Olympic Watching Letter Purge: Part 2

Like I said yesterday, today I will finish my letter purge. Also like yesterday, this post will include several letters. I'm trying to get them all posted and answered by the end of this week. So without further ado...

Let's start with a letter from Jonathan, from Burkina Faso. I get to hear about some fun eclipse related customs from his country.

Jonathan is 9 years old and his letter is dated November 25th, 2017.

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Dear Kayla, 

I am very happy to write this letter to let you hear from me. I am fine, as well are my parents. How are you doing? I received your letter and I am very happy. Here in Burkina Faso, we have eclipses sometimes. I have never seen one, but my mom told me that people play drums or use boxes to make noise during them. They sing and they say, "The cat has caught me. Please let him go." I like the color yellow. My favorite food is pasta. My best friend is Obed. Thank you for your letter. May God bless you! 

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Now a letter from Zenebu, who is telling me about some of the things in her community. Some of these countries are really getting some wonderful template letters. They include more pictures and open ended questions, that give children opportunity to match pictures to words to help them out, or answer questions in their own way. 

Zenebu is 6 years old and lives in Ethiopia. Her letter is dated October 26th, 2017 (quite a long delay on this one). 

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1. My community is called: Abiyot Fire Sefer

2. My community is located in the: Fitche region

3. The population of my community is: 5,000

4. A common job in my community is: Trade 

5. Common transportation in my community is: Carts & motorcycles 

6. People in my community speak: Amharic and Afan Oromo 

7.  In my community, the weather is typically: Sunny

Please pray about my education, health, and family. Thank you for teaching me about amazing nature and the creation of God. My beloved sponsor, I will celebrate my next birthday on December 12th, 2017. 

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Next up, a lovely letter from Carlos. He always has wonderful things to say. 

Carlos is 17 years old and lives in Honduras. His letter is dated January 25th, 2018 

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Hello Dear Kayla, 

How are you? I am very well, thanks to God. My project is named My Hope CDC and I attend my project one day a week. My project is located three blocks away from my house. The regular activities that we do in my project are: learn the Bible and songs about God. The thing I like the most about the staff at my project is that they are patient and that each day I attend class, they talk to me about God. I have received your letter and I am glad that you have traditions. It is good to share them with your family. Your family is very pretty. Until this day, I had not heard the word "cornucopia." Thank you for sending a photo of it. Do you have more sisters besides Jordan? I ask you to please always care my family and me in your prayers. Thank you for the Christmas gift. I say goodbye with hugs and kisses. 

Carlos 

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Next up, a letter from Jule. He really has a lot to say in this letter! It was great to read! 

Jule is 14 years old and lives in Rwanda. He wrote this letter on December 12th, 2017. 

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Dear Kayla, 

I, your supported son Jule, greet you in the name of Jesus. We are in the rainy season and we are busy planting sorghum. My brother Gilbert is fine and he is now 2 years old. I have now finished grade one of secondary school and I will start grade two of secondary school soon. My three hens are doing well. I have one mother and two chicks. I like to play soccer. I wish you and your family a happy new year. Thank you very much for the nice letter you sent to me. My favorite clothes to wear are pants and shirt with black shoes. Our house is built of bricks and logs. It has 4 bedrooms and a sitting room. Our project supports 262 children and it has 4 staffs. I like to read the Bible. All the children support by the project attended the Christmas celebration. 

Jule

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Onto a letter from Marinelis, representing the teen girls in this post! Just some everyday, lovely details in this letter. I love when our kids get conversational in their letters. 

Marinelis is 15 years old and lives in the Dominican Republic. His letter is dated January 23rd, 2018. 

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Dear Kayla, 

How are you? I hope you are well. How is your family? Is it very cold over there? In my school they changed the uniform. It is now a shirt with a tie and pants. Please pray for me and my family. We always pray for you. How is Brandilyn? I hope you are good. Did you get married? How are the children you care for? What do you study? What animals do you like? I like puppies. In my home, there are two beautiful puppies. I like the photos you sent me. I love you. Take care. 

With Love,

Marinelis

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The final letter in this post is from Nikko. I have so many wonderful teenagers. I'm just so grateful for them all. 

Nikko is 19 years old and lives in the Philippines. His letter is dated December 20th, 2017. 

