Sweet Florenc

I got another letter from Florenc over the weekend. I'm not sure why I haven't written it out until today, but oh well! Better late, than never right?

Florenc is 16 years old and lives in Albania.

________________________________________________________________________________

Hello Kayla, 

You're so kind for writing such nice things and for thinking about me. Thank you! 

I hope this year will be a great one for you! From your picture, I could tell that you look great and you have an amazing smile. Gage and Chloe are very sweet kids. I think it's an amazing thing you working with children. I love your job. Do you sometimes feel tired because of your job? 

Talking about school, I can say all is going well. As usual, I have lessons, homework, and exams, especially because it is the end of the semester. 

The weather is gorgeous! The sun shines brightly, even though it is the winter season. However, I like it to be cold and have some snow. 

I think of you all the time because you're such a caring person. I'd like to meet you one day and know you better. I am looking forward to receiving your next letter and hear all of your news. 

Hugs, 

Florenc

_________________________________________________________________________________

Project Director Letter: IN-964

Compassion sent out letters written by the project directors and I received them for several of my kids (20 total). I've received them from my sponsored children, as well as correspondent kids that I've been writing to the longest.

It's always great to receive and read these letters. It's wonderful to learn new things about the projects that my kids attend. I also really love the stories each letter shares about specific children in the project. These stories show the success stories that come out of Compassion's program.

I contact Compassion about receiving the letters for my other children, so maybe I will receive the rest at some point. I do wonder how they choose which letters I receive. I am missing letters from kids I've been writing to since late 2013 onward. I think that should be plenty long enough to receive one of these letters. Hopefully I will receive those soon!

Anyway, I will start sharing one letter a week, on Mondays. I'll be posting these with pictures I get from the Compassion site, or just from a random Google search, just to give a little imagery to these letters.

To begin, I will share the letter from IN-964, the project in India that my girl Sadiya attends. This project is located in an urban slum and many people live in deplorable conditions. I am so grateful for Compassion intervening in the lives of these children.


_______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Greetings to you in the holy name of our God! 

I am M. and I work as the Center Director of the Child Development center in New Delhi, India, where your sponsored child attends. First of all, we extend our heartfelt thanks to you for your generous support of Sadiya. This is a great relief for the parents because they are heavily burdened to look after the development of their children with their meager income. Most of the parents are migrant laborers living in rented accommodations. Because of the work of this center, we can see a great transformation in the lives of children. Here, every child is given equal opportunity for development. Thank you so much for your sponsorship. May God bless you abundantly for your generosity. 

God has done many miracles in our center. The children's lives have transformed tremendously. Here is a story of a girl, aged 15, who desperately needed help when she first joined our program. After coming to the center, her life has transformed. Today she attends the church regularly and is very active in church activities. She teachers other children from the Scriptures and is a leader for Sunday school children. She is well versed in the Scriptures and knows many songs. Seeing her behavioral changes, her parents are very proud that they sent their daughter to this center. She is a visible example of how God is rewarding our work. 

Here is another story of a child. She was reluctant to adjust to the teaching of our center. Now she is very interested in learning the Scriptures and regularly attends Sunday school and other church activities. She is very active in her studies also. Sometimes she brings her mother to the church. There is a vast change in her life and in her family. They, as a family, have a deep bond with the center and are thankful for the center and for the girl's sponsor. 

Regarding the letters, they help the sponsors and the children  to establish and renew their bond. Through their communication the children and the sponsors understand each other. When the child knows that there is somewhere who cares for him, he becomes very happy. 

In the past year, two families were given food items through a Complementary Intervention fund. This endeavor helped those two families immensely in their poor conditions. They are earning only a small amount by which they are unable to meet their growing needs. 

Personally speaking, I am encouraged and blessed to continue with this center because I see that many children, despite their background, grow in their knowledge of God. 

Finally, I would like to request your prayers that God will bless us to have place of our own for this center. At this time, we are running on rented premises. Also, pray that God will keep us secure in this area. Pray that our children will be a channel of blessing wherever they are. Once again, we thank all of you for your burden for the children for very poor backgrounds. We are very much indebted to all of you. Thank you again for sponsoring Sadiya. God bless. 

Sincerely, 
M. 

