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Decision

I've been h'mming and hawing about this, for some time, but I've made a decision.

I had great hopes for this, my secondary blog, as a meeting place for Compassion Advocates, as you can read in my "Welcome" post.  It hasn't worked out anything like what I envisioned, and I find myself doing all of my posting on my other blog.

So I am officially giving up on this one, unless some outcry reaches me, sometime in the future.  I'll leave what is here, because I put my heart and soul into several posts, but I don't expect to be adding to it.

Please visit me at my default blog, and come often!

Go!

The weary traveler has returned to home base.  I will be writing about the tour all week, probably, in a variety of posts to my default blog.  But for the benefits of any readers of this blog, tho' they be few, I say this:  If you have never traveled with Compassion to any country, go to the website and look for an upcoming tour; choose one and go!

This was my second tour, and I grasped more of what we saw and heard than I did two years earlier.  I will visit my girls again, tho' I'm not determining the when, at this point; but while that day with them is always the highlight, seeing a variety of projects gives us a more rounded picture of what goes on in the CDSP.  Meeting and hearing from LDP students and other CDSP graduates quickly settles any questions about whether Compassion's approach to breaking the grip of poverty really works.  And this year, the CSP has opened in the Dominican Republic, and I got some clarification on that program, as well.

Are you willing to grow beyond your comfort zone?  A tour will help that process along.  Your advocacy will be stronger, as well, because you will have the credibility of having seen the work in the field.  To borrow a phrase from the late George Burns in the original Oh, God! movie, you will have the strength of knowing.

Touring

This Friday (Jan. 5), I will fly to Miami, FL.  After what I hope will be a decent night's sleep at a hotel, I will return to MIA and ultimately join my tour group.  We'll take off for La Republica Dominicana at 1:20 p.m., if all goes well.  Our first stop there will be Puerto Plata, where we will stay until Tuesdaywhen we will go south to Santo Domingo.  We will spend all of Wednesday with our sponsored children; it will be my second visit with Denisse and my first with Maria.  I'm so excited!

I'm also a bit nervous about seeing both girls on the same day.  If they hit it off well and neither feels any jealousy about sharing me, we should be just fine.  If they decide to like each other, they should have a grand time playing and swimming together.  That's if the weather cooperates;  I checked the extended forecast online, this morning, and it said T-Storms in Santo Domingo, while we're there.  Poop.

Part of me wishes that I could visit with each, individually, for a 20 or 30 minutes.   But since I'm not fluent enough in Spanish to be without our translator, that probably won't work.  This is where I fall back into the if-onlies:  If only I had begun studying Spanish at the language school in the year after I last went down there, I would probably be largely fluent, by now.  But I didn't. :~(  Oh, well--I got by two years ago with the help of the translators, and I'll rely on them, this time, as well.  Not as much, but I'll be glad they're there!

I would appreciate any and all prayers for those of us on the tour, and for those with whom we visit. 

Moving right along...

I think I've posted about this idea/hope/plan before, but I'm not sure.  I'll skip most of the detail, for now, because I'm supposed to be doing Christmas cards, but here's the Reader's Digest version:

I'm planning an event, probably post-Easter, on the order of an Evening with Compassion.  I hope to use our church facilities, have a key speaker from Compassion, and get strong support from our pastors in inviting other church leaders.  The purpose is broaden the awareness of Compassion's ministries throughout the metro' Tucson area and perhaps south of here.  The idea is to invite current and potential sponsors, as well as church leaders, for a dinner, a speaker, and no doubt one or more video clips.  We'll offer some door prizes:  $5 certificates, or whatever the store will provide, for Gospel Supplies bookstore; they'll also make flyers available in the store for advertising the event.  Other door prizes might be for McDonald's, Target, etc.  I'd like to work Wess's book in, some way, as well.

I'm in touch with our new Regional Manager, Mark Gehri, who will also plan to be here.  He's using this event as a training platform to learn how Compassion works with these kinds of things.  My praise and joy is that he really, really likes the idea and will work to get the best speaker from as high a level as possible.  Operating on my theory that it never hurts to ask, and at my request, he will start with Wess Stafford.  If Wess actually is able to accept, you'll have to pick me up off the floor, but then we'll get to work.  I will not, however, wallow in disappointment if he is not able to come.  I know he has enormous demands on his time and, as Mark said, Wess's heart is a lot bigger than his 24-hour days.  So I will appreciate prayers that God will direct Mark to just the right person for this event.

