One Plants... One Waters... Both Bless!

Saturday afternoon, I discovered that I had just been given a very special gift... a new correspondent child!!!  I am so excited and blessed all over again!  There is nothing quite like the experience of building relationships with children in poverty around the world...  I've been discovering firsthand what an incredible privilege and blessing it is for both the child and for me. 

While I financially sponsor a few children of my own, I initially received each of my Compassion children through the Correspondence Sponsorship program.  Many people want to help children by financially sponsoring them, but don't wish to carry the responsibility of writing consistently to their child, so they release them to another sponsor to be the correspondent.  Very cool teamwork, in my opinion!

One is the financial sponsor, and the other is the correspondent sponsor... and both are doing their part to bless and encourage the child, and to help lift him out of poverty, both inwardly and externally.  It's like one doing the planting, and one doing the watering, but both working together to bless!

If you currently sponsor a child through Compassion, but writing letters each month and working at developing a relationship with that child is not something that you have been faithfully doing, I encourage you to consider one of two options to bless your precious child:

1.  Commit yourself to writing consistently to your child.  Find out just how important your letters are to your child... read what children have said about this at Blogging From the Boonies. This post was such a revelation to my heart and understanding, and I haven't been the same since in how I write letters to my kids!! The relationship you build through letters is just as important as the financial giving...  one helps to lift your child from poverty from the inside, and the other helps to lift him externally.  Both are equally vital to the child's well-being.  Children in poverty have embraced the lie that they don't matter, that they are of no value.  When other children in the project receive letters from their sponsors on mail day, and your child continues to receive none, the lie unfortunately is reinforced.  Commit yourself to writing faithfully to your child.  Use the online email writing tool if that works for you... I know it does for me!  I'm currently writing to 13 children around the world that I can send emails to, so they hear from me 1-3+ times a month!  As much as I like handwritten letters, they only get sent about once every 1-3 months because of the time, energy, and cost.  The email doesn't cost me any money, it's quick, simple, my hand is happy, and I can even upload photos into the letter and choose a template for the stationery to delight my children.  You don't have to have very important things to say... just write.  Your simple letters in the child's hand let them know that they matter... that they are of value, and they are lifted from poverty on the inside.

2.  If you don't want to write on a consistent basis, please consider releasing your child to a correspondent sponsor to write letters and build a relationship with him.  I'm friends with sponsors around the world who absolutely LOVE writing to MANY children each month... and know that many or most of them would absolutely LOVE to receive another correspondent child!  Our hearts ache for the many children who rarely, or never, hear from their sponsors, especially when we would love to do that part.  These correspondent sponsors are all at their max for financially sponsoring children... for some it's one child, for others it's 20...  yes, 20!  While we may not be able to squeeze in another child financially right now, we still have plenty of room for writing to more, and would love to be part of that sponsor team for these children... one sponsor blesses financially, the other blesses by building the relationship.  You can call Compassion and let them know that you wish to release your child to a correspondent sponsor, and from experience, I can tell you that letters will be flying off to your child within hours!  Every correspondent I know immediately sends off the first email within minutes of receiving the child, and then is busy putting together little paper gifts to send in the mail.  The joy that the correspondent feels upon learning that they have a new correspondent child is intensely awesome!  Not only is the child blessed, but so is the correspondent!  You can call Compassion at (800) 336-7676, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. MT.

Maybe you are reading this, and cannot take on the financial sponsorship of a child right now, but the Correspondent Sponsorship program interests you, and you would like to be involved with this.  Call Compassion and ask to be put on their waiting list!  The longest I've had to wait for a child is about a month, and the shortest was about 1 day!  The moment I found out about each child, there was such an explosion of JOY..  I couldn't wait to write that first email!!  And I love the relationship that is being built, letter by letter, prayer by prayer, for each of these precious children.  The love that is poured into me and other correspondent sponsors for these kids is just so amazing.

Several weeks ago, I asked Compassion to again be placed on the waiting list, this time for a Honduran girl under 12 years old.  (I'm always pretty specific about the child that is on my heart!)  Honduras is the first country I want to visit after school is finished, and I want time to build a relationship with her before I go on that trip.  I've been praying for her, waiting for her, by faith have already been buying some little gifts to send to her with another sponsor who is visiting Honduras in a few months, checking my account daily to see if she had shown up yet, and... finally... Whoo hoo! Yes!  She's here!  So welcome with me my newest correspondent sweetie to my nest... 10 year old Astrid. :o)  I love taking the kids' profile photos and turning them into special pictures both for them and for me... to see each child as royalty in God's kingdom.

Maybe you are in the position where you CAN take on the financial sponsorship of a child, but would like someone else to be the correspondent.  There are three Compassion children very specially on my heart that I personally want to sponsor, but simply cannot take on any more financial sponsorships at this time...

The first one is this precious 8 year old girl in the Philippines, Brenda Rose...

The second is 9 year old Saifali who is living in the Red Light district in India...

...and the third is this older boy, 15 year old Carlos Roberto  :o)  in Honduras,  as the older children, particularly older boys, have a harder time finding sponsors than the "cute little ones."  If one of these three children interest you, and you would like to be a team together with me to bless these children, please email me asap at sweetwater.deb@gmail.com ...it would be such a joy and delight to have the privilege of loving and encouraging these children together with you!!

Blessings!