For over 25 years Proverbs 31 Ministries' mission has been to intersect God's Word in the real, hard places we all struggle with. That's why we started this podcast. Every episode will feature a variety of teachings from president Lysa TerKeurst, staff members or friends of the ministry who can teach you something valuable from their vantage point. We hope that regardless of your age, background or stage of life, it's something you look forward to listening to each month!
Meredith Brock: Well, hello friends. Welcome to the Proverbs 31 Ministries Podcast where we share biblical truth for any girl in any season. I am your host, Meredith Brock, and I am joined today by my co-host, Kaley Olson.
Kaley Olson: Well, hey, Meredith. We just recorded an incredible episode and I think we need a minute to recover. Probably longer than the time we took between finishing the episode and recording this. So it's a little raw, a little rough, but gosh, we recorded with... Pastor Richmond Wandera, who joined us from Uganda, which first of all, that just made the world so much smaller in some ways, because here we are in Charlotte, North Carolina, and we got to call in Richmond from Uganda. I don't even know what time it is over there. Maybe he stayed up late for us, it was, Richmond took us on the wildest ride of hearing God's faithfulness, and he, I just want to thank him so much for what he relived for us because this episode, I'm going to be honest, is very, very difficult to listen to, but please don't shy away from it because Richmond's story, he said is not his story, it's God's story. And it is such a powerful testimony of God's faithfulness. I think it is going to challenge you. It's going to illuminate maybe some of the stories that you've read in the Bible that feel distant because of thousands of years. This, this I feel like is a story that could fit in with Scripture. It's amazing. But something he said at the very end of our conversation offline was in relation to his mother's obedience. And he said, y'all, when a mother obeys God, everything changes. And Meredith and I, both moms, we know a lot of you listening are moms, and we just want you to sit with that as you go ahead and listen to Richmond's teachings. So let's let them listen, Meredith.
Meredith Brock: Let's dive in.
Kaley Olson: All right, friends, we are so excited to welcome our guest for today's episode, Pastor Richmond Wandera. Richmond, hello. How are you?
Richmond Wandera: Hello from Uganda.
Meredith Brock: So cool. So cool, guys. We are so excited to introduce to you Richmond today. He is a brand new friend to the podcast. And gosh, what an incredible person he is. We met him through our partnership with Compassion International. And friends, we are in awe of what the Lord has done in his life. He is a pastor of a church in Kampala, Uganda, and the founder and director of Pastors Discipleship Network, which is a nonprofit that serves, equips, and trains thousands of pastors across East Africa. But the rest of his story is too good for us to summarize for you so we've invited him onto the show to share about what God has done in his life. And y'all are about to be so encouraged by his testimony.
So Richmond, why don't you take it away?
Richmond Wandera: Well, thank you so much, Meredith and Kaley. It is such a joy to be on this podcast. It's a podcast that's changing many people's lives. And what a joy for me and an honor to contribute my own story to the many stories that are told on this space so that people can see hope and see how they might share hope with others.
So my name is Richmond Wandera. Like many children in Uganda, I understood poverty. I understood pain at a very young age. I understood loss. But that was not all my story. My story began in a very large home. I had six siblings. My father, Steven, was a hardworking man and he provided for our home. My mother, Antonina, was married off very young. By the time she was 25 years old, she had six children. and I was the third born of them. She knew to stay home while my father, Steven, went out. to earn as much as he could so that he could provide. And so I remember some very fun days. One of the funnest days that highlighted my childhood was the day when we all as kids waited as my dad was returning home and we waited eagerly at the door. And the competition between us kids was one, who will get to my dad fastest? And two, who will my dad carry out? And we were there giggling and chuckling. And as soon as my dad stepped in, we ran, all six of us, and we were able to reach him. And it was probably the best moment of my childhood. And I recall my dad coming up with this brilliant idea of carrying all six of us up. It was crazy. And so I remember holding on his right hand. And then other people on his left and my brother, Richard jumped on his back and basically put his hands around my dad's neck and my little sisters were all hiding any part of him to hold. And there he was. And we're all in these waves as he's trying to all of us up. And we remember hysterical laughter. It was the kind of laughter that was burnt in my heart and in my memory. And we enjoyed going to school and coming back home to this lovely family. And it really. It changes everything when loss comes, because I was only eight years old, had gone to school on that day and came back thinking I'm coming back to my dad and my mom and my siblings. I did not know that my life would be changed forever. came back home and I found people gathered around our house and there's blood all over the place and I was confused. I started crying looking for my mom. My mom was not present. It turns out that my mom had witnessed my father being murdered. And this was a story that was repeated over and over in Uganda. We had had so many insurgencies, so many civil wars and what had happened at many people's doorsteps had finally happened at my doorstep. And so I looked around, I was crying, where is mom? Where is mom? And my mom was in hospital because as soon as my father fell, my mom fell too. My father was dead. My mother was just overcome by what she had just witnessed. The person she relied on, the love of her life, the father to her children. the sole provider of her home was gone. What was she to do? What was she to do in a country that does not have any plan or program for people in our situation?
