Warning: my nerdy, organizational tendencies are really going to show on this post.
 
I was so excited when I decided to sponsor Munni and Sovanna, and I wanted my first letter to each girl to be special and unique to her. But after I received a response from them, I started to worry. What if I forgot what I said and repeated myself? What if the time between letters was different, and one girl wrote less frequently than the other? How could I keep track of what I said to each girl?

And then there were the photos. How could I remember what I sent to each girl if I couldn’t recall what I had written to them?

There’s a simple answer to this, but it is pretty nerdy: a letter-writing notebook.

I’ll admit that this wasn’t my idea. I found it in the field manual we use to train our overseas staff. Because very few people in the developing world write letters, it takes a while for a child to understand that this is a form of communication. To help encourage this process, even though it can take many months between letters, one of Mission of Mercy recommendations is for project staff to help the child start a letter-writing notebook.

It can be as simple as a folder containing every letter (or copy of the letter) their sponsor wrote, along with drafts of the child’s response. This helps children formulate their letters and correct errors while also being able to track the exchange back and forth.

I created a letter-writing binder with one section for each girl. I made a copy of each girl’s profile. Then I wrote an outline of my first letter to them. If I ask a question in the letter, I put a Q in the margin of my outline. That way I can quickly refer to what I asked if I get a cryptic answer in the next letter.  

When I received my first letter from Sovanna, I slipped it in a plastic sleeve (although hole punching would also work well) and then started on the draft of my 2nd letter.
 
Another tip: Respond as soon as possible – it shows your sponsored child that you love to hear from them and really want to know more about them.

I also use the plastic sleeves to hold photos, postcards, small maps, and other things I want to include in my next letter. At the end of the section, I have a map of each girl’s country. I like to have this handy in case I hear something about Bangladesh or Cambodia in the news. (There are lots of handy places to find maps: detailed country maps are available on the CIA’s World Factbook, as are regional maps. You can also find blank outline maps here and here.)

If you don't sponsor several children, you might wonder if this is really necessary (you may also have a better memory than me!) But I've found that my binder is also a great place to write down questions to ask or topics to bring up. I’m much less likely to get paralyzed with writer’s block or fear now, and it doesn't add any time to my letter writing process.