Gospel Reading Plan for Sponsored Teens

I have desired (and procrastinated) for years to create and send a bible reading plan to my sponsored teens, to encourage them to spend time with God and grow in His Word.  It felt like a huge undertaking, but also a valuable one.  Then recently, the bible study group I attend started using a chronological guide to the gospels that I’ve been loving.  I decided to start by translating this guide into Spanish for my sponsored teens.  Instead of one big study plan that covers the whole bible, I’m going to send 4 separate plans slowly over time: gospels, Acts & epistles, Revelation, and the Old Testament.  Today we’ll be looking at the first one which I’m sending in my upcoming September folders: the gospels.

For the full printable gospel reading guide in Spanish, click here.  Below is an English translation of just the first intro page, so you can get an understanding of how the plan works:

The Gospels

I want to share with you the reading plan we're using in my bible study group.  Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are the four books of the bible that tell the story of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. They are called the gospels. They are written from the perspectives of four different men who personally knew either Jesus or His disciples.  All four versions are true and tell some of the same stories; they simply emphasize different parts that each author considered most important for their specific audience.

This reading plan combines the four books into one story in chronological order as much as possible. As you read, pay attention to these themes:

• Matthew likely wrote his gospel to people of Jewish descent to show them that Jesus is the Savior they were waiting for. For this reason, he makes many references to the Old Testament and prophecies, since those are the scriptures the Jews were familiar with.
• Mark likely wrote his gospel after interviewing the apostle Peter, so he recounts many aspects of Jesus' life in which Peter was involved. It is also possible that Mark wrote to Christians who were suffering persecution for their faith, which could explain the brevity of his words and the omission of extreme details, since it was urgent to spread this message quickly.
• Luke probably wrote his gospel for all humanity, to show that Jesus is available to everyone who comes to Him, even the marginalized. For this reason, Luke's gospel contains many examples of Jesus spending time with people whom others avoided.
• John probably wrote his gospel to people who did not yet know Jesus, to teach them how to know Him and become children of God. For this reason, he emphasized God's love and the most basic doctrines about who Jesus is.

Each section has a box for you to check off after reading it. If you read one section each day, you will finish all the gospel stories in 199 days! But, of course, you can read less or more, whatever helps you learn and understand the stories better.

Love Lempira Backpacks 2026

For over a decade, I have been blessed to sponsor children through the child sponsorship program Manna Discipleship Ministries which is now part of the organization Love Lempira.  I currently sponsor seven teenage girls through this organization.  Being a sponsor includes the opportunity to send a gift package to your sponsored child once per year, which will be added to the backpack of school supplies the program provides to them using your monthly sponsorship fees.  Sponsors are allowed to send up to a 2.5 gallon sized bag of gifts to each of their sponsored children each year.  I love joining in with other sponsors to share photos and ideas of what we're sending to our kids.  

For a list of the supplies the program provides to your sponsored child using your monthly sponsorship fees, click here.  I sent a few additional school supplies to each of my girls who are still in school, based on things their specific schools have required in the past.  These items are: markers, highlighters, dry erase markers, compasses, and Wite Out tape.  I’ll also be sending construction paper and plain white unlined paper; but these will be sent with their September letters rather than with backpacks, due to space.  If you haven’t already, I highly recommend sending Spanish (not Spanish-English) dictionaries and scientific calculators.  All of my girls have already received those in the past, so I won’t be sending them this time. 

Now for each girl’s individual gifts:

Ashley Paola (18) will have just graduated when she receives her gift.  For this reason, her bag will be just this gift without the school supplies I mentioned above.  She is studying hospitality/tourism and she already travels to different hotels for training.  Her favorite color is purple and she loves to read.  Her favorite gifts in last year’s backpack were a poetry book and a set of purple pens.  She will receive: the book The Hiding Place, fuzzy socks, a purple journal, a set of colored pens, a travel jewelry case, a graduation necklace, and a purple water bottle.  She has already received other travel-related gifts from me last year including a duffle bag, toiletry bag, and customized luggage tag.  Those items were a pretty purple color which match this year’s gifts.

