Have you written your sponsored child lately?

I love Compassion International.

Recently a woman at our church shared with me about her visit to a Compassion project on a recent trip she took to India.  She was not familiar with Compassion at all when she went, but she came back enthusiastic about the program and ministry of Compassion.  She was so impressed with the children, the staff, and the curriculum they use to share the gospel.

As I heard her tell of her experience and impressions, I was again reminded to write letters to the children we sponsor through Compassion.

If I can share just one more thing, it is to tell you how important your letters are.  There are days when some children get letters and others don't, and it is hard to explain.
-from a Compassion partnership facilitator in India

I have heard that so many times- and I know it's true: our communication with our sponsored children is so important to them.  We pray for them, but I want to also be faithful in writing to them.  I confess I'm not very good at doing so.

There is one thing I've done in order to make correspondence easier, and it has helped considerably.  I've put together a Compassion binder containing the following:

one of our tabbed sections.  following this are each of their letters to us.

- tabbed sections for each of our Compassion children, beginning with photos of them and information about their country
- their letters to us in the order received
- rough drafts or notes of our letters to them (so that I remember what we've written to each)
- a list of ideas of what to write about
- a list of items that can be sent
- blank paper (and the stationery & envelopes Compassion provides) for writing

the front of our Compassion binder

On the front of the binder I have a Correspondence Record where I note when we've sent letters and what we've enclosed with those letters.  Most of the time I send pictures that our kids have drawn especially for them, and we send photos of our family whenever we have a current one to send.

Other things we've sent:

In October we pressed leaves between clear contact paper and sent those.  One of our sponsored boys wants to be a policeman when he grows up, so recently we sent him a coloring page of a police car.   We've sent stickers.  Today I sent Hello Kitty Band-aids to our three girls.

I prayed today that God would give me the discipline to write to our sponsored children more regularly, and that He would give me the words to say that might encourage them and show them our (and His!) love for them.

One of our little five-year-old boys has a 95-minute walk to get to the nearest Compassion child development center, and he goes: twice a week.  Isn't that such a testimony of what Compassion has to offer? - that it is worth a 95-minute walk for a tiny boy?  Twice in a week?

If you've never sponsored a child, I encourage you to do so!