Go-To Letter Writing Topics

Over the last 10 years of child sponsorship, I have written to my sponsored children about countless topics and themes.  Sometimes I’ll write a short message of love and encouragement or respond to their letters.  Other times I’ll share about my life, such as information about my family or places I’ve traveled.  Other times, I share important messages on specific topics.  This is what I am focusing on today.  While there are unlimited things to write to your sponsored children about, there are a handful of topics that I make sure to write to all of my children about at some point during their time in the sponsorship program.  I compiled a list of these things below, along with links to examples.  I will be adding more links soon.

Princess Letter: A letter focusing on salvation and being a child of God.  Usually using a princess or "child of the King" theme.  Usually sent shortly after I start sponsoring the child.  Read an example of the letter by clicking here.

Repentance & Following Jesus: A letter similar to the salvation message, but shared again in more detail when they are a little older.  Usually sent to children ages 12+.  Read an example of the letter by clicking here and here.

Testimony Letter: A letter sharing my testimony of how I became a Christian, along with photos of me visiting the cabin where I first accepted Jesus.  I send this letter to all ages, but with different levels of detail depending on the child's age.  Read an example of the letter by clicking here.

Baptism Letter: A letter explaining the meaning of baptism, sharing photos of my baptism, and asking if they have been baptized.  I usually send this to children around age 10-12. Read an example of the letter by clicking here.

The Lord's Prayer Letter: A letter breaking down the Lord's prayer line by line and teaching how to pray based on Jesus' example.  Sent to children of any age.

Fruits of the Spirit Letter: A letter (or series of letters) explaining the Holy Spirit inside of us and the beautiful things He can grow in our lives, using fruit-themed analogies.  Sent to children of any age.  Read an example of the letter by clicking here.

Old Testament Overview: A 100 day reading plan I wrote containing 100 chapters of the Old Testament, at least 1 chapter from each book.  Contains a short 1-2 sentence overview for each chapter.  Sent to children ages 12+.  I am working to write a shorter version for younger children, but have not yet completed it.

New Testament Overview: A 100 day reading plan I wrote containing 100 chapters of the New Testament, at least 1 chapter from each book.  Contains a short 1-2 sentence overview for each chapter.  Sent to children ages 12+.  I am working to write a shorter version for younger children, but have not yet completed it.

Book of Revelation Overview:  A letter breaking down the book of revelation and the end times in simple words.  Sent to children ages 12+.  Read an example of the letter by clicking here.

13th Birthday Letter: A coffee-themed letter I send to each of my girls for their 13th birthday sharing a memory from my 13th birthday and commending some of the ways the specific girl is growing up and showing spiritual and emotional maturity.  Read an example of the letter by clicking here.

Relationship/Dating Letter: Around the time of the girl’s 15th birthday, I write a letter talking about healthy/safe/Godly relationships and what love looks like in a relationship.

Christmas Letters 2021

If you sponsor a child through Manna 4 Lempira, the deadline to send Christmas cards by physical mail was October 5.  However, you may also send email letters which are due by November 5 and should be delivered around the same time. 

Since most of my sponsored children are now teenagers, I decided to go a little deeper into the salvation message this Christmas.  During recent conversations with others in my personal life, I've recognized a great need for sound doctrine when it comes to the gospel.  I talk to my sponsored children about the bible all the time; but I want to take a step back and first be sure they know Him.  I plan to continue this theme of salvation/repentance/following Jesus in my Easter letters.  The younger children will receive a simpler version of the same letter. The coloring pages were all found on Google Images.

Teen Version:

Hello beautiful!  How are you?  I am sending this letter around Christmas 2021.  I pray that your family has a beautiful Christmas together.  