_________________________________________________________________________________ 

Monday Mail!

I have another three letters to share with you today! I don't have any other introductions today. :)

First up, a letter from Ernest. I'm waiting excitedly for the day that Ernest will write his own letters. He still has a tutor write for him. That'll be a happy day!

Ernest is 10 years old and lives in Ghana. His letter is dated November 19th, 2015.

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla ,

Ernest says he is so happy to be part of your family and may God bless you. He says thank you for the pictures of the eclipse. He says he is doing well by God's grace and he is happy and healthy. He says he did not see the eclipse. He says it rained heartily in his community last week. He asks, what work are you doing now? May God bless and project your new job, says Ernest. He says, pray for God's blessing for him. He shares Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning, God created heaven and earth." 

Ernest 

________________________________________________________________________________

Onto a letter from Rujikorn. She always tells he her name at the beginning of each letter. I think it's pretty adorable. 

Rujikorn is 11 years old and lives in Thailand. She wrote this letter on December 28th, 2015. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Hello. I am Rujikorn. My family and I doing well. I hope that you are doing well too. Thank you for the letter, the beautiful photos and the Christmas gift you sent to me. The project spent it on a blanket for me. It is a warm blanket. The weather in my place is very cold. I like to study the bible. I always listen to the stories about God. The most difficult subjects for me are social studies and history. My teacher in charge is nice to me. Please pray for me and my family. My family and I always think of you in our prayers. I didn't know about the eclipse on September 27th in my country. May God bless you with good health forever. 

Love in Christ, 

Rujikorn

________________________________________________________________________________

And, on the surprising front, I received another letter from Emanuel! I just received a letter from him last week, so this was fun to receive! 

Emanuel is 19 years old and lives in Tanzania. His letter is dated January 30th, 2016. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

I greet you in Jesus's name. My family and I are doing well and are healthy. I hope and your family are doing well. I'm so happy for a good letter that you sent me. Through those letters, I learnt to use my fingers and thumbs to pray to God. Now I use them to pray. I pray for God to keep you and help you. I want to give you a bible verse from Psalms 95:5, "Come and sing to the Lord for he is our rock and salvation." Do you and your family read the bible? I wish you a good life to fear God. 

Emanuel 

________________________________________________________________________________

Christmas Celebrations in Colombia

After a long wait, I received letters from both of my CO-384 boys! The last time I heard from them was in November. Today, when I read the letters, I think I figured out why there was such a long wait.

These letters were both written in November and we talking about a Christmas celebration. My best guess is that the project celebrated Christmas in early November and then had a long break. I bet that all of the projects, as well as the country office, had all of December off as a holiday vacation. I think these letters were then translated and mailed in January, which is why I am just receiving these letters in March.

Good theory? It may not be right, but I'm sticking with it! :) Onto the letters!

I'll share the little guy's (who is not so little anymore) letter first. Jonatan Caleb is 8 years old. His letter is dated November 18th, 2015.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

The name of my community is: La Nohora

One of the most common jobs in my community is: To sell pineapple and construction. 

The weather in my community is: Warm

In my community and with my family, we celebrate Christmas and New Year's: At church and with my parents and siblings. 

My Christmas present was: A beautiful remote control car and a sports game. 

I know that you like to read the Bible a lot. Which is your favorite Bible story? In April, we have a lot of recreational activities for children. Yes, I have a soccer ball and I like to play with it a lot. That's my favorite toy. I tell you that I'm on my break from school and I passed my school year. I passed to 3rd grade and I was in 5th place. I thank you for the letter and pictures. I wish you a lot of blessings for you and your family. I give you the Bible verse from Psalms 144:1-2, with affection. 

Jonatan Caleb

_________________________________________________________________________________

Daniel's also wrote about Christmas and New Year's. His letters are always so wonderful! He is really good at sharing details with me. When you read his letter, do you think that Daniel may enjoy eating food? Hahaha. 

