Monday and Mail

I've very excited to share three letters I received this last week from Compassion. Two of them were child letters, and another is a project letter!

My first letter was from almost 16 year old, Mame Aba, from Ghana.

She thanks me for all the letters, and again for choosing her. It almost breaks my heart to read those words. Every letter she writes, she ALWAYS thanks me for choosing her. I believe God choose her for me, as I hadn't even seen her photo. I asked if they had any 16 year old girls in Ghana, and the lady told me they had one 15 year old; Mame Aba.

I sent little valentines to all my children this year. I wasn't sure how my teenager would respond, as most teenagers here wouldn't be too excited. But this is my second child to make mention. and she says"Yes!" her friends like the cards so much. She tells me she shared them with her best friend, sibling, and parents.

Next I received a letter from my 11 year old Bolivian artist, Erick.

Erick tells me he is doing well in school and is now in the 6th grade. He says his teachers are strict, and there are 39 students in his class. That is quite a few kids, but I bet there are much better behaved than students here.

He also mentions he's brother and nephew's both have birthdays coming up. And they are having a party with a clown, because Josue, his nephew, likes clowns. He says he's praying for my new job also.

The last letter was the project letter for Mwanaidi in Tanzania.

This letter I actually received indirectly from her sponsor. My friend who sponsors her (She asked me to correspond) gave me the letter along with another to read. She told me since it wasn't a specific letter from her child, I could keep it. I looked at it, and realized it was Mwanaidi's project, and I was so excited!

The gentleman who wrote it, is Nickson Yared Kilale, and he is the project facilitator for her project, and 10 others! He says he visits with projects often, when the children are in attendance.

He states that the suburb is 160 kilometers from Arusha, and how the area receives heavy rain from November to April. With the hot months being August, September, and October.

She tells how most of the economic activities are peasantry and very small irrigation schemes of padding growing. He says the average monthly income from this is 26 USD. He also mentions though the maddy crops have been good income, they are also a good activator of Malaria prevalence in the area due to the still water.

He talks about HIV being high in the area, due to people coming as laborers or buyers of rice. Witchcraft is highly practiced and girls education is not a priority to parents. So early marriage and school drop out is common.

He said that those registered compared to those unregistered is a huge difference! The registered children are in diminished frequency of poverty related illness because of their health checks, vaccines, proper and timely medication, nutritional literacy and provision and hygiene seminars. Compassion is making a difference.

One of the points I found most interesting is, there are 252 youth registered, and 202 are over the age of twelve. There is a lot of vocational training happening in this center, and I'm so glad to hear about it. What an informative letter!!

Did you hear from any of your Compassion International kids this week?

Mail Call

I always enjoy sharing my letters from my precious Compassion kids. I look forward everyday to checking my mailbox, hoping for a letter, my connection, to their world. Those letters almost seem like gold. One time I had a letter with a dirt print on it, and I told me sister that it added to the reality of knowing my child actually wrote my letter. It may have fallen from her desk first, but she held that letter contimplating what to write.

I do apologize this week for no photos of the letters, I'm still not all the way moved, and I'm not sure where everything is.

My first letter was from almost 12 year old Erick, from Bolivia.

Erick is very, very good about answering all my questions. I love his letters because he switches subjects so often, and may talk about 15 different things. He seems like he may be a busy boy.

He tells me again about his old dgo and how he wishes he could take a picture of him on his cell phone to always remember him by. But his cell phone doesn't take photos. He attends the project Monday, Wednesday and Saturdays. They are not sure what the new school building will look like yet, as they haven't finished. They are only building on Saturday and Sunday. And they haven't tore his old school down, as they are still attending.

He said he doesn't get to see hsi two friends he mention by name in an earlier letter because they dont go to school with him and they are not his naighbors. Now I'm slightly confused and curious as to how he met these two boys.

Overal all, amazing letter, I always learn so much from his letters!

My next letter was from 15 year old Mame Aba, from Ghana.

