And Now, a Word from a Sponsor

Stephanie, with sponsor children

It’s always a treat to talk to a visiting team member. This week, I had the chance to catch up with Manna 4 Lempira sponsor, Stephanie Green. It was day four of her nine-day trip to Honduras. This is her third trip to work with Sowers4Pastors, and she brought her two daughters with her this time! This team is a little different than most. If you remember the recent post about the five and a half visiting teams in a six-week period, you'll recall that one of the teams is made up of people from across the U.S. and two members from Australia. Their goal is to visit their sponsored children and spend time building relationships with the children and their families.

Walking to a child's home, for a visit

These visiting team members sponsor multiple children. They are visiting the four Manna4Lempira sponsorship centers, visiting the homes of their sponsored children, and taking their sponsored children to local pool for a day of swimming. This is accomplished by visiting one center and doing home visits with the sponsored children there, then taking those same sponsored kids swimming on the following day. The next two days, they repeat the process with the children from another location. Some of the children are too small to go swimming alone, so they may be accompanied by an older sibling or a parent for their day of fun.

The team visited Betania on Sunday. Stephanie and her daughters were able to visit the homes of the three teenage girls she sponsors from that center. This was her second home visit with each of them. She described being welcomed with open arms. Stephanie said, “It was very positive to be able to sit down with the families again.”

Stephanie's daughters, with a child
their family sponsors

When the team went to the next center on Tuesday, Stephanie thought she would be visiting with the three young people she sponsored there. She was a little surprised to learn that one of those sponsored kids has moved to another city in Honduras. Another of the three is now living in the U.S. with his father, after having successfully made it through immigration. While she was sad to not be able to see them, Stephanie was glad to hear everyone was safe.

By the end of the day, Stephanie had already sponsored another child at that location, as the other children were removed from the program when it was learned that they had left the area. She discovered that her remaining sponsored child at that center had a cousin with no sponsor, and she was happy to fill that void.

Two of the older girls the Green family
sponsors, with Stephanie's daughter

Stephanie often sponsors older children, so she has become accustomed to a little more turnover than with sponsoring the little tykes. It’s normal for older students to move off to pursue more education. People move. Plans change. Teens may leave the program. Still, this is a special calling for Stephanie. She knows that the young children with their adorable photos on the website are more likely to get a sponsor than the “ten and older crowd”. When discussing the benefits of sponsoring older kids, Stephanie talked about how nice it is that they are able to better express what the sponsorship means to them. She said, “They are able to tell you what the backpacks mean to them and the difference it makes in their lives.”

Stephanie also pointed out, “Everywhere we’ve been, the families have been expressing how much the backpack program means to them. It’s not just the children. It’s the parents, pastors, and people in the community.”

The team has an additional plan for this trip. Team members arrived with supplies to do a service project. They plan to create gift bags to share with the public servants in the area--to say thank you to the pastors, teachers, and even police officers. The team hopes to have the bags assembled and ready to hand out by the weekend. Their goal is to further deepen or develop relations between those public servants and Manna 4 Lempira. It’s not surprising that it all goes back to relationship building.

 - posted by Christi