I have a wall in the room where my computer is, it has banners of all the times I’ve gone to Guatemala and pictures of my sponsored kids. If you would’ve told me I would be living this life when I was in middle school or high school, I wouldn’t have believed you. The desire I remember grew in college, I would talk about sponsoring kids all the time but never followed my own advice. Then, I went to a conference, and I wasn’t ready to sponsor a child, but I did get involved in a money Survival Program with Compassion International. That was fun and I finally decided to take the plunge and sponsor my first kid. He is very very special, he is from Ecuador because one of my greatest friends in college was in Ecuador doing a mission trip during the time. His name is Jonathan because I have a nephew named Jonathan and he has my same birthday! After him, I have sponsored a kid through Compassion from Guatemala and he graduated from the program already! 🙂 I sponsor two more kids from Guatemala through Common Hope, which is the group I work with when I go to Guatemala and I get to see those kids every other year. If you sponsor a kid, let me say…. getting to see the kids is life changing. I absolutely LOVE that I get to see these two kids and their families. Last time I was there, the mom was crying saying how much I’ve helped her and her family… but the truth is they’ve helped me in so many more ways. I am getting teary eyed just thinking about it. They give me a purpose in life, they give me a reason to keep going and a reason to smile. My dad brought up the idea to go to Guatemala with his Rotary group to help build houses and visit schools, etc. I am so so happy that I said yes to him because it has been a journey of a lifetime. I hope to sponsor more kids and be blessed with this amazing life that God has given me. I don’t deserve it, but hopefully I don’t waste it completely.