Christmas is when we celebrate that Jesus was born to rescue us from sin and allow us to become children of God.  He was born to die to take the punishment for our sins and rise again to defeat them.  Only He could do this, because only He was without sin.  Sin in the world is the reason no one lives forever on Earth, but the coming of Jesus to save us is the reason we can live forever in Heaven as children of God when our lives on Earth are finished.  To become God's children, we just need to believe this and turn to Him in repentance.  The word "repentance" means "change of mind".  It means letting go of our own ways and sins, and turning to follow Jesus.  When this happens, we are born again, which means our souls are born into the family of God.  When we make the decision to follow Jesus and be born again, we are His children forever, even if we make a mistake in the future.

Our Christmas decorations and celebrations are a time to remember this great gift of God.  It is a hope that no one can take away from us, which helps us to celebrate it no matter what is happening.  I pray that you and your family will experience the joy of Christ this Christmas.  How do you plan to celebrate this year?  I plan to decorate my house and give little gifts to my family to celebrate God's gift of love.  Here is a picture of my mom and I with our Christmas tree last year, and a Christmas decoration for you to color.

Child version: 

Hello beautiful!  How are you?  I am sending this letter around Christmas 2021.  I pray that your family has a beautiful Christmas together.

Christmas is when we celebrate that Jesus was born to rescue us from sin and allow us to become children of God.  This is a hope no one can take away from us, which helps us to celebrate it no matter what is happening.

How do you plan to celebrate Christmas this year?  I plan to decorate my home and give little gifts to my family to celebrate God's great gift of love.

Here is a picture you can color.  It is a drawing of Baby Jesus when he was born, with his parents.

Thirteenth Birthday Letters

When my sponsored girls turn 13 years old, I send them each a special themed letter.  It celebrates becoming a teenager while also sharing a memory of myself at their age.  Here is a letter I wrote to one of my girls who will be turning 13 next month.

Hello beautiful!  How are you?  I am sending this letter around your birthday, in November 2021.  This year, you are turning 13 years old!  I can't believe how much you've grown!  I recently saw some photos of you at the youth conference you attended with your church.  I am very proud of you for being so involved with your church.  Youth groups are a great way to grow in Christ with others your age.  Did you have fun at the event?  What was your favorite part?

Since you are turning 13 this year, I want to share a special memory with you.  Many years ago, on my 13th birthday, I felt very mature because I was finally a teenager.  So, I wanted to try coffee for the first time.  Where I live, children don't usually drink coffee until they are older (Note: I added this because children in Honduras often drink it from a young age.)  So, on my 13th birthday, my mother took me to a café called Starbucks and bought me a coffee and a cookie.  I decided the coffee was too strong, so I only ate the cookie.  I learned to like coffee later, when I was a little older.  

Do you like coffee?  Do you like it black, or with cream, sugar, and flavors?  I usually drink it with just a little sugar, but sometimes it's fun to add extra flavors.  In The United States at this time of year, we sometimes add pumpkin flavoring to our coffee, because pumpkins grow so abundantly here at this time of year; from September to November.   (Note: I write about a different type of coffee drink or flavor depending on the time of year.)  I wish I could be there for your birthday, to have a coffee with you to celebrate.  I hope to come soon, but until then, here is a picture of coffee that you can color.

When I'm sending the letter by physical mail, I include coffee-themed stickers.  I'm a huge fan of Shine Sticker Studio and their adorable coffee-themed sticker options.  I love that you can choose the skin tone of the characters and that they're so fun and girly.  Click the photos to enlarge.

When I'm sending the letter by email to be printed for the child in-country, I attach a coffee-themed coloring page from Google Images instead of the stickers.  They have many beautiful options.

On the rare occasion that I'm visiting around the time of one of the girls' 13th birthdays, I will bring a coffee-themed gift or take her to a café for the celebration.  These Starbucks instant latte packets, which I brought for my Estefani's 13th birthday, are fun because we get to share the exact brand of coffee I first tried at their age.

