Letter from Fred

Dear Auntie Sykes.

Christian Greetings!!!

We hope that all is well there.   Buddy is really cute.  Here, we have lots of dogs just roaming around.  Some are free to go from house to house.  That is their way for survival.

We know that you live both in beach and mountains.  Here, we are on a flat land.  Still we have fields in our city.  We must travel also about 30 minutes so we can go to the nearest beach.

By the way how is your mother now?  Is she feeling well?

Fred's favorite team is their center,called the Jabez players.  Last year they won the game during their Chidren's Camp.

We are glad you prayed for us during the earthquake.  Now we cannot feel any of earthquake any more.

Please pray that Fred will alwaysbe in safety.  He will be in third grade son and your prayers are helping him a lot.  Thank you for everything.  God bless you!

Love,
(Fred's Mother)

New Photo

I received a new photo of Leniel, who has grown so much since I first saw his photo!

Letter from Emmanuella

Dear Beverly Sykes,

I pray that God almighty bless you and your family.  I really appreciate your Christmas gift, prayers, letters and wonderful pictures.

Yes, we also take our lost tooth and throw it on the roof, hoping it will grow again.

I have been taught how to play the trumpet.

How is Brianna and Lacie and your father and mum?

I pray that God should protect Lacie and Brianna.

I want you to pray for me to pass my coming exams.

Emmanuella Aniagyel

Letter from Theresa

Today I had a letter from Theresa, along with a photo of the things she was able to get for Christmas, with the money sent by sponsors.  While I love the photo, how I long to see a picture of this little girl smiling.

Again, I have more information about her since she is only 5 and not able to write (or dictate) letters by herself.  So I know that she gets water from a tap instead of the river or well; her house floor is made of dirt.  She does not have electricity in her house.  Her house is made of mud with a tin roof.  The comments by her coordinator are:

Theresa is living in a mud house in which all the brothers, mother and father are in one room.  She is well and today, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Theresa says she will play ampe today and will be playing with friends.  She says she will like to play ampe and making rounds with her friends. to make them enjoy their games.  She says thank you so much for your love and prayers.  She loves you too. 

Letter from Anjali

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Greetings to you in the name of Lord Jesus Christ.  I am fine.  I hope that same with you.  How is your health?  How is your family members.  My family  members are fine.  I am studying well now.  We are enter into summer season.  The weather is getting hot.  We are in Lent season.  We have prayers on Wednesday and Friday at night times.  Recently we celebrated harvest festival.  All family members went to church to take the blessings of food after we take part in auction.

I am preparing for my annual examinations.  Pray for good results.  We will be preparing for Easter.  We will be celebrating watermelon in this season.  How is your weather?

How is your family members.  I am sending advance Easter greetings to you and your famiy members.  I am praying for you and your family.  Remember me in your prayers.  Once again, I thank you for everything.

Your loving child,
M. Anjali.

Message from Murugi

Murugi is 19 years old and lives in Kenya.  The other day I received a package from a guy named Greg Birgy, who had led a sponsor tour to Kenya.  They visited Murugi's center and took this picture:

They also had each child trace around his or her hand, decorate the paper, and put on each finger something they are asking you to pray for.  Birgy writes, "The hope was that you could symbolically "join hands" in prayer with your sponsored child by placing your hand over the traced outline of your sponsored child's hand as you prayed."  He also said he hoped this would be a tangible reminder to pray for our children.

I was very touched by this "gift" from my Compassion child.

First Letter from Somai

Somai is a new correspondence child from India.  It seems that his first letter got here very quickly.  He's only 6, so this is more "about" him than "from" him. The first page gives the name of his parents (who are 35 and 30) and his favorite food (rice, dal, egg) favorite color (red), favorite game (football), and farorite song ("Hindi Song").  Given the choice of city, town, village, riverside or mountain, he checks that he lives in a town.

On the back side is the "Message for my sponsor":

Dear Beverly,
Warm greetings to you in Jesus most holy name.  I am writing to you by God'sgrade.  Somai and his family are fine and doing well.  Somai is belong to Malto tribe in ?Therkland, India.  Generally they are very poor and non-literate. Literacy rate is very low.  Somai is the first generation to attend the school in his family.  By God's grace his family members are accept Jesus Christ.

His parents are very happy and thankful to you.  Thank you so much for your love and concern for this child.  God bless you.

Yours in Christ,
Ella
(Project staff)

There was also a drawing by Somai.

Letter from Wainaina

I was amazed to receive a letter from 14 year old Wainaina, who almost NEVER writes.  He is obviously not a writer, as I can tell from this letter, but it is still nice to hear from him.  Ironically, in this week where we have lost not one but TWO of our good friends, he sends me the psalm that is generally read at funerals.  :(

Dear Beverly Sykes:

First is greetings from me.  I am fine and I believe you are fine too.  For know I am happy because of writing this letter to you.  I hope you and your family are fine.

I am very happy for it.  I am informing you that now our school is a boarding school.  When I am in school, I usually pray for both you and your family so that God may protect you.  In school, I am doing well and my performance is now improving, so I thank God for this.  I am working hard to pas my (?kere?) well.  May God bless you.