Daniel is 10 years old. His letter is November 13th, 2015. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sponsor Kayla, 

I'm very happy to write you this letter. I want to tell you that the name of my community is La Nohora and one of the most common jobs in my community is selling pineapple or trade. The weather in my community is very warm, but sometimes cold. In my community, and with my family, we celebrate Christmas and New Year's with my parents and siblings. We have cookies, cake, pudding with fritters, rice with chicken, rice with pork, empanadas, and chorizo. My Christmas present was a beautiful remote control car. Thank you so much! Did you get any special present this year? What do you like to cook on New Year. In answer to your question, I don't have my own soccer ball. The story of Daniel in the bible is my favorite because we have the same name and he was a boy saved for God when he was in Babylonia and he wanted in his heart to not have the food from the king. I am happy to get your letter and the beautiful pictures with the children praying. I also want to tell you that I passed to 5th grade of elementary school and they congratulated me for my great performance. I say goodbye with a big hug and I give you the bible verse, from Isaiah 58:11. 

Juan Daniel

_________________________________________________________________________________

Another Long Post of Letters!

I have to say, I am quite getting used to all of these letters. I was expecting a slowdown this month, after receiving so many letters last month, but that has not been the case. So far, this year, I've heard from nearly all 55 of my kids, some even twice! I can't say I hate that. :)

I was going to split this post up, but I decided not to. So, without further ado, I share five letters!

First up, a letter from my sweet Nandini. This month, most of the letters I receive are mentioning how Christmas was celebrated and that is always fun to hear.

Nandini is 10 years old and lives in East India. Her letter is dated December 24th, 2015.

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Supporter, 

Greetings to you in the sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am fine with my family. I hope and pray that you re also fine over there. Thank you for sending the photographs of Gage and Chloe. I am very happy about that. Thank you for the Christmas card. Thank you very much for your love, prayers, and support. We had celebrated Christmas in our center. We had songs, dance, and a message about Christmas. We had AIDS Awareness day and many people became aware about the disease. Thank you for contacting me through letters. Please pray for my bright future. 

Your Loving Child,

Nandini

________________________________________________________________________________

Onto a letter from Allison, my sweet smiley girl! She doesn't seem to like to write letters, too much, but I can sometimes get a nice detail or two in each letter. Maybe she'll grow to like writing someday. 

Allison is 11 years old and lives in Ecuador. She wrote her letter on November 15th, 2015. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sponsor, 

I say hello to you in the name of Jesus. How have you been? I'm very glad to write you this letter. I have been praying for you. Referring to your question, yes, we do have a summer Bible school. I thank you for the present you sent me. I would like to know something else about your church. As you know, I am going to celebrate my birthday on November 25th. It has been very nice to have a friend like you. Not having anything else to tell you about, I will say goodbye to you now, in the name of Jesus. 

Allison

________________________________________________________________________________

Next, a letter from Fongwin. He has a great financial sponsor who always sends him money for extra gifts. But, it's always a mystery what Fongwin buys with this money. He never tells me, but chooses to keep it general. For example, "stuff" or "things". Boys, eh? 

Fongwin is 12 years old and lives in Thailand. His letter is dated January 11th, 2016. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Hello. I am very happy to write to you again. Thank you very much for thinking of me. Thank you for the family gift you sent me. I spent the money and bought things we need. My family and I are doing well. How are you and your family? We are in winter time and it is cold. Is it cold in your country? During Christmas time, we had so much fun. The project had a Christmas party and there were many activities for us to enjoy. I got a gift of new clothes. I thank the project very much. My studies are going well. I would like you to pray for my studies and for my health. May God protect you. 

Love in Christ, 

Fongwin

_________________________________________________________________________________

Now we cross over into the big kids. :) A letter from Jose. He also tells me of his Christmas celebration (upcoming in this letter). He seems so excited! 

Jose is 17 years old and lives in Peru. He wrote this letter on November 30th, 2015. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sponsor Kayla, 

I greet you with a big hug and kiss. I hope you're in good health. First of all, I want to thank you for the letter you sent and the pictures are very nice. I want to tell you that we do have a Vacation Bible School for the children. It's called EBDV (Escuela Biblia de Vacaciones). It's in January and February. We sing and do bible contests and it's very fun. We have a beadwork workshop and silk-screening. I can't wait for Christmas to celebrate with my parents and siblings. We have fruitcake with hot chocolate. We're going to a youth camp with the church on the 26th, for a week. I'd like to know: How do you celebrate Christmas? I ask you to pray for me and my family. I say bye with a hug and a kiss. 