Not a letter goes by where she thanks me for chooseing her. It makes me wonder about her past. It shows me she is truly greatful! She goes on to answer my question about who lives in her home. She lists: cousins, siblings, my uncle and aunties. I though her mom was in the picutre, but no I'm unsure. She goes on to tell me she is learning to use the computer, do communial labor and fix some of the local dishes. She also drew and colored a cute heart that says I love you so much!

And then I also received a letter from Sheena, thanking me for a gift I sent with another sponsor to the Philippines. There was a photo printed on computer paper. I'll post her letter later, as I'm not sure which house it is at. My sister told me it was in the car, but I couldn't find it before soccer practice tonight. It was a really sweet letter.

Have you had any gold delivered to your mailbox? :)

Meet My Child-Mame Aba

I'm a day later than planned for my, but I'd still like to introduce you to another of my precious Compassion kids.




This week brings you the introduction of 15 year old Sarah Mame Aba from Ghana.

Mame Aba, as she likes to be referred to by entered my life last spring when I found out my precious Carolyne moved with her daughter to a different area where Compassion doesn't work. I had been scouring the Compassion webpage looking for "the child." I had been watching a few other kids previously, but when I found out Carolyne was gone I just couldn't seem to find the right child.

 While on the phone with Compassion, I asked if they had already sent a packet out, and they hadn't but she would love to help me find another child. She searched their database of available kids, and looked in Carolyne's project in Uganda for me, but no teenage girls. So then I asked her to look at any older teenage girls in Ghana, I know there isn't many because Compassion hasn't been in Ghana very long, but ever so often a 15 year old girl will pop up on the website. She said I have one.

She read me Mame Aba's details, and I really started to consider her, but asked she send her packet out, as I had to see her first to know. The next I i know her name is on my online account with the question accept next to her name. No photo, just her name and number and option to take on her sponsorship. It haunted me almost two weeks, not know what she looked like. Then I made a call to see if there was any way to see her photo. The lady on the phone almost chuckled, as if she too understood. She told me I could hit the except button to see her photo, and if I wasn't interested she could take her off my account.

I hit accept, waiting for the page to load. Then I saw her and shreaked yes! The rep I could tell was smiling at this point and she tells me I wish everyone was as enthusiastic as you.

And that's how she joined me. She enjoys drawing, and is part of the bible club at her school. She wants to be a graphic designer when she gets older, and has been learning computer skills at the project. From the sounds of it, learning to use programs like paint, ect.

Here's her first photo I received prior to sponsoring her. I noticed an updated photo, but I'm waiting to get the digital copy of it.

Do You Have Room?

As an advocate with Compassion International, on of my favorite things is helping connect children with a sponsor. Both my sister and I are advocate, and have a few child packets I'd like to share with you. Maybe you have a place for one of these darling children.

This is 10 year old Darwin. He's from the Philippines (PH842), the same project as my nephew Jonathan's, John attends. (you can read about the boys here) Darwin lives with both his parents, and has three siblings. His profile also states he is below average in school.

 This beautiful young lady is named Fabiola. She is from Burkina Faso and attends the same project as another young man my sister sponsors (BR125). 

I know there are many Muslims in the area, because Razac has talked about not being able to have any pets, as their Muslim neighbors would not be happy. He also talked about not celebrating his birthday with a big party because it is frowned upon by the Muslims. He is a very sweet young man, and I do believe his family is Christian. I know his dad often works away from home, leaving him helping his mother often with his siblings.

I know Fabiola lives with her grandmother, and it could be that her parents must work in another town. My sister has her packet with her at work, so I do not have any other details at the moment. Let me know if you want more information and I'll get it!

This is Kenneth. He lives west of Accra, Ghana and attends GH926. Kenneth has a birthday coming up on April 14th, and he will be turning 9 years old. Kenneth has been waiting over 9 months for his sponsor, and a sponsor for his birthday would be the best present ever!

