It is almost 4:30 p.m., and 22 church staff members and six sponsored children are gathering in a church classroom. They are beginning a time of fasting and prayer for sponsors.
“We are usually gathered to pray every first Monday of the month. Our main prayer is for sponsors,” says Nie, coordinator of Sola Fide Student Center in Indonesia.
The staff and children of Sola Fide Student Center have held a regular prayer time for sponsors since July 2009, an activity started by Nie. She was inspired by Compassion partnership facilitators who shared a testimony about the struggles sponsors sometimes go through.
“There is a sponsor who struggles every day himself by selling milk using a bike. One day, after this sponsor went back from one of his customer’s houses, he found his bike had fallen and all the milk spilled out. The testimony inspired us to create one regular activity to bless and encourage them. Starting from there, I asked children and staff to gather and have prayer time regularly.”
The children weren’t asked to attend the prayer meeting every time, but there are six sponsored children who never miss it. They aren’t even scheduled to attend the center on a Monday, but they voluntary come just to attend the prayer time.
“Those children do not just come to pray with us, they also join in the fasting session and open it together with us. We are really happy because children are not only seeing the benefit that they received from their sponsors. Their concern has risen after we told them about problems that their sponsors face every day.”
Lots of children in the Compassion center pray and cry out for their sponsors not only when they gather for prayer time. Children also pray at home.
“Lots of children had never thought about their sponsor’s real conditions before until they received a letter that sometimes told about the struggles that their sponsors face every day. It is why the children never miss a time to pray for their sponsors who might be sick and need support in prayer or support to look for a job.”
Children who haven’t gotten a letter from their sponsors and don’t know their sponsors’ condition don’t want to be left out. They pray for their sponsors also.
For example, Timothius is an 11-year-old boy who always gets interesting goods from his sponsor, but he has never received any special prayer request from his sponsor. Even though Timo doesn’t know what his sponsor looks like, he always prays for him every night, accompanied by his mother.
In his prayer Timo always says,
“My dear Jesus, please protect my sponsor. I know that he is getting older and he probably only lives with his pet. There’s no one to see and look after him there, but I believe You always hear my prayer and protect him. Please bless him every day. Amen.”
Other children in other areas of eastern Indonesia might not have a fixed prayer schedule like at Sola Fide has, but they never miss their own prayer time for their sponsors.
Andreyana, a sponsored child at the Agape Student Center in Sangir Island, always prays for her sponsor. In her prayers Andreyana says,
“Dear God, you are awesome and remarkable. You let me meet my sponsors, even though they live far away from me. I never imagined that I’d have someone who loves me very much out there. Jesus, please bless them, bless their job, and both of their children in their school. Protect them, so they will have success and achieve their goals.”
Aldi, from Ikhtus Student Center in Beha, Sangir Island, also never forgets to raise up some prayer for his sponsor. Aldi always says,
”Dear Jesus, I pray for little James and Thomas. I believe you will always take good care of them while their parents are working. Dear God, I also pray for my sponsor. Please bless his job, bless his effort in giving me support. May you always provide his family needs. Please bless his family and give them strength, health; also put faithfulness in his heart so he will always surrender to you.”
Stenly from El Shaddai Student Center in Bitung has the same way to keep in touch with his sponsor besides a letter. He is grateful his sponsor has helped him to improve his talent in drawing. Stenly never forgets to put some prayer,
“Dear God, thank you for your love that you have shown through my sponsor. He has shown love that you given to him for me. I can feel his care through the support that he gives all this time. This support encourages and helps me to grow and sharpening my talent. My Lord, please bless him and his family. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”
Serti from Kasih Persaudaraan Student Center has a simple prayer,
“Dear Jesus, thank you for always blessing me every day. You always deliver my need through the great sponsors who found me. Dear Jesus, please bless them. I and my family really love them. Please bless them with health and guard them from bad guys. My dear God, I also want to thank you because I have graduated from primary school and have the opportunity to continue to junior high school. Please bless my sponsors, who have given all support for me all this time. Because of them, I can attend the school. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”
Welmina from Kasih Persaudaraan Student Center prays,
“My dear God, please bless my sponsor. Please guard his family because I love them so much. Please protect my sponsor, too, so he will always be safe when he is working at his duties. Please make him happy; don’t let him cry. Because of his love, I can go to the student center and pay my school fee. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”
Another child, Elyakim, from the same student center also raises his prayer,
“My dear Lord, I pray so you always help my sponsor. Lord, I pray so you always help them every day because they have helped me by giving me support. When my father didn’t have money to buy my uniform, my sponsor gave it for me. I don’t want my sponsor to stop sponsoring me. I want to keep doing activities in the student center. I would ask you to forgive me if I was lazy, but I promise will not be naughty anymore now. I don’t want to make my mother or my sponsor cry because of me. I love my mother and my sponsor. In the name of Jesus I pray. Amen.”
