It’s been a month and a half since we last “halfed” it. Do you remember what to do? 🙂
I write my sponsored child because . . .
May 16, 2009
I Write My Sponsored Child
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I’m one of those sponsors who didn’t read this blog… because I didn’t know it was there! (I never saw the “blog” link…) Now I can’t remember how I stumbled on the blog, but I will be forever grateful.
So although I am finding/replying to this post much later than it was started, I just want to say thanks to all of you who have indicated the importance of the letters and personal correspondence with the children.
What got my imagination going and my heart aching is when I found out that centers kind of made a production out of handing out the letters…. some even read the letters out loud to the entire group. And then I realized how many months Ludis went to the center and was faced with NOTHING… because I didn’t put myself in her place and realize how important a simple letter was to her…. I felt so awful.
Now I am making up for it big time… but I hate that I wasted all that time in between and hurt her little heart.
So I think steering sponsors to this blog would go a long way towards getting more of them to write. But they have to be willing to weed through the posts….
I’m sure grateful though!!! :o)
Hi, Philipe,
You are so blessed to be able to be right there with the children. I’m just curious, what country are you serving in?
I’m not sure what to say about how to motivate the sponsors. Maybe the children can ask the sponsor to please write them, but I think the problem is that the sponsors sometimes don’t understand what the letters mean to the children. They could also get correspondents for those children, if they don’t want to write, but I doubt that most of them that don’t write even know of this possibility. I think the best ones to deal with this would be office of the country, where the sponsors live. Part of the problem probably is also, that the sponsors that don’t write the children, probably don’t read this blog. In other words, most of them probably think of the sponsorship as being more of a financial commitment than a commitment of their heart towards that child. (I know I’m generalizing here)
When I started sponsoring my first child about 4 years ago, I was very eager to write her, but then I remember doing an interview with Dr. Wess Stafford about 2 1/2 years ago and me asking him if the child that I sponsor knows who I am. Now, I think back on that question and, I sort of laugh, because I realize how little I understood the sponsorship even after having sponsored a child for over 1 1/2 years. It’s one of the reasons, why when I present Compassion to potential sponsors, one of the main topics that I emphasize is the personal relationship that I have with the children. That’s how I present it. In some of the presentations, the main issue is the poverty and that the sponsor can stop the poverty with their financial contribution. Of course, it’s not wrong, but I could see in a lot of sponsors their mind, their financial contribution is the sponsorship. I always tell the sponsors that it takes 3 things to sponsor a child.
1. Pray for them,
2. Write them a letter from time to time.
3. The financial commitment.
Then I tell them that that is the actual order of importance in the sponsorship. Then I also tell them that the 3 things are like ingredients of an applepie, in other words, if one of them is missing, the whole pie tastes bad.
I think it is a bit out of your realm of influence though. But I definitely share your passion for this.
Thank you so much for being there with the children!!!
Kees
Hi Kees
thanks for your reply i really appreciated it so much and i totally agree with every word u have said.
the thing is that the cildren LOVES to write to their sponsors,at least thanking them for the financial support they offer the kids,but the sponsors dont realy reply back,and as the sponsors are from other counrties,so i dont get the chance to see them or talk to them, i was thinking of writing a sentace at the top of each letter that a child send to move the sponsors 3Hs(Heart,head and hand :)) to write his child back
i have aslo read the story you mentioned in your blog about the sponsored child who was cyring for not receving letters from his sponsor.the thing i was wodering about,is how to really move the sponsors compassion to write back without making it as a sort of begging from the child or touching his dignity in a bad way,bas i really dont find it easy,as i am not even familiar with the cultures of the sponsors in other counrties,i am more aware with my served kids:)
thanks again and sorry for the long reply
Hi, Philipe,
That is a great question and it is very important to me. As a matter of fact, I wrote a blog on that very topic:
https://blog.compassion.com/letter-writing
I don’t know if there is any ‘verse’ that would motivate them. I’ve talked with quite a few sponsors about this. One thing that comes up quite a bit is that many sponsors don’t know how important these letters are to the children. Whenever I find a sponsor for a child, I always tell them about it. As a matter of fact, I always say something along the line of to only sponsor the child, if they were going to write.
I know Compassion will try to remind them to write by mail. I think it would be great if on the form that the sponsors sign up on, that it would include a line that would show the importance of writing the letters. Most sponsors don’t read the inside of the child packet till after they get home. I’ve been to events where Compassion was presented and the need to sponsor children and sometimes, the importance of letters is not brought up. So, sponsors sponsor a child, not having any idea that writing letters is really an important part of the sponsorship.
