Letter from Lovson

Dear Beverly Sykes,

I feel very happy today to write this letter to you!  How are you and your family?  My family and I are very well.  How is your weather?  It is getting cold in my country.  Thanks for your beautiful pictures. 

I always think of where I sleep.  I sleep with my older brother on the same bed.  my favorite activity with my family is singing beautiful songs about the death of Jesus Christ.  I don't know Sudoku game and we don' have this animal in my country.

I had a good summer time.  I played soccer and dominoes.  We swam in the river.  I ate spaghetti, rice and egg. 

We have pure water in my area, but it is from a spring.  We purify it to drink it. 

Thanks for your beautiful book you sent for me.  Pray for me and my family to always be in good health.  May God bless you abundantly.

Letter from Lovson

27/04/2015

Dear Beverly Sykes,

I greet you with Jesus Christ's love!  How are you and your family?  My family and I are very well, thanks to God.  How is the weather in your country?  It's very hot here.

My project organized a program during the Eastertime last Aril 6.  We had lots of fun.  We were taught songs on the death of Jesus Christ and we ate lots of food.

I was very glad to get the letter you sent me and so were all my family.

The reason our signature is August is because Mom's is August and Dad's is August, so we get it from God.

Why were you very bad at math?  I'd like to become an engineer because there is lots of water in my area.  I'd like to exploit it.  [I wonder if "exploit" is the word he means!]

I want you to know that I know the story of Joseph with his colorful coat.

God bless you!

Letter from Lovson

2/28/15

Dear Beverly Sykes,

I greet you in Jesus' name.  How are you and your family?  My family and I are very well.  What is your weather like there?  It's very hot here.

My project will take us to a camp at Easter.

I've not heard about the "bowling."  The people helping my community are scouts, brigands and the police.  Yes, I usually find people to give me letters and gifts like my mom and dad.  There are veterinarians taking care of animals where I live.

Thanks for the nice photos.  I was glad to get them and I appreciated them.  I was glad to hear from you and ask you to pray to God to help me and preserve my life on my way to the camp.  Pray that I'll always progress in my studios.

God bless you abundantly!

Love,

Letter from Lovson

Dear Beverly Sykes:

It is with great happiness that I take my pen to write to you this letter. How are you and your family? My family and I are doing very well. How is the weather in your country? It is cold in my country. I let you know that the earthquake didn't make great damage in my locality even if I felt it. Thanks for the pictures that you have sent to me. I let you know that there are flowers where I am living and they are very nice. There is somebody in my family who I love so much. It is my mother because it is thanks to her that I am living. I let you know that there are not wild flowers where I am living. How do you prepare to celebrate the Christmas? I let you know that I celebrated my birthday on the last July 8th. I played so much with my family. I let you know that I did the 2nd term exams and they don't give the results yet. I ask you to help me to pray that I can get success in the 2nd term. Help me to pray that I can spend a good Christmas holiday. Thanks!

God bless you richly.

Letter from Lovson

Dear Beverly Sykes,

It's a great day for me to write you this letter.  How are you and your whole family?  Everything is doing well in Haiti in Jesus' name.  Thank you for the beautiful pictures that you sent me.  My family and I are doing well.  I'd like to let you know that my school is doing well.  What is the weather like in your country?  It's very hot in my country.  Do you like the hot weather? I like it.  I'd like to let you know that I had a good summer break with my family.  I went to the garden with my dad and I ate a lot of good avocados.  I had a good summer vacation with Jesus.  I'd like to let you know that I tell people about Jesus who will come soon. I like you to always pray for me to keep on praying and that God will always help my family in all they do.  May God bless you abundantlhy.

Love,
Lovson

Letter from Lovson

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Today, it is with much joy that I take advantage of this opportunity to
write to you.  How are you doing?  And your family?  As for me, everything
is doing very good.  Recently I had a cold which made me cough a lot, but
now I am OK thanks to the medicines I took.

I was glad to get your letters.  Thank you for the picture.  I am glad to
see how much beautiful you are.

(These are in answer to questions I asked)

I like to help my mother to cook.

I knew an old person who was 100 years old.  Her name was ZaZa.

I always see fog when it is raining.

I am asking you to always pray for me that God makes me succeed in school.

There was something that I liked very much on the occasion of my birthday.
It was thanksgiving service that we had in my family.

I love you very much

Lovson

Real Angels

The most amazing thing happened this evening.  A reader of Funny the World contacted me and offered to take on Lovson's sponsorship.  Said she had been a sponsor years ago and stopped because she didn't like writing letters, so if I will continue the correspondence,she is happy to pick up the sponsorship. 
 
I was brought to tears.  There are wonderful people in the world, and this is one of them.  I have contacted Compassion to see how we can make this happen.

