My sponsored child taught me . . .
July 19, 2008
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My sponsored children taught me to take my mind off myself and be concerned for others.
Our child sent us an Easter letter talking about going to church and singing and dancing their praises for Jesus. What a wonderful blessing to be so full of His Love that you must express it so physically! We tell him often how blessed he is and to pray that our church will be so Spirit filled that we will dance and sing His praises like his church does.
It has taught our children to pray for others
That being useful to God is not what I preconceive it to be, and that it is important!
My Compassion children have taught me that you can love and pray for children and families that are not your own. They have also taught me that I don’t NEED that money like I thought I did. They have taught me that yes, even though I am one person, I CAN make a difference. They have taught me that blessings flow through me and that God isn’t always blessing ME, sometimes He’s equipping me to bless others.
Oh my! They’ve taught me so much. That my simple letters are so precious to them. That someone whom I’ve never met and who has so very little is praying daily for me. That a little child in a far-off country has such faith and hopes and dreams of the future. It is both humbling and inspiring. I want so much for the Lord to bless them and for those dreams to come true.
The young lady I sponsor in Colombia has shown me what Jesus meant when He said unless you become as little children. I understand from the letters that she sings songs about Jesus and Bible stories. How many lights can she cause to shine in her neighborhood as people take note that she has been with Jesus. She has given me life and much more than I could ever give her. She is special.
I have gotten two letters from Luis in El Salvador. He is so mature in his faith so far! He is talking about his love for singing and going to school and sunday school. His main prayer request is for wisdom and that his family is kept healthy. He is only 9! I know that I wasn’t asking for that kind of prayer when I was 9. I wasn’t even a Christian until I turned 13. God is gonna use Luis for big things!
My child has inspired me to be a better person, Christian, woman, daughter, friend and everything. She is teaching me to be an example to her. I am writing to a 15.5 year old girl in Tanzania Africa… and I want her to continue to grow up to be a mature young Christian lady. She is the reason I sleep at night and one of the main reasons to get up in the morning. She is a big comfort and a welcome responsiblilty and I consider her my most special friend. She teaches me that God, life, friendship, human love and God’s Everlasting Love, Sacrifice on the Cross and Forgiveness is all we need to know. Also a repentent heart and faith when we sin and mess up in life. Writing to her is a joy and a happiness and definitely life changing. If you cannot afford to be a sponsor(like me right now, but I hope that changes, please pray for me), be a correspondent like I am. It is a wonderful, spiritual experience…I love it, and I love my friend in Tanzania Africa.!!! Thanks and God bless all of Compassion’s ‘angels’, past, present and future. Love Joanie ps also, especially God bless ALL of God’s children, great and small, young and old. We are all His children….
My sponsored child has taught me that it is possible to reach across the world and make a difference. My sponsored child has done just as much for my children, as we have done for her. The gift of watching my children correspond, pray for, and think about a different culture has been wonderful!
My Compassion children taught me that the love of God has no boundaries. That when the Lord brings people together that the bond of love surpasses anything our minds can comprehend. To love someone you have never physically met, yet your whole heart is invested and you want so badly for them to receive everything that God has for them. It may seem silly to some; but for me and my family it is a reality!
My child has taught me, thus far, to re-learn about how the power of prayer can save a life, change a life and give life more abundance as it is meant to be lived.
It’s good to exchange letters that clearly praise God & appreciate Christ & each other.
My sponsored child has taught me how love can be shared even though one doesn’t see each other face to face.
Our sponsor child has taught us in just the past week that we have been on boar with compassion that we are able to love a child who is not family and have a special bond with her.
My sponsored children taught me that I am blessed so I can be a blessing to others. Blessings (money) aren’t for getting the big house, the big car and the high paying job only to sit back and say now I’m satisfied.
My sponsor child has taught me that anything is possible with God! Sponsorship has changed my life for the better!
My sponsored children have taught me about faithfulness and giving, and that poor in finances does not have to mean poor in spirit!
My sponsored child has shown me that love has no geographic or language barriers. When I finally got to meet her in person, I realized that even though we couldn’t speak the same language, smiles and hugs are sometimes the only communication needed to say “I love you”.
Faith, Gratitude, and….Geography. I never knew much more than where US, Canada, Mexico, and the western European nations were on the globe, now I have learned so much more about Africa, and Central/South America it is amazing!
My sponsored child has taught me joy no matter what! I love reading the things they delight in.
Being a sponsor, and visiting my kids, has taught me that I am the one that is “poor.” For all I have, and their absolute lack of anything, other than family in most cases, they are eternal optimists and happy with what they have.
