How I found my friend
January 28, 2009 at 10:20 am Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) 7 comments
By Kelly Demo, CFCA preacher
“It was the picture that did it for me.”
“The priest had four folders left, and I just grabbed two!”
“I saw on the folder that the child’s birthday was the same as my father’s birthday. It was just meant to be!”
As a preacher for CFCA, I find it fascinating the myriad of reasons people are drawn to a particular child or aging person once they have made the decision to sponsor. Some look long and hard over the folders, reading carefully the personal information inside. Some say they feel called by God to pick “this very one.”
I often encourage people to pick someone from a country they would like to visit so they can meet their friend on a mission awareness trip. And for many, the decision is just too hard so they ask me to pick.
The longer I do this work the more convinced I am that God does have a hand in putting sponsors and sponsored friends together. I remember there was one folder of a young man in his 20s. He had special needs and would probably always need help but also had some big plans for his life.
However, for the life of me I couldn’t get him sponsored. I must have taken his folder to five appeals and no one would take him. Then, at one parish, a man came up to me, grabbed my arm and looked at me with tears in his eyes. He said, “I recently lost my 18-year-old son to drugs. He is gone, and now I need another.”
“I have just the boy for you.”
Those two men needed each other, and God brought them together.
In our family we let our 7-year-old daughter pick a folder. She picked Wendy because she said Wendy looked like someone she would want to play with. When our son gets a bit older we will let him discern who he would like to have for a new friend as well. We are deeply grateful to God for bringing Wendy in our lives and giving my kids an “older sister.”
So, what about you? How did you choose your friend? We would love to hear your stories of connection, intent and surprise. We welcome you to share how God brought someone special into your life through CFCA.
How did YOU find your friend?
Entry filed under: Around the World with CFCA. Tags: aging, cfca, children, christian, poverty, preacher, sponsorship.
1. Mary Ferrara | January 28, 2009 at 11:06 am
We picked little Karla in Mexico because she has curly hair like my sister. We love writing to her and praying for her. What a wonderful way to connect with someone from a different culture!
2. Allie K. | January 28, 2009 at 9:50 pm
My mom works for CFCA and during one of our school breaks my sister and I were volunteering in Child Services. My sponsored child had recently left the program, so my mom asked Child Services if they could pull some folders for me to look through so I could pick a new sponsored friend. When it came time for me to pick, I looked at the first folder on the large pile and there she was. Her name is Allison, like me, and she’s from Costa Rica. Over my spring break my mom and I are going on a Mission Awareness Trip to Costa Rica, hopefully we’ll get to meet Allison!
3. Linda Guthrie | January 29, 2009 at 12:39 am
It was the shoes!. They were bright blue sandals, way too large for such a little girl. She looked like such a waif. After sponsoring Keyling for about a year I was able to visit her in Nicargua, where I met her hard working grandmother, who unknown to anyone was quite ill. It wasn’t till I got home and weeks later someone I was showing my pictures to noticed that grandmother had on the same shoes. By that time I had already received word that that Keyling’s beloved grandmother had passed away.
4. Tina Rodriquez | February 7, 2009 at 11:11 pm
After having two sons and a miscarriage early on, my husband and I decided to have a little girl and there she was (at our church). Four year old Blanca-Julissa from Nicaragua. She and my youngest son are only 2 weeks apart. They even call her ‘their’ sister. It’s really life changing knowing we are making a difference in her life. We love writing and receiving letters.
We plan on visiting her when she’s older.
5. Rosemary T. | February 11, 2009 at 11:30 am
This is a beautiful story too
6. Sue Zins | February 26, 2009 at 11:38 am
We were in Guatemala on an awareness trip and decided we wanted to sponsor a child and Emerson was chosen for us . We met him the next day with his mom and it was so wonderful but very overwhelming for them at first. This past January, my husbnad Mike and I returned to San Lucas and reunited with Emerson and his mom and new baby sister. It was love again at first sight. He had become so self assured and funny and bright!! It was his 5th birthday so we had a celebration.!! We also got to meet our daughter’s sponsored child and his family who traveld by bus 90 min. to meet us. It was such a spirit filled trip. We hope to go back again in Jan. 2011.
7. Angela | March 6, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Our son started college at a time when his father was having health problems and was out of work for a couple of years. We couldn’t afford to give him much spending money, so he made friends among fellow students who could be counted on to invite him to stay to dinner. The most hospitable of those friends were from India (and are still among his closest friends). When I heard a CFCA presentation and saw that an Indian girl named Annelakshmi needed a sponsor, I decided this was the time to “repay” India for helping MY son.