Write to your Compassion Child: Share the Gospel

When I was on my last Compassion sponsor trip in March of 2019, I noticed that one of the translators with us had on a bracelet with four symbols. The four symbols were a heart, a division sign, a cross, and a question mark. I asked him to share with me what the symbols meant. He told me he got the bracelet from a ministry called Cru. The bracelet is one thing they use to give people an easy way to talk about Jesus.

Basically, the heart means that God loves us, the division sign means that we live apart from God, the cross means that Jesus gave everything for us, and the question mark asks ‘will I choose to follow Jesus?’.

Have you ever shared the Gospel in a letter to your Compassion sponsored child?

This might be the best time to share the Gospel with your sponsored child, especially if you know they have not decided to follow Jesus yet.

I love that Compassion’s mission is to ‘release children from poverty in Jesus’ name’.

There is no guarantee that this life is going to be easy and without struggles and challenges. Our Compassion children and their families have to overcome struggles and challenges that we may never experience living here in the United States.

When they realize the eternal hope that Jesus provides, they are filled with so much joy like I have never seen on the faces of Christians living here in the United States.

As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior this Christmas, consider taking the opportunity to share the Gospel with your Compassion sponsored child in your next letter.

Write to your Compassion Child: Bible Verse Image

Back in January, I shared a Compassion letter writing idea about creating a fun birthday photo collage to add to a letter for your sponsored child. In that post, I wrote about how I know our sponsored children love receiving photos in their letters.

In fact, on the Compassion blog, their latest post mentions that for little Kenenisa, “photos are his favorite thing to receive, and every time he gets one he makes sure to share it with the other children at the center.”

Over the years of writing to our sponsored children, I have sent many photos of our family.

But I also love to take photos on our days trips from some of the beautiful places we have here in California, then I add Bible verses using Canva, and add those photos to the letters I send to our sponsored children.

Here are a few I have sent over the years:

Your photos do not have to be taken with any super special camera. Some of the ones I have used for these Bible verse images are ones I have taken with my iPhone.

In the text of your letter, you can explain why that particular Bible verse is important to you and maybe explain a bit about the photograph. The more Truth we can share with our sponsored children, the more hope they can have and know that they have a loving Father who is watching out for them.

What Bible verses have you shared with your Compassion sponsored children?

Write to your Compassion Child: Sermon Notes

Back at the beginning of March, I wrote out the Bible verses from Matthew 6:25-34. It was reminder for me to not be anxious with all the incoming new’s reports that were coming in about COVID-19. We were getting ready for our son’s wedding, and I really needed a good dose of God’s Word to keep me grounded during that crazy week.

The online sermon I watched before we flew to Illinois for the wedding was from McLean Bible Church and David Platt, the pastor, preached a sermon on those same verses from Matthew 6:25-34. The definition he shared for the word ‘anxiety’ was this: “carrying concerns in this world in such a way that we lose perspective on life and/or lack of trust in God.”

Since March 15, I have watched almost all of the sermons from McLean Bible Church, have learned a lot, and have been encouraged by the sermons they are sharing each week.

This summer, they are doing a series through Philippians 4. The sermon from July 26th addressed the issue of anxiety again.

In this crazy time that we are living through, I know it has been a challenge for me to think about what to write to our Compassion sponsored children. So I thought, sharing some notes from the sermons I have been listening to might be the best thing for them to hear right now.

It is heartbreaking to read the updates from the countries where Compassion works through the local churches. We are living through a time that none of us has ever experienced before.

When I write letters to my Compassion sponsored children, I want to remind them of God’s love for them and encourage them as much as possible. I do not know when our letters will be delivered, but Compassion is encouraging us to continue writing to our sponsored children.

What has been an encouragement for you from the sermons you have listened to over the past few months?

Write to your Compassion Child: Answer their questions

At the beginning of this year, I had plans of doing a monthly post here on my blog to share some letter writing tips for Compassion sponsors.

I was able to post one in January.

I was able to post one in February.

And then, March came along. Not only was our family preparing last minute details for our son’s wedding, but a worldwide pandemic struck and many things in our world changed in an instant.

I quickly realized and learned that letters to our Compassion sponsored children were not going to be delivered on a regular basis.

Compassion is encouraging us to continue to write to our sponsored children, but I decided to slow down the pace that I write to them.

One of the last letters I received from Lina, she was asking how preparations were going for our son’s wedding.

I sent a letter in April to all of our sponsored children to let them know that our son was able to get married with many last minute adjustments since their wedding was in March.

Over the years, we have received many questions from our Compassion sponsored children. Most often, the letters start out by asking ‘how are you?’ or ‘how is your family?’ But then, depending on the age of the child, they might ask ‘what if your favorite color?’, ‘what do you do for a job?’, or even, ‘would you love coming back to my country?’

I love taking time to answer the questions that our sponsored children have because it gives us a chance to let them know that we are reading their letters, and the questions they ask are important to us.

My best advice to you on letter writing right now…send a letter at least once every other month. Go back through your letters from your sponsored children and see if you have answered all their questions. Bring up something from an old letter that makes you smile and tell them why you loved what they wrote. Use this time to remind them that God is watching over them.

And if you start to get frustrated about the amount of time that is passing with no letters FROM our sponsored children, remember that we are a sponsor to help them have a better life, to be released from poverty in Jesus’ name.

If you happen to be in a position to sponsor a Compassion children, I encourage you to do so! With all of the live events being cancelled, there are many children waiting to be sponsored.

Be sure to let me know if you sponsor a Compassion child! I would love to encourage you as you start this amazing journey to be a part of changing a life!

Write to your Compassion Child: Share something famous

Whenever I am talking with new sponsors at Compassion events, I try to remind them that the new child they just sponsored is really curious about them.

These kids want to know what your favorite color is, what you like to eat, what your favorite Bible verse is.

They are also really curious about where we live.

I am not talking about the houses that we live in or the cars that we drive.

Do you live close to something famous?

Living in California, we live within driving distance of San Francisco to the west, and Yosemite National Park to the east. I prefer to spend the day at Yosemite, but whenever we have out of state visitors, they generally like to see the “City by the Bay”.

I try to avoid the ‘city’ part of San Francisco. My favorite part of taking people to San Francisco is walking across the Golden Gate Bridge. Walking across the bridge gives you an incredible view of San Francisco and the San Francisco Bay.

In my latest letter to the children we sponsor with Compassion, I shared with them some facts about the bridge and asked what is famous about the country where they live.

Because I know the kids love to receive photos, I also sent a photo I took of the bridge from the day of our most recent visit:

I also included a coloring page I found online:

I colored a page and included a page for them to color. You can find the coloring pages at Our Family Passport website.

Even if you do not live close to something famous, you can share something unique about the state, county, or city that you live in. Maybe you can even include your own drawing of something where you live. I am sure the child you sponsor will treasure the time you took to include something extra with the letter you send.

What special things do you include with letters to the child you sponsor with Compassion?