Read Psalms 23:1-6

He is, however, a wonderful artist and includes these drawings.

New Kiva Loan

Mlongo Civunde is a married woman in Kenya with two children, both of whom attend school. She owns a house that has neither electricity nor piped water. Her greatest monthly expenses are food, clothing and medical bills.

For the past six years, she has operated a tailoring business, selling from home to her neighbours and passersby. She faces the major challenge of increased prices in her business. Mlongo dreams of expanding her business in the future.

With the Kshs 50,000 loan, she wants to purchase cloth materials for her tailoring business.

Letter from Esther

Dear Beverly Sykes,

I would like to tell you about last year's Christmas.  It was quite impressive for the birth of our Savior were the same as the birth of my pastor's grandchild. We celebrated Christmas and also the birth of a cute little baby of our Pastor.  But, besides the happiness, my grandma's older sibling died.  I was so sad to hear the news.  Maybe, God has a wonderful plan behind all this.

We had a lively New Year's celebration in my town, Salatiga.  I saw very beautiful fireworks, although I saw them in the crowd, I was still able to see them.

I am happy to be able to receive all the letters and photos you have sent me, Beverly.  I thank you for the stickers you have sent me.

Last January, on 27-01-2012, to be exact, I went on a study tour to Bali Island.  That island is very beautiful.  It's even famous all over the world.  Beverly, have you heard of the beauty of Bali Island?  I am happy that I have been there twice.  The very impressive things are the b eauty of nature and its cultures.  Maybe this is what people call as beautiful God's creations. I believe that as I see the nature which I think cute/beautiful -- the beaches as we cn see the huge beautiful nature from the beaches we can also express all we think and feel.

Oh yeah.  I got quite satisfying results in my last exams.  I was grateful to be able to get 6th rank in my class. Beverly, did you ever get any rank in your class?

Beside that I had a quite good grade in red cross class in my school report.  I only got B.  I will try to get B next time.  From the red cross class I learn many things like helping accident victims and natural disaster victims and many more.  I make all of these skills if there is a little accident, etc. which needs a help.

Many things make me laugh when I think they are funny.  We have a blood donor at my school.  In fact, I want to participate but I am still afraid of getting hurt.  I only coordinate snacks and drinks for the donors and medical officers.  Please pray for this to go well.

I will write you again in some other time.  I send my love to you.  God  bless

Letters from Fred

Two letters from Fred, one written by his father and one a form filled out by Fred himself.  For the letter:

Dear Auntie Sykes,

Christian Greetings!

We are so thankful that we could write to you.  I am Fred's father, Mr. Frederick Cardinal.  Thank you for the family gift we received.  We received an amount of 1,079.50.  We bought new clothes and groceries.  The children have new clothes to wear at church.  We are so happy for the foods.  Thank you for your goodness.  Please pray that we will be protected from danger, especially Fred.

Love,
Mr. Frederick Cardinal
(Fred's Father)

There was this drawing by Fred:

The second letter contained a form with multiple choice answers where sponsors can learn more about their child's living situation.  Fred's answers show that:

My house is made of bamboo, palm frond and wood
I get water from a well
In my house I sleep on a bed
I help in the house by cleaning the house
I have electricity in the house.
My house is 0.5 km away from the center.


He drew this picture

He added the following note:

Dear Sponsor.  I love you.

Sponsor, thank you so much for the dragonball that you gave me.

Letter from Shallon

Isn't this a beautiful photo of Shallon?  I have been so concerned about her because she has not written in a long time and in her last letter she complained about some health problems, but yesterday I received an explanation of the health problems from Compassion, and then this great letter, thanking me for the money I sent for her birthday (we have the same birthday).

My mother in Christ, Beverly Sykes,

Let me first thank God who has given me this chance to write to you and greet you.  Hey, my friend.  I am very glad to hear that you have a newly born baby, Lacie.  How is Brianna?  I hope that God is amazing that he can do everything.

Thank you for the gift you have sent to me.  In this gift I bought the following items:

Shirt and Blouse
shoes
sweater
sandles
Thanksgiving

Thanks be to God.  I like puzzles.

My dear, this is bad news!  Our banana plantation has got banana wilt and we have famine in our home, so, my dear, I need your prayers.

I want to celebrate my birthday party on 17-02-2012.

My mother, I like to watch birds.

Your mother celebrated 92 years. Really this is a great thing.

I want to send you some verses because God has done something in myself.  It is in:

1 Timothy 4:6 and Psalm 37:3:6.

My dear, how was Christmas?  Back to me, Christmas was colourful.  I hope you have a good week.  May the Almighty God bless you too.

Your loving, faithful Katsuiime Shallon

Comments

I've just discovered that people are leaving comments on these entries!  For some reason I have not received notification of them.  I'm so sorry!  I promise to do better in responding after this.  Thank you for all the comments, suggestions, etc.  I get notification on my other blogs when people leave messages.  Anybody know how to make that setting on Blogger?  I've looked and can't find a setting!

Letter(s) from Henrique

Well, it sometimes happens that the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.  After no mail in awhile, I received TWO letters about Henrique in Brasil, written by two different center monitors, a week apart.  They say essentially the same thing, but I will print them both...