Kenneth lives with his grandmother, and there are 2 other children in the home. He is average in school, and enjoys soccer!

Irah from the Philippines is also still looking for a sponsor. Click her name to see more of her information.

Can you commit to $38 a month, prayer and most importantly writing regularly to encourage one of these special children? If so, please comment here and/or you can also email me at: kute_queen@hotmail.com

I will also send you a correspondent kit, to help you in writing your child.

Mail Time, Mail Time, Mail Time!!!

I'm very excited this week to share my letters, I guess partly because I had no mail to share last week. I did received the hard copy updated photo of Mwanaidi in the mail, with the nice little bookmark, along with a letter from Sheena and Mame Abe.

My first letter was from 18 year old Sheena in the Philippines.

This was a regular scheduled letter, with stationary that was new to me. It has a boy writing a letter with the Philippines flag behind him. And then on the bottom on the back is has the Philippines national flower, the Sampaguita flower, and some trivia about it, like that it is commonly used to make necklaces and also as a car air freshener by drivers!

She starts out with Christmas and new year greetings (the letter was written in September, we as sponsor aren't the only ones thinking of the holidays early ). One of the first few lines that really made me smile was "Miss Heather I know that you are excited now reading my letter." I always tell me kids how happy I am to receive their letters, and how special their letters are to me. I thought it was neat she recognized this in her own letter. She goes on to tell me that she had a new event at school, a gathering for acquantances to get to know each other. And she mentioned something also of costumes. It as held in August. She said she enjoyed the party, and there was also games.

She asked for prayers for her grandmother (I just wrote her recently asking about her, because she hasn't mention her in a while and that is who she lives with. I know grandmother has very poor eyesight also.) because she injured her right foot and cannot walk so long. I know injuries in the elderly take a while to heal, let alone living in a third world country with limited access to medical facilities. Please pray with me for her grandmother.

She goes on to tell me that at the center she learned that God created her in His own image and likeness and made her special. Reiterating what I tell her often :) She goes on to ask how I'll celebrate Christmas, and gives me John 15:13 as her verse.

This letter made it to me in a little under two months, and it didn't need to be translated. She wrote the entire front page and almost half of the back also. This has been on of her longer letters, and since she wasn't replying directly to any of my letters, I feel she gave me a bit more information than she normally does.


Next is 15 year old Mame Abe from Ghana.

Her letter was a response letter, and it was written the end of October and got here in a little under 4 weeks. This letter definitely has more information that most of her letters do. And since it is a response letter from Ghana, it is a template letter with different sections, and it is suppose to be designed for 13 years plus.

The first section is a thank you message, and out of all the letters I've received from her in about the 6 months I've been sponsoring her, have all thanked me for choosing her as my sponsor child. She is definitely grateful! This time in addition she thanked me for all the letters and also my prayers.

She goes on to tell me about her excursion to Sajuna in the eastern part of Ghana. She said she learned how to swim and play football. (From the information I found, there is a "beach resort" on the Volta River where many Ghanaian students go, for fun. When I first learned the location, I was very nervous because of the time JD has spent in Ghana, on Lake Volta helping rescue child from slavery. So then I had to go back through my letters to find out more about the original mention of this excursion, to find out it was an excursion she took with her church, during her holiday break around August. Then my fear settled a bit more, after finding this information and looking up where on the map she was in accordance to where JD has been (and there are on completely different ends of the Lake Volta area, and after looking at the map, I now understand why the van ride was so excruciatingly long for JD and company!))

She also tells me what she was learning to do on the computer during her computer class. That she learned how to draw and paint. She also tells me in school her grades are good. She goes on to tell me in school she is learning to shade in 3 denominational form (most kids here would say 3D). At home she said she is learning to cook. And in her community she said she learned to tidy up the compound. Which I learned from reading JD's Ghana post that most of the homes are centered around a common area, or compound, with a central meeting area in the middle. I enjoyed learning more about this, as she has mentioned a compound in a couple of letters, and I just hadn't gotten around to asking more about it. JD answered without even knowing :)

Again she has mentioned in this letter learning to weave beads at the project, I will have to ask her more about this. In her prayer request, she asked for God to grant her more wisdom and knowledge. Most letters I've read from Ghana, the children ask for prayer for more wisdom. In my opinion, that makes them pretty wise already!

