Why Letters Matter - a poignant meeting with a current sponsored child (Dominican Republic Bloggers trip!)

When I read this post (link at bottom) I was so moved and inspired and energised to keep using my the gifts God has blessed me with to continue spreading his love and hope and encouragement - through what means? Letters! Such a simple thing, seemingly insignificant thing with such amazing, life changing effects!! Even for those who don't have the gift of writing - your sponsored children would cherish even a short letter from you! Or you can ask Compassion (or their partner offices! :)) to assign a correspondent to your child - a volunteer who will write to them and build a encouraging relationship with them through letters - that way your child will reap all the benefits from your generous financial support and a passionate letter writing volunteer's emotional and relational support. 

This story reminded me of the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32:  "31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Likewise even though letters seem small compared to everything else they often yield the most significant outcome - many many lives have been changed through the faithful, love-filled letters sent to a sponsor - and sponsors lives have been changed too! 

As you read the post about Braudy and his experiences as a sponsored child may it inspire you to be the light in a child's life and spread the best news that there has ever been (or ever will be! :)) the news of God's love for them and what he has done for them through Jesus! God cares about each of these children more than we could ever imagine and he invites us to take the plunge and invest in their lives - both physically (with food, school supplies, medical care) and show them just how special and how loved they are - with the wonderful news of the gospel, encouraging letters from their sponsor, and inspirational leadership at their child development centre!

With God, Compassion, and Us there is a way out of poverty for these children - what an exciting privilege to be included in God's plan for them! 

If you would like to sponsor a child (from the Dominican Republic or anywhere!) then it would be awesome if you could sponsor through this link because then it will help the child you sponsor **and** it will help our sponsored children by earning them a family gift through the bloggers reward program! You can also keep track of how many children are sponsored due to the bloggers trip (exciting!!) **and** you will get a beautiful heart necklace which says - "You are so very loved" - great to wear or to gift to someone!

http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=134716

http://www.faithbarista.com/2015/02/meeting-braudy-how-one-tin-roof-shack-turned-brokenness-into-beauty-compassion-trip-to-dominican-republic-day-1-unscriptedcompassion/

Compassion Dominican Republic Bloggers Trip! :)

It's that time again! :) Time for another week of amazing blog posts by a group of fantastic bloggers who will be blogging 'from the trenches' - it is definitely intense stuff - intense but inspiring, amazing, compelling, exciting! Each day all six bloggers will be writing about something they experienced that day and let us come into their trip (almost in real time!) and experience the lives of some of the people who are part of the Compassion programs in the Dominican Republic! <3
Technically they've already been going for a few days but there is still time to read their next few posts as they come hot of the press and there's plenty of time to catch up on the last few post! Also this week would be a great time to sponsor a child from the Dominican Republic (or anywhere!) If you sponsor any child this week you will also receive a beautiful heart necklace (great to wear or to gift!) which says "You are so very loved"! :) If you sponsor through this link - not only will you be changing a child's life but you'll also be helping my hubby and I to earn family gifts for our sponsored children! :D 
http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm?referer=134716
Continue reading below to learn some quick facts - both fun and sobering about the Dominican Republic! :)

The Story Behind The Photo :)

This is another Compassion Bloggers Assignment :) However this is an older one that I found on Pinterest and thought would be good to do, as opposed to one that landed in my inbox saying "write me!" "write me!" :).
The idea is to pick from a set of four photos and imagine but life events lead up to the photo :). I choose this photo of an Indian women and now I am going to attempt to tell a story that could be her story. :)
I'm entitling my story - "The Growing Hope" :).

Jesus Loves Me; A Universal Truth: Compassion Assignment :)

Below I've included a wonderful video clip of children from the Dominican Republic singing Jesus loves me in their native language. Also in the video is a translator who sings partly in their native language and partly in English - I think it's fun to hear the different versions and the happiness on the children's faces is great to see! :) This video clip made me think of how wonderful it is that the song Jesus Loves Me is a universal truth for Jesus loves everyone in the world and God is the god of all people!

