Have you ever wanted to change the world? I think all of us dream of making a difference in other people’s lives. All of us need to be needed. But we usually have no idea where to begin…

Have you thought about helping a child in a faraway country? Get her to learn about Jesus, study, learn a profession, and break the cycle of poverty?

I’ve always dreamt about that, but I had no idea how easy it actually is to do it.

Do you want to know how?

You can sponsor a child.

You’ve probably heard or read about it before, but now I want to talk to you about my own experience.

I currently sponsor three children: one in Brazil (my country), one in Rwanda, and one in Mozambique. Each one through a different organization: Visão Mundial (the Brazilian branch of World Vision), Compassion, and Casa das Formigas (a Brazilian mission), respectively.

I have joined the Compassion Bloggers, who are bloggers that share their experience of sponsorship through Compassion, so in this post, I will focus on that.

What I most admire about Compassion, other than the amazing work they do for millions of children all around the world, is the focus they put on preaching the Word of God as part of the process of breaking the cycle of poverty.

I first came in contact with them through a friend’s blog. He was a sponsor himself. I got curious about it and navigated their web site. Back then, I was already sponsoring a child through Visão Mundial (World Vision).

In Visão Mundial, I can only sponsor children living in Brazil. But I have always wanted to help a child in Africa, so when I realized that in Compassion I could choose a child from any country they worked with, including many countries in Africa, I decided to sponsor another one.

I prayed that God would somehow show me the child that He wanted me to sponsor, and I started browsing.

I looked at dozens of children that day, but I didn’t feel God’s sign to choose any of them.

On the following days, I repeated the process, still no signs.

Then, one day I noticed for the first time that there were children there that were waiting for a sponsor for more than 6 months. I decided to filter the list and browse only the ones that were waiting longer.

Then it happened. There was this kid from Rwanda, and she was waiting for more than 6 months for a sponsor. There was something about her eyes that caught my attention. I don’t know what it was, so I just bookmarked her page and continued browsing.

After looking at more children’s profiles, I couldn’t forget about the look in that girl’s eyes. There was nothing out of the ordinary with them, however, they intrigued me. Maybe that was the sign I was asking for.

I prayed again, and I decided to go ahead and sponsor her.

You have no idea how anxious I was to receive her first letter. When it arrived, it felt surreal. That was a true letter that came from a real child in Rwanda. And I was helping somehow to give that child a slightly better chance in life.

Sometimes it still feels surreal.

Actually, her father wrote the letter, but it still amazes me anyway. I read the English version, but I spent a lot of time looking at the version that he wrote in their native language. Surreal…

Compassion has added more features to their website since then, and you can choose from children that lost one or both parents, children that live in high-risk areas, etc.

Everyone who knows me knows that I don’t recommend anything to anyone else unless it was very good for me. And this experience has been so great! I honestly think that it will change your world if you do it.

So, have you ever wanted to change the world? You can start now by changing the world of a child. Just click here.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19:14)