Megan, I am sorry to hear about your loss. I can’t imagine that happening to one of my kids.
being a sposor has taught me responsability and staying commited to something to the end
1. A different perspective on needs vs. wants.
2. How blessed we truly are.
3. Faith in God to provide for us financially.
4. Faith in God’s word as we see it fulfilled. 2 Cor 9:6-15
5. Big blessings come in small packages.
6. To appreciate and learn more about cultures of Ghana, Burkina Faso, India, Guatemala, Ethiopia and Bolivia.
7. We cannot outgive God.
8. That hope rises out of adversity.
9. To appreciate things like running water, a solid house, food in the cupboards, etc.
10. You CAN change the world, one child at a time.
My sponsored child has taught me that the welfare of a girl overseas whom I’ve never met should be just as dear to me as that of my own daughter, because that is how the Father sees her.
both the children I sponsor have taught me what it is to have child like faith and to have a love and passion for Jesus. It is such a tremendous blessing to me, when both girls right back and the first they tell me is about Jesus and then the first girl I sponsored always says how she is praying for me and my loved ones for healing and believes we will be healed. Praise God for such faith. It is very uplifting to me, when I am depressed.
I’m a sponsor and correspondent of 16 children from 15 different countries. What an amazing blessing they have been to me. Some of their letters get to me in 3 weeks and some take 3 months. The best part of my day is when I get home from work and I have a letter from one of my children. One night I actually had 6 letters. I write about 6-8 letters to each child each year, plus I respond to every letter I get–I always leave it sitting out as a reminder that I have not responded to it. After I respond, I file it by the child’s name. I’m always surprised by their maturity and faith in God. They are so appreciative of all that they have and my letters and sponsorship. They are always thanking me and praying for me. Sometimes I don’t think I deserve all of their prayers and love. I hear what they learn and do at their “project sites” and know that Compassion is doing wonderful things with my donation.
Marc, my child has taught me that God is bigger than the city I live in and much more loving and caring than anyone else in the whole wide world.
I myself was a Compassion sponsored child in the jungles of Ecuador back in the early late 80’s. I remember the letters I got from my sponsors and the drawings I used to draw for them 🙂
It has really been an amazing blessing and encouragement to know that Jesus loves connecting people from around the world through His Holy Spirit . I felt I needed to do the same for another person, another child too.
Thanks CI for doing this amazing job in Jesus’ name and for opening my eyes to other people’s needs.
the Love of our Lord reaches so far, and always in both directions. In his most recent letter to us, our child asked; “how do you plow your fields, with a plow or a tractor,” indicating just how far seperated we are on this planet…yet at the same time, how perfectly loved we both are by the perfect God. Who is blessed more I don’t know, we who live in the wealth of America, or our children who live in complete dependance on our Father.
My child has taught me there is joy possible, even in the harshest of circumstances.
One thing my children taught me is generosity. They would many times give me something so beautiful. It was truly the widos’s might and I knew that the only thing I could do was accept it and give them a big hug and tell them that I loved them.
Kees
Megan
Sorry to hear about your sponsor child.
My Sponsor Child(ren) taught me.
That they love unconditionally.
Megan,
I am so sorry to hear about your loss. I will keep you and your family (and Sakulu’s family) in my thoughts and prayers. God Bless You!
My child has taught me how much love the poor have to offer. I never thought they would care about me as much as they do… They care so much about me and my family. The most recent letter from my little girl said
“Do not worry, because I never stop praying for you!”
Megan- I’m so sorry about your child! I would be a wreck if anything happened to mine.
Thank you to everyone for the information. I shall continue to pray about this.
Lisa, that’s all good information. I will add, though, that Compassion does include people who are not established sponsors. I was able to submit the names of two people–one of them a close friend–last fall, neither of whom was already a sponsor. My friend received her packet after about a month; several months later, the paying sponsor quit, and my friend and her husband opted to become the sponsors.
It seems fair, to me, that Compassion wouldn’t restrict the privilege to existing sponsors. After all, we accept donations from non-sponsors!
I’m just now checking in again and noticed the question about what happened to Sakulu. My husband wrote about it here: http://seconddrafts.wordpress.com/?s=sakulu
We still miss him.
Hi Sheryl! re: correspondence kids — you can call the main Compassion number and they will give you all the details and make the arrangements for you.
(800) 336-7676, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. MT.
For those who don’t know — correspondence kids are already sponsored, but may be sponsored by a corporation that provides funding for hundreds of children — and thus there is no writing relationship there. Compassion is looking for established sponsors with a good correspondence history to be the writing part of the relationship.
You don’t pay the $32/month, but you can send a yearly birthday, Christmas and family gift. And, of course, you write! While the funding comes from someone else, the kids will know you as their sponsor.
If the source of the funding,(the corporation or whoever), chooses to stop participating, you will be giving the chance to pick up the sponsorship of that child, so the relationship isn’t just cut off.
My sponsored child(ren) taught me…
that I can truly love someone I’ve never met.