Dear sponsor Beverly Sykes -- how are you doing?  I am Clara, the Projector's monitor, and I write on behalf of Henrique. He is a happy child who likes very much to play.  He doesn't know to read and to write (he's 5), but soon he will be writing a letter to you with his own handwriting.  Right now, he is on school vacation and he will be back to school in February.  He is attending our vacation Bible School and he said he enjoyed everything -- the games, puppet theater, and activities.  He thanks you for the gift you sent him -- he got a police car, a tractor and a ball and on recreation days he brings his ball to play with his friends.

Thank you for loving him and for believing in his future.

Love, Clara on behalf of Luiz Henrique

Hello, dear sponsor Beverly Sykes -- how are you doing?  I am Iolanda and I write on behalf of Luiz Henrique.  He is a happy child who likes to come to the Project and to attend the activities, especially recreational ones.  He is learning to copy things from the board and he is very interested in his studies.  Our vacation Bible school happened this month of January and he attended it and its theme was "we must spread love, peace and respect."  He and his mom are thankful for the gift you sent them -- he got a police car, a tractor and a ball.  Thank you for loving Luiz.

Iolanda, on behalf of Luiz.

New Picture of Emmanuella

Compassion sesnt me a new photo of Emmanuella (after I requested it several times!)

As it turns out, I like the picture that came with her thank you letter better, so I am printing this one here, but using the one in the orange dress (with the hint of smile on her face) as the one that identifies her here on this site.

Thank You from Emmanuella

I received a thank you letter from Emmanuella in Ghana for her Christmas gifts.  Each year, all the children received gifts, whether their sponsor has sent money or not.  I send one check and it gets divided among all of my sponsored children.  I love this picture because I chose Emmanuella because she was dressed in raggedy jeans and looked like a sullen little boy.  To see her dressed in a new dress, with a hint of a smile is wonderful...and her letter (which she wrote herself, in English) was more personal than letters I get from many of my other children.

Dear Beverly.

Thank you very much.  May you receive everything you have spend on me in many folds.

My siblings are Felix, 2 years, and RoseMarie, 17 years.  Yes, I see butterflies in Ghana and Ilike its colours. Mavis' house (her friend) is far from my house, so we only meet at school.

Say hello to Brianna and Lacie and a big well done to your son and his wife.

I had a terrible experience two weeks ago when our house got flooded by heavy fain fall.  I had all my learning materials spoiled.

What are the names of your siblings and son?

I pray that God will protect Lacie from every sickness.

I want you to pray for me to be a good girl for God and my parents.

Emmanuella.

She also included a drawing of a computer.

 

A Letter from Fred

Dear Auntie Sykes,

We are so happy for your new grandchild.  We are so excited for the time to be allowed by God that Fred could sit on that empty chair. (I'm not sure what that refers to, but probably something I said in a letter)  We wish to ride on that balloon someday. (I told him about my experience riding in a hot air balloon)

We like trees too.  They are very beautiful.  Here we hate windy season because many worms are eating those leaves but we have very many fruit trees here.  Do you have a lot of butterflies there now about worms?

I asked him what happens to his baby teeth when they fall out and told him about the practice of putting a tooth under the child's pillow.  We have also a practice here for tooth replacement.  The tooth just pulled must be put into the hole of the post of our house, then wait until a happy small mouse can see it.  As a reward she will give an exchange of brand new, strong tooth and she will let that appear on the exact location where the tooth had been pulled.  This will ease our fear for tooth extraction.

Please pray that Fred will pass his second grade.  Thank you for your goodness.

Love,
Fred's mother

As usual, there was a drawing by Fred of his house.

Somai from India

Compassion put out a call for more correspondence sponsors, to write to children whose sponsors don't write to them.  I decided to take on another child. 

Somai is a 6 year old boy, living with his mother and father in the Northeast section of Ranchi, which is in the northeast corner of India. 

He is responsible for gathering firewood, buying or selling in the market and  cleaning.  Both of his parents are farmers.

Walking and running are Somai's favorite activities.  In pre-school, his performance is below average.  He regularly attends church activities.

He shares a birthday with Peggy, February 18.

Letter from Anjali

Dear Beverly Sykes,

Warm greetings to you in the sweet name of Lord Jesus Christ.  Ireceived three letters from you.  Iam fine here.  I hope same with you there.  How is your husband's sister?  How is your grandchildren?  She is looking very nice.  Brianna also very cute.  I don't know about Friendship day.

We celebrated Independence day and Thanksgiving day very grand.

How is your daughter Jeri?  Iam very happy about your children.  How is Tom?  How is little Lacie?

We had retreat on (can't read the date).  That day we enjoyed a lot.  That day Ilearnt new action songs, played Bible games.  Every day I am remembering you in my prayer.  Thank you for your loving sponsorship.

Yours lovings child
Anjali.

TWO MORE LETTERS

Compassion seems to finally be getting letters out.  It is so good to start hearing from the children again, today from Fred (my favorite) in the Phiippines, and from Murugi in Kenya