Best laid plans

I sat for almost 4 hours, today, in the Christian bookstore, with a few packets on a small table and the "table-top" poster from Compassion International standing on the floor, just in front of the table.  The table sat 8' or 10' in from the front door, and yet, most of the time, I felt invisible.

As always happens in me when I begin to think my vision for an event of some kind is going to be a total bust, I began questioning:  Lord, was this just another of my ideas, and not one that You really support?  I thought you had given me the inspiration to try this, but...was I wrong?

Thankfully, within a couple of minutes, I realized that what He wants from me is to do the work that He's given me to do, and leave the results to Him.  So I sat there, working on my Spanish lessons and a little practice of my own making, in preparation for my upcoming visit to Dominican Republic.  In that context, it was a very productive time for me.

As for Compassion, I did have three nice conversations with current sponsors.  I'm always glad for such opportunities, because I often encounter a sponsor who really believes in the Compassion ministry and who even writes to and encourages her or his child, but may have concerns or questions.  If I can't answer them, I do at least encourage the person to call the 800- number and talk to someone at Compassion.

I want to do all I can to encourage and support the people who encourage and support the children!

Wistful thinking

Update 11/15/06:  Mystery solved.  I sent a note to the person I considered "most likely to," kinda dancing around the possibility; the reply consisted of an emoticon--a face with a great big, mischievous, toothy grin.  Tried to show it here, but it came out huge and I couldn't get it where I wanted it, anyway.  Anyway, thank you!  I've been drinking more hot tea since the cup arrived than I had in a couple of years. :-)

Original Post:  I just received a pad of note paper from EmigrantDirect.com, which is an online savings bank where we stash money, each month, toward estimated taxes.  It's (the note pad, not the bank) 6" x 7-3/4".  We scanned it and adjusted the settings so the image would show up, better, here.

I like it.  I have wished for some time that we had something like this for Compassion, and not just as a temporary promotional.  I've been very sorry when a couple of things were no longer available.  E.g., the cup I received after my first "official" sponsorship got broken by my late-mother-in-law's caregiver, who had many cups to choose from over there but decided, one day, in my absence, to branch out.  I know; I sound very petty, but I actually grieved the loss of that cup, when I learned I couldn't replace it.  I'd have paid, I would.  We also had some small note cards, at one time, with prints of art work done by Compassion-assisted kids.  I really liked those!

Back to the notepad:  A couple of different sizes would be good, too, including something about the same size as this one from the bank, and maybe one half the size, or smaller. The image in the center could be the abstract of the running/dancing child from the logo, or a faded picture of any of the children in other marketing materials, or just about anything.  I'd much rather have that than something from an online bank.

UPDATE 11/3/06:  It's a bit of a mystery, to me, but I just received one of the mugs that I described, above! 

Planning

I spend too much time sitting at my computer, and not enough time making contacts for Compassion.  However, I am working on a few things:

I'm going to be setting up a table on the sidewalk outside our best Christian bookstore, on Friday and Saturday following Thanksgiving, and again the following week.  I'm hoping to have some help from another advocate or sponsor.  The bookstore ordered some copies of Too Small to Ignore to put on the table, in hopes of selling a few.

I made a different contact, today, at a church where I first met with a lady last May.  Turns out she resigned within a couple of weeks after we met, and the new person just came onboard three weeks ago.   Being that new, he's trying to find solid ground, as well as working with the rest of the staff to refocus their missions ministries.  He did give me permission to call him back in January.

And I've got a pretty big plan for sometime next spring, for a city-wide event that I hope will draw in sponsors from all over town, as well as some church leaders.  I want to have a Compassion speaker and will probably incorporate a video or two; we'll serve dinner, have some small door prizes; have packets on hand, and try to accomplish at least three goals:

broaden the awareness of Compassion among the churches of Tucson,

enhance the understand and vision of the Compassion ministries, and

develop a sense of community among sponsors, possibly bringing some into the Advocates Network.

Some pretty wild dreams round out my concept, but my faith is struggling to stretch far enough to believe they could come true.

