Meeting Grace - A Very Different Kind of Visit!

We have spent the last two days with Grace, our "Leadership Development Program" (LDP) student.  Grace just graduated college, and it was a thrill to be with her for her LDP graduation.

LDP is a college level program for the most talented students.  Typically, only about 3% of Compassion students in the country are selected for this program.  It is a BIG deal!  

This is Grace, in the middle:

The LDP student speaker summed up the program:  "And now we are servants, ready to bless....God changed our lives through Compassion,"

This was very different than other visits we've experienced previously, for a few  reasons:

1.  Grace is much more mature than past sponsor children - she is now 22, and has just ended university with a degree in sociology and is beginning her career.

2.  Grace and I have had a very strong mentor-mentee relationship for the last 5-6 years, that has covered all sorts of topics.  Over the years we have become trusted friends.  

And so, this visit was not getting to know someone better - this was finally meeting someone that you feel like you already know quite well.  

She also introduced us to many people in her life that I had heard a lot about, so it was great to finally meet them as well.  We learned that she had also been telling them as much about us, and so they were just as anxious to finally meet us!

3.  Because Grace has now completed university, we aren't left wondering if she will be able to continue her education.  We know - she finished, and she finished very well!  

Today, we visited the Compassion project where Grace grew up, and then her home.  She also proudly showed us where she works at her new job, which she just recently began!

Grace now manages the office in her municipality that handles all marriage and divorce certificates.  Because the divorce rate in Peru is high Grace immediately proposed that a Christian-based marriage counseling program be offered to all couples seeking divorce.  Her bosses approved her proposal - and so now she is working on setting up this program with her local church.  We're confident that with her Christian perspective and sociologist mind, she will be finding many more ways to minister to the needs of people.