I just emailed my first Sponsor Letter to John
Today I sent off my introductory letter to John, my Compassion International sponsor child in Kenya. I sent it via the Compassion.com website, and it was very easy to do.
- I logged in to my compassion.com for the first time. This was very easy to do because they sent me my sponsor number via email and I was able to log in with the sponsor number and my zip code.
- I was asked to change my username and password from my sponsor number and zip code. This process was also very straightforward and easy.
- Letter writing was very easy. I was able to click to my child’s info and read more info about John. I was then able to better write a short letter to him. I composed my initial thoughts to John and clicked the “Send Letter” button. It really can’t get easier than this, can it?
Where does my letter go from here?
It was emailed by the website to a translator who will translate it for John to read. My guess is that the translation happens in Kenya. At this point, I’m not sure if Compassion emails my letter or sends in bulk it via mail once they have collected a quota of letters to send to the Sainy Center in Kenya. Either way I can’t wait to hear back from John. This is going to be a fun adventure!
My first letter:
I must admit, I’m probably better at communicating with older (than 5yrs old) children, but this was my first attempt at encouraging my sponsor child.
John:
I am so happy to be your new Compassion sponsor. I hope and pray for good things for you and your family. I am sure that God has big plans for you and your life. I am so thankful to be a part of God’s plans and part of your life.
I live in a town about 60 km north of Dallas, TX in the United States. I go to a good church and while there, I help teach the junior high students (grades 7-8). I am not married yet, but the people at my church are like my family. For work, I build web sites that help people. And I now, I have your photo on my work desk to remind me to pray for you and your grandparents.
I also like playing games with my friends, especially with the students at my church. What games do you like to play with your friends? If you want, I could send you instructions for how to play a new game with your friends at the Siany Center.
I love you and can’t wait to hear back from you.
Praising God for you,
-Bill
That is such a sweet letter!
Just stumbled upon your blog and can answer your question about where your letters go.
Emailed letters get to your child faster. They go directly to your child’s country office, in this case the office in Kenya, and are sent out for translation. My kids in Uganda do not have translated letters, however, as English is commonly taught, and it may be the same in Kenya. My 16 yr old in Uganda reads and writes excellent English himself, my 7 yr old is just beginning to learn English and does not yet speak it and can only write the alphabet, but her letters are always written in English by one of the staff members at the project, translated from what she speaks to them. I believe the staff members probably just read my letters to her and translate as they go rather than sending them out for written translation as she probably does not read her native language fluently yet anyway. Anyhow, letters are sent out from the country office to the individual projects on a regular basis, depending on the accessibility of the project — city projects get more frequent deliveries than very outlying rural ones.
When sending letters through regular mail, they go to the Compassion office in your home country first, if you are in U.S. it goes to Colorado. There it is sorted by country and mailed in bulk to that country office where it then undergoes the same process. So emailing saves a good deal of time in mail travel to the child’s country as well as that expense, however, small gifts such as stickers, photos, postcards can only go through regular mail and it is also nice that the child sees your handwriting some of the time, so I like to use both methods to write my sponsored children.