Have you ever dreamt of meeting your sponsored child?

We like to give sponsors that opportunity, and this year sponsors will travel to Honduras, Sri Lanka, and Kenya (which still has open spots, by the way)! 

Currently a team is in the Dominican Republic, and we can't wait to hear about their experiences touring the projects, learning from the project staff, and loving on their sponsored children in person.

But what about you? Have you wondered what it would be like to meet your sponsored child? Janelle dreamt about it many times over, and it was still different than she expected. Here are her reflections on meeting Eskarlin for the first time last summer:

I sat quietly waiting for Eskarlin’s arrival. I had so many questions. What did she really look like? What was her home like? What does she like to play? Does she get to play? What was her family really like? What was her favorite color? Will she like the gifts I brought her? Will she like me?

My mind was full of questions, but my heart was full of love. We had never met, and all I knew of her came from a short bio and small picture from Mission of Mercy.

When I saw Eskarlin on the Mission of Mercy website, I knew she was the one for our family. Yet when I was about to meet her face to face I felt inadequate, nervous. I wanted our meeting to be perfect. I had imagined it several times over in my mind before traveling to her country. I had brought some gifts for her that I was secretly hoping that she would like, all loaded with fun, excitement, entertainment, and a small slice of the western world.

And suddenly she was there, incredibly quiet, shy. She smiled. I wanted to cry but I had already overwhelmed her with my loud American self.

I launched into my “radio-DJ-mode” thinking I only had a little time so I must ask all my questions I could think of in 90 seconds or less. She liked school, she likes math. She lives with her family and has one sister. She likes music and playing with dolls.

She lives far from Mission Valiente Joshua 1:9 Child Development Center but she doesn’t let that stop her from coming. She doesn’t ride the bus there, she prefers to walk. She likes seeing her friends and neighbors along the way. She really enjoys her time at the center playing with the other kids and learning about Jesus.

I wanted to pick her up and twirl her around and tell her how much I love her, but I didn’t want to confuse and overwhelm her. I wondered what her earthly father was like and I wanted to tell her more about our Heavenly father who loves her more. But I couldn’t speak about that, I didn’t know her language. And her culture is so different than mine. I wanted to learn as much as I could about her, and our time was so short.

In her eyes I found what I was looking for though: I saw wonder. Wonder about me and my world. I felt she loved me too. She may not understand everything about my life or hers but I know she is thankful for my sponsorship. I could see it. She wonders what my world is like;  I want to make hers better. She wonders what my life is like; I pray she gets the education she needs to make a better life for herself. She wonders why I would travel such a long distance to see her; I hope one day when we meet again and she will have a better understanding of why.

For now, through Mission of Mercy sponsorship, we are connected with love. I love her, and show my love to her through sponsorship. She is growing in her education, her family, her community, and her faith. She loves back too. I can see it in her eyes of wonder.

To learn more about our mission trips, especially our trip to Kenya in October, click here. Our hope and prayer with sponsorship is that a connection will be made -- if not with letters, through the hope you provide and the change that happens in both your hearts.