About 2 1/2 years ago, I felt that God was finally prodding me to begin sponsoring a child through Compassion International. I was at a youth conference and they had a table in the lobby. I chose a sweet little girl named Preethi and immediately began writing letters to her. She loves coloring and would always send me pictures back with short notes written by one of the translators at her Center. Along with the opportunity to sponsor Preethi, Compassion sends out newsletters with updates about how the ministry is working around the world.
Last fall, one of the newsletters contained an article about the Waodani Indians of Ecuador. This was just a few months after I spent a week in Shell, Ecuador - near where the Waodani live and missionary station of Nate Saint in the 1950s. To read more about the five missionaries who were killed by the Waodani (Auca) Indians in the 1950s, I found another blog with the story and more links.
This article got me thinking that I would love to sponsor a child in Ecuador, specifically a child from the Waodani tribe. So I began to search Compassion's website but was unable to find anything conclusive about whether a child was from the Waodani tribe or not. I found several near Puyo, which is a few miles from Shell. But then I started looking at children near Quito. And I found a little boy who reminded me of one of the children I worked with in a Quichua community last summer.
This little boy's name is Robinson and he had been on the waiting list for over six months. I couldn't get him off my mind, but I didn't have the money available to sponsor him at the time - I needed to wait until December (it was October at the time) when I withdrew from a different sponsorship program.
But I couldn't get Robinson off my mind. I kept coming back to his picture.
He had been waiting and his birthday was coming up. I decided that I would start sponsoring him in November as a birthday surprise for him.
But I still couldn't get him off my mind. I kept checking the website, making sure he was still there.
After I compulsively checked for probably the third day in a row, I broke down. I decided to use some of my birthday money to begin sponsoring him then.
I wasn't working as many hours as I would have liked and therefore didn't have too much of an income. But God made it possible for me to sponsor two children through Compassion and a persecuted pastor through Voice of the Martyrs until I was able to withdraw from VoM in December. It meant less money for fun stuff and Christmas presents, but I knew it was worth it.
I was saddened to receive a letter in November or December about my precious little Preethi in India - her family was moving out of her Compassion project's area and would moving into an area without a Compassion project. It was hard to say goodbye after I had been sponsoring her for almost two years, but I am so thankful for the chance I had to be a part of her life and learn about life in India for a 7 year old.
They offered to send me a new child in India, but I recognized God's provision in making it possible to support Robinson with my limited resources.
And then after all of this, God led me to the decision to go to Ecuador with Big World Ventures and Susie Magazine (formerly Brio Magazine). And they have worked with Compassion International to set up a day to have some of the sponsored kids come to our hotel for a day of fun with those of us who are sponsoring kids in Ecuador.
I am so excited that I get to meet my little Robinson! I had always heard about people traveling to meet their sponsored children, but I never thought I'd get the chance to meet mine! I am so thankful for where God has been leading me over the last few months and that I have the opportunity to meet and love on Robinson and be someone real to him, rather than just someone he writes letters to (not that there's anything wrong with that!)
Please be praying for the children and their families as they travel to Quito (some are coming from outside the city) to meet those who have taken the opportunity and taken advantage of the ministry of Compassion International to "release children from poverty in Jesus' name"
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