It also means a lot more to the kids in the family when someone quotes the trite, “There are starving children in Africa…” if I say, like Milton and Rebecca… sure does personalize their understanding of needs in other countries!
…unconditional love, to love someone that we’ve never met.
We just recently sponsored a second child and it has been a reminder of the depth of relationship that we truly have with our first. We’re excited to know our second just as well!
To give to and pray for someone else far away has been nothing except rewarding, it’s hard to believe that we can bless them as much as they have blessed us.
Sheryl,
You can use the contact link on Compassion’s website to email or call Compassion and request to correspond with a child. Compassion will send you a child packet for the child you’ll correspond with. The child will also likely think you are their sponsor. (None of my 3 correspondence kids have ever indicated to me that they know they have both a sponsor and a correspondent, anyway)
Sheryl, if you’ll call 1-800-336-7676 and tell the person who answers that you would like to be put on the list as a correspondent sponsor, I think that’ll work. That doesn’t mean you’ll get a packet right away, but if you’re on the list, you will, eventually.
What can be difficult, for some, is that, if the sponsor stops sponsoring the child, the correspondent sponsor may lost the relationship she/he has been building. But before that happens, Compassion will offer you the option of becoming the child’s full sponsor.
Now and then, Compassion gets a whole bunch of kids needing correspondent sponsors, so it will come to pass! Bless you for considering it!
Hi Sheryl,
In response to your question about a correspondence child. Here is what I did. I called Compassion at 1-800-336-7676 and asked the representative to put my name on list to correspond with a child. You can ask for a boy or girl. Or even choose the country. I just asked for my name to be put on the list. It took about two months and I had a little in Tanzania to correspond with. If you specify a country it may take a little longer. It is so easy and you are considered the “sponsor” in the child’s eyes. You can even visit your correspondent child, if you wish. I hope this helps you out.
Hi, Sheryl,
If you call Compassion (1800-336-7676), they can set that up for you. The child will look towards you as the sponsor. A couple of weeks ago, I was in Bolivia, visiting the children and one of my correspondence children was so thankful for writing her. She kept on hugging me. The children don’t know that you aren’t the sponsor actually. She kept on saying: “my sponsor, my sponsor…” Then the project put up this whole show with the children for me, thanking me as a sponsor. I actually felt really kind of guilty, because I wasn’t the sponsor, but I didn’t want to tell the child, because that would have hurt her. I just kept on saying “thank you!”
All that is to say is that your correspondence children can be really sweet children that love you very much.
Kees
My sponsor child has taught me what it really means to care about another person and that joy comes from the Lord.
I’ve heard a few people talk about have a correspodence child. How do you get one?
Megan, I’m really sorry to hear about your sponsored child.
My sponsored children have taught me that our prayers, encouragement, love and money TRULY make a difference in their lives.
In her final letter, my first sponsored child, Judith, wrote: “I am very much impressed and comforted of what good you have done in me. Your help has shown light in my life. I’m educated. I never knew in my life I would have such kind of education compared to my family’s poor standard of living. Actually because of your love we’re now living in a good shelter too.”
My sponsored children have also taught me that they pray for me and my family, just as we pray for them! Some days it brings me to tears when I realize that there is a boy in Kenya praying for me 3 year old…or a girl in the Philippines praying for my unborn child (when I was pregnant)…or a boy in India praying for our family when we moved….the list goes on and on!
My sponsored (children) have taught me…That I am doing exactly what the Lord wants me to do; speak up for them and those like them.
My sponsored children have taught me what it means to trust in God and to fully depend on him.
My sponsored children have taught me joy and humility.
In response to Kees experience with letter writing. I have always enjoyed letter writing and make dates and copies of all the letters I send. It does vary I know, but my experience has been it takes two months for my letter to reach the destination country, and two months for a letter to reach me. There have been a few times when my letter has taken three months to get there, but typically it is two months.For me the total turn around process is about four months.
Hi, Steve,
That is wonderful. My dad and I both write our children every two weeks. When I went to visit them a couple of weeks ago, I really saw that the children appreciate it so much.
Different countries have different methods of writing back. Some countries, the children write 3 or 4 letters to their sponsors/year. Other countries, the children write at least 3 or 4 letters/year, but they also will reply to each letter that they get. I know Bolivia and Burkina Faso are that way. Since it takes about 3 months for your letter to get to the country and another 3 months to get the reply back, you might find yourself writing for 6 months like that without getting a whole lot of reply back, outside of the first letter, which is normally written fairly soon after the child finds out they are sponsored.
Since my children are all in Bolivia, I asked them if they found it too much. I actually was there when one of my children got one of the letters. They get the letter, the translation, and a copy of blank stationary for them to write their reply within a few days. I didn’t want the children to feel like they had to write too much. All of them said to please continue writing like that. One of them even asked if I could write more!