Children in eastern Indonesia don’t see what happens with their sponsors every day, but the letters that they receive help them know about their sponsors, including challenges that their sponsors face every day.
“We hope we can always uphold our sponsors in our prayers. I hope our sponsors also want to tell more about struggles that they face every day. It will help us not just know them better, it will help us to have better relationships with them and Christ through our prayers.” And so prays Megawati, one of the sponsored children from Sola Fide.
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Claudia, this is the first time that I read your post. I am so sorry for the loss of your child. I can’t imagine what you have been through. I will be praying for you. I am no expert, but I do think it would be alright to tell your sponsored child. I agree with Kees that many sponsored children are more use to dealing with these issues than we think. I will continue to keep you in my prayers. – Amanda
I am so sorry, Claudia, I missed this…. First of all my deepest condolences about your child passing away. I’m so sorry.
I think it would be very appropiate to share that with your sponsored child… They are far more accustomed to death than we tend to be…. Many of them have had their little brothers and sisters die, depending on where they are… Also, their other family members, such as grandparents die…. Also, I found that most of these children are far more family oriented than we in the west are.
My mother is on her deathbed right now and many of the children are praying for her and they are writing me asking me about my mother. (I told them this last August when visiting with them)
I’m so sorry about your child dying…. No parent should have to go through that….
WOW I asked such a serious question and not one person responded to me. When do you think I should share the death of my child with my sponsored child?
Would you share the death of your child with your sponsered child? Mine is only 10 and I feel like it would be too much for her.
Wow! So encouraging! Thanks for the post.
Thanks for the post. I always ask my kids to pray for me, I never imagined that just maybe it was more than a quick, and please Jesus help my sponsor. I will try to be more specific about my prayer needs in my next and all the following letters to my kids. I have had a few just peaceful days – now I know why.
I sponsor a child at the Sola Fide Student Center (thanks for the head’s up Shaina!) and this is so refreshing to hear. It’s exciting to me to know that not only does my child pray for me but she is encouraged to pray regularly by the staff and possibly other students. No wonder things have been going well for me lately! 🙂
Thank you for this blog; it has so touched my heart today.
It truly is a blessing to me to know that the child I sponsor prays for me and my family. She has such a loving spirit, and she blesses me whenever she writes.
I absolutely am improved in health since my child and her grandparents (who raised her; she is an orphan) started praying for my health. Also they prayed for me to have peace and joy. This also is improving daily in my life. I pray for my God to “protect Chucha and her grandparents, to give them good health and long life, let them lack no spiritual gift, and may my girl pass the Ethiopian Matriculation Exam and be comforted even if she does not pass it this time. May the angels guard them for all harm. Amen.”
This is an awesome blog. I love it. Thank you for sharing it with us. I remember I spoke with George Jowi. He is a graduated Compassion sponsored child from Kenya, Africa…. While we were talking, he mentioned off the cuff that he would pray for his sponsor once a month for the entire night. I remember that I asked him, if he could say that again, because I didn’t know if I had heard this correctly. Then he said the same thing again…. I was floored and I must have asked him for confirmation for this about 4 times or so. He sort of said: “Well, it’s not that big of a deal, most Compassion children do that, at least in Africa.”
He explained how they would gather at the center and then they would pray from 10 at night till 6 in the morning. Ouma Willy of Uganda also told me that they would do that… And both of them acted like that’s the most normal thing in the world!!!! Like someone would act here if I asked them suprisingly if they truly ate dinner in the early evening!
I am convinced that the faithful and heartfelt prayers of our sponsored kids have been part of the stability of my husband’s job. Does that sound insensitive to those struggling with unemployment? I don’t mean it that way, but we have been blessed this way and it’s not our doing, it’s God’s protection, and we don’t deserve it.
I just wanted to add a recent experience I had with my sponsored girl from Ecuador. She is 9 years old. I wrote and told her that my grandpa was having heart problems and that he was very sick and asked her to pray for him. In reality, his heart is blocked beyond repair and the doctors aren’t even willing to attempt surgery. We weren’t sure if we would be able to see him again.
I got a letter from her last month saying that she and her tutor were praying for him and that when they pray, they pray and fast through the morning until midday and that God hears their prayers. I was overwhelmed. And you know what? Even with that diagnosis (and alzheimers), my grandpa is doing great! We were able to plan a special trip and got to spend time with him and he and my grandma were just working in the yard last week! I truly believe that God heard the fervent prayers of my sweet girl.
Hello Jennifer, I just wanted to thank you for sharing this post! It truly touched my heart hearing that. I just started sponsoring my child but I am SO excited to hear from him. If you have any more awesome stories like this I would love to hear them! They are so encouraging!
Thank you… I appreciate the widened perspective I have received through this post. I always wondered about sharing prayer requests, but now I will know not to hesitate from sharing. Our 9 Compassion children have been praying for my health, and within two months of my asking for prayers for my health, it has greatly improved… come to think of it, it takes about two months for the children to receive their letters, no? Never underestimate the power of a praying child.