While this tradition is fairly specific to me and my girls, I hope it encourages you to use your own childhood birthday memories to celebrate your sponsored children.  Another example I've used was sending American Girl paper dolls for Christmas, and writing about how my American Girl doll was my favorite Christmas gift as a child.  You can also tie in the tradition of gift giving, and how it reminds us of God's great gift of love when He sent Jesus to save us.  Sending this type of gift for a holiday rather than a holiday-themed gift (such as Christmas stickers) is also a great way to be sure the gift is still useful if it arrives late.

Manna 4 Lempira Backpacks 2021

Sponsoring a child with Manna 4 Lempira means getting the chance to send a backpack filled with school supplies and gifts every year to encourage your sponsor child's God-given potential through education and the simple joys of childhood.  I hope this overview of the backpacks I packed for my sponsored children this year will help you as you pack!  This year, I packed for 11 girls: ten tweens/teens and one toddler.  Click on the photos to enlarge.

For starters, here is the required list of items every backpack should have.  Your monthly sponsorship fees cover these items, so you don't have to send them.  Some sponsors like to pick out their own supplies for their sponsored children, but anything you don't send will be provided to them by the ministry.  The required school supplies are: 8 notebooks, 20 pencils, a pencil sharpener, 2 boxes of 24 crayons (younger children) or 2 boxes of 12 colored pencils (older children), 2 large erasers, pens (2 red/2 blue/6 black), a ruler, scissors, and glue or glue sticks.

I also picked up some extra school supplies based on things my sponsored children told me their schools required in the past.  These items are: a scientific calculator, a grid notebook for math, a sketch pad, a pencil bag, a miniature dry erase board with markers, blank flash cards, and a folder.  For a few of my older girls whose schools offer drawing classes as an elective, I also including sketch sets with special drawing tools.  I also highly recommend sending a Spanish (not Spanish-English) dictionary at least once.  I already sent them last year, so will not be including them this time.  I recommend this one.   For the most part, I shopped based on cost and quality.  However, I also made sure each child had a couple of fun designed notebooks and/or pencils in addition to the plain ones, to help get them excited about school.

My littlest girl, Floridalma, will have a few less supplies than the others since she is only 4 and doesn't need things like a scientific calculator.

All supplies for 1 child

Just the extra items for 1 child

Sketch sets for the older girls

Some of the fun pencils to split between the girls

In addition to school supplies, every backpack needs to include 4 toothbrushes, 2 tubes of toothpaste, a bar of soap, a wash cloth, 3 pairs of socks, and a comb or hairbrush.  I also chose to add dental floss and hand sanitizer.

The ministry also makes sure every backpack has a few fun items.  They recommend dolls with hair accessories for girls, and soccer balls with matchbox cars and baseball caps for boys; but you can choose to substitute these items.  I've already sent dolls and soccer balls to my girls multiple times.  So, as they are getting older, I chose to switch it up a little.

The special gift I wanted to send my older girls this year was a pretty faux leather diary with a lock.  One of them specifically asked for a diary, and I thought it was a great idea for everyone.  I also found these lock-and-key bracelets to match!  They're each getting a glittery pen too, but I couldn't get a good photo because my camera kept reflecting the glitter.  You can find them in bulk here, or individually at Dollar Tree.

After diaries, my favorite gifts for the older girls this year are the craft supplies.  I chose this bead kit for ages 14+ and these fashion design coloring books with extra colored pencils for ages 11-15.  

As their bigger gift, each girl is getting one of these scented stuffed bears!  The older girls are each getting one of the purple bears, which are lavender-scented.  The pink bear is for little Floridalma.

Next, I added as many smaller toys, accessories, and books as I could fit.  These items include pink toy cars, LOL Surprise toys, balls, Uno games, BFF necklaces, hair scrunchies, Christian books, and preschool workbooks/coloring books for Floridalma.

Undaunted for Wendi (17)

Last, I made sure each girl had some clothing in her bag.  They seemed so excited about receiving clothing last year, and it's a necessity as well as a fun gift.  Plus, it's the one gift we may get to see photos of them using throughout the year.  Each girl is getting at least 2 outfits, but I only took photos of my favorites- mostly the toddler clothing, because it's so fun to shop for.

