From Abraham

Just in case you haven't been convinced YET about the effectiveness of Compassion (and I'm not talking about the economic success stories, but instead the Heavenly ones..) Another of the translators from the trip, Abraham, has wrote me as he felt led to share his testimony with me. Which I now feel led to share with you. I did run that thought by him and he enthusiastically agreed, but did ask me to clean up the grammar errors, so here is the edited version. I'll let him speak for himself and let you be led to do with this info as God wills it.


Today I am inspired and encouraged to share my life testimony with you. The following is what God did in my life through Compassion. I was born on July 14, 1984 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I am about 24 years old now and I am soon to be 25. I am the first born of my family. I have one brother and one sister. I think my father married my mother at an early age as she was not mature enough for marriage. They divorced after I and my sister were born, and after many discussions, they remarried again and then my brother was born on July 10, 1993. After that, they divorced permanently. Now my father is married to another lady and is living in one of the country sides of Ethiopia, which is about more than 500 km away from where I live. By the way I don't know who my father is, as from my early ages I was living with my grand-father and grand-mother. From an early age of 2 or late 1. My parents were not in agreement on the place to live, so they were most of the time fighting. And after my mother divorced, she joined us in the home where we are living now (my grand-parent's home).

This is a little bit about my mother and father and let me tell you how Compassion impacted my life. My families were very poor, meaning they were from the poorest of the poor. It was really very hard for all of us to survive as it was very hard for all of us even to eat three time a day. Forget the clothing and the school fees, it was so hard for all of us to eat three times and be satisfied. No one was permanently employed and even those who are employed were daily laborers. Their pay per day was less than 1 USD. We (all of my families including me and my mom) would gather fire wood and sell the fire wood so that we could support our selves. Life was becoming so hard and so harsh for all of us. My mom couldn't bring fire wood as the goverment wouldn't let her. And this was the time that my mom heard about Compassion and went to get there to get me registered. The first time she went there she couldn't get me registered, as the due date had passed and the quota had already been reached. So she was hopeless and helpless to feed me and others too. And at the time we are very much in need, God brought me another opportunity to be registered in Compassion, when I was a grade 2 student. And through the project, each things which were important for growth were fulfilled. We were given the chance to have food supplied every three months, cleaning materials, clothings, school fees, and we also were given the chance to have recreation program and so on. By the way my family was a large family. In a single room there were more than 8 members of the house. And as I told you, almost all of them were unemployed.

God started to lead my life to His ways. When I started to get those things I started to be encouraged. God brought me to His ways. My families were from the Coptic Orthodox faith. And I was not in Christ. I was a demon possessed boy. When I was a grade 8 student I was converted and God brought me to Christ. And I was released from the spirit when I was a grade 10 student. And I started to live a safe life in Christ. Then I started to learn the basics of Christianity and I went through baptism on June 04, 2002. I started to serve God as a youth Bible Study leader. And also I was serving on an Evangelism team which served in reaching the lost ones. The other thing I was doing was teaching my peers, or leading them in Bible study.

When I was about to join University, I heard about the Leadership Development Program (LDP). I applied for the program and with God's help, I joined LDP in October 2006. There God was inspiring me to do a lot. In LDP, I was fully sponsored. Meaning my school cost sharing was covered, school fees were covered, and there was also pocket money. And beyond that, we were inspired to be a leader. There is something that I want say here. That is about John the baptist's ministry and its relation with compassion's ministry in my life. As you know he was paving the way for Christ. As John the baptist was doing, in my life the Child Development Sponsorship program was paving the way for Christ, for me to be converted and to accept Christ as my personal Savior. And the other thing, LDP was paving the way for me to be a servant leader. Now I believe that God is making me a fulfilled Christian Adult and now I am a servant leader. Thank God He did this in my life. Now in my family I am not the only Christian. My brother, my Sister, three of my aunts, and my nephew are now converted. They accepted Christ Jesus as their personal Savior.

In my Campus I was serving as a fellowship leader.I graduated from Campus in June 07, 2007, and from LDP in November 17, 2007. My degree is in Forestry. For one year, I was teaching kids. And now I am working for Compassion as a Sponsor and Donor Ministry Associate. And also, I am serving as a youth Bible study leader and on a committee of LDP Alumni. This is a little bit about my life and what God has done in my life. So please be encouraged through this life testimony. Be a defender of the poor and speak up for those who can not speak for themselves. God Bless you very much for the ear that you gave me to hear my life testimony. You are doing great thing. There is a reward for you in the hand of God. And so sorry for the poor English that I use. I will try to share with you more about the vision that God gave me some another time.