Ministry Partners Like You

“We were a young married couple who simply answered God’s call to sponsor a child.

Over the course of several years, we felt the Lord ask us to sponsor another child… and another… and so on. We loved building a relationship with our Compassion kids through letters, photos and prayer. Even when we struggled to have our own biological children, we were thankful for the opportunity to love our sponsored kids.

After much prayer and a five-year battle with infertility, the Lord graciously and miraculously blessed us with a daughter, and eighteen months later, with a son. When our own biological children were still in diapers, we decided it was time to get our estate plan in order. We wanted to make sure our children would be properly cared for in the event of our death.

 As we discussed our wishes for our own children a thought occurred to us: What would happen to our sponsored children if we died? How could Compassion continue to meet the needs of our sponsored kids if no one was here to pass along the necessary funds?

Thankfully, Compassion and our estate attorney were able to help us create a plan that would provide for our biological children and our precious sponsored children too. Why did we include our sponsored children in our estate plan? For us, the answer is simply, ‘Because they’re our kids.’”

“We sponsored two children in El Salvador that weekend. The following August we journeyed to El Salvador with our church on a mission trip.  We met our sponsored children and their families. We also had the opportunity to tour the El Salvador Compassion office, where we met amazing staff and developmental center volunteers that served our children.

Over the years, including several mission trips to El Salvador where our sponsorship increased to two additional children, we decided to include Compassion International as part of our estate plan. We decided Compassion would be a great choice given their primary purpose and their commitment to financial integrity.  Compassion’s record of over 80% revenue going to program expenses and their history of high ratings by four charity watch organizations gives us full assurance our giving will be protected and used in a God-centered way for His kingdom.”

“I remember I was SO HAPPY to become Johana’s sponsor. I immediately started to write Johana letters and sent pictures of my family. I remember receiving Johana’s first letter. She wrote such a great letter, telling me about her family and how she was learning about Jesus Christ when she went to church…And that is the beginning of a wonderful relationship between myself and Johana.”

In January of 2018, Tim was able to go with 18 other members of his congregation to El Salvador and meet Johana, her family, and the church leaders, where Johana was learning about Jesus. During that week, Tim met a mother whose little girl, Ashley, had just finished chemotherapy for Leukemia. She was only 5 years old, and as Tim had dealt with cancer himself, he felt a connection to this little girl. It was such a strong connection that he agreed to sponsor her as well as continue to sponsor Johana.

“My heart had been TOUCHED FOREVER,” Tim says, “That day was one of the best days of my life.”

“After returning to Solana Beach, I knew I had to get more engaged with Compassion InternationaI to help children that live in poverty. I first revised my Living Trust and Will to help out this Organization.”

With the trip making such an impact on him, Tim eventually went back to El Salvador on a Vision Trip, this time inviting his niece, Chrissy, to join him. This time they visited another Compassion Partner church in the city of San Martin and met Axel Steven Alvarado Acosta, a very shy 5 year-old boy, along with his mother and one year-old sister. Knowing what an impact these children had on him and the impact he had for them and their family, Tim decided to sponsor Axel, too! And it doesn’t stop there for Tim…

“Recently, I became aware of a 6 year-old boy from Colombia, Jhassert Haly Canoles Correa, who lost his sponsor. I felt God calling me to help out, so today I am Jhassert’s sponsor and just received my first letter from him. I look forward to visiting him in Colombia one day soon.”

“For me, my involvement with Compassion International has been SO REWARDING. I am so thankful for what Compassion is doing in helping over 2 million children around the world as they get to know the story of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be a part of such a GREAT ORGANIZATION.”