This concludes this weeks edition of Mail Call Monday. Button compliments of Michelle over at Blogging from the Boonies.

Meet My Child-Pendila

At the point Pendila and Priscilla join both mine and my sister's Compassion families, we were not looking to add anybody else. I was "just looking" when I noticed in Ghana (a country that had just recently sparked my attention at this point) a set of twin girls...but wait, could it really be! There were red hearts on the corner's of their photos to indicate they had been waiting six months or longer. And at this point there were 9 years old. Which means they had a previous sponsor, yet both girls were available and sitting there right next to each other on the web page. I yelled from the back room at my sister to hurry come look!!!

As we sat there and looked at these gorgeous girls, we just asked each other, which name do you want? As their pictures were practically identical. And as it went, she wanted Priscilla and I wanted Pendila. We didn't think twice, just went and got our wallets, and added them to the family.

Little did we know what was in store from these lovely ladies. At this point OurCompassion was just starting out, or hadn't be launched yet, I can't remember. So all the information about letters and frequency was all still a bit of a mystery. After a few months, letters just started coming and coming from these two young ladies. It might range in frequency, but it wasn't unusual to get at least two letters a month! And while the girls were not writing their own letters yet, the project staff was really good about helping with letters. And good about trying to personalize the letters to each child. We told the girls right off we were sisters sponsoring sisters, and the health worker was good about giving a little bit of different information within the letters, which gave us a bigger picture of our two girls even quicker.

Pendila's first photo

When Pendila grows up, she wants to be a soldier in the Ghanian army, because she wants to protect her country she says. I'd even asked her this question again later on, to see what she might say, and again she told me a soldier. I believe her sister Priscilla wants to be a nurse. The have 3 older siblings, two sisters and a brother, and one young sister also. Their father repairs watches for a living! 

And for their first birthday, my sister and I had each sent money, and were quite surprised to see the returned photo we got with their thank you letter. What a surprise to see all their friends!!

 

Everyone seemed quite excited! My sister and I each received copies of these photos, labeled with our respective child's name. Priscilla is on the left and Pendila is on the right. Quite the party they had!

Their letter are always full of love, and especially now as they are getting old, great questions! They are always wanting to learn more about my nephews, their school, church, my work. Anything I might mention, they will ask to know more about. 

They will be 12 years old this spring, and have recently been promoted to Primary 5. We have received a few letters written by themselves, but they still predominantly have help writing. Though one time my sister received a letter from Priscilla and stapled to it was a letter on a plain white sheet of paper with my name and Pendila's name on it. And it simple said, "I love you. And I always pray for you." The simplest letter I've ever received, but one of the most powerful!

Here they are last Christmas. Can you tell which is Priscilla and which is Pendila? I'll give you a hint, their names are on their bags. :)

Last spring I received an updated photo, and I couldn't' believe how tall she had grown. It had seemed such a short time to have grown up so much. There was no smile, but I tell myself she is practicing for her military career :)

Ghana is a country I've really fallen in love with. Well, I could probably say that about most all the countries I have Compassion International children in. But there is something a little extra special about Ghana. Don't believe me, check out JD's posts about her trip, where she is currently in Ghana, speaking up for children who can't speak for themselves. And if you ask others who sponsor there too, they will tell you the same thing...there's something about Ghana.

Have you blogged introductions on your blog for any of you Compassion children? I love learning about other's children and their experiences. Feel free to link up with my post any of your child introductions :)

YAH! For Monday

Welcome to this week's addition of Mail Call Monday! I had the pleasure of receiving letters from 2 of my Compassion International kids this week. And I was delighted to open each precious letter.


