What's Involved in Sending and Receiving Sponsorship Letters?

It’s time for a sing-along! Today’s song is “Please, Mr. Postman,” which was performed by such greats as The Marvelettes, The Beatles, and The Carpenters. You can either sing the main part or the backup singer part. Me? I sing both parts! Ready? A one, a two, a one, two three, four…

Woah, yes, wait a minute, Mr. Postman.

(Wait) Wait, Mr. Postman.

(Please, Mr. Postman, look and see)

Oh, yeah (if there’s a letter in your bag for me)

Please, please, Mr. Postman (Why’s it takin’ such a long time)...

Okay, that’s enough of a lead-in for today’s blog topic. We’re talking about sending letters to and receiving letters from sponsored children. And, let’s just say that if The Marvelettes, The Beatles, and The Carpenters had understood the 2-fold process, they would have understood why it was "takin’ such a long time"!

Letters Going to Children from Sponsors

Alejandro stressed how much the kids love to receive letters. It helps them feel connected with their sponsor and makes them feel special and loved. 

Each sponsorship church handles their letters a bit differently. Some try to do more letters than others, but in general the ministry receives 1-2 batches of letters from each church every year. The letters from the sponsors to the children are generally brought down by a team and handed over to S4P staff in country, although occasionally they are shipped down on the containers.

Once letters have arrived in Honduras they are then given to translators. Finding enough local people with strong written English skills is not a small task, by the way. When the translators have finished, each of the translated letters is printed and stapled to the originals. Each letter must contain the child’s name, sponsor number, etc. The letters are sorted into packages to be delivered to the twenty schools and three churches in the programs. 

Approximate time needed once letters arrive in Honduras: Two and a half months.

Letters From Children to Sponsors

Surprisingly, the kids also love writing letters to their sponsors. 

Rachel and Secia get the process started by creating a letter-writing assignment based on the season. This year, the three themes are: 1) Backpack Thank You Letter, 2) Mid year greetings and update and 3) Christmas. Rachel and Secia have written specific questions for each child to answer. Secia then prints up 2,200 copies of the letter-writing prompts. The child’s name, sponsorship number, and sponsor’s name are computer generated, by Secia, before printing and the blank letters are then delivered to one of the twenty-three locations. 

It takes about two weeks just to distribute the letters. The teachers help the smaller children fill in their answers. Then, the letters have to be picked up from all 23 locations and from there go to the translators. The 2,000+ translations are printed and stapled to the original letters. Secia prints envelopes with the sponsor’s name and the child’s name. Each letter is stuffed into the correct envelope and packages are created to be delivered to each participating church in the States.

The packages are carried to the States by visiting teams throughout the year, or by a Sowers4Pastors staff member during the backpack collection trip. The packages are sent out to the various churches, which then distribute the letters to the sponsors in that program.

Approximate time needed from the start of this process until the letters are ready to be shipped to the US: Three and a half months.

As you’ve probably figured out, the lofty goal of having kids send three letters per year means that this is a continuous cycle. The Sowers4Pastors staff and the children in the programs are currently working on the Christmas letters. Keep this in mind if you’ve ever heard yourself singing “Deliver a letter. The sooner the better,” like a mournful Karen Carpenter!

 - posted by Christi

Circling Back Around - with backpacks and letters!

 Alejandro did such an amazing job of sharing a blog post topic a couple of weeks ago that he has added “semi-regular blog post contributor” to his already lengthy list of duties. That’s what he gets for being so competent! Today’s content picks up where he last left off–two weeks in the past.

Whenever teams hand out backpacks (in January and February), there are invariably a few children that don’t show up. It is necessary to circle back around to provide those children with their backpacks, and to determine if those children will be remaining in the sponsorship program for another year. So, two weeks ago, Alejandro and some other Sowers4Pastors staff members headed to Crucitas to deliver the backpacks to the children who missed the first Lighthouse sister church distribution. Then, the following week, they did the same thing for the children in Guacutao, who are a part of the Edgewater Alliance sister church program.

S4P staff had the opportunity to meet and share with kindergarten teachers in Guacutao. We can probably all agree that teaching kindergarten is a difficult job that is not for sissies. We can also probably agree that kindergarten teachers are grossly underpaid. But, did you know that kindergarten teachers in Guacutao aren’t even paid at all? They work on a 100% volunteer basis! Yet, they show up to school and work with the children day in and day out. Think about that, each child in Guacutao begins their formal education with teachers who are there out of the goodness of their hearts. 

Visiting the schools gave S4P a chance to deliver Bible teaching materials. The ministry bought these materials for each child in a sister church program. Alejandro said, “We could see the happiness and excitement on the children’s faces. And I had the thought that the children are like sponges, able to soak up the lessons about Jesus and scripture.”

The staff also delivered letters from the sponsors to the children. After some of the excitement and screams of “I want to see my letter” died down, Alejandro asked the kids why they like to receive letters. Here are some of the top responses:

“I like to know how my sponsor is doing.”

“My sponsor always says nice things to me.”

“I feel important to him, so I like to receive letters.”

On behalf of the children, Alejandro wants to thank the sponsors for their letters. And, if you don’t regularly write to your sponsored child, he challenges you to do so. He said, “It may take five or ten minutes for us, but it is important to them. All of the sponsors need to know that.”

He continued by saying, “One of the biggest problems in these communities is the number of kids that don’t have love in their houses. When we go to the schools, the kids run to us and want a hug. They don’t always have that in their homes. When you take the time to send a letter or a picture of your dog, it tells the children that they are important to you. Yes, they receive backpacks, but they sometimes forget about them throughout the year. When they get a letter, they read it over and over.”

 - posted by Christi