Today was the best kind of busy in El Salvador with Compassion.

We did all the things at the project, and had a blast doing them. We even, may or may not, have gotten sick on a kid’s merry-go-round! However, the highlight of today was hearing from teenage kids who are in the Compassion program and know firsthand the difference having a sponsor makes. Here are 2 quick stories.

 Damaris:

came from a really bad broken home.  She was not shielded from the fights.  In fact, her dad  was physically and emotionally abusive to her.  He even told her that she is to blame for the divorce. Who says that to their child?

Her mom had to go back to work to support the family. It wasn’t long until her mom’s new boss took an interest in underage Damaris, and wanted to marry her.  When Damaris refused, her mom beat for not helping support the family.  That is when Damaris turned to the Compassion and the church for help, and was rescued.

Damaris suffers from anxiety, and said it was hard to tell her story, but she realized that it was important.  Despite the huge problems she faced, Damaris is a Compassion success story!  She is studying to become a teacher and she said that without Compassion she doesn’t think she would even be alive because the gangs would have taken her, used here, and then thrown her away.

Daniel:

Grew up with Christian mom, but he did not want anything to do with Jesus because he was mad at God for not giving him a father. So, Daniel set out to find his real dad. Unfortunately, when Daniel found the dad he had longed to have a relationship with, his dad wanted nothing to do with him

Here is the saddest plot twist in this story. His dad was a pastor! As you can imagine this pushed Daniel  even further from God, but being in the Compassion project helped soften Daniel’s heart. He began to realize that even though he did not have a great father, he had an amazing mother. She showed him what God’s love looked like and Daniel realized that he needed to serve God.

Daniel is wise beyond his years.  He told us that he now knows God was always with him pointing him to his purpose, even when he wanted nothing to do with God. Daniel wants to be an electrical engineer and Compassion is helping to make that dream come true.

Without Compassion’s help these two incredible kids probably would have become two more sad statistics. If anything in Damaris or Daniel’s story resonates with you, Click Here to find out how you can help give a child a chance with Compassion.