Goodbye, Lovson

It was with great sadness that I received a note from Compassion letting me know that one of my correspondence kids, Lovson in Haiti, had lost his financial sponsors.  I have only been writing to him for about a year, but he is the only one of my 15 children who is doing above average in school, and he is showing promise of being one of my better letter writers.

I was offered the chance to pick up his financial sponsorship, but much as I would like to, I just can't add another child.

Then a situation developed with World Vision, through which I have just started sponsoring one child. It seems that World Vision recently made the decision to stop discriminating against people in same sex marriages.  A good decision.  A Christian decision.  Kudos to them!

But within 48 hours, members of a radical right wing Christian group dropped sponsorship of over 2,000 children unless World Vision reverse its good, Christian decision.

They did. On March 26, World Vision President Richard Stearns reversed the decision, stating, “our board acknowledged that the policy change we made was a mistake.” Supporters helped the aid group “see that with more clarity,” Stearns added, “and we’re asking you to forgive us for that mistake.”

A bad decision.  An UnChristian decision.  I take back my Kudos.

My immediate reaction was to drop my sponsorship at World Vision, which would allow me to pick up the financial sponsorship of Lovson.  Then I realized what a horrible thought that was.  The people who callously dropped more than 2,000 children just because World Vision had decided to do the right thing were saying that the importance of their religious ideology trumped the welfare of children in jeopardy all over the world.

And if I were to drop my World Vision child in protest, I would be using her in the same way. So I have sadly told Compassion I cannot sponsor Lovson and asked if I could write him a letter of goodbye.

I have also asked what Compassion's policy is on same sex marriages.  I suspect that I will be disappointed in their answer (if they answer), but again, I can't use my sponsored children callously and I will keep them, no matter what, and I hope I am not disappointed.

Two Letters Today

The first is from Lovson, in Haiti

3/11/2014

Dear Beverly Sykes,

I have a lot of joy to write to you this letter today.  How are you?  I am doing well, by the grace of God.  How is the temperature in your area?  In my side, the temperature is hot.  Do you love when the temperature is hot?  Yes it is a special thing if God allows me to exist.  And I hope that there is someone else called Lovson in the world.

My family had a special day, thanks to God for the gift that He had given to us.  This day is Sunday.

My family has pet such as hens, dogs, ducks, and pigeon.  I thank you for the beautiful photo that you have sent to me and I was very nice.  I ask you to pray for my family and I for my school to go well.  I am praying for your family, especially for Ned to God to protect Ned in the surgery.  May God bless you!

The second is from Briana, also from Haiti.

3/29/2014

Dear Beverly Sykes

Hello!  I feel happy to write you this letter.  I greet you in Jesus' name, our Savior. How are you, your activities, and your family?  As for me, everything is going well.  I celebrate Christmas by putting a Christmas tree and we organize a party. Some peple stay overnight to celebrate.  How do you celebrate Christmas and Easter day?

Please, I request your prayers so that I can have more patience, intelligence and wisdom, just like Solomon.  Also, I will be praying so that God can bless you abundantly.

Letter from Lovson

In this letter, dated 1/13/2014, Lovson is answering a letter I wrote in August, where I talked about visiting a friend who lives on a farm and who has two sheep, named Periwinkle and Zinnia.

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Today I am so glad to write you this letter.  How are you?  I am doing very well, thanks to God.  What's the weather like where you are?  It's cold in my country.  Do you like hot weather?

I took part in a nice party during December at the project.  My school is going well.,  I had an average of 55.47 for the first term exams.

Thank you for the gift in December.  I bought a t-shirt with it.

Zinnia and Periwinkle are two beautiful names.  I will name my children like that.  I will give them those names.

Thank you for the photos you sent me.  I ask you to pray for me to have better grades.  May God bless you!

Lovson

Meet Lovson

Lovson is a 15 year old boy from Haiti, who is my latest correspondence child.

He lives with his father and his mother.  He is responsible for carrying water, buying or selling in the market, and gardening.  His father is sometimes employed and his mother is sometimes employed as a seller in the market.  There are 5 children in the family.

Soccer, singing and playing with marbles are Lovson's favorite activities.  in high school his performance is above average and he also regularly attends church activities, youth group, and camp.

Lovson lives in the mountainous community of Anse-a-Foleur, home to approximately 27,000 residents.  Typical houses are constructed of cement and have corrugated iron roofs.  The primary ethnic group and language is Creole.

Haiti occupies the western third of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean.  It is one of the most densely populated and poorest countries in the world. Most Haitians are subsistence farmers who cultivate small plots of land around their mud-and-thatch homes.  Most speak Creole, but their official lanuage is French.

In 1492, Columbus discovered Hispaniola and the island became the center of Spanish rule in the West Indies.  The indigenous people were quickly wiped out and slaves were brought from Africa to populate the island.  Slaves initiated a rebellion in 1791 and by 1803 they had succeeded in ending not just slavery but French control over the colony and achieved independence.  Forty years later, the eastern part of the island split off to form the Dominican Republic.