Toddler dresses

Matching dresses for sisters Yessenia and Floridalma

Floral dress for Saudy (12)

I also included handwritten cards in their bags, wishing them a great school year and talking about why I chose certain gifts with them in mind.

Fruit of the Spirit Devotions

When the global pandemic began at the beginning of 2020, children in the Manna 4 Lempira sponsorship program were no longer able to meet for church or bible teaching.  As a way to keep them learning the Word at home with their families, 6 of us sponsors came together and wrote a bible challenge booklet.  We each wrote one week of the challenge; then the ministry director compiled them into a booklet and had them distributed to all of the children in the program.  For my week, I wrote a series on the Fruit of the Spirit.  If you sponsor a child through Manna 4 Lempira who was in the program as of mid 2020, they have already received these devotionals.  However, if your child is new to the program or is part of a different sponsorship organization, this could be a great study to send to them.  You could send all 9 fruits at the same time or send 1 fruit in each letter over the course of several months with the devotion and verse for that fruit.  You can also customize it by adding coloring page for each fruit, fruit-themed recipes or scented stickers, and so much more.

My Amy with her banana-themed devotion about joy

Introduction: When you become a child of God, He puts His Holy Spirit inside of you to teach you, comfort you, and guide you.  The Holy Spirit makes beautiful things grow in our hearts.  We call these things the Fruits of the Spirit, because they grow in our hearts like fruit grows on a tree.  The fruits that the Spirit grows in our hearts are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  God promises that His children will always have the choice to use these things.

Memorize Galatians 5:22-23: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Descriptions & Fruit Analogies:

Love: Love means caring about someone and doing what is best for them.  When I think of love, I think of hearts.  A fruit that reminds me of love is cherries, because they look a little like hearts.

Joy: Joy is the happiness we get from God.  Even when we are sad about something else, we can have joy about God, because He is always with us.  When I think of joy, I think of smiles.  A fruit that reminds me of joy is bananas, because they look like smiles.

Peace: Peace is the calmness that we get from God.  It means we can relax and know that everything will be okay, even when something scary happens, because He will never leave us.  When I think of peace, I think of a calm place, like a beach.  I also think about standing tall and confident, and not being afraid.  A fruit that reminds me of peace is pineapples, because they grow in calm, tropical places like a beach; and they stand tall with a big crown of leaves on top.

Patience: Having patience means waiting for something that takes a while, without complaining or becoming anxious.  When I think of patience, I think of praying for something and trusting that God will answer, even if it takes a while.  A fruit that reminds me of patience is watermelon, because watermelons are huge, so we have to wait a long time for them to grow to full size.

Kindness: Kindness means being nice to others and doing nice things for them.  A fruit that reminds me of kindness is oranges, because when you open an orange, it is broken into pieces- to be shared with friends!

Goodness: Goodness means doing what is right.  All people have sinned, so none of us are good on our own.  Jesus died to take the punishment for our sins for us, so our spirits can be good again.  Then, He put His Holy Spirit inside of us to help us make good choices.  A fruit that reminds me of goodness is apples, because in the bible, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate a fruit (which people think was an apple) from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This reminds us that we need to make good choices.

Faithfulness: Faithfulness means believing in God and His promises, even when you can't see them.  A fruit that reminds me of faithfulness is figs.  In Jeremiah 24, God's people were held captive as slaves, while other people mocked them.  God showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs: one good and one rotten.  This was a symbol God's promise for the future.  God promised that His people who were going through trouble now would turn out prosperous like the good figs, and their enemies would be like the rotten figs.  They needed to have faith to believe this, because it wasn't what they could see at that time.  But later, it happened, and they were freed!

