Rene, our Salvadorian sponsor son!

While our church team is in El Salvador this week, I was looking back at images and realized I wrote but never posted this blog about our sponsor son Rene!

He was our first sponsor kid that we (well I) actually know!  Rene started the beautiful friendships we have with children all over the world.  It is so powerful to get to actually MEET your sponsor children, to see where they live, meet their family, play with them, talk with them and get to know them.  Below is my Rene story!

Since meeting him, I've been able to send pictures, notes, a bible, games along with other teams to El Salvador.  I also got our annual update about Rene on my last trip to Africa.  Guess what they said about him... him & his younger brother love to take photos & "an ability to do this".  I LOVE it.  I can't wait to get back there & give the boy a camera and help him learn how to use it.  It reminded me of the 100 cameras mission!

THEN my good friend & neighbor is there right now & guess what she did yesterday.....

I can't wait to hear all about her visit with our sweet Rene!

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I wanted to tell you about sponsorship & how you can be a part.  Right now, they have a wait list for sponsors in El Sunza, El Salvador.  Praise God!  Here's just a little bit about the boy & place that have captured my heart so much.

The last  team meeting that we had in Midland, our team leader talked to us about child sponosorship though the foundation in El Sunza.  I figured a few of us would want to sponsor - but that night, I was the only one.  by the end of the trip - 6 out of 8 of us sponosred a child.  praise god.   When they told me that we would get to meet our sponsor child, I was so excited.  What an opportunity!  To see where they live, how they do life, meet their family and just get to know in person the child that we’ll be supporting and praying for.  When we looked through the photos at Shea’s house I coludn’t decide between a boy or girl and just prayed about it and I couldn’t get Rene’s face out of my mind.  

When I got to meet him, I knew why.  lord, what a blessing it was.  I was with Ken, Caroline and Julia and we had visited Julia’s child (saul) and met Caroline’s and then it was my turn.  I was nervous and excited.  It made me think about Camp and how exiciting/nerve racking it’s going to be to get to meet that sweet boy for the first time.  Makes me want to cry thinking about it.  What a day that will be!  Anyway, we went into their house, sat down on the porch and met Rene, his mom Maria & little 1 year old brother Byron.  He has an older brother too, but he wasn’t there that day.  rene was pretty shy at first but he came and sat by me while we talked.  ken was translating for me.  i asked him what his favorite color was (red & yellow), if he played any sports (soccer), what he liked to do (help his mom around the house) and ken told them about me and stephen.  how we live in midland texas and how we don’t have any kids yet but now we have one in el salvador.  that made my heart smile.  we went in their beautiful garden to take a few photos and then stood in a circle and prayed.  ken asked me to pray and he translated - one thing i love about salvadorians is while someone is praying, everyone else prays too.  even though i can’t understand what they are praying it’s a beautiful noise until the lord.  maria was so so thankful.  she said on the porch that she’s been praying and she’s so thankful that god put rene on someone’s heart.  she was the sweetest christian lady and i know this just is such an exciting time for her and it made me so happy to get to meet her and see her thankfulness to you.  

thank you lord for providing such an amazing opportunity for stephen and i.  i want to commit to pray for this sweet boy and his family.  the day before we left caroline & I got to go up to the foundation to give him & adrian (her boy) the soccer balls we bought them (rene’s was red).  we called them out and sat them down and took a few photos with them, showed them photos of our families back home, and then at the same time gave them their soccer balls.  they were so happy.  to see the smiles on their faces was just priceless.  i hope those soccer balls show them that we love them, i pray they show jesus love, i hope they provide a lot of really fun times at home with family and friends spending time together kicking the balls around.  before we left rene looked up at me and then gave me the biggest tightest hug and i really just didn’t want to let go.  thank you lord!

the other ladies & their sponsor kids!
{images from my mission trip to El Salvador March 2011}

Sponsorship is a beautiful thing!  If you are wanting to get more involved in a developing country &not sure where to start - sponsoring a child is a good place!  Holler at me if you have questions or want to chat ;)

and go to "pray.give.go" on top of blog for good resources!