My first letter this week was from 14 year old Mwanaidi from Tanzania. I just recently received her updated photo, and was excited to hear from her also. She write frequently, but my letters are not usually filled with as many details as she provided this time. It was so nice to learn so much more about her.

She tells me she is doing well in her studies, and they "learn different types of subjects such as chemistry, geography and biology." She definitely sounds well educated, especially for a 14 year old! She also told me "we learn the Word of God from Joshua ch. 6." She also told me they take a short school break in September. And that in December they will be celebrating Christmas. She mentioned "the weather is good and we are preparing our farm for planting corn for irrigation in the month of August which goes up to November." (I think she meant they start harvesting in August, but can harvest for up until November. I know around here they put the crops in the ground early, way sooner than I would have imagine prior to talking to some seniors that use to do lots of farming.) She also drew me a simple drawing of a flower and a cross, just like last time. I do not believe art to be her best subject :) but I love that she tries. Also, Tanzania's stationary was new this time around. The heading says "Cheerful Greetings" with Phil. 4:4 on it.


My Second letter was 11 year old Pendila in Ghana. The date of the letter was October 11th and I received it Friday!! Not even 3 weeks! I can't hardly believe it! But excited none the less.

I had asked how often she goes to the project and she told me "every Saturday in the month." I had also asked why she had a green uniform in one photo, and a yellow uniform in her Christmas photo last year. She told me the green uniform was for school and the yellow uniform for the project. So in this letter she asks "Why do you like the yellow uniform for the project?" I was also informed she was promoted to primary 5, which makes me wonder why she is not back to writing her own letters. She wrote a few letters on her own, about a year ago, but ever since the project workers have been helping both her and her sister Priscilla write their letters.

Under the 'I would like to know more about' section she says "I would like to know more about what Jonathan and Nathanael are learning at church"-my nephews :) Her prayer request is for more wisdom, not only for her self, but for her twin sister also! And her memory verse is Judges 5:31 "May all your enemies die like that O Lord, but may your friends shine like the rising star." I found that to be an interesting memory verse. I'll have to ask her more about what she was learning.

Lastly I heard from 'My dear best friend Sarah' She is 17 years old and from Uganda.

She always addresses each letter 'my dear best friend Heather.' She is a young lady who came to me with a bit of a sad story. She had a sponsor many years, but because it was a company who sponsored many children, she had no one to write her letters. So she went I believe almost 9 years without ever receiving a reply to the 3 letters she wrote each year, to the sponsor she loved dearly. And so I take my job of writing her even more seriously, because I want her to understand God's love in a tangible way. She writes in english, but you can tell it is not her first language. And she writes my friend at the beginning of each sentence of this letter, making it a little hard to read, but just saturated with love! I feel blessed to be a part of this young lady's life.

She tells me her mother and sisters also send their greetings. She tells me her studies are not good and she needs prayers. So any extra prayers for her studies would be appreciated! She also tells me her family members are very happy with my letters. Which means Christ's tangible love is spilling over into her family! She tells me she has 4 goats. And in previous letters I told her about our goats, and her last letter she greets me, and my family, and prayers we are in good health and also our goats! It was cute! She also tells me she likes to read her bible all the time. She tells me that Jesus told his disciple to love your neighbor as yourself, and that "I love you my beloved friend and you know that God is my Savior and Creator." I was excited for her to actually tell me she knows Jesus as her Savior! She wrote all of the front and back of the letter this time! That is a first! I am so proud of her, and I know that if she is struggling in school, letter writing should help her academically. She told me the names of her sisters, Allen and Emily, and that it is the wet season in her country. She told me this in reply to questions I had asked her. Also, math is her favorite subject!

I had also written her telling her the meaning of her name Sarah, is Princess. And she told me she didn't know that. She also mentioned every year on October 9th Uganda celebrates their independence day. She signs her letters "Your faithful daughter, Sarah." Another thing I noticed with all her letters is the Uganda stationary has little animals down the sides of it, and she has taken the time, as a 17 year old! to color those little animals in every time!


