My wife and I sponsor 3 children through Compassion. It's a joy to give and help our communities around the world.

I've been writing letters to them ever since I took on their sponsorship. It's been difficult because how they write back feels like they haven't read my letters or acknowledged any questions I asked them. Granted, they were quite young when I first sponsored them, and there is a cultural and language barrier. It's probably far more challenging for them to respond than if it were in person.

Even with this feeling, I've persisted all these years.

One of our sponsor children, a beautiful little 12-year-old girl in Indonesia called Shena made all the letters I've ever written worth it today. For the first time, she was engaging. I was truly blessed to read her latest message, thank me for the photo, and ask about my son. 

It's worth taking that 5 minutes every month or two to write a letter, send photos and ask questions. I encourage anyone sponsoring a child to keep it up (or start if you don't write)!

-Ben