Jose

________________________________________________________________________________

Last, but not least, a long letter from Emanuel. He always writes more than a page to me. It's always nice to get a letter with another page stapled to it. 

Emanuel is 19 years old and lives in Tanzania. His letter is dated December 5th, 2015. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ. I am doing well together with my family. I hope you are fine and are doing well together with your family. I would like to inform you that I have completed form 4 and I hope to continue with my studies in form 5. I thank you so much for the letters you sent to me. I liked them very much. 

In your letter, you told me about moon eclipses and I was so happy to know about it and in this process there are two shades, white and black. I was so happy because I have never seen a moon eclipse taking place. 

In another letter, you told me about your church. I am happy to hear about all the news. I would like to tell you about my church. We go to church every Sunday and we have two sessions. The 1st service starts at 8:00 a.m am, up to 10:00 a.m. The 2nd service starts at 11:00 a.m, up to 12:00 p.m. In both services we have time to praise and worship God and then our pastor preaches the word of God. I would like to give you my memory verse from Psalm 102:1. "Hear my prayer, oh Lord, let my cry for help come to you." 

I also thank you for all the letters and gifts which you've sent to me. I was very happy and I liked them all. With the money gift you sent I was able to buy shoes, which I will wear on my birthday, which will be on January 4th and I will turn 19 years old. I was also happy to know the age of Abbas and that he likes art. 

May God bless you and give you good health every day. 

Emanuel

_________________________________________________________________________________

I Love Photo Updates!

These kids just keep growing up, don't they?

Sweet Ernest from Ghana

Handsome Elias from Ethiopia

Illuminating Letters from India!

I tried to go for alliteration with the title, but I think it takes more than just two words that start with the same letter. Oh well. I'll stick with it.

Over the last few days, I've received 7 letters! I know, so exciting! Four of those letters were from some of my kids in India. I will share all of those letters with you today, in this post. Reading these letters, I've realized just how much my Indian kiddos are growing up. I've been writing to most of them for years. It's great to see them progress.

To start, a letter from Sadiya. She is 12 years old. Her letter is dated January 1st, 2016.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ. I hope you and your family are fine. Me and my family are also fine. I received your letter and I am very happy to learn about lunar eclipses. I thank you very much. You told me about them. My studies are going well. We have cold weather. We celebrated Christmas and new year here well. Me and my family received gifts from our project. We got a blanket and a bed sheet. I am very happy to have received it. Please pray for me. I will pray for you. 

Yours Lovingly, 

Sadiya

________________________________________________________________________________

Onto a letter from Khushi. She is the first of my children to mention the "Fathers Love Letter" that I sent to several of my kids last year. 

Khushi is 12 years old. Her letter was written on November 24th, 2015. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

My Dear Friend Kayla, 

Greetings. Thank you so much for all the wonderful letters that I received from you. I have been learning many things about you. Your work is about God. Through you, in one of the letters, I can see Celeste. She is so sweet. Thank you for introducing me to her. I am praying for her. I know you are praying for me and love me so much. I love you too. I also received the "Father's Love Note". I enjoyed everything. Here, I am doing well. My friends and family are all good. Yes, I can see God in my teachers. God is being with me in difficult times. He is with me when I am sad. When I walk, he protects me. We are preparing for our upcoming Christmas program. I am learning some new songs for Jesus. Last bible summer camp was a great time of learning, sharing, and blessing. My school is going well. Yes, I passed with very good marks last year. I am thankful to God. Thank you for sharing children's photos. The pictures tell a lot about your caring and loving heart for people. This is the season for lots of weddings in my village and surrounding villages. It is also a time of noise on loud speakers, which I don't like much. I don't like too much noise, but it is only for two days. I enjoyed your sticker and letters. God bless you. 

Your Khushi

________________________________________________________________________________

Next, a letter from my sweet boy Kalpesh. He was one of my very first correspondent kids, when I first learned about the correspondent program. I can't believe this year will be 4 years since I started writing to him. I love him so very much. 

