she's so sweet...

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actiosn and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."
-1 John 3: 16-20

Wow. I guess (for anyone who actually reads this that isn't Emily or Anna) I should explain that Emily, Anna, and I all sponsor a child, Kalkidan Ejeta, from Ethiopia through Compassion International. I don't want to sound like an 'advertisement', but this is truly so rewarding. I don't know how rewarding I felt it was until a few minutes ago,when I recieved a delightful surprise.

My mom has been going through old mail from our horribly junked up study over the past few days, and found several letters from Compassion for me. Two enclosed letters from our child! She is so sweet, and I just have to share them.

August 16, 2007
How're you? I'm alright and so is my mother. Thank you for your letter and photo. I kept your photo on the table at home and showed it to my sister too. My mother and I are happy with your regular provision, with which from the project I get food grains, edible oil, cosmetics, soaps, bed sheets, socks, underwear...thank you. I'm longing to see you in person. We love you.

November 3, 2007
How are you doing? Kalkidan J doing very well. She thanked you for your letter. She wishes you happy new year and merry Christmas! She celebrates the Christmas with her family by enjoying the feast at home and with ehr friends by singing and playing in the church. What about you? She asked you to send her your letter. She asked you to pray for her family and her schooling. She loves you! Till the next letter, goodbye!

I don't know that I've been that deeply touched by a couple of short letters in my life. After I recieved these letters (addressed to all three of us), I went searching for some Scripture (posted at the beginning). I know this sounds weird, but I think I feel a bit of love like almost like the love a parent has for a child for Kalkidan. No, I don't know her very well, but I just love her! I really want us to go see her sometime. I just think that it would be an extremely eye-opening experience for us.

Often times I'm not nearly as thankful as I should be for all that I have. For instance, today my grandma and I were talking about how my desktop computer is irritating because some Microsoft Money thing keeps popping up and it runs slow because it's getting older. She just said that we'd solve the problem by getting me my laptop for graduation early.

I didn't really think twice about that until now. Kalkidan is so thankful for a picture, letter, and a few dollars a month that give her the necessities. A few dollars that are like drops in the bucket to us.

Yes, I know a lot has gone on since the last time I updated, but I just felt like this was the most important thing thats happened since Winter Jam. It hit me like a brick in the face. Ouch. Sometimes we need that to get our lives back on track. Lately I've been getting stressed out at the little things, like not having enough time to do everything that I want to do...and these letters put it in perspective for me. I'm beginning to think that this ministry is more for me than Kalkidan. God has a funny sense of humor in that. =)