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Dear Ms. Kayla, 

Good day! I'm glad to receive a letter from you! Thank you for sharing about the achievement of your other sponsored child, Jhon, your other sponsored child Emanise, the solar eclipse, and your greeting for my birthday. Thank you so much for sharing those things with me. Please do extend my congratulations to Jhon and pass my greetings onto Emanise. I'm glad to also know about the solar eclipse. Yes, we do experience those here, as well. In fact, we just had one this year, but sad to say, I didn't see it, maybe because it was in the southern part of the country. And also thank you for your birthday greetings! I appreciate it! I'm glad also that you are enjoying taking care of Gage and Chloe. They are surely growing to be good and smart kids. I would be glad to send you a photo of my family, but I can't do it now. Maybe in my next letter I will have it for you. By the way, how are you going to celebrate Christmas? About me here, I am doing fine with my family. I want to request that you continue praying for our daily needs and protection. Merry Christmas to you and your family. God bless you! 

Nikko

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Olympic Watching Letter Purge!

As I sit here watching as many Olympic events as I can in one day (which is a lot), I am going to type up a ton of letters that I've received. I will probably break my most recently received letters into two posts, for today and tomorrow, but each post will be quite long. 

We'll start with a template letter from little Carolin, who is telling me about her Hopes for the Future. 

Carolin is 6 years old, from the Dominican Republic. Her letter is dated January 17th, 2018. 

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1. In the future, I hope to learn about: Art 

2. In the future, I hope to do the following activities: Go to university 

3. In the future, I want to be: A doctor 

4. In the future, I hope to visit: A baseball stadium 

5. In the future, I hope to meet: My sponsor 

Dear Kayla,

May God bless you and your family a lot. Carolin asks, "How are you?". She is very grateful for the letter you sent and she also says she was able to see the last eclipse. She says she hopes you had seen it as well in your country. She also says that God created the eclipse. Please pray for the children at the center. With love, she says goodbye. 

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Up next, a first letter from Shakilla. In this letter, she is telling me how what things are like at her project. 

Shakilla is 6 years old and lives in Rwanda. Her letter was written on January 22nd, 2018. 

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1. I go to my project: 1 day per week 

2. My project is 2 km away from my home

3. I get to my project: On foot 

4. Typical activities I do at my project are: Playing, studying, and eating 

5. My favorite activity to do at my project is: Playing 

6. When I am at my project, I typically eat: Rice, beans, and greens 

Dear Parent, 

First and foremost, your child greets you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Shakilla would like to know how you are doing and how your family is doing. At school she is doing fine and she will be joining primary class one. Previously, she managed to attain good grades. Pray for her to continuing excelling academically. She would like to know how you are doing and please send family photos to her. Thank you and may God bless you abundantly. 

(Written by her mother) 

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Now we have a letter from Anju, who does not seem to be a very confident artist, but I think his drawings are great. He's too hard on himself. 

Anju is 13 years old, from Indonesia. His letter is dated December 19th, 2017. 

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Shalom Dear Kayla, 

Thank you for your letter. I was happy to receive it. I want to ask, can you draw your family? I am not very good at drawing, but I am trying to draw my family, even though it is not good enough. I have to practice more in drawing. I hope that you like my picture. I will try to send a family photo to you. I have finished the first semester exam. I will get the report soon. I will have a school holiday soon. Please pray for me always. Merry Christmas. 

Love, 

Anju

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Up next, a short letter from Agness. To be fair, she may be running out of things to say, as it's only February and this is the 3rd letter I've received from her so far this year. ;) 

Agness is 14 years old and lives in Tanzania. Her letter is dated January 23rd, 2018. 

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Dear Kayla, 

I would like to know your state and I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ. My family is doing well. In my studies, my favorite subject is English. I am praying for you. Do you pray for me? I wish you all the best. God bless you wherever you go and wherever you come from. Amen. 

Agness

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I think I'll post two more letters in this blog entry, and will move onto a letter from Enmanuel. I actually just received a photo update of him, so you'll see his new face shot, but I'll share his full photo with you in a few days. 

Enmanuel is 10 years old and lives in the Dominican Republic. His letter is dated January 17th, 2018. 

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Hello Dear Sponsor Kayla, 

May God bless you so much! How are you? How was your Christmas? Do you celebrate the wise men holiday like we do in our country? I'm fine, thanks be to God. I had a good Christmas with my family and friends. On wise men day, I had a good time and played so much. I ask you to pray for me and my family. May God bless you! 

Enmanuel

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We close out this post with a letter from Acram. Just like we started with future dreams, we will end with them as well. 

Acram is 6 years old and from Tanzania. His letter is dated January 25th, 2018. 

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1. Someday I would like to visit: Your country 

2. Someday I would like to see: You and your appearance 

3. Someday I would like to help: My family

4. Someday I would like to be like: My father

5. Someday I would like to meet my sponsor because: I love her

6. When I grow up I would like to be: A doctor 

Acram is happy to receive your letter. He says thank you. He is doing well in his studies. Now he is in grade one. His family is doing well. Acram loves Jesus and he accepts Him to be his savior. His favorite Bible story is David & Goliath. 