Kalpesh is 13 years old. His letter is dated December 2nd, 2015. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Dearest Kayla, 

Family greetings to you in the Holy name of Jesus Christ from me and my family. Once again, I am very happy to write this letter to you. Thanks to the Lord by this precious opportunity to share with you. I'm very happy to receive your lovely letters with a beautiful greeting card and stickers. I'm very glad to get your letter and I am thankful for that and your best wishes. By the Lord's grace and through your valuable prayers, we are doing very fine. We hope and pray that you are also doing well over there. My school and study is going well. 

There was a state level Kho-Kho competition in the month of September. We participated and we were "runners-up" in the tournament. Very soon, our first semester exam is going to happen so I am studying very hard. Please keep praying for my studies and my family. We also keep praying for your job. 

Once again, thank you very much for doing everything for me. May God bless you and give you good health. Take care. 

With Love,

Kalpesh 

A game of Kho-Kho. It's a very fast, energetic game that resembles tag. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Lastly, a letter from Swapna. She is such a lovely, young lady. Every letter from her is a true treasure. 

Swapna is 18 years old. She wrote this letter on January 5th, 2016. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you so much for your love and care. I am glad to receive your letter. I hope you are keeping well by the grace of God. I want to another Compassion center for "child protection policy" and career guidance training. We enjoyed it a lot there. There, we saw a river and a forest. We spent some time by the river. We celebrated our Christmas program on the 12th and 13th of December in our center. I wish you an advanced merry Christmas. We also observed the lunar eclipse here, but the moon was looking for reddish yellow color. I had studied about lunar eclipses in grade seven. Thanks a lot for the scripture verse. You are God's wonderful worker. Now, here it is the winter season. What about your country? I always pray for you. Please pray for me and write again to me. I wish you a happy new year. 

With Thanks,

Your Sponsored Child,

Swapna

_________________________________________________________________________________

Two Letters from Abu!

I was happily surprised to receive these letters today! It's only March and I've already heard from him more than I heard in 2015. That's certainly a yay for me!

In Abu's center, the children don't write their own letters, but a family member or tutor writes for them. I'm not entirely sure why that is, but whatever works, I suppose. These letters were written by Abu's uncle. The letters aren't dated, but it seems that they were written before Christmas.

Abu is 13 years old and lives in Sierra Leone.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sponsor Kayla, 

Abu said he was very pleased with your letter you wrote to him. Both grandparents are very well. Very soon, school will be closed and he is in grade 4 and by next year, 2016, he will be in grade 5, if he will be promoted. 

Abu said they have a female girls team in Bagbo (Really, I have no idea what this means). All of them are in school. He said he wants to see your children in Bible School. Thank you for everything you are doing. 

Your Child,
Abu

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Sponsor Kayla, 

Abu, with his grandparents, thank you for your letter you wrote. They said they are all well and he said they are now having Christmas holidays. He was promoted to grade 5. 

He said they are all well and World Vision tried it's best to beat and stop Ebola in the community. They said that they are always praying for you and your new job, that it keeps you busy. Please don't forget about him, he said. Abu's friends and grandparents are praying for you. Thank you Kayla! 

Your Child,
Abu

_________________________________________________________________________________

3 Days, 3 Boys

Okay, so it's been a bit of a whirlwind of correspondent kids for me! In the last three days, I've received three new boys!

Okay, so first, I received Haji. He was completely expected. With my Lazarus graduating, I asked to be put on the waiting list for a new boy to take his place. I only had to wait a couple of weeks and I was assigned 13 year old Haji, who lives in Tanzania.

Just one day later, a fellow correspondent sponsor posted a child on a Facebook page, asking for somebody to take over writing to one of her boys. I had zero intention of adding another child, but when I saw his little, angry scowl (my weakness), I just couldn't pass it up. So, along came 8 year old Degewa, who lives in Ethiopia. 

Then today, I got a call from Compassion. I knew it was going to be the official call about Lazarus graduating from the program, which it was. The woman on the phone was so nice and our conversation went like this: 

Compassion Rep: "I am calling to let you know that your child Lazarus has completed the program."

Me: "I was expecting this phone call. I knew he had graduated this month." 

Compassion Rep: "We'll go ahead and give you another child to write to in Lazarus's place." 

Me: "Oh, I actually put myself on the waiting list a few weeks ago to get a new child in his place, and I've already been assigned to a new child." 