I would really appreciate some prayer support for all of these events, not the least of which is the one for spring.  If it's going to happen and be at all effective, it's truly going to need God's Spirit moving to and fro about the earth, and especially in Tucson and Colorado Springs.  Pray also that I will resist the temptation to think it's all up to me.  I also need more sponsors to work on that plan with me; so far, one has signed on.

As these things come and go, I will report back.  Oh--I'm also open to ideas.

Lost in the cracks

Can't believe I let this go by.  One of the main reasons I wanted to get into blogging was that I might be able to get word out over a broader territory about child sponsorship through Compassion International.  And finally--not many weeks ago, a reader used my link to sponsor a child!

I would link to her blog, but I don't know how she'd feel about my publishing her personal decision for her.  If she does that, herself, at some point, I'll update this.  Hmm...I could also ask her about reciprocal linking.

A non-event?

I went to a local church, Saturday night, to work the table at an event.  I won't name the artist group, because, as Compassion events go, this was not a corker, and the group was partly responsible for that, IMO.  Too bad, too, because they are really good!

When I arrived, the packets were laid out on the table, looking very neat.  The table cover matched the one on the set-up next to our table, which held all the group's CDs, but it wasn't a Compassion table cover.  Nothing except the packets and literature, which had been placed on the table, said "Compassion," and, of course, they were all horizontal.

Before I had put my own things down, I was picking up the literature and spacing the packets differently to fill up the space.  Another vol' was there, a lady who has worked CS's and one other event, that I know of.  She was very enthusiastic and wanting to be in charge, so I held back, a little, except where I had to speak up.

One of those times was about why we don't have the literature on the table.  Both the group's spokesman and the vol' wanted it there, but I maintained that we have been told unequivocally to place no literature on the tables.  Once I clarified that we always have it available for anyone who asked, they both settled down.

As we were talking, I picked up one of the packets and glanced, out of habit, at the due date.  Oopsie!  All of the packets had passed out of date a week earlier.  Again, both the spokesman and the vol' thought maybe we should use them, anyway, but I pointed out that any or all of the children may have been sponsored, in that time, and that we absolutely are not allowed to use expired packets.  It didn't occur to me to say that, at the least, the packets may have been re-done and sent out to other events or advocates.  This time, I decided to call for back-up, instead of just playing the know-it-all "heavy," and I called my AC.  As I knew he would, Randy agreed with me and said we would have to rely on the sign-up sheets.  Ironically, only a couple of hours earlier, I had put the four I have, right now, in a display kit for the Children's-Ministries table at my church.

Next question:  Whose sign-up sheet(s)?  The group had a bunch of them, and I stated that we would need to use them.  But the vol' had received a packet, which I now understand to have been sent to her as a new event-volunteer for training, and she wanted to know why we couldn't use her sign-up sheet.  I didn't have an answer for her, but before I could say anything, the spokesman that, yes, we had to use theirs.

Of course, with no "live" packets, the group's presentation didn't give us an opportunity to take any into the crowd.  In fact, the presentation was only about 2 minutes long and had been planned as a short speech, to begin with.  The attendees were offered a free CD of their choice, if they sponsored a child that night and paid, cash or check.  (Of course, to sponsor, they could use a brochure to put their credit card number, but that wouldn't get them the free CD.)  We did have one couple sign up, afterward, and a couple of people asked for brochures.

As I said at the beginning, the group was really good.  Phenomenal would not be an exaggeration, and very different from the usual.  Their Compassion presentation was heartfelt, but not all that effective, and I came away wondering what kind of training our Compassion artists receive before they go out to represent the ministries of Compassion and encourage people to sponsor a child.  That's not intended as a criticism, in a negative sense, but an observation that something is needed, I think, for the artists who believe in the ministry but don't know how to present it.

I envisioned a periodic retreat for the Compassion artists in which they would learn more, or be brought up to date, about what's happening in Compassion (e.g., this group announced that we are working in 23 countries); Michael W. Smith and Geoff Moore come to mind as two who could demonstrate their own typical presentation, and maybe each artist or group could have an opportunity to practice on the others...maybe in small groups, or something.  All could learn from such an experience, I would think, and I'll bet it would really inspire groups like this last one to step it up and to stay on top of their information...and due dates.

Final tally

I think we finally know how many sponsorships resulted from our Compassion Weekend campaign in July and August:  We have a total of 71 new sponsorships!  That's 71 children sponsored (matched up with American individuals or families), with each child having a sphere of influence of about 30 people, including their families.

