The (Almost) Lost Art of Letter Writing

I've lived outside the U.S. for over 16 years now, so I try to be careful when I make comparisons between Honduras and the U.S., because I don't really know my home country all that well anymore. When it came to my perception that Honduran kids are way more enthusiastic about writing letters than people in the U.S. would expect them to be, I wasn't entirely sure that I was correct. I asked around, though, and mostly the responses I received were what I'd anticipated - that letter writing is mostly a "lost art" in the United States.

Letter writing is NOT a lost art in Honduras, however!

Kim Hall, the director of our sponsorship program, has been posting, on Facebook, some of the letters she's received from children in the program recently. These particular letters were from children who had not been matched up with sponsors at the time of posting - though now most of them have found sponsors, thanks to Kim's hard work in translating and sharing the letters!

The way the Manna 4 Lempira sponsorship program works, we register all of the children in a particular feeding center, and they all start to receive the material benefits of the program immediately - even before we have sponsors for them. Now, to a person who isn't into writing letters, this sounds like a great deal for the children - but here's the rub. These Honduran kids apparently LOVE to send and receive letters! The kids who don't have sponsors are writing and sending in letters anyway, and they feel very sad that they don't have anyone writing back to them!

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share a few of Kim's FB posts about these letters here on the blog. These particular children are now sponsored, but Kim Hall tells me that we have 111 children registered in the program who are currently waiting for sponsors! If you'd like to be a part of this exciting new program, check out this link, for all the info you need to know!

Kim writes:

It is a great joy to learn--through letters, photos, and visits--the personalities of the young people that God has entrusted to this ministry. They are all uniquely beautiful and engaging--truly precious in our Father's sight! 

Bubbly, 13 year old Riccy has a sweet and sassy smile. She is always wearing girly accessories! Her letters are chatty and she includes fun details about her life and her interests. The rose, the happy face, and the glittery pen she used to decorate her letter made me smile when I saw them! My favorite detail she shared is that soon she will be baptized! 

I look forward to seeing Riccy blossom as she connects with her first sponsor! Please consider starting a conversation with this sweet and expressive young girl who has been waiting to find a sponsor since October.

Remember - while Riccy has already been matched with a sponsor (who will, hopefully, become a friend and regular correspondent for Riccy), there are still more than 100 other children waiting to find sponsors to read their letters and respond to them! Let's revive the (almost) lost art of letter writing!!!!

 - posted by Trish