Passing The Torch

Those of you who have followed my sponsorship journey for a while, know that I place a big emphasis on discipleship. I long for my children to grow into men and women of God, and who become adults with a passion for learning and a passion for helping others. I love sending letters with a moral or lesson that they can apply in their everyday lives.

With this in mind, I recently sent a letter to all of my children, telling them the famous "Starfish Story" and including the graphic above. If you are not familiar with this story, you can easily do a web search for it!

Along with the Starfish Story, I included this paragraph:

"The lesson behind this story is that every person has been gifted with the ability to make a difference in the world. Maybe your gift is telling others about Jesus. Maybe your gift is teaching and mentoring children. Maybe your gift is caring for the sick, or praying for others, or encouraging leaders (pastors, teachers, and others) or maybe your gift is making friends with people who have no friends at all. No matter what your gift is, I hope you know that no one is too small to make a big change in the world! 
I love you and I am so proud of you! God has big plans for your life!"

Of course, as many sponsors do, we tend to wonder if our children are grasping the lessons we try to teach; if we are making an impact at all.

And yesterday, I received this letter from my young man Papi, in Indonesia.

I sponsored Papi when he was 19... he is now 22 and preparing to graduate, if indeed he hasn't already. I am expecting to see him disappear off my account any day now, which is why I was so thrilled to receive a new letter from him! Papi was my first child to ask if he could call me sister, and we share a love of sunsets, the ocean, long walks on the beach, and the Newsboys.

I am always excited to hear from my Papi... but this letter, brought me to tears.

Dear Hannah,

Shalom. I am thankful for writing my sister again. I am blessed with your letter told me about the starfish. I see starfish here often. What you told me made me realize that God has a great plan for me through what He gives to me to make a big change in this world. I find out now that I am precious. I want you to know that what He gives to me is being a teacher. I want to be a teacher, not only to teach knowledge, but also to build a character building of my students, to make them to be a leader who fear of God. May God be with you and bless you my sister. Love, Papi.

Floored. Speechless.

If you have ever wondered if our letters make a difference, if we are really changing our children's lives... this. This is it.

I cried when I read his letter... because I felt that in someway, I had passed the torch. My greatest desire is to see my sponsored children, grown up and making an impact in other children's lives. And now, I am seeing that come to pass, right before my eyes. And by the way, Papi is an above-average university student who is just completing his courses in Civil Engineering... I would not be surprised at all to see him become a professor some day. And I could not be more proud of this wonderful young man, and amazed at the fact that God has allowed me to influence his life in some small way through sponsorship.

This is what makes the sacrifice ALL worth it!