I do think that a lot of this relates to the country your child is in. I think that Compassion is slowly but surely switching all of the countries over to the child responding to each letter. If the child is young, they also need help with the letters.
I hope that helps. Those are my experiences with it. But your children are very blessed to have you as a sponsor! I’ve also seen children cry, because they didn’t get letters from their sponsor.
Kees
I try to write my sponsored child every two weeks. I just added a correspondence child. She has taught me to know that I really have alot to offer, even in ways I never knew. She has grounded me to realize that our self worth comes from within, not from what things we have.
Steve, I think you were addressing your last question to Kees, but I’ll offer this: I have *heard* of sponsors who write to their sponsored child every week. In my first two years as a sponsor, when I had only two children, I either wrote or sent a card, stickers, bookmarks–something–every couple of weeks. Then I added a third child, and I slowed down just a tad. Then a fourth–and writing every month was all I could manage. Now I’ve added an LDP student, and I struggle! But that’s just me. Many people sponsor and write to far more children than I, and write every month.
Typically, I think, the projects receive mail about once a month. So if you send mail more often, your child will receive several things at once…and I’m sure she or he won’t complain!
Kees and others may have more input for you, as well. Bless you for caring about this child!
Steve,
My teenage daughter got me involved in Compassion. From her example, I write my kids every 2 weeks. She writes 2 to 3 times a month. One of her girls said, “I am the child in the project that gets the most letters. All my friends want that, too.” When we went to see her, she brought all of her letters (from close to 3 years of sponsorship) to show that she had them. She told my daughter she had her picture in a frame and she kissed it every night before she went to bed. You cannot write too much.
Kees ~ Thanks for your reply! I’ve been faithful in writing, and I get more excited to get a reply with each one (one initial one with a family photo, and the rest by email). I’ve written a letter every two weeks or so – wondering if that might be overkill, but probably not.
What’s the most frequent you’ve ever heard of someone writing letters to a sponsored child?
Lisa, you were probably smart in sponsoring kids from one area. I have often wondered if I should have thought more about that. We have one in Peru, one in Brazil, and our newest from Kenya. I thought it would be neat to learn about different parts of the world along with our sposorship. Now, our desires are to be able to see them and to learn their language. BUT I probably will never be able to pick up one language-much less 3 (haha) and, unfortunately, 3 costly trips will probably never be in the picture. We still plan on making a trip to see, at least, one of them and pray for all 3. But with all that said-I would never change it now because I have loved getting to know all 3 of them-no matter where in the world they may be.
My sponsored child taught me not to rely on the stereotypes of other countries, but to really learn what other places & people are about.
My kids are in Ethiopia, and through sponsorship I have learned what a cool place it is. It is a country with amazing art, music, natural wonders, cultural and historical sites, sports, etc., etc. I had no idea! Sponsorship really broadened my horizons. My goal for 2009 is to start learning Amharic — the official language of Ethiopia. (Pray for me because I am foreign language-challenged.) 🙂
My sponsored child taught me that life isn’t always about me, but doing God’s will and loving everyone-just as Jesus did!
Hi, Steve,
Yes, it might take a while. Normally, it takes about 3 months for a letter to get to the child and 3 months for the letter to go from the child to you. So, if you write a letter and ask a question, it could easily take 1/2 year for a response. That’s my experience. I think it depends somewhat on the country too. I find Burkina Faso to be extremely fast.
One letter, I sent to one of my children, I mentioned that I was eating some peanuts, while I was writing the letter. So, half a year later, I got an answer back asking me how the peanuts were. I had forgotten about it and then I remembered.
Your letters are extremely important though. I got a letter today from the mother of a little girl, I sponsor. She mentioned how when they got the first letter, that both of them cried of joy. Then I cried, reading that!
Kees
Nothing yet! ;o) We haven’t received a reply letter yet, but we’re still new (sponsored on May 23, 2008)
Generosity. When I went to visit them, they would give me gifts and I know that they were so tight financially. It was truly like giving the widows’ might.
Megan, I’m so sorry to hear that your sponsored child died. That must have been so difficult. I can’t imagine the grief I would feel.
Kees
…that a cheerful giver can tithe even on gift-monies, no matter how much that money is needed.
My sponsored child taught me about joy.
..that I can make a difference in a life.
Megan,
I know this is off topic, but what happened to your sponsored child? What country was he in? I must admit I am more aware of hurricanes, upheavals, and other news that may affect my children.
In response to the prompt…
My sponsored children taught me – that my problems are not nearly as big a deal as I tend to think they are!
My sponsored child taught me that, through his death, he really was a real person to me and not just a photo on the fridge.
My sponsored child taught me that kind words spoken (written) to someone really do make a difference.