Last year's total was 55, and that was an all-time high for our church.  We are really praising God for this response!

Can it be done?

I'm thinking of merging this, somehow, into my default blog.  When I started this one, it was unpublished and separate from the other, entirely focused on matters related to child-advocacy through Compassion.  Then I was persuaded to publish it.  But I post less often to this blog and have far less traffic, so I'm going to look into merging, or whatever name Typepad might have for combining two blogs, assuming that it can be done.

Out of touch

One of the conversations alluded to in the previous post involved a gentleman who, with his wife, was visiting their son and daughter-in-law, who live here.  The man and his wife live in Florida.  He told me that they had started sponsoring a child 40 years ago!  I think he said that relationship had lasted four or five years, and all of that time, Compassion was working only in South Korea.  They have since spent some time in Ghana, where he worked (he's a retired engineer) for a few years.  His opening comment was that he didn't even know Compassion was still around.

Boy, did I have a good time bringing him up to date!  When he left, he took with him a copy of Too Small to Ignore and a bookmark, along with the intent to sponsor a child when he gets home.  I asked him to share the book with his pastor, when he's finished with it.

UPDATE:  More on South Korea

I especially enjoyed telling this gentleman that South Korea, no longer a developing country, opened its own Compassion office almost four years ago.  They now receive packets from headquarters, just as we do, so that South Koreans can sponsor children elsewhere!  Only a God like ours can accomplish all that He has accomplished, and He is not finished, yet.

So...good luck with that, Vicki!

Okay.  Connect Weekend is over.  I put in several hours, last week--6 to 8, maybe--on a really good display board; we had literature available (but not on the table) for each of the core programs and for the HIV/AIDS program; I had a copy of Too Small to Ignore on the table; we even had a few packets, one of which was picked up, last night.  I/we engaged in some really good conversations.

It was, in some respects, a productive weekend, but not in terms of putting together a life group, or a team of supporting sponsors.  One lady signed up last night, after the smallest of the three weekend services.  Nobody signed up this morning.  A lot of other tables had very few, if any, signups for their groups.  Part of the challenge was that there were so many tables, most of them shared by two or three different groups, that people walked around without spending much time considering.  There was so much to see, there are so many choices, and it was like walking around fairgrounds, looking, touching, listening, but not buying.

So as I was carrying stuff out to the car, when it was all over, I told God, "Okay, You have me where You want me.  I've tried everything I know to get this life group/team put together, and I have absolutely failed.  You want a group?  You know how to get it done.  Clearly, I don't!"  I guess I should add that, if He does not want such a group, He will show us how to get the job done without it.

My next communication with people will not be an invitation to join us, but a request only that they will pray that God will bring forward those people who will be a part of it.  I'll stick around to see how that turns out.

If you will support Randy and me in prayer, please leave a comment to that effect!

Connections

Next weekend, the 9th and 10th of September, will be what we call Fall Connect [Weekend] at my church.  Our version of small groups is known as "Life Groups," which vary widely in focus, content, and purpose.

Randy and I have tried, before, to get a Compassion-related group going, either a sponsors' time of fellowship, sharing our experiences in sponsorship, and conveying information as others indicate a need; or a study of the biblical response to poverty, and especially to children living in extreme need.  We've never gotten it off the ground, but we're hoping the time is right.

Our own purpose is a moving target:  We've talked about doing the book study of Too Small to Ignore, as well as the general-purpose concept for sponsors.  At the same time, we need a support team of sponsors who believe in Compassion, in sponsorship, enough to want to help us fulfill our expanded "job" as Compassion Advocates.  We are the only two Level II advocates in Tucson; one other Level II is in Flagstaff, and the other team members all elected to take Level I.  That means they are not assigned to a team.  (Our team is separate from the Maricopa County group.)

So what's the problem, you ask?  Success is the problem, as I see it.  We do have sponsors who really believe in this ministry and are very helpful when it comes to sign-up tables.  But the Life Group concept has been so successful, since its inception three or four years ago, that everyone is over-extended.

Hence the prayer request:  Please pray that God will move on several people who will commit to joining us.  It is not necessary that they join the Advocates Network; it isn't even necessary that they be Pantano people, although those are the ones who will be on hand next weekend.  Again, please pray for us.