Shaun Groves
If you’ve read my blog for long you probably already know about Yanci (pronounced Jahn’-see). She’s famous.
What the world hasn’t heard about until now is how God used her to change her dad’s life. How God worked through and with all of us to bring about that change.
Because typing one-handed is not my favorite thing and because Yanci’s dad tells the story much better than I ever could, here’s video of Yanci’s family recently brought back from El Salvador by one of Compassion’s crews.
Are you a sponsor? Not yet? Then go here to get started!
You are? Thank you! Don’t forget to write and pray.
To desire revival…and at the same time to neglect(personal) prayer and devotion is to wish one way and walk another. ~ A.W. Tozer
Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit’s prayer.
~ Elisabeth Elliot
JessicaB says:
Arg, I was already feeling like I should write my sponsored kids letters today. This seals the deal!
jay sauser says:
didn’t want to tear up today, but i did. guess I should’ve known better than to click on a video about compassion
Shaun Groves says:
By the way, Yanci’s little sister Pamela is sponsored but has never received a letter. So we often write a little to her in our letters to Yanci. Just a suggestion to the other sponsors out there – it’s good to include siblings in case their own sponsors are neglecting the letter writing.
JessicaB says:
How sad that she’s never received a letter. 🙁 I’ve been on the correspondence list for nearly a month now, I can’t wait until I’m finally assigned a child like Pamela to write letter’s to.
Michelle ~ Blogging from the Boonies says:
That made me bawl like a baby. Really. God saved my husband from the grasp of alcohol. so I know how drastically that changes a family.
I’m writing to 4 of our 8 kids today, love them SO much. We do send extra goodies to our children’s siblings from time to time. I haven’t written letters to them, though. Great idea. Maybe I will tackle that in the next couple of months. By my estimation, that would be 30-40 kids!
Tanya Robinson says:
Wow, Shaun. Just wow.
Michael Patterson says:
That’s a great video Shaun. We started sponsoring a child through Compassion 12 years ago because we had heard Michael W. Smith speak so highly of Compassion. For the first 8 years it had been something I didn’t give much thought to until we received a heart-wrenching letter from Yefredy ( http://mjp2.blogspot.com/2008/01/life-changed.html ). We were pleased to learn that it’s not only celebrities that can have a direct relationship with their sponsored child, but any sponsor can. We went to meet her in person in 2006 and my life was forever changed by the experience.
By the way… you write as well with video as you do in song or blog.
Michael Patterson says:
Okay, my wife just reminded me it was Amy Grant 😉
Jill Foley says:
Wow…what a powerful testimony!
I started crying when she said her sponsor’s name was Shaun
JD says:
Me too, and I haven’t stopped yet.
LOVE Compassion…
Katie says:
That’s so awesome!
God is good!
Katie
Amy D. says:
I saw this on YouTube yesterday! It is so touching. What a terrific story!
Lindsay says:
And a child will lead them…
Thanking God for the Child who showed ultimate compassion. Thanking God for your love to these fellow children of His. 🙂
Kelli says:
Shaun, how do we find out information about our sponsored child’s siblings? I know our Jonri has brothers and sisters, but I don’t know their names or ages or even if they’re sponsored. Thanks for this reminder to correspond. How often do you write Yanci letters? Weekly? Monthly? What is the suggestion?
Shaun Groves says:
Just ask in your letter. Your info from Compassion about your child should tell you if they siblings but we found out ages and whatnot through letters.
My kids write their sponsored children monthly. Becky or I will write a short paragraph in those letters.
Kelli says:
Got it. Thanks!
JessicaB says:
Inspired by other letter writing sponsors I’ve met this year, I’ve started writing my kids twice a month. I am enjoying my sponsorship so much more now.
Ken Summerlin says:
I wrote our sponsored child just this morning. It was following the last blogger trip where I learned how important letter writing can be to the kids and have committed to writing our child each month.
Thanks for sharing Yanci’s story again.
Megan @ Faith Like Mustard says:
“Praise God…” Praise God indeed!!!
Adam says:
Great story, my wife and I hope to visit our little girl in Bolivia someday.
Jeanna Baker says:
Thank you so much Shaun. I, too, sponsor a child from El Salvador, but through another group. I just started sponsoring him early in the summer and sent one letter along with some books and stickers for him and his siblings (four sisters and a brother). My husband is deployed right now, I had surgery a few weeks ago, and have been struggling with my own kids, but this has helped me realize that I have been allowing myself to become consumed with my own personal issues (many of which are either beyond my control or in need of less of my control). So thank you, again. I started listening to you in 2002, a time in my life when I was running hard from God and all He has planned for me. You helped me then, although it took another five years for me to realize it, and here you go helping me yet again. Or perhaps its God helping me through you? Probably so, but I’m not gonna analyze it right now, I’ve got a letter to write!
laura parker@ life overseas says:
Shaun, what a powerful video testimony. We are not with Compassion, but are working with orphans and impoverished children here in Thailand. We also have sponsors for our girls, and it is amazing how thrilled they are to get a letter from the sponsor. I feel like it’s Christmas in a little envelope. The girls save every picture, every card–EVERY SINGLE ONE. It’s a powerful testimony of the biggness in their worlds of a small thing in ours. The sad thing is, we have 43 girls, and since we’ve been here {only 8 months} only 3 girls have gotten letters. 🙁
Anyway, I just echo what you have said so many times, that letters–and prayers, of course– DO MATTER.
Thanks for posting this– so powerful.
Barbara says:
And here is another reason I subscribe to your blog. Thanks for this reminder of the difference Compassion makes….well,of course I mean, the difference that the Lord makes using Compassion and the sponsors who pray.
This is beautiful. I hope you don’t mind that I shared this post of yours on my wee blog.
Shaun, when you came to our church (4 years ago?) you did such a good job of introducing us to Yanci through your presentation that it has been a real honour to get to know the rest of the story by following your blog.
Praise the Lord! What a testimony to his goodness!
Amy D. says:
I linked to it over at my blog, as well. Just another reason that sponsoring WORKS! Praise the Lord!
Jason says:
Thanks for another great Compassion post. The posts like this you put on your blog got my interest, and now we sponsor 4 children. Sponsoring 2 more here soon. Keep up the good work here on this blog. You never know who is reading.