Thanks to Michelle over at Blogging from the Boonies for the use of her handy mail call button. She posts letters every week and also uses a cool linkin feature for other Compassion International sponsors to share their letters. So check it out.

Mame Aba's Church

Today in doing some research to try and find out more about some of the areas in which my Compassion International children live, I found a video of the 40th anniversary Celebration of Mame Aba's church in Tema, Ghana. I was so amazed, and awed, partly by the size of her church. Take a look:





I have to head to work now, so my searching will have to continue later. Just wanted to share my excitement!

Monday's Mail Call!!

 

When I first sat down to write this post I thought, ok, only 1 letter this week. But then realized how blessed I am to have received that one letter this week, to savor the sweetness of, then to receive a clump of letters all in one day. So this week I heard from Ghana.

I heard from my 15 year old in Ghana, Mame Aba, in a response letter. I haven't been sponsoring her for very long, I picked up her sponsorship when I lost Carolyne from Uganda. They are almost the same exact age. And while I know Mame Aba is thankful for my sponsorship, I think she is having a bit of a struggle opening up, probably because of her age, and maybe not receiving much of letters in the past.

The Ghana response letters are fill in the blanks basically for both the under 13 and 13+ age group. They differ slightly on the sections (as I have an 11 year old from Ghana too), but are basically the same. When Compassion finishes revamping the letter writing for all the countries, I think the older kids may not be writing on the form letters, but that is just a guess. I know because of the length of time Compassion International has been working in Ghana, there are not too many kids in the 13+ age group yet. 

The first section is 'Thank you message for my sponsor' where she writes "Thank you for choosing me as your sponsor child also thank you for your prayer support. (which is about the same message I often get from)

The next section is 'Child's response to Sponsor's questions' where she tells me she wants to be a graphic designer and a counselor. ( <= I'm excited about that :) )

The following section is 'Child's experience at home/school/community.' She says "In my community I engage my self in a communal labor(I'm curious to ask more about that), at home I go on errands and help my mother in the kitchen. In school I go for Scripture Union to learn the gospel.

Then 'New things Child has learnt at the project' says I have learned how to weave beads and have been studying curriculum.

Lastly on the front half of the letter is 'Child's activities for the next week or month' she writes I will go for project and also go to church services. 

On the back half is 'Child's prayer request' where she writes "I want you to please continue to pray for me so that God should grant me wisdom, knowledge and understanding to study." (Which is not an uncommon prayer for a Ghana child. I know my other asks for the same prayer in almost every letter, along with her twin sister. And I have heard other sponsors talk about their kids asking prayer for wisdom too!)

Lastly is 'Memory Verse' and here she writes out Psalm 119:105 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a lamp unto my path." I've noticed most of her memory verses have been from Psalms.

And the bottom half of the stationary is still designated for a drawing. And since she always draws something nice, I thought I'd share:

And the letter was written on the 17th of September which means it made it to me in about 3 weeks!! Very impressive. Do you sponsor a child in Ghana? I'd love to hear about your letter experiences :)

Monday Mail Call

I enjoy sharing the letters I receive from my Compassion International kids, any chance I get. So every Monday I plan on sharing the joy of my letters from the previous week.


  Button compliments of Michelle over at Blogging from the Boonies.

This week we had an exceptional mail day Friday. Prior to Friday I hadn't received any letters, but on Friday I received 3, my sister received 3, my nephew received 1 and the youth group also received 1! So that was 8 letters total. I think that is probably close to a record, if not the record. Then another 2 letters from my boys on Saturday. So I have 5 letters in total to share today.

First was "My Holiday Plans" letter from Penidila in Ghana who is 11 years old.

