A Challenge

Hi friends!  Today I have a special challenge for you.  Compassion is hosting a campaign tomorrow called 'One Meal, One Day'.  The basic premise is that you skip one meal on one day (tomorrow, March 27) and donate the money that you would have spent on that meal to go toward feeding the hungry.

I would encourage all of you to take this simple step to help eradicate hunger.  You don't have to give much, just the $5 you were planning to spend on fast food for lunch.  If you donate to Compassion's campaign, the money will go directly to feeding kids in Ethiopia where there is a huge food shortage right now.  But don't feel restricted to this one organization.  Maybe you would prefer to donate to Feeding America's meal program.  Or maybe you'd like to give to your local Meals on Wheels program.  Give to the cause that is closest to your heart, but please do this: experience hunger and give to those who live with it daily.

Please also keep praying for sweet Rosa, whom I am trying to find a sponsor for.

I posted before about my commitment to finding a sponsor for Rosa.  I now have some more information about this lovely girl.  Rosa is 11 and lives in El Salvador.  She lives with a single mom and one sibling.  She likes playing jacks, singing, and jumping rope.  She reminds me so much of my lovely Marlen, and I would love to find someone to love on her.

Please keep praying for Rosa and click here if you would be interested in changing her life as well as your own by sponsoring her.

Proof of the Good and Call to Action

Compassion received some very exciting news this week.  An independent researcher studied the effects of child sponsorship through Compassion's program to see whether or not it really works.  The answer was a resounding YES!  You can read the whole article here, but here are some highlights:

Compassion graduates are more likely to:

Get and education

Have a white collar job

Be a leader in their church and community

than kids from their areas who were not registered in the program.

Now, everyone involved with Compassion can see the changes in our own kids.  But for any skeptics out there, there is now quantifiable proof that the work Compassion is doing around the world does make a difference in these kids and their communities.

So now for part 2 of the title.  Every year Compassion chooses one Sunday in the Spring for sponsors to share about the ministry with their church family.  Although I do not think I will be able to share at my church this year, I am going to share with you.  You can read up a little on how I began with Compassion earlier on my blog, The Beginnings.  I hope that those of you who have been reading along with me for the past several months have seen the amazing ways that my life has been changed by this organization, as well as the lives of the sweet kids the Lord has put in my path through Compassion.

Now it's your turn to change a child's story and your own:

This lovely girl, in my heart land, is waiting for a sponsor right now.  Please consider going to my Compassion Sunday page and praying for her.  It is my hope that in the next month I will be able to find a sponsor for beautiful Rosa who will be changed by her like I have been changed by Marlen.

2 Great Letters

This week I've been home for spring break and was very excited to receive not one, but two letters from my Compassion kids.

My first letter was from cute little Rhean in the Philippines.

Rhean's letter is about her family.  She says that her mom is a housekeeper, and her dad is a carpenter.  She lives with her parents, brother, sister, and grandmother.  She likes to watch tv and go to church with her family.  She drew a cute picture of a house, tree, and flowers.  

Rhean's dad then wrote a long letter.  I love that her parents write as it allows me to feel connected to the whole family.  He thanks me for gifts that Rhean received for Christmas and her birthday (which is the week after Christmas).  She got clothes, toys, shoes, and food.  He also says that Rhean is very cheerful and has recently learned to pray at the Compassion center.  He ends by asking me to pray that fighting between guerillas and the military will stop so that there will be peace.

Then today I got a letter from sweet Marlen in El Salvador.

Marlen chose to write on the 'my dreams' theme this time.  She says that she wants to be a secretary when she grows up and drew a great picture of her working in an office with her name on the door and everything.  She also says that she did well in school (their school year in ends with the year end and this letter was written in January).  She says that for Christmas she got "a lovely pair of shoes" and spent time with friends and family.  She is also continuing in the bakery workshop at her project.  She seems to really enjoy it as she talks about it in every letter!  This time she describes a kind of bread that they learned to make called Semita.  It is a Salvadoran bread that has honey inside.  It sounds amazing and I would love the chance to try it some day.  She then asks for me to pray for her uncle who is in prison that he may be released soon.  She ends "I love you very much.  With much care, and great care for you, with love and care, Marlen"

Finally, to round out the week, I got an updated photo of my new girl, Joan, in Uganda.  I have not yet heard from her but am looking forward to getting to know her in her last few years in the program.

This is Joan's old picture, so she must have been about 16.

This is her now at 18.

I was so happy for updates on my girls this week!  I feel like I just heard from Rhean and Marlen and am very excited to be seeing more letters from them!  Please join me in praying for the fighting in the Philippines as well as for Marlen's uncle.