Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Stories of Compassion

*Originally posted June 27, 2007*

Curt and I took our first trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in July of 2003. Shortly after, we went to a concert - By The Tree, I think - where they were promoting Compassion International. We were glancing over pictures of the children and we found a little boy from Tegucigalpa named Marlon. He was 5 years old. Having just been there and seen children scavenging through trash heaps...and having just met children who couldn't go to school just because they couldn't afford simple school supplies like pencils and spiral notebooks, we were moved. We have been really blessed to be part of Marlon's life for the last four years through sponsorship. I tell you this not to get a pat on the back, but to tell you how blessed you can be through doing something like this.

Over the years we have gotten pictures, drawings, and letters from Marlon. I try to read his letters in Spanish before reading the translated part. We got a new one on Monday and I couldn't believe how good the picture was! Then I realized he's 9 years old now. The picture is of a beautiful two-story house sitting in front of a river. It even has a chimney with smoke coming out of it. I noticed that there was some writing inside the chimney smoke. Here's what it says:
Jesus esta en mi
Here's the very complex translation: Jesus is in my

And then I noticed that the chimney smoke is in the shape of a heart!
Jesus is in my heart! Jesus is in Marlon's heart!

How cool is that? Do you know that if I did not have a basic knowledge of Spanish we would have totally missed that? It was only on the drawing, not in the letter, so it wasn't translated. Needless to say, we are totally pumped to know that Marlon is our little brother in Christ.

I hope this little story will encourage you to check out Compassion International and see how simple it is to invest in a child's life in the name of Jesus. Your Marlon is waiting!

Visit Shaun Groves' blog to read other stories of Compassion and tell about your own.

11 comments:

Holly said...

OH Praise Jesus for Marlon!

I wrote about our Compassion children, too. We are planning on sponsoring a couple more soon and hope to visit them someday.

Praising Jesus for Marlon and his very cool chimney smoke and your spanish skills!
holly

ocean mommy said...

THAT is what it's all about! Praise our Lord.

blessings
stephanie

Shaun Groves said...

Marlon is one of over 100,000 Compassion kids who make a commitment to Christ every year. Thanks, Amanda, for being part of Marlon's life. And thank you for telling the rest of us your story.

I guess I need to learn some Spanish...

-Shaun
shlog.com

Kelly S. said...

WOW... I just found out about this ministry from the "bloggers". Plan to sign up as soon as I feel prayed through on it. This was definitely some confirmation...thanks!

Allikaye's Mama said...

I am here in Colorado, where Compassion is based - and have family and friends that work there. It is a wonderful and blessed ministry! I am so glad to hear bloggers finding out - and hopefulling spreading the love of our Lord throughout little angels all over the world! Yay for you posting such a great blog!!!

AbbyLane said...

i have been sponsoring a girl named Lizzy in Tanzania for the last 2 years and it has been the biggest blessing! her packet was given to me (as opposed to me picking her out of a pile) and amazingly enough the Lord brought me a child that lives in the exact same town that my parents spent two years ministering in, in east africa.

she is not even 10, and she sends ME Bible verses and stories to read and tells me what God is teaching her. she has opened my eyes to an entirely new definition of the word "rich".

thanks for posting this!!

Anonymous said...

I've been following Sophie and Shannon all week (and Shaun, Keely, Carlos...) Oh, I'm in love with these kids! I want to go see our Compassion kids someday too!

Kasey Ewing said...

It is so awesome what they are doing. My husband was in Peru about the same time the bloggers went to Uganda.
Our compassion child lives in Peru and we got to spoil him.
He wrote about how that visit impacted his life.
Thanks for sharing!
Much love,
Kasey Ewing
http://kaseyewing.blogspot.com/

MamaCass said...

Oh Wow that is so awesome! We sponsor a little girl from Uganda and I love getting her sweet letters in the mail.

Susanne said...

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story! Compassion is such a wonderful organization. I'm praying for Marlon today!

Lindsee Lou said...

Amanda-

Okay, so I know this is like the 100th comment I've left tonight. But, I couldn't resist for 2 reasons:

1) That story is just precious! Seriously. What a blessing for y'all!

2) Now, this is totally random, so be prepared. But, when By The Tree came to Houston that year, at HFBC, Jen and I came down and saw the concert. Our friend had been touring with them as a stage dude, so we also came to say hey to him. Well, after the concert we stuck around with him, met the guys, then went to dinner at Chillis or something with them and our friend. Well, I'm pretty sure that you and maybe Curt came along for dinner also. Since both of our moms had been going to bible study, we recognized you. I'm not sure if we oficially ever met that night or not, but either way, it's funny to think that you, me and Jen (the newlywed) have been to dinner together! Small world, and a complete random memory. Jen and I talked about it today so we felt the need to tell you! Sorry for the long randomness!

Hope you have a great week!

Lindsee