My sister sponsors her twins sister Priscilla, and so 2 of the letters Friday were from Ghana. I also noticed Michelle this week received the same type letter from her Precious in Ghana. I received this letter a couple weeks back from my other girl in Ghana, Mame Aba. But she lives in a sister, which I'm sure makes for quicker transit time on her letters. Anyway, this letter is very much a form type letter, but is often times filled with lots of information. Pendila tells me at the project she is learning to operated a computer! And at home she will sweep and fetch water (this must be her chore as she has mentioned fetching water often in her letters and asked who in our house had to fetch the water. I then tried to explain the blessing of having plumbing with water into our house) and help her mother with selling. And I thought her prayer request was cute, she asked "please pray for me to be a good girl always." And this is not the first time she has asked for prayer to be a good girl. But most common of her prayer requests is for more wisdom...what a smart girl! I think she is now learning to use a ruler to draw straight lines, as her drawing is of a house with very straight lines. And a table with very straight lines.

Next was another from 14 year old Mwanaidi in Tanzania.

She writes "Thank you for the letter which you sent me. I am doing fine with my lessons at school and I like math, Swahili, history and social studies." She sounds like a very smart girl who really enjoys school. If she likes all those subjects, I wonder which ones she isn't fond of? She is 14, and so I don't always expect a drawing from my older kids (with the exception of a few), but there is a place on the back of the letter for a drawing, so I think she probably feels she must draw something. She drew a flower and a cross, but didn't color it in. I am thankful that she did decided to fill the paper in a bit more, even if that might be something she doesn't enjoy.

Then I hear from the 17 year old Sarah from Uganda.

This young lady is very dear to my heart. I had asked Compassion about her history, and she has been in the project since about age 9, and had a faithful sponsor who sent in the monthly support, but never wrote. The first letter I received from Sarah was so full of love and excitement from hearing from her sponsor. She always starts her letter "Dear my best friend..." I feel very privileged to have such a special young lady in my life. This is the second letter (out of 3) that she has mentioned this. "I have a desire to see you face to face." I would love to have this opportunity, but for fear that I may never, I haven't mentioned in any of my letters I would like to meet her to. I have heard of others who mentioned a desire and their kids thought they were coming. I would hate to disappoint this young lady. She also says "I need prayer to be promoted to grade seven." I have a feeling from her other letter she struggles some in school. And she signs her letter "Your loving daughter." This is my second child from Uganda, and I have really fallen in love with this country.

And then I received a letter from my youngest, little Arsang is 4 and from Thailand.

His project worker writes on his behalf. He writes "He feels very glad you wrote to him and told him many things about you. He would like to thank you for your admiration that he can draw well. He told me that he will try to draw better than this." That part just melted my heart. That he wanted to draw even better this time for me. He thanked me for some of the things I sent him (some Noah's ark cut outs) and told me that "his family knows and they believe and trust in the Lord and feel so warm." I'm glad he is in a Christian household, to encourage him. Here is his artwork:






Last, but certainly not least is 11 year old Erick from Bolivia.

This is only my second letter from and the first thing that caught my attention first is wow, I have another artist on my hands. Not only did he draw a very nice portrait of Jesus hugging a little girl, but he used beautiful bold colors on it too! He writes "I'm praying for you. I wish you all the best in your job. I tell you I am earning good grades at school. I'm the best of my siblings." I know there are 3 siblings, but I'm not sure of their ages. I thought this to be a cute remark. He also says "Let me tell you taht we played a famous game called "Tunca-Tungui"; we played it in the street." I have to do some more exploring into this. I asked a fellow advocate who spends quite a bit of time in Bolivia, and he said this was the first he has heard of this game. Erick also mentioned right after the game remark "When I saw my friend, she was chubby and my brothers told me that she was pregnant. I am very happy for her." I'm hoping this is a family friend, and not a school aged friend who is pregnant, but I'm not really sure by this letter. A very nice all around letter, and I'm really enjoying getting to know this young man. Here is his marvelous drawing I was bragging about :

I hope you enjoy these letters, and feel free to share any of your letters from your kids. Or if you have any questions, feel free to ask!