Embracing the Full, Hard and Good Life, While Pausing Often by Quiet Waters
This paper airplane letter post is an updated version of a popular post from the archives. I’ve included paper airplane patterns with letters to my Compassion International sponsored kids, and am trying them out with my grandchildren when they visit. Simple. Easy. Fun
Maybe you’ve seen a lot about Sponsorship through Compassion International on social media lately. Maybe you’ve seen the tag “sponsor selfie day” and wondered what it’s all about. I want to share what sponsor selfie day means to me, a little about my 24 years of experience sponsoring children.
I first started sponsoring a child in 1994. As a young single mom, I just felt a tug to do something. I realized that some might not have even the basics that I was able provide for my daughter. At the time, I didn’t realize that I had made a long term commitment. When I married my husband, he joined me in the sponsorship of Edgar, until Edgar graduated from school and the Compassion program. And then we sponsored more children.
Now more than 20 years later I’ve seen sponsorship in action. A couple of my daughters and I have traveled to meet our sponsored children. I have seen what sponsoring a child does for a child, a family and a community. And with amazement and joy, I can see what involving ourselves in the lives of these kids has begun to do in each member of my family.
It is pure joy to sponsor Alys, pictured here, and Alisson, in the picture at the top of the page. Despite the difficulties these girls and their mommas face daily, sponsorship means they are not alone. I have linked arms with these mothers, the teachers, and the pastor of their local church. Together we each do our part to give Alys and Alisson, the opportunity to each reach her God ordained potential, to walk out of poverty and to fully live.
If you are interested in linking arms with a family and a church for a child growing up in poverty, please check out Compassion International , comment below, or email me at michelle at byquietwaters.com
I am happy to answer questions or help you sponsor a child, in Jesus name.
Welcome Back!
It has been quite awhile since a Sponsorship Saturday has appeared here on the blog. Every once in awhile I’ve been sending stories and public domain books in our letters to sponsor children. The response has been fantastic. The kids of all ages seem to like the stories.
Earlier in the month I found another story for the children we sponsor through Compassion. As I read the story and thought about it, a topic from Scripture came to mind. So, I spent some time putting it all together and sent The Sheep and the Pig along with a letter to our sponsored children.
As I told you all in May, a few of my daughters and I joined a Compassion Tour Trip in July. Because of the way the flights worked out to reach our group and the connection in Miami, I was able to build in a couple of days on either side of the long weekend in El Salvador. One of my older teens has had an extremely full summer with summer classes, an internship with a big project and working her “day job”. We also had a change pre-trip and one of the daughters scheduled for this trip decided not to go, and another daughter jumped in at nearly the last minute. All of that caused me to believe that a short break from regular life before we entered into what the trip held for us would be very good for us.
And it was so good.
It is always interesting, the things that stick in a person’s mind, roll around and make pathways of change in a person’s thinking.
In September 2015 I traveled with a group of women to El Salvador to see the ministry of Compassion International, in action. This wasn’t my first international trip, it wasn’t my first time to meet our Compassion sponsored children. But still, this trip, the people I met, the words I heard, have created pathways of change in my thinking.
But first…
Compassion International is a child advocate ministry.
Every project of Compassion is in partnership with a local church, who is already doing the work of caring for children in their community.
This is something that I truly love about Compassion International. By working with indigenous pastors and the local church, people are reached right where they are. In their language, within the context of their own culture. Local pastors know the people in their communities, and know their needs. By coming alongside the local church, it is strengthened, but not changed.
Since returning from El Salvador that September in 2015, I found myself very restless. As my youngest children are all older teens, some of my time has become freer. I spent some time volunteering in a mail room for Compassion, as the headquarters is near my town. Still the restless feeling persisted. I kept thinking about one of the woman I met during that trip, and the work she did. Mercedes is a tutor, a mentor and probably wears many other hats at a child development center (Compassion Center) She is known to go out and find children who have been absent from attendence, or children she has heard about who have needs.
Those memories and the restless feeling I experienced ushered changes in my life. Being a child sponsor has taught me so much about the world outside my little piece of earth, and traveling to visit Compassion children and the people who work with them has changed my life. I now work with at risk mothers and babies in my own community. I feel like the biggest change happens in each person’s life when we let down our guard and expectations, and see what is really going on in the world. There is a great big mission field all over the world, far away, and right here in our neighborhood.
If you are currently a Compassion child sponsor, I encourage you to consider traveling to meet your child if possible. Don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back!
If you are interested in starting the Child Sponsorship adventure, click here to see children who are waiting for a sponsor. While changing life for a child, you may find your the one with the biggest change.
And I’d love to hear from you, in the comments or by email. How has sponsoring children, or working in another ministry changed your life?
Since Colorado has received some much needed snow this week, I am reposting this letter idea for this month’s Sponsorship Saturday 🙂
Since moving to Colorado I’ve developed a love for snow. It used to be that I only loved “snow days”. But after living northern Canada for the year of 2010, I pretty much love all aspects of Colorado snow. And guess what?
It is snow season right now! So I decided to write about SNOW and send some fun snow related items to our sponsored children. I found this printable, and paired it with recent snowy photographs and pages of winter themed stickers from Michaels.