3rd Sale!

A couple weeks ago was my third annual Scarves for Service sale! I sold approximately 70 scarves, and raised over $1000, more than ever before! God provided again this year, as he always does. This was almost exactly all I need to pay for Gloria and Maria's sponsorship for the year! I'm in awe of how God works...

Moved to Action

When God puts something on my heart, it's like a recording that plays over and over again in my mind until I realize that it is a direct message from Him. That's what happened recently when I decided to sponsor another child through Compassion International.  I started to think about the young girl in Guatemala that we've been sponsoring since 2002 and that my 15 year old daughter Emily has recently committed to sponsoring two girls on her own. It struck me that my husband and I are sponsoring one child and we have a steady income and that our teenage daughter is sponsoring two girls without a consistent income to support her commitment. Emily stepped out in faith to sponsor these two girls because her heart could not handle the fact that children all over the world were in need.  In need of love, support, financial help, and someone who was going to love and pray for them regularly, even from continents away. 

So, she vowed to support them financially with no concrete means to pay for it.  She decided as she sponsored her second girl that she would use all of the proceeds from her "Scarves for Service" non-profit micro-business to pay the monthly fees required to provide for these two sweet girls.  Emily spends months knitting scarves for a November community sale where she believes by faith that God will provide the money she needs for the year to support these girls, which is about $940.  The thing that amazes me the most is that Emily knows without a shadow of a doubt that God will provide the money.  If she is faithful to do the work of knitting the scarves, God will provide the money to buy the yarn, the people to buy the scarves, and the venue to sell them.  

So, as I thought about the meager one sponsorship that we had, and that our daughter had two, I felt the pang of conviction that there was more that we could be doing.  That there was more that we should be doing.  God's word spoke loud and clear to my heart that day. "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." Luke 12:48b (NIV)

Thank you Lord for using my daughter to move me to action. Thank you Lord for using your Word to confirm that call.

~Charlotte Larsen

  Emily's Mom

Maria- Guatemala- 16

Sylivia- Uganda- 17

Hope (Blog Month Assignment #2)

Hope is the only thing some people have.
Her children fall asleep with empty bellies. Her husband has been out of work for weeks. Her health is deteriorating, and she can't get a job to provide her kids with a basic education. Hope is all she has left, but it's all she needs. God provides, He always does. Her hope is in Him.

When all else fails, hope remains, hope strengthens, hope provides.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13

Hope is universal.
I dream of being a missionary. The people I will someday serve are 
my hope. Perhaps I will be hope to them.

My sponsor daughter tells me she's struggling in school. I encourage her to trust in the Lord. School is a struggle for me as well. We share hope, hope that it will get better, hope that our Father will provide us with the strength we need. 

Around the world, through good times and bad, there's something we all share, hope in an Almighty God.

Compassion Family- Update

Recently, my name was put on a list to be assigned to a correspondence child. I was first assigned to Sam, from India, who is 17. I then put my name on the list again, and was assigned to Wisly, from Haiti, who is 10. Again, I signed up for another correspondent buddy, and was assigned to David, from Guatemala, who is 5.

For different reasons, these kids don't get letters from their sponsors, so they are supported financially, but not emotionally by a sponsor. I do not pay the $38 a month for them as I do with Maria and Gloria, but I do correspond with them through letter-writing.

It breaks my heart that some children don't receive letters, because even though they are given the opportunities that their sponsors donations provide, the emotional connection and the life-changing encouragement that will motivate them to rise above poverty is lacking. I'm so thankful I can be there for them in prayer and love as they grow and become what God has planned for them.

If you'd like to be put on the wait-list to be assigned to a correspondent buddy, email Compassion at CICqueue@us.ci.org. I assure you it is an opportunity you won't regret!

Left to right: 
Gloria- 16- Colombia (sponsored)
Maria- 15- Honduras (sponsored)
Wisly- Haiti- 10 (correspondent)
Sam- India- 17 (correspondent)
David- Guatemala- 5 (correspondent)

Thanks again for all the love and support for S4S! Without my friends and family, I would not be able to support these children in Jesus' name! Please pray for them, and I will post more information as soon as I receive more letters with more prayer requests from them. Letters take about 2-3 months to be sent from me, translated, replied to by the child, and then again translated and sent back to me. 

So far I have received a letter from Gloria, and I am awaiting one soon from Maria. I just sent my first letters to Sam, Wisly, and David, so those replies will take a bit longer, since they are newer additions to my Compassion Family.