Compassion Rep: "Oh...well 16 year old Daniel has already been assigned to your account, so I will go ahead and remove him." 

Me: "Wait! Since he's already there, I'll keep him. I already write to over 50 kids, what's one more, right?" 

Compassion Rep: "*laughing* I saw that you wrote to so many, that's great! Thanks for writing to Daniel!"

So...I now welcome Daniel, from Kenya, to the family, as well: 

I firmly believe that every child that I'm assigned to or feel led to add to my family is a nudge from God. There is no way I could let that Compassion rep remove Daniel from my account. 

There you have it, my story of getting 3 boys in 3 days. I keep saying my family is full and things like this keep happening. Guess it's not as full as I think it is...

Maybe I will hit 100 kids someday. 

Christmas Around the World

I have another two letters to share with you. In these letters, both kids talked about Christmas (after Christmas and just before Christmas, respectively), which I'm always happy to hear about. It's so fun to hear about how our sponsored kids celebrate Christmas, isn't it? 

First up, a letter from my sweet girl, Sagitaria. I love how expressive she is in this letter! She obviously really loves Christmas! Of course, I love when she calls me "Mama". :) 

Sagitaria is 12 years old and lives in Indonesia. She wrote this letter on December 28th, 2015. 

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Shalom, mama Kayla. I wish you a Merry Christmas. May Christmas this year bring joy to your family to welcome Jesus Christ. Let Christmas trees, fireworks, and the dazzling lights decorate Christmas so we feel no grief nor sorrow. May joy always be in your heart, mama dearest! I too had Christmas at the center. My heart leapt in joy and excitement to listen to the songs and perform the dances. Mama, I thank you for the money gift for Christmas. I bought new clothes and shoes. May Lord Jesus bless your family in America. I look forward to your reply, mama. God bless you. 

Love, 

Sagitaria

________________________________________________________________________________

The other letter I received was from Alexander, who turns out, doesn't like to be called Alexander anymore. Name change! He now prefers to go by his first name (he was previously going by his middle name). Now I need to make the change in my head. I've decided to called him Carlos Alexander, for now, get used to that, and then just call him Carlos. Baby steps. Haha! 

A lot of things in this letter seem like they are from an introduction letter. I wonder if his project made him write an updated version? Also, he says that he has 3 siblings. I only know about 2, so I guess his mom had a new baby! 

Carlos is 15 years old and lives in Honduras. His letter is dated December 14th, 2015. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Hello dear sponsor Kayla, 

How are you? I am very well. I like to be called Carlos. I am the first of four children in my family. My height is 157.2 centimeters (5 ft. 1 in. That's pretty short, right?). My hair color is brown. My eye color is black. One chore I'm good at is mopping. I really like to do homework. When I grow up, I want to be a teacher. What makes a school good is having good teachers, having a good environment, having good desks and blackboards, and having air conditioning. I will be a school teacher when I grow up. I like Christmas because I spend it with my family and I like to talk about Christmas. Your Christmas gift is beautiful. I say goodbye with love and hugs. I thank you for your letter and I ask you to pray for me and my family. 

Carlos Alexander

_________________________________________________________________________________

First Sunday Advocate: March 2016

Happy March! It's time, again, to share with you some kids that needs sponsors! All of these beautiful children attend projects with my kids and they very well could be friends. If you decide to sponsor one of these lovely children, let me know, and I can tell you what I know about the project.

Under each picture, I will list the child's age and name. In parenthesis next to that, I will put the name of the child that I have in that project. If want to, you can click on that child's picture and be connected to information about their project and letters I have received from them.

Luis is sponsored! 

Sweet Esmeralda has been sponsored!

7 year old Jessenia from EC-261 (Veronica)

18 year old Seble from ET-513 (Enatenesh)

Abedi was sponsored! 

Handsome Steve has been sponsored!

Pavan has been sponsored! 

11 year old Ritesh from IN-868 (Sagar)

7 year old Dorcas from KE-784 (Faith)

Sweet, Baby Mercy has found a sponsor!

First Letters of March

Hey everyone! I opened my mailbox and saw two letters Whoo hoo!

Up first, a letter from Sagar. He writes his own letters in English now! He definitely has the handwriting of a teenager boy, though. It's hard to read. Apparently, he also doesn't know about punctuation. Not a period in sight. Just one, long run-on sentence. Haha. But, I will input the periods where they are meant to go. You know, just to help the guy out a little bit.

