Letter from Israel

Israel, from Bolivia, is turning into my best, most interesting, letter writer.  One of the advantages of sponsoring older children.

Hi, dear Beverly Sykes,

I greet you with much love and a hug to all your family.

I am very grateful with God because he allowed me to have a sponsor like you.  I also want to thank you for telling me the story of your family.  Also, the pictures of your dogs, Sheila, Lizzie and Polly are beautiful.  I think we have the same likes.  I love dogs too.

Dear Beverly, you are a very lucky mother for having children that love music and love playing musical instruments.  I like music too.  I like playing instruments.  When I was 15, I learned to play the electric guitar (bass) and when I was 16 I learned to play the electric guitar. My brother Javier bought an electric guitar and a pedal. Do you know what a pedal is?  It helps the electric guitar to have effects and distortion.  Javier plays the acoustic guitar.  Samuel is my youngest brother and he likes the piano, but he plays the keyboard.  My father is thinking of buying him a keyboard because the one he used got broken.  My brothers and I belong to the Praise Ministry of our church, its name is Casa de Dios.

The sports I like are basketball, soccer and volleyball.  My favorite sport is volleyball.  After my classes my friends and I play volleyball.  It is fun because I have friends who love this sport.

Let me tell you that this is my last year at school.  After I finish it I am thinking of going to college and I want to study civil engineering because I like constructions and structure of buildings like bridges and so, since I was a little kid.  I always liked the numbers, not theory very much.

When I read your letter, I knew that your granddaughter turned 6 years and I read that she likes reading books.  That is very good because she could be a novel writer.  The pictures you sent me are nice.

We only can trust that the Lord will supply our needs.  I read that your mother is not doing well and I will be praying for her health.  I hope your mother trusts in the Lord because God is our strength, shelter, and protector.

I see you like baseball because you watch your granddaughter's matches.  Brianna's pictures are beautiful.  She looks wonderful with her sport outfit.  I am about to learn what baseball is all about.

I aso saw the pictures of little Friday and his mother Abbie.  The pictures are so good.  Thank you for letting me look at them.

I loved reading the letters and the pictures.  I'll say goodbye with a hug.  May God bless you.

Israel

Please, pray for my family so God will bless them.

First Letter from Israel

Israel is a new correspondence child.  He's 17 and is from Bolivia.

Dear Sponsor,

Hello.  I greet you with the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for being my sponsor.  My name is Israel  and I was born in Cochabamba on January 16 of 1997.  My father is Rafael and my mother Maria died seven years ago. I have six siblings and my oldest brother is Javier and he is 22 years old and he will study sound engineer.

Thanks to god my family is healthy and we are a good team when we had to do something like singing praises of Jesus.

This is my last year at school because I am thinking about going to university the next year and I want to study Civil Engineering.  I am interested in this major because I like calculation.  I am going to a church named Casa de Dios and my pastors are Felix and Magdalena Rodriguez.  Also, I am part of the praise ministry because God gave me the privilege of playing electric guitar and bass.  I like praising the Lord because he gave me eternal life.  He changed me and he keeps changing my life.  I am thankful to God because he is faithful and good to all the people.  I close with a hug.  My prayer request is for my family and my life and my studies.

Your friend,
Israel

New Faces

Compassion recently published a blog entry about the numbers of kids who went without ever hearing from their sponsors and how sad it made them, so I wrote and said that I could take on another two correspondence children, so I now have two more to add to the family.

Annie Rose (don't you love that name?) is 10 years old and is from the Philippines.

She is in Grade 2 and performs below level.

She lives with both of her parents.  Her father is a farmer and her mother runs a variety store.

She likes to play house, to play jacks, swim, read, draw and listening to music.

Her duties at home include:

• Washing clothes
• Running errands
• Making beds
• Cleaning
• Animal care
• Carries water
• Child care
• Gathers firewood
• Kitchen help

It doesn't say if she has siblings, but since she includes "child care," I assume that she does.

I look forward to getting to know her.

 Israel is 17 years old and is from Bolivia. (He sure doesn't look 17, does it?)

He is in the 11th grade and his performance is "average."

He lives with his father.  His mother has died, but it does not say when she died.

He plays the guitar, and likes singing and listening to music.  He likes group games, soccer, volleyball and other ball games.

His home duties include:

• Washing clothes
• Running errands
• Making beds
• Cleaning
• Animal care
• Child care
• Gathers firewood
• Kitchen help

I notice that he, too, lists child care, though no siblings are listed in his information.

I had one child from Bolivia before and never heard from him once, and his parents pulled him from the program so he was only with me for a year or less.  I hope I have better luck with Israel and will do my best to make him feel as part of the family.