Amy (16) will also have just graduated when she receives her gift.  For this reason, her bag will also be just this gift without the school supplies I mentioned above.  Amy loves art and the color blue.  Her favorite gifts in last year’s backpack included clothing and a set of purple pens.  She will receive: a shirt, a watch, a graduation necklace, a jewelry box, a sketch book, thin markers for drawing, and 2 wooden stamp sets.

Hiliany (19) is starting her senior year of high school.  She loves soccer.  Her favorite color has gone back and forth between red and black.  Her goal is to be a hair and nail stylist.  Her favorite gift in last year’s backpack was the Christian fiction book Redeeming Love.  In addition to the school supplies, she will receive: a soccer ball with air pump, a hot/cold water bottle that doubles as a thermos, a devotional book that is based on Redeeming Love, a heatless curl hair styling set, hair scrunchies, jewelry set, a pretty black shirt, and some clothing in her school uniform colors.  I’ve already given her a full large set of nail design supplies in the past and plan to give her a bigger set of hair styling supplies next year for her graduation; so I included just one hair styling item this time.

Adiany (17) loves self care items, especially skin care.  She also loves butterflies, and the colors black and purple.  In addition to the school supplies, she will receive: a hot/cold water bottle that doubles as a thermos, some clothing in her school uniform colors, a bible verse coloring book with colored pencils and sharpener, a jewelry box with a butterfly ring inside, a spa headband, and a purse filled with self care items including eye gels and a face roller.

Emely (14) loves art and self care items.  Her favorite color is black and was previously white.  Her favorite gifts in last year’s backpack included a painting set.  In addition to school supplies, she will receive: a hot/cold water bottle that doubles as a thermos, some clothing in her school uniform colors, blue light glasses, a bible verse coloring book with colored pencils and sharpener, modeling clay, a spa headband, and a black purse filled with self care items including eye gels and a face roller.

Marina (13) loves butterflies, flowers (especially tulips), accessories, reading, and the color yellow.  Her favorite gifts in last year’s backpack included a bible, a butterfly watch, and clothing.  In addition to the school supplies, she will receive: a blue floral shirt, yellow tank top with a shrug to wear over it, nail polish, nail stickers, a jewelry box filled with various jewelry including a butterfly ring and tulip necklace in addition to BFF necklaces and two packs of earrings, 2 hair bows, a book about Corrie ten Boom for children, a guided prayer journal for girls, gel pens, a hot/cold water bottle that doubles as a thermos, and some clothing in her school uniform colors.

Kati (almost 13) loves soccer, hair accessories, and the color purple.  She is very active and loves playing outside with friends.  In addition to the school supplies, will receive: a purple soccer ball with air pump wrapped inside of it, a mini World Cup themed Squishmallow toy, a hot/cold water bottle that doubles as a thermos, 2 hair bows, purple diary with purple pens, purple shirt, purple nail polish, BFF necklace set to share with a friend, a book about Corrie ten Boom for children, and some clothing in her school uniform colors.  I meant to put nail stickers in with her nail polish and forgot, so I’ll be sending those with her next letter which should arrive around the same time.

A note regarding the clothing in their school uniform colors: Honduran schools have very specific uniforms that can only be purchased in Honduras.  I like to send my girls clothing in the same colors, so they’ll still match their classmates if they ever don’t have access to real uniforms or in case they need backups.  The Betania sector of the program uses steel blue shirts and navy blue bottoms for classes.  The other three areas all use white shirts and navy blue bottoms for classes.  All four areas also have gym uniforms which are white shirts with black athletic pants.  For shoes, the program already provides the children with the shoes they need for regular classes; but I highly recommend sponsors sending tennis shoes for gym class when possible.  All of my girls have received tennis shoes in the past year and a half and haven’t grown much since then, so I didn’t send them again this year.