Easter Sunday

We had a great day yesterday, starting with a sunrise service on the waterfront of the Peninsula looking towards the city. It was a 6.30 service and we weren't sure if we would have the energy or inclination given current levels of exhaustion. However, Ethan woke up at 6.20 so we dressed him up in his warmest pyjamas and wrapped Immy in blankets. We had seen signs for the 6.30am service but had no idea which church (if any) were putting it on. We weren't surprised to discover that it was the folk from Westside Christian Centre who use the anglican church building around the corner from us. We met them when we attended their marriage course.

It was worth the effort of getting out of bed as it was a beautiful clear morning with a bright moon followed by a wonderfully bright sun. The sun basically comes up behind the city skyline at the Sky Tower. It was a lovely simple service - about 25 people there only a third of whom were from Westside. We then all went to one of the Pastor's homes for hot cross buns and Milo.

Our own church service later in the morning was wonderful too. We had lady called Jackie come and speak to us. She is from Uganda and was a child sponsored by Compassion. She is now in her early twenties and has just married a man called Jonathan who was also a sponsored child and is now an associate pastor of their church in Uganda. It began as a church of 20 people but asmore and more children met Jesus through the work of the Compassion projects their families and the community has been touched to the extent that the church now numbers 2000. Jackie's own story is amazing. She was the eldest of 11 children and was left in abject poverty when her father died and her uncles sold all the property out from under her family's feet. Her mother taught them to pray and to believe that God would provide even though for periods of her life all her mother could feed her was salt in boiled water. Being taken onto the Compassion project saved Jackie and her family. They received food, housing, education and medical care. Jackie and two of her brothers have gone onto university. Jackie now travels the world with Compassion to tell her story.

We have 4 sponsored children. They live in Bolivia, El Salvador, Peru and Thailand. Jackie talked a lot about how her life was saved by the words written to her by her american sponsor. An elderly lady who told her that she believed in her, that God believed in her and had good plans for her - plans to give her hope and a future (jeremiah 29:11). This lady also introduced Jackie to "her secret" - Jesus. It is sometimes easy to pay the money - direct debits that aren't for the most part noticed and for us aren't much of a sacrifice. Prayerfully and faithfully writing to these children and embracing them into our family is another challenge all together, and one that I intend to take up more wholeheartedly.

Compassion have a film that they have made of Jackie from the time that she was taken into the project over 10 years ago when she was a small malnourished 10 year old who worked a 17 hour day to earn a dollar towards her family's surival. It is amazing to see the transformation of her life into an articulate, intelligent beautiful woman. If we can help in that process for even one of our sponsored kids it would be amazing. Jackie told us that when she meets children who are part of projects around the world today, she can tell by their demeanour and confidence which ones receive letters from their sponsors.

So if you have sponsored children, write to them and encourage them. Words can change lives. If you haven't sponsored a child there are many organisations through which you can do it. I recommend Compassion (which is a partner of Tear Fund) as they use the local community and local church so that there is a permanent infrastructure on the ground to help and support the kids. They do not give money to governments where it can all too often be lost in corruption. You can find out more go to the COMPASSION website.