I think what happens is that of all of the ministries, child sponsorship is different than other types of support. If I were to support a missionary or a mission organization with my money, it doesn’t really make too much difference if I write the organization or not. With child sponsorship, it is totally different. The sponsor actually gets to have an important part besides the finances in the ministry towards that child in the letter writing and prayer.
So, if I meet sponsors, the thing that I tend to tell them about is how important the letters are to the children and how they react to the letters. That’s always a huge eye opener for the sponsors. I think it’s extremely important. I’m as excited about a sponsor that starts writing as I’m about a new child getting sponsored.
Kees
i am a servant of some sponsord child,their sponsors send them money,but they dont want to send them letters,though the kids always send them,but they never reply
is there any verse from the bible or a word to write on the letters from the children to motivate the sponsors to write them back?
I write to my sponsored children because there is no way I could not do it. Because I love getting their letters. Their wisdom astounds(sp) me sometimes. And best of all I love being a part of thier world.
many people do not!
I like hearing they are praying for me!
My name jean Marie I live in rwanda
I like getting mail!
I like getting letters in different languauges!
I enjoy learning how others write and encourage their sponsor kids.
I enjoy writing and it is fun!
I want them to know I think and pray about them and desire them to WIN!!!!!!!
……because I want her to know I care! I want to know more about her and to answer all the questions that she asks me.
I love them.
…because God brought this beautiful little girl into my life!
I write my children, because they are my children. I love them like my own family. They are very important to me and I want them to know that. Also, when I go visit them, I can really see the impact of the letters. They save each and every one of the letters and the whole family reads them. I couldn’t imagine not writing them.
Kees
Caitlin
My little girl lives in Kenya.
@Jo – Where does your girl live? (You caught my eye bc that’s what I sign off most of my letters to my kids with)
I write because I know the power of the written word. And selfishly I absolutely love knowing the little stuff I send may brighten someone’s day all the way across the globe.
I write to my children because I want them to know how special and precious they are and that I care and love them.
I also love recieving letters from them.
All of my children are still to young to be writing there own letters, but one of my little girls wrote one sentence on her last letter and it said “I love you but God loves you more” she is only six years old and she also wrote it in english. When I read this it brought tears to my eyes. I was so touched by it.
…it makes me feel good about myself and I LOVE getting letters.
…I want her to know that I care about her.
I would write every day but I don’t want to overwhelm her! That’s why I have requested a Correspondence child. I can’t wait to be able to write to another child.
…we want to remind him that he is important and loved!
…the more I write the more I will visit, and the more I visit the more likely the dreams I tell them I want to become a reality and the dreams they tell me they want to become a reality will become a REALITY and when those dreams become a REALITY I hopefully will look back and think…”man, good thing I chose to believe encouraging bible verse filled letters between us would make a HUGE difference!!!!!!!” Because it did and does!
I Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for YOU!!!”
I write to my sponsored children because I want them to know that I love them and writing helps to build a relationship with them. I have to admit that I love getting letters from them, too.
I write to my two sponsored boys because I want them to know that even half a world away, they are loved and thought of and believed in.
I feel that it shows Patric the love that he deserves as a young, growing man of faith.
…I feel that writing to them and praying for them is an EXCELLENT use of my time!
… I want her to know how special and loved she is.
I write to my sponsored child because my letters they are the relational bridge between here and there.
… because it is the best part of the sponsorship, for both me and my sponsored children!
I write to my Sponsored Children because I know how important it is and I know what it means to them. I write to encourage them and tell them how important they are to me and how special they are. I write because I love them and want to encourage them.
she loves getting my letters and I love getting hers! Also, Michelle Tolentino’s video message really inspired me to write more too!
I write my sponsored child because he lost his mother and because I love him. If I passed away, my greatest hope would be for someone to reach out to my child with a mother’s love. That’s the role I see myself playing in my sponsored child’s life.
I think about his mom often and I feel a bond with her. It’s such a privilege to continue the work she started with this little boy.
words of affirmation, encouagement, challenge,and love…can do what no amount of money ever could.
Because it is ultimately me who is getting the blessing. I took on the responsibility to sponsor children, that doesn’t mean writing a check every month. That means that I give 100% of my love to them. Give them a shoulder to lean on from another country.