If you have any questions about correspondence, letter-writing, or sponsorship, let me know at emily.clairelarsen@hotmail.com

In Him, Emily Claire

God Provides.

Over the past couple of weeks, the Lord's provision has been so evident! I've had an abundance of babysitting jobs, and I am now also babysitting for a new family every Tuesday and Wednesdays, which is great because it's a more regular income. 

I also have a possible job opportunity lifeguarding next year (2014) at school, which pays well and should be fun!

This money will fund my second mission trip to Cambodia in December, while still saving for missions projects in the future. The trip will cost about $1,200 total, and I have about $4,000 saved up in my bank account already.

Seeing how much the Lord has provided, it gives me hope and assurance that He will provide in the future. I sometimes find myself thinking about the future, feeling uncertain at times. Where will I go, how will I get my start as a missionary, how will I provide for my family financially? 

I have to stop and tell myself that God will provide. He always has; why should I doubt that He will in the future. I also have to pause and realize that for goodness sakes, I'm only 15 years old. I don't have to worry about the future, because I'm still growing up and growing with the Lord. One of my favorite verses, Matthew 6:26 says...

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 

As the Lord speaks that truth into my life, I realize that I am so fully provided for and taken care of by a God that love and cares for me more than I'll ever know.

I also realize that no matter how I may try to plan out the life ahead, God is and will always be in control. His will is far better than mine. Saying "yes" to God and surrendering my worries, weakness, and my life to Him is so much better than living a life of uncertainty on my own. God provides, and God empowers. God is Lord over my life, my deliverer!

Verses of assurance:

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' Hebrews 13:5

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Sponsorship Update: Letter from Gloria!

Today I received a huge blessing, my first official letter from Gloria! She says she is doing very well, studying a lot because school is pretty hard. She had three weeks of vacation in June and enjoyed spending time with her nephew, whom she loves very much. Next vacation, she wants to visit her cousins in a city nearby hers. She says she loves to eat meat with french fries and salad, and she loves eating ice cream with her friends on weekends.
Right now, she asks that I pray for her studies, that they get easier because they are hard for her. Please join me in that prayer! Thank you! ‪

First time replying to sweet Gloria's letter! So exciting, many more letters, love, and hope to be shared between me and the girls, God willing!

Change is Possible!

Life isn't fair. At some point in time, we all come to realize this. We don't always get what we want, and things don't always go as planned. It's reality, life just isn't fair sometimes. But, I'm not just talking about how our lives in first world countries and well off families aren't fair, I'm talking about some of the harsher realities of life.

At this very moment I'm on vacation in the woods of Oregon, sitting in an air-conditioned cabin. I'll be going back to school in a few weeks, provided with an education that costs as much as most private colleges. I have a family who loves and supports me. I don't have to worry about finances or where my next meal is coming from...

How is it fair that while I have so much, 1.5 million children die each year of starvation? How is it fair that approximately 115 million children globally are unable to attend school and receive a basic education? How is it fair that 1.5 billion people around the world live below the poverty line? How is any of this fair? I don't understand it. I don't know why the world is the way it is, and that there are people who have too much and people who have nothing at all. I don't know why the rich live in mansions while the poor live in huts, cardboard boxes, or nothing at all. I don't know why people in America can gorge themselves until they can't eat another bite when there are impoverished families that are forced to eat scraps from the trash. I can't understand how some people can have so much and others so little. Why is the world so unequal, so unbalanced, so unfair?

I don't know this answer, but I do know that God wants us come together to help change this inequality.

My passion is to empower a generation, to help those who can't help themselves rise above poverty and live out God's plan for their lives. 

I'm reading a book now about teenagers and the power to come together and create social change in our world. Reading through these amazing stories about how God is using young people to do great things in the lives of the less fortunate is truly inspiring.

A lot of the time I think that what stops us from realizing our full potential is self-doubt. As teenagers, we sometimes think that we're too young to make a difference, that we're only one person, or that someone else will do something to make a change. If there's anything God has shown me the past 3 years is that that is so untrue! Sure, we won't be able to change the world alone, and things will never be perfect, but we all have potential to change the life of one person, help one situation. 

So, no, life will never be 100% fair. It will never be completely equal for all, without poverty, disease, heartache. It won't become perfect, but it can become better. However, the only way the world can get better is when people who care come together to create positive change. Let's get involved, let's do something! There are so many worthy causes; cancer awareness, service to the poor, support for the homeless... the list could go on and on. 

What are you passionate about? How can you make a difference? After all, change starts with us, so let's step up!