a man, Michael, who had been talking about Compassion for all these years become even more passionate about the work being done for kids all over the world and the urgency to bring hope to these children in need.

Until next time friends…

Spence Smith is an artist relations manager for Compassion, working with musicians and bands who advocate for Compassion and children in poverty. He was also one of the bloggers on the Uganda blog trip.

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