I write my sponsored children because I love them, because it is my privilege to do so, because I want to speak life into their lives, because I want them to know that they are not forgotten or alone, because God chose them for me to sponsor. Not only do I write these precious children, but I have my children write them as well. Thank you for the opportunity to make a difference….
everbody has to die and stand in front of the King.
it’s so fun to imagine the smiles on their faces when their name is called. And because I LOVE to get letters back.
Because our letters mean everthing to our children. I just got back from Peru and when you ask children do you get letters from their sponsors the ones that do faces light up the ones that don’t almost have tears in their eyes. Please write your child today.
now I kind of understand how important it is.
During our first 5 years of sponsorship every letter from Yefredy spoke about how some day she hopes to meet us in person. I wrote the checks, and once in a while wrote a letter. 2004 was a particularly busy year for me. I continued to write the checks, but never seemed to make time to write the letters. We continued to get letters from Yefredy, and it was clear she was having a tough year.
In February 2005 we got a letter from Yefredy thanking us for the Christmas gift she had received from us. She also wanted us to know that she was sad because she missed her father. She was also sad because her grandfather had died. Lastly, she was sad because she hadn’t gotten a letter from us in a long time. She told us that she thinks of us as her family, and wants us to never forget her.
My wife and I felt sad and ashamed when we received that letter. In a few short years, she had gone from hoping to meet us in person, to hoping for a letter from us.
We wrote to her that day, and told her we were sorry. We told her we will never forget her because she is like a daughter to us. Then we told her we would come see her.
The following January we were in the Dominican Republic on a sponsor tour, and we were forever changed by the experience. We used to think we couldn’t afford to go. Now that we have met our sponsored children, we cannot afford to stay away.
Sorry for the long answer.
I want them to write back!
I write my sponsored children because . . .
* I remember how excited and loved I felt when I got letters as a kid.
* I can’t be there to encourage them in person.
* until I can visit, that’s the best I can do.
* I love to send stickers 😛
* every child should be able to know that they have at least one person in the world who thinks they are wonderful.
I write my child because I was impressed by another child we visited on my Compassion trip to Guatemala. When we visited the home of one of the Compassion kids, the first thing he did was go into his stuff and show us his letters from his sponsor. Made me sad I hadn’t written as often as I should, which MY child did say to me when I met him. That’s the other reason – when he asked why I didn’t write to him very much. So I started writing more and most times, when I get a letter, I turn right around and send something back, whether online or by hand…mostly by hand.
Hi,
We write our sponsored children because it helps us know where our money is helping, since they usually tell us what they’re able to do with it.
It helps us learn about different cultures, and it gives us something to look forward to when we get letters from our kids. We love sharing interesting things we’ve learned or experienced. For instance, our favorite baseball team made a milestone last night, so we’re looking forward to sharing that with our newest son from the DR.
We have tulips in our yard, so we plan to tell our daughter from Mexico about them, and ask her to tell about what plants are near her home.
We asked our daughter Ana from Mexico, and our correspondence son from Rwanda to pray about our last two music events, so we’re looking forward to telling them how they went! Because we encourage our audiences to sponsor children, we ask our sponsored and correspondence kids to pray for the unsponsored kids and also for the people we talk to about Compassion, that God would lead them to sponsor a child. We can’t wait to tell them that 3 kids were sponsored!
Stay in touch, and have a blessed weekend!
Love,
Andy and Miranda – In Him
…I want her to know that I love her and I am thinking about her.
…I want to develop a relationship with her.
…I remember how much I loved getting letters when I was her age.
…because I want her to know that the love of Jesus can cross any barriers and that because of Him someone she’s never met loves her and cares for her.
…it’s not everyday that you can write a letter to an angel.
…it is my favorite thing to do! (And the reason for that is because I love them and love to encourage them. I write at least monthly.)
…because I want them to know they’re loved and cared about, by both God and me. Because I want to be the adult in their life who encourages them, building them up instead of tearing them down and crushing their dreams.
And because I like doing it. 🙂
I write to my sponsored child because I want them to know how much I care about them…
…and because I love getting letters back from them!
…I want them to feel loved and special.
God’s Word doesn’t return void!!!!!!!
I am encouraged knowing my letters are encouraging them.
For MANY reasons…
But mostly because I have visited these families in their homes and have seen the tears on the faces of the children whose sponsors do not write.
Our financial support is important, but these letters we write and the love that pours through them is critical to this mission.
…I love her!