Gentleness: Gentleness is very similar to kindness.  It means being careful to say and do things that will make people happy instead of hurting them.  It means speaking soft words instead of harsh words.  When I think of gentleness, I think of something soft and fuzzy.  A fruit that reminds me of gentleness is peaches, because they are fuzzy on the outside.

Self-Control: Self-control means that God gives us the ability to control ourselves and use all of the other Fruits of the Spirit that He gave to us.  It means that we can always choose the right thing and never have to choose the wrong thing.  Instead of thinking of self-control as one fruit, we are going to think of it as a big fruit salad- because it helps us to use a mixture of all of the other Fruits of the Spirit.

 

Memory verses for each fruit:

Love:   1 John 4:19 (We love, because God first loved us.), John 3:16 (For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life), Romans 5:8 (God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.)

Joy: Nehemiah 8:10 (The joy of the LORD is your strength.)

Peace: Deuteronomy 31:6 (Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you.  He will not fail you or forsake you.)

Patience: Galatians 6:9 (Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.)

Kindness: Matthew 7:12 (Treat other people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law of the Prophets.)

Goodness: Romans 3:23 (For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God) Tie into how our only goodness is through Jesus

Faithfulness: Hebrews 11:1 (Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.)

Gentleness: Proverbs 15:1 (A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.)

Self-Control: 2 Timothy 1:7 (God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.)

 

How Jesus Used the Fruits of the Spirit:

Love: John 3:16 tells us Jesus did what was best for us by coming to Earth to save us so we could have eternal life.

Joy: Luke 10:21 says Jesus rejoiced when He thought about the Holy Spirit and how He gives us knowledge.

Peace: Matthew 14 tells us Jesus walked on water in the middle of a crazy storm.  This tells us He wasn’t afraid, because He had calmness and trust in God to protect Him.

Patience: Mark 1:13 tells us Jesus stayed in the wilderness for 40 days while being tempted by the devil.  This shows that He had great patience while waiting for the season to end.

Kindness: In Matthew 19:14, Jesus told his disciples to let the little children come to Him.  Jesus loves children and was very kind to them.

Goodness: 1 Peter 2:22 tells us Jesus never sinned or said anything wrong.  This tells us He is the only one who is completely good, so He is the only one who can save us.

Faithfulness: Several places in the bible, such as Luke 3:21, show Jesus praying.  This shows us His faith in His Father even when He couldn’t see Him.

Gentleness: In John chapter 8, a crowd of people were trying to kill a woman because she had sinned.  Jesus stopped them, forgave her, and let her go free even though she had done something wrong.  This shows that He is gentle and caring to anyone who accepts His gift of forgiveness and believes He died to save us.

Self-Control: In Matthew 4, Jesus was being tempted by the devil to bow down to him.  Jesus was without food or water in the wildness.  It would have been very easy for Him to become tired and give in, but He didn’t.  He controlled Himself and continued to worship God.

How to Throw a Quinceañera

In Honduras and much of Latin America, a girl’s quinceañera (15th birthday) celebrates her transition into womanhood and is often a bigger deal than her wedding.  It’s a chance to make her feel loved and celebrated, as well as a reminder of the plans God has for this next season of her life and how far He has already brought her.  As a child sponsor, I’ve made it my personal goal to help celebrate each of my sponsored girls’ quinceañeras.  As often as possible, this will mean being there for the celebration and throwing a whole party.  Other times, it will simply mean sending a dress and decorations so they can celebrate with their families.  I was recently blessed to be able to spend a weekend with my Estefani and her family in Honduras, celebrating her quinceañera at the beautiful Hilton Princess hotel.

Here are some of the gifts and elements we included in the celebration.  Whether you are visiting your sponsored child in person for the celebration or sending gifts in their backpack, I hope this gives you ideas of some things to include.