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Official Manna 4 Lempira Backpack Photos: 2018!

The last week or so has been so exciting as photos from the latest Manna 4 Lempira trip were slowly posted; first candid photos and then official backpack photos, one community at a time. It was so fun to check the Facebook page every day and see which new photos had arrived. Here are the official photos are each of my boys. Let's go from oldest to youngest, to keep it organized.

Ivan looking so grown up! He seems to favor his new soccer ball. 

Carlos also appears to have gone through a growth spurt. Such a handsome guy! 

Jarlen received his backpack and shoes. Then a few days later, while receiving his folder from me, was seen sporting one of the new shirts that I sent to him in his backpack! And the shirt fits him perfectly! 

Yesbin has such a great smile! And, as a friend pointed out, it's pretty fun how perfectly his shirt matches his new soccer ball. :) 

Such a serious boy! But he also seems to love his new soccer ball! 

Tiny Defer who, if you an believe it, will turn 9 years old soon. He's so little! 

Every time I see a photo of Angel, I am just so grateful that I get to be his sponsor. I had to, unfortunately, lose a sponsored child to gain Angel into my family, but when I see his sweet face, I know it was all meant to be. I love him so much! 

I love Levi's little grin! 

My sweet, chubby-cheeked Noel! He also EVERYTHING taken out of his backpack in the 2nd photo. I guess he couldn't decide which item he liked the best. 

My littlest guy, Antony! I always forget how little he is, until I see him next to something. For example, the backpack is nearly half his size! 

There is just something magical about seeing my children holding backpacks, holding toys, and wearing clothing that I had in my possession just a few months ago. Sponsoring with Manna 4 Lempira is truly a miracle. I am thankful for the organization every, single day.  

From the Field Friday: TH-715

Today's letter comes from the pastor from project TH-715, which is located in Thailand. It's the project my boy Tle attends.

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Dear Kayla, 

Greetings in the mighty name of Jesus. I am Boonlu Kotcharat. I'm a pastor of a partner church with Compassion International in the Prakun Kud Yang Child Development Center. We minister to your sponsored child. Thank you for your sponsorship of Thanathip Chinban. We're located in the Northeastern region of Thailand. 

Thank you for your valuable support. The center is doing ministry in six communities near us, which causes many changes as we seek to develop the children in need. We share the Gospel, help the children get an education, and encourage a good family life. 

The sponsored children have a chance to join in the center. They get to hear about the Gospel and get to take care of their spiritual suggestions. Many children have accepted God and their lives have been changed for better. They have good responsibility, they love others, and are willing to help people who are weaker than them. 

There was a child in the center who accepted the Lord and he is no strong in serving in the church ministry. From being a shy person, he is now a leader. He leads younger children and teaches them to sing and leads them in Sunday worship. He had invited his younger brother to come and play the musical instruments with him too. People in the community have accepted his ability, his good behavior, and good manners. His family has accepted the changes that have happened within their own family so they trust in God to take care of him more and always support him in all activities.

The ministry that we're doing with the community at present is developing the career skills for the parents of sponsored children and set up various groups such as a credit union saving groups and career groups. The aim is to increase the income and savings of the families so they can better support their children. 

The letters from the sponsors are the very important thing that helps the children to get to know the sponsors. When they've received a letter, they are happy and they are always waiting for sponsor letters. It's important that they receive encouragement so they will grow in God's ways. I hope you will write soon. Please write Tle a letter as it makes each child so very happy to receive mail. 

Please pray for us. Thank you supporting us with your prayers and finances. May God bless you and may the peace of God be with you forever. Amen. 

Regards, 

Boonlu Kotcharat

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Manna Backpack Distribution Candids: 2018

I am so excited to be posting this today! Just a few weeks ago, a team with Manna 4 Lempira traveled to Honduras to distribute backpacks, school supplies, school shoes, and other assorted goodies to all of the children. There were games played, celebrations to be had, and all around fun!

I will have official photos of all of my Manna boys soon, with their new items, but until then, I have some other wonderful photos to share with you! There were hundreds of candid photos taken during the time spent in Honduras and I was able to spot some of my boys in several of the photos! It's not all of my boys, some seem to be more camera shy. ;) I'll post them by individual boy:

Sweet Antony before and after receiving his goodies! 

Angel admiring his soccer ball and spying on what the other kids received. 

Noel is a little shy after receiving his folder

My Jarlen with his younger brother; waiting for backpacks to arrive. 

Serious, handsome Ivan after receiving his backpack. 

Yesbin all smiles (and even a wave) before receiving his backpack. Then all serious afterwards. 

Levi's sweet smile and, again, seriousness after receiving his backpack.