I've received several pieces of mail from Compassion, and each time I thought "It's a letter from her!" and each time I was disappointed. This time it said right on the envelope : "A message from your sponsored child." I tore into it! One side of the paper was a form letter about what her school will be like when she starts. She will begin school next year and she wants to learn Bengali and English. The school is 1 km from her home, and she'll take the cycle van with her father (assuming whoever filled out the form was not just checking off boxes.) The flip side of the paper was a handwritten letter from her caregiver telling me that N. hopes I'm doing well and that she's thankful for my sponsorship. She asked me what food I like and said that she likes eggs. At the end she asked me to pray for her. On top of the page was the best part- a pencil and crayon drawing of a multi-color flower made by my little girl. Flowers must be quite spectacular in Bangladesh! I can't decide what the yellow cross shape is supposed to be- the sun? a bee? a bird? Anyway, it's my closest connection to her, and I love it!
I didn't get pictures of my response letter; I assembled it in the car in front of the post office after getting photos developed, and I forgot to bring my camera. I used the colorful stationery Compassion sent me, decorated with lots of Bible motifs like Noah's ark and Joseph's coat of many colors.
Here's the text of my letter:
Dear N...,
How are you? I hope you and your family are well. I just got my very first letter from you, and it made me very happy! The picture you drew of the flower is so pretty. You must be excited to start school next year! Since you're still too young for school, what do you do when you go to the project right now?
You asked me what food I like. I like chicken and rice. One of my favorite dishes is tacos. It's spicy meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes wrapped up in a tortilla. A tortilla is a very flat piece of bread made of corn that we fry.
God loves you, N..., and even though I've never met you, God has put a special love in my heart just for you. He created you and made you just who you are for a purpose, to do good things, amazing things, which He planned for you even before you were born. That's what God says in the Bible: "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10. I'm praying that you will feel God's great love and have hope in your heart.
Love in Christ from your sponsor,
Miss Emily
I had to cut it short since that's all I had room for on my stationery! I sent her three photos: one of my whole family on Christmas (though my dad was wearing his Santa hat... now she's going to think men wear those all the time here, haha), one of my bunny eating a carrot top, and one of my with her letter. I thought that would be exciting for her to see for herself that I really do get her letters. For a gift, I printed out this cute paper doll for her. I cut out all the pieces for her but left them blank for her to color. Also, I traced the doll onto heavy paper to make her sturdy, and then filled her in with pen lines. I put all the pieces in a small envelope and on the back drew a little picture of a girl on a swing hanging from a tree. The last gift I gave her was a few scratch and sniff apple stickers. I still remember all the little things that brought me joy as a child, and I love giving her a share of those things too.
I mentioned that Compassion sends me mail frequently. One thing they sent me was a newsletter concerning my child's region. It was rather vague, especially since I don't know how much applies to my child. But I appreciate it anyway. Just the pictures give me an idea of what her world is like. I keep all the informative newsletters and the personal letters from and about my little girl in a folder on my bookshelf.
I just discovered that Compassion has a page about Bangladesh and a page just about Northwestern Bangladesh on their website. (They do the same for all the other countries and regions where they work.) There are some photos there, tidbits about the culture (and recipes!!!), prayer requests, and links to other articles on their site and on the blog about Bangladesh. This is why I sponsor through Compassion. Not only is my child getting an education and gaining a global perspective, I am too.
No comments:
Post a Comment