The Heart Connection!

Time for another Compassion assignment :) This one involves writing about this beautiful video about a happy little boy called Judah who has a mum who loves him very much. :)

Judah's mum talks about her experience with Judah needing to have open heart surgery and how grateful she is that they were able to get this so he could grow up into a wonderful little man who is full of love and life. :)

She then mentions that there is a staggering number of children who are loved and treasured by their parents who have preventable health conditions who can't get medical care and don't get the opportunity to grow up into wonderful little people. These parents would give anything for their children to be able to get medical treatment but it just isn't possible - *unless* someone steps in - someone like Everett Swanson - founder of Compassion, someone like Wess Stafford - recently retired president of Compassion, someone like me or someone like you! Someone equipped with Jesus' love! :)

For only $48 (NZ) a month you can be the difference between a family losing a beloved child from a preventable condition and a family being overjoyed by receiving medical care for their son or daughter and getting to watch them grow up! 

You can be the difference between someone's baby daughter dying of malnutrition and someone's daughter having enough to eat and growing up healthy! 

You can be the difference between someone's son having nowhere to turn and joining a gang and someone's son gaining an education, vocational skills and even going to university!

This is not all! You can be the difference between a family living in fear and darkness and a family hearing the life-saving message of the gospel and having the opportunity to put their hope and trust in Jesus - gaining joy and eternal life! :)

It's easy (for me at least) to think that because tragedy happens so often to people in poverty that it does not really matter as much to the families who go through it but that is not true! Everyone, everywhere, loves the same, grieves the same, and needs Jesus the same! :)

Change a life today - for now and eternity! Sponsor a precious child and release them from poverty in Jesus' name! :) 

Mjeni's Photo Update! :)

The other day I logged onto Our Compassion and saw a different face among my correspondent children, I was confused about it until I looked closer and saw that Mjeni's photo had just been updated! She looks much older in her new photo and has an even bigger smile! :) This was my first photo update so it was extra exciting! :)

Here's her old photo - (from about a year and a half ago I think)

and here's her new photo! :) 

Her introduction letter should be arriving soon and I can't wait to get to know a bit more about her! :D

Expanding My Correspondent Children Family :)

Around the end of February I started thinking about adding correspondent children again after a friend mentioned her dreams of writing to lots of kids. I decided that I had the time & money (intl stamps) to write to three more kids :D. I also decided to trust God with them and not to worry about their sponsors dropping them. This time I asked for all girls (I do totes <3 my correspondent boys too though :)). I thought it would take weeks or even months to get assigned 3 more girl correspondents but I got assigned all three of them within a week - on three consecutive days! Sometimes there are a lot of new children that need written to and sometimes there are not that many new children that need to be written too. :)

The Backstage Hero :)

Today I wanted to a post about a very special person. I wanted to write about him because he is a backstage hero. Here on this blog (and in various other avenues where people know me ;)) I am very passionate about things and love promoting great causes and people easily get the idea about how I feel about things (heehee) but there is someone who is just as passionate and invested in supporting and promoting great causes but he is more quiet (I'm a little on the loud side ;)) and so people don't always know about all the amazingness that is contained within. :)
This person inspires me every day and provides an amazing Christ-like example, he constantly inspires me to become more Christlike (with Jesus' help! :)). He is the kindest, most big-hearted person I know and he is constantly amazing me with his patience, kindness, selflessness and brilliance at everything - seriously the dude is crazy talented, sometimes I envy his brilliance but most of the time I just enjoy it! :) This person is my husband, Eoin. :)

New Correspondent Child! :)

When I checked OurCompassion this morning (forum/website where Compassion sponsors from all over the world can connect and share :)) there was a new little face on my profile page - my new correspondent child! :D 

Introducing Salimu! :D 

Guest Interview!! :)

Today I have the pleasure of posting an interview I did with a friend who lives overseas (we did it through e-mail.) :). 
I got the inspiration for doing interviews from one of my awesome sister's in law (thanks!) :). 
I have changed the name of the friend I interviewed for her privacy. :)