One of the joys of sponsoring a child comes in being able to communicate with them. I love receiving letters from “our” girls and hearing what is going on in their lives. I imagine them on the other side of the world, sitting with pencil and paper, and writing whatever comes to mind: “I love mangoes. Do you?” Smile. Yes, we do! The connections are sometimes so simple.
It might be easy to get on board with the idea of helping a child who is need, but when it comes to actually writing them, uh, what are you supposed to say? Compassion International (another wonderful organization, by the way!) offers these tips in writing your sponsored child. The letters don’t need to be long, and you don’t have to tell your whole life story. Think about the things you liked to talk about when you were a child.
Imagine you’re writing a letter to your own child or a niece or nephew. Tell them about your pets or what it is like where you live (do you live in a desert, a large city, a small town in the mountains?) Tell them a funny story about your childhood. Most of all, be yourself and be encouraging. Pray for them and tell them that you are praying for them. Who knows how a few words of encouragement can truly change someone’s life?
I hope this post isn’t coming across as bossy. I have a tendency to over-think things and so when I first began sponsoring children I felt I had to write something amazing. I couldn’t think of anything that would fall into that category since my life was pretty ordinary so I didn’t write very much. And in so doing, I missed out on a great opportunity to encourage someone.
I’ve since learned to apply Nike’s motto of ‘just do it’. Once a month (or so), I sit down and write our girls. I tell them what we’ve been up to and sometimes enclose a picture or two of us. My letters aren’t stellar but they’re something. I pray that they will at least bring some hope and joy to the girls’ lives.
If you’d like a free template to use to write your sponsored child, click here to go to my shop.
I think it is more important to write frequently than to write a huge novel once a year, so the templates reflect that and only take up half a page. Remember to leave the bottom half blank so a translation will fit.
Have fun!
