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I opened the mail, sifting through the regular bills, the advertisements and sighing about the mundane of life when I came across my very first sponsor child's welcome packet. I held it in my hands as I read about my child. I thought to myself, will my letters make a difference?  Was it really going to be relational? I've never written a letter to someone on a regular basis. How could I possibly make a difference?

Years have gone by and I have had the opportunity to meet my sponsored children while traveling with a team to Bolivia. I have prayed with them, played with them and talked face to face with them. My sponsor children are still pretty young and though the relationship I have built with them is amazing, I kept asking myself, will they really find success out of poverty? With God and the FH sponsor child program really make success stories? Then I met Mayrita Barrios.
Mayrita was a young child living in the Village of Horno Casa B when Mountain Christian church first partnered with Food for the Hungry in 2009.  She was a sponsored child and was working in a bakery with her family. When Food for the Hungry was first introduced to Mountain Christian, Mayrita was the little girl in the video. Quoting Marvin Procter, “She is the reason we are in Bolivia”

I met Mayrita this past April. I learned that one of her favorite childhood memories was receiving letters from her sponsors. She told me of stories of looking forward to reading her letters and participating in the Food for the Hungry program and how that program made such a huge impact in her life.  With God’s grace and mercy, and the help of her sponsors and FH, she came to know Christ.  In Mayrita’s words, “With the arrival of FH, they guided me to the decision to follow Christ.”  When she graduated the program, she took a job as a FH facilitator so she can help other children and their families.  She continued to keep in contact with her sponsors and the countless teams that came to visit Sucre, Bolivia.

"With God’s grace and mercy,

and the help of her sponsors and FH,

she came to know Christ."

Through her time in Food for the Hungry, she made special connections with the people from MCC. God has graced us with a transformational relationship with Mayrita. So much, that she is coming to visit the United States to speak with and develop more relationships while telling her story at Mountain Christian Church. Mayrita will be coming to our church next month and will be speaking to the congregation and sharing her testimony on September 22^nd!

Meeting Mayrita and listening to her story has brought me a new level of transformation with regards to Missions.  God uses so many people that we meet to bring us closer in unity and in fellowship. Mountain Christian Church has grown with our community to community partnership not only to share the gospel, end malnutrition and poverty, and bring enriching and transformational relationships.  Personally, through these relationships, I have grown closer to God and strengthened my faith.  Mayrita’s visit will be the 3^rd of hopefully many more Bolivians to visit our church to share their stories and speak of the great positive impact our little mountain church has in Bolivia and Food for the Hungry.

Every year we send a team to go on a short term mission trip.  If you are interested in going, I urge you to go.  There will be an informational meeting for our upcoming trip on Sunday, September 8^th after 2^nd service.  If you have any questions or would like to know more about this trip, feel free to contact Jennifer Ward.