Sagar is 13 years old and lives in India. His letter is dated November 5th, 2015.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Dear Kayla, 

Greetings to you in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I send you a big hello from India in the wonderful of of Jesus Christ. I am so happy to write this letter to you today. I love you very much. I'm hoping that you and your family are healthy and are growing in your walk with the Lord. I love receiving your letters and pictures. Which season is going on in your city? Thank you so much for your love and support. I am regularly going to school. My semester exam is over. It was very easy. (Smarty pants!) Now, here in India, we had Diwali festival, while we have a long holiday. I am regularly attending the project center. It has been providing me with a balanced diet of food. My family is very thankful to you. I like Jesus songs and stories. I am very thankful for your prayers and blessings. I am regularly praying for you and your family. 

Your Loving Child,

Sagar

_________________________________________________________________________________

The other letter I received was from Nikko. I love all of the details he shares in his letter. From reading this letter, it seems that Nikko attends a pretty great school. They go to some fun places! I looked it up and Shoe Mart (which he references in his letter) is the name a local mall, near him. It appears that there is a movie theater in this mall. :) 

Nikko is 17 years old and lives in the Philippines. His letter is dated December 29th, 2015. 

________________________________________________________________________________

Dear Ms. Kayla, 

Hi, my friend! How are you? Here in Philippines, I'm fine with my family. I hope that you're fine with your family. Merry Christmas, by the way! 

Thank you for giving me a Christmas gift. With it, I bought a shirt and shoes. I was really happy to receive something from you, my friend. At school, we had lots of activities. We had our recollection day and last week, we went to SM (Shoe Mart) and saw a Flipino movie called "E Kasi Bata". I learn a lot at school. At our center, we also had a lot of activities. We play a game called "Palarong Pinoy. I also play basketball. I got a new set of jerseys from the project. Our Christmas at the center was awesome! I played lots of games and I received lots of prizes. It was a memorable one and at home we had lots of firecrackers. I was so happy celebrating Christmas with my family. Thank you for the letter you sent me. I enjoy reading it, especially about the eclipse that you shared. I'll remember it. What did you do for Christmas? 

In the last part of this letter, please continue praying for me and my family. Pray that God will give me guidance, protection, and blessings. I'll continue praying for you and your family, that God will always protect you and give you blessings. Thank you and God bless. 

Love,

Nikko

Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." 

_________________________________________________________________________________

Lazarus Graduates!

I haven't known this young man for long, I've only been writing to him for a little over a year, but I am grown to love him. He's a very smart guy and this month, he has officially graduated from the Compassion program.

He is doing quite well in life and I am so proud of him. He is currently in college and is studying for a degree in Medical Laboratory. He plans to become a lab technician in a hospital. He told me that he wishes to test people for diseases, in order to help the doctors treat and cure them. I think that sounds like a great goal! He still has a couple of years to go in his studies, but I have faith that he will do well.

So, off into the world you go, Lazarus! I will keep him in my thoughts and prayers! I am so happy for the time that we had to communicate with each other.

Another great graduate of Compassion.

Tuesday's Child is Full of Grace...

...As the old saying goes

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Today is an extra special day for me. I sponsored another child!

For the past week or so, I've known that I was going to sponsor another child. I had the means and the desire to sponsor one more. However, there were two girls that I wanted to sponsor. I couldn't choose between them, so I decided to watch and wait. My plan was when one girl was sponsored, I would sponsor the remaining one. However, with each passing day, both girls remained on the site and I was getting impatient (as I do). I was talking to my friend Teresa about it and she suggested, since I was playing a game of chance anyway, that I pray about it. assign each child a side of a coin, flip that coin, and that would be my child. Hmm...why not, right? God works in mysterious ways and can certainly lead me to the right child, whether it be through a little nudge, a gut feeling, and yes, even a coin flip.

So...I flipped. Tails.

7 year old Veronica. From EC-261. The newest member of my sponsorship family. I am overjoyed!

Between the serious look on her face and those sweet, chubby cheeks, I was hooked. I love her so much already. I can't wait to get to know her and watch her grow.