1) Talk about your family!
After our wedding, I was able to send a famiy photo to each kid and I talked about my grandparents and siblings. And I even printed a map of the United States and colored each state where I had a family member! It also provides an opportunity to ask questions like, "Are there states or provinces in your country?" or "Do all your family members live in your town?"
2) Share favorite verses--and ask your Compassion child what is his or her favorite verse! My former sponsored child, Shamim, told me that the verses I shared were always one of the most encouraging things in the letters. I know that I love hearing the favorite verses of my kids!
3) Holidays are also a fun subject to write about. We're not supposed to talk about our wealth, but we can share traditions that don't emphasize gifts. For example, when I talk about Thanksgiving, I share how it's a time where we eat a special meal with our family members and talk about what we're thankful for. For Christmas, I like to share about our Christmas Eve church service and Christmas carols! Easter is a fun one, of course. And I like talking about the 4th of July and asking the kids when their country's independence day is. I tell them about the fireworks and ask how they celebrate their independence day. (Just remember to avoid Halloween...in most of the countries where Compassion works, Halloween is not a holiday celebrated by Christians.)
4) Ask your child about their favorite things: sport, color, food, game, subject, animal, flower, song, Bible story, etc. I have a document on my computer where I write all their favorite down...and I try to include them when I write online. For example, I had a sponsored child, Nisha, who said she loved roses. So I sent her some photos of roses!
(To cut down on the cost of printing all these photos I include the photos on Compassion's online templates... And if you don't have a photo of something, it's really easy to find nice photos on google and to attach them.)
5) Write about places you’ve been and the places you've lived. In the past, whenever I went on a missions trip, I'd send some photos of the time. For example, when Eric and I traveled to Texas to see Eric's family, we went to Austin and were able to take a photo of the capital. I sent that to my kids when I wrote about the trip!
Recently, I told my kids about Massachusetts in the fall and included photos of the trees changing colors. And I shared about Florida and sent photos of the beach. I then asked if they lived near the beach or had changes of season. (Even though I could look up the answers to these questions online, for the purpose of building a relationship, I like to wait for their answers!)
6) Share about weather...I find that my kids really like to ask about the kind of weather we have. I also like checking Compassion's website for emergencies in the countries of my sponsored kids. You can check out that page here. And when I see that there's a natural disaster or other crisis in my child's country, I like to ask how they are doing.
7) Ask what they want to be when they grow up!! And encourage them in their dreams!! I love reading about what my kids want to do when they grow up...and I try to send things that are relevant to those dreams. Our sponsored kid, Oscar, expressed an interest in being an English speaker when he grows up, so I included some pages with the colors in English and Spanish, some animals in English and Spanish and some worksheets. He really enjoyed using these to improve his English.
8) Share prayer requests with them and ask your kids how you can pray for them! I find that the more specific I am with prayer requests, the more specific the kids are with their requests. And pray for your kids! I find when I am praying for my kids, God can give me inspiration for the next letter.
