Meet Cristine

Cristine is our beautiful sponsored girl from the Philippines. She will be 14 in August! Cristine writes us so many letters....every time we write to her, she writes back.

When we first began sponsoring her she wrote. "I am so happy for you because even though you don't have a child, you are helpin children like me. Can I be your daughter though I am far from you?"

In her next letter she addressed it Dear Dad Kevin and Mom Jill....then she wrote, "I feel that I am your daughter."

When I was pregnant with Sydney she wrote, "I am glad because I know that healthy is your baby in your womb and I pray to Jesus that hope she is strong and fine in coming out." ....imagine how happy it must make God that a little girl, living in poverty, is praying for the unborn child of her sponsor!

And perhaps the most touching letter we received from Cristine...."Me and my family are fine. My mother, father and siblings are in Manila. Because my other works there as a housemaid and my gather as a construction worker. I am staying here in my grandmother's because I do not want to lose a sponsor. I do not want to lose you. I love you Daddy Kevin and Mommy Jill!" Cristine's Compassion project is not close to Manila, but had she stayed with her family, she would have left the project and lost the benefits of sponsorship. So she stayed in the village with her Grandmother....just to stay in the Compassion project! Since this letter (written in Feb. 2007), her family has been reunited in the village where Compassion is...so our sponsorship was never interrupted. But can you imagine the decision her parents had to make...leaving behind one child so they could go find work to support their other children?

We also had the opportunity to pray for one of her brothers who was struggling with epilepsy. She wrote that it made her sad to see him having an attack, but in her last letter, she told us he was doing better. Cristine is very sensitive and specific in asking us to pray for her family. She is a special girl.