The gown & accessories: We got Estefani’s quinceañera gown from Amazon.  These gowns in stores often cost hundreds or thousands of dollars; but Amazon has several beautiful options under $100.  Just search "quinceañera gown" to see many beautiful options right on the first page.  Most of them are not on Prime and can take a few weeks to arrive, so plan ahead.  I got her tiara and bracelets from Claires.  The necklace and earrings were a gift from her aunt.  I also gave her some makeup as a gift for the occasion- some light blush and eye shadow, lip gloss, mascara, and eye liner.

Surprise dress: One element of a quinceañera in the US is the surprise dance.  I don’t know whether this is traditional or whether it’s a modern addition.  Typically, the surprise dance is when the girl comes out during the reception in a 2nd dress her guests haven’t seen before and does a dance that reflects something about her personality. Since Estefani’s party was just 6 of us in a hotel restaurant, there was no dancing.  Still, I’ve made it my own tradition to give my girls a surprise dress for their quinceañera.  In addition to the formal gown they know about ahead of time, I surprise them with this pretty-but-significantly-less-fancy dress on the day of the party.  The purpose of this dress is so she can have something more comfortable if she doesn’t want to wear her gown all night or if her gown doesn't fit; and so she’ll have something pretty to wear at home on her actual birthday if the party falls on a different day.  I did the same thing for my Melania for her quinceañera in 2014.   If you aren't visiting for the occasion or think the girl's parents may want to buy the fancier gown themselves, you could also send just the surprise dress.  I've done this with a few of my girls when I wasn't sure what kind of celebration they were having.  Here is Estefani wearing her surprise dress at home with a family friend on her actual birthday, the week after her party.

The ring: I asked my friend who attended another quinceañera  in Honduras about a month before this one what traditional things I should include.  She told me the girl’s mother had given her a special ring that would some day be replaced by her wedding ring.  This is similar to the idea of a purity ring; I just don’t use that name any more because I want my girls to know they are pure through the blood of Christ even if they make a mistake, and that it’s never too late to start following His plan for their lives.  The focus of this ring is to remind the girl of who they are in Christ and what He has for their futures, to encourage them to wait for that. I got Estefani this adjustable ring from Amazon since I wasn’t sure of her size.  It is shaped like a crown to remind her that she is a daughter of the King.  To be honest, there was so much going on at her party that I didn’t get to explain this meaning in detail when I gave it to her.  I sent a letter later talking about it.  My friend also told me that at the quinceañera she attended recently, the girl was given a special bible as a gift.  I had just given Estefani a bible in her backpack this past year which is why I didn't include one in the celebration, but this is another idea.  This bible is specifically a quinceañera design and is in Spanish.

 

The heels: One of the most important parts of a quinceañera is the heel ceremony.  This is when one of the parents changes the girl’s shoes from flats to heels- a symbol of growing up.  Estefani ended up being uncomfortable in her heels and wore the flats all night, but they'll be something special she can keep for when she's a little older.

The doll: Another part of a quinceañera is the last doll.  This is, traditionally, when the girl receives a doll as a gift for the last time before she becomes an adult.  Estefani already received the doll she really wanted (an American Girl) earlier this year and likely won’t be interested in them for much longer, so I just got her a small one from the dollar store as a way to keep the tradition.  I didn’t want to invest too much into something she’d likely never use.  Her little cousin ended up claiming the doll as her own by the end of the night and playing with it at the dinner table, which is fine.  Quinceañera dolls usually have fancy dresses to match the girl’s.  Even a Disney Princess doll or princess Barbie could work.

The photo album: As far as I know, this isn’t a traditional aspect of a quinceañera.  It is, however, something I’ve been planning for more than half of Estefani’s life. Since she was 7 years old, I’ve saved every photo I had of her and copies of every letter I’ve written to her in a folder in chronological order to make an album for her quinceañera.  Thanks to a distant relative, I was also able to get a few of her baby photos to include.  We had such a special time looking through this album together with her aunt.  I wrote her a letter at the beginning talking about her quinceañera and left some blank space at the end for her to add additional photos of her friends and family.