Sunday, October 17, 2010

Compassion Sunday: Update

Thank you to anyone who prayed for these ten kiddos in need. We were able to find sponsors for Seylin, Omar, Kokou and Fancy this morning! Plus, two more families said they were going to head home and sponsor a child online. Praise the Lord!!!
 
Please say a prayer that sponsors will be found for Jose, Patricia, Abdul, Aaron, Nareerat and Irankunda. As sponsors where not found for them today, they will go back into the system to continue waiting for sponsorship. I look at the pictures of the remaining children and my heart churns with bittersweet feelings. I am overjoyed that I had the privilege to help find sponsors for four (hopefully six) children in need. Those four (six!) kids will be so impacted by the support they'll receive from their sponsors and the sponsors will be so incredibly blessed as they learn about their child and watch them grow. Your heart and your perspective changes when you begin to fall in love with a child living in such harsh circumstances. So I am filled with joy in that regard, but my heart is still aching as I look at the sweet faces of the six children who were not sponsored.

I did have a great time chatting with some other people in our church who sponsor children through Compassion International, or similar organizations. It was like a little mini-family reunion as we all shared and "bragged" about our sponsor children and encouraged each other to make the most of this privilege by sending letters, cards and pictures to our sponsor children more often. It was so exciting for me to share face-to-face with people why sponsorships like these are so important to me.

I have a long history with Compassion. When I was growing up, my parents sponsored a little boy from Haiti named Ethney who was just a few years older that me. I loved sending letters and pictures to him and we grew up together through the correspondence my family shared with him (I even had numerous dreams about being in Haiti and playing with him). My parents sponsored him all the way through high school. 

Then, when I was twenty-three, I went to Uganda, Africa and was able to witness firsthand the poverty these children are facing. The lack of food, water, clothing... The lack of opportunity or hope that things will ever get better. When I returned home, I began sponsoring Nazziwa, a sixteen-year-old girl from Uganda. Older children are always harder to find sponsors for, which is why I picked her. Plus, since she is older, I've been able to have some really meaningful conversations with her through the letters we've shared over the past four years. Then, two years ago, added a second Ugandan sponsor child, Barabra (who is now seven). The past four years of being a Compassion sponsor have been such an honor. I've gotten to know these sweet girls and hear about the things they are learning about Jesus. With Nazziwa especially, I am able to encourage her as she grows into a young woman of God. It is an incredible blessing and privilege.

The problems of this world and the enormity of poverty can seem overwhelming, but changing the world can begin with one child. It can be with me. It can begin with you





 

2 comments:

  1. I am so glad that so many children found sponsors. I know it is hard when we have children that don't find sponsors while we have their packets, but we need to remember that God is making these matches. Perhaps he has other people in mind for those kids. God bless.

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  2. I love the video you just posted on facebook. So sweet. Made me get online and give each of my kids a gift. I am also making John write them a letter now:)...I always write them. Glad you are doing so much with Compassion. Its awesome.

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