First of all, can I just say that I am absolutely dumbstruck at God's incredible big picture and almost embarrassed that I fail to notice it so often?
It's October 2009. I'm in high school. My mom has received the child sponsorship packets in the mail for one of several Compassion Sundays we've had at our church. My mom has basically been the voice of Compassion International at our church for years-a passion she began many years ago at a CCM concert when she picked up the packet of a precious little girl named Manoucheka from Haiti. God lit a spark for Compassion in my heart through her. As usual, we were pouring over the precious children in the packets, laughing in the face of the danger we placed ourselves in (you know, the danger of sponsoring every one of these children if no one else was up to the responsibility). I flipped to the next packet: a little boy in a yellow, striped t-shirt with a red collar. A little boy, 9 years old, with a smile that had almost a hint of mischief.
Well, just steal my heart, why don't you?
Edgar was from El Salvador: a Spanish-speaking country, I was pretty sure. I had a growing appreciation and intrigue for the Spanish language as I studied it in high school. How cool to be able to write to this child in Spanish? But really, was this even possible? After all, I wasn't working full time, and I was still just in high school. A determination running through my veins, I set about checking my finances. My family and I had a deal: half of my money went straight to savings when I earned it, the other half was at my disposal. I had worked that summer and put away half the money as promised. The other half, well, there was plenty of that left. Enough, in fact, to sponsor Edgar for a whole year. And within that year, I would be working a summer job again and trusted that I would have the money for another whole year by the time I needed it. I could do this. God made it so I could do this.
This little boy was mine. I snapped up the packet and excitedly completed the forms necessary.
As the years began to pass faster and faster, Edgar-or Medardo, as he would sometimes sign his letters-continued to grow; we sent letters back and forth, and he continued to be an incredible joy in my life.
I learned more about Compassion International and its ministry and dreamed of one day meeting Edgar Medardo face-to-face. I started to connect with other sponsors online. I even connected with one woman, Autumn, who sponsored a girl from the same project as Medardo.
In 2011, Autumn contacted me:
"Hey! I just wanted to let you know that I will be going to El Salvador the week of April 11-15, and I will be visiting [Medardo's project]! Would you like to send something small for me to take? Just let me know! I hope you're doing well!"
I was thrilled.
The news finally came while she was in El Salvador: she had gone to take a picture of Medardo at his project...but he wasn't there. Not that day. But was that all? No, she found out that he lived near her own sponsored child, so she was able to visit his home. I received the gift of about 40 pictures she took of him and his home.
They really needed my help, she told me. He is so shy and such a sweet young man, she said. I didn't doubt it.
As if I didn't already want to visit him so badly...
As I finished my time in high school and moved on to college, we both continued to grow and to write letters.
I may have gotten a little overzealous when I started using the online letter writing templates. (Finish one letter and realize you have time to write another...) My desire to visit him continued to grow, and I began to see more personal subjects in his letters. Most recently, he has been asking for prayer for his mother, who has not accepted Christ's gift of salvation. How special to be a part of his life in this way: to be able to pray about things like this. I started to realize just how much my little Medardo was growing up. Receiving his most recent photo just reminded me of that all the more.
This further fueled my hope that I might visit him soon.
Through a rather disappointing chain of events, God created the beautiful chance for me to go on the June Compassion Sponsor Tour to El Salvador. When I found out, I wrote a letter to Medardo, spilling over with my excitement. The reality of the trip hit me slowly, and I'm not sure it even fully hit me when we were on our flight to El Salvador.
The week in El Salvador was absolutely wonderful. God's working Spirit was evident in the camaraderie of our team, the project workers we saw, the families, and the children. Meeting Medardo topped off an already splendid trip, and when my Salvadoran friends have referred to the trip as a divine appointment with God for me (and others who went), I just have to agree with them. Side note: Don't worry, I will share specifics and emotions of meeting Medardo in a later post.
God knew what He was doing to send me on this trip. He knew everything that would have to happen to give me this opportunity. And I realized today, He knew how much my heart and soul would learn from this trip, how the people would impact me, and how lovely the team of people would be from day one of my sponsorship of Medardo. On October 22, 2009, as I excitedly filled out forms to sponsor him, God knew I would go with these people and have my heart stirred and touched in a new way.
My friends, we serve an all-powerful, incredible God. I'm so thankful for appointments like these. I've been truly blessed by what He has done through Medardo in my life. This is our story.
Sponsor a child today! compassion.com
Such an encouragement, bless you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your story! I can't wait to hear more. The photos that your friend took of Medardo are amazing!!
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