Looking into her background was sad because she had never gotten a chance to go to school. She was married off very young. She knew how to rely on a person 100%. And now here we were six children. looking at her and hanging on her for hope. And soon the ugly voice. I remember that voice. That's the voice of our landlord. He came and said to my mom, you've got to go. You cannot leave here anymore. You can't afford to. What he said made sense because dad was no longer present, but it came too quickly. But it brought such confusion because we did not know where to go. A neighbor gave us a store place where they used to keep items in storage and said, look, If you can stay here, that's fine with me. So we moved there. But then their relatives came from the village and they had no space enough to fit their relatives. And so they told us, sorry, you've got to go. Long story short, we ended up moving from there to Uganda's worst community called Naguru. Naguru had a reputation. The forgotten community. You step into Noguro and you overcome by a site of thousands of homes in a very dense community. You ask where are the children and where are they playing? You just need to step aside and look through the houses into the gullies, the water channels that make it through homes. And there they are kids jumping in and out of those. water gullies, which are often dirty and filled with dangerous items. And you want to scream on top of your voice, get out of there. It's dangerous for you. Don't you know this? But where will the children go? Where will they play? And I remember the distance walking from Kuala Lumpur where we lived to Naguru. It was probably the longest journey I've ever taken. It was less than three kilometers of a walk. but it felt like a hundred kilometers. I didn't want to arrive, but soon we arrived and my mom showed us our new home. One room, a 12 by 12 room house. All six of us and my mom, we're going to sleep in this place. But it's amazing, Meredith and Kaley, that our bodies are able to adjust. And so we adjusted. But the adjustment was rough and it was dark because soon I was told I could no longer go to school. Soon my mom said the little money she had was over and her health. had her bedridden for most of those days and weeks and months. And so as kids, we wanted to be a part of the solution. And so my street life began. I used to walk very close to my six-year-old sister called Doreen. We used to go together to the street and try to pick up as much as we could. My brothers and sisters all moved in different directions. But I walked very close to my sister Doreen. And so we knew now what it meant to live on the street. But in the midst of that desperation, something strange happened. Next to our home was another small room. And in this room, there was a young boy who lived in there. His name was Arthur. And his parents unfortunately succumbed to one of Africa's worst diseases, which is HIV AIDS. And the mother knowing that she was to die soon, decided to go to the countryside. Because in our culture, it's very expensive or nearly impossible to find a vehicle that's willing to transport a dead body or a corpse from the city to the village because of all our ritualistic and customs and cultural beliefs about the dead. So it's very, very expensive to move a person who's died. So the mother said, I don't want to be a burden. I don't to be a burden in my death because I've already been a burden in my life. And so she decided to go. My mom comes and she found Arthur. Arthur was sitting at what looked like a veranda of their one room house. And there was a big padlock on top above his head. And she said, Arthur, how come you're sitting there? Why don't you go in? And Arthur said, the landlord has locked us out and I don't know where to go. I will never forget this, Kaley and Meredith. I will never forget this. My mother said, well, now you have a home and now you have a mother. Come and join us. There is always room. And I couldn't believe it because we had one room. There was six of us and my mom, we used to all sleep like one next to another on the floor. And my mom is saying to Arthur, there is room and we as kids don't see how there is room because it's not just the fact that it's one room and we already packed, but to invite Arthur means she's going to have to share anything she finds as food. When Arthur falls sick, it's going to fall on and we were already stretched.
And long story short, the Lord had a plan because in the midst of all this desperation, the local church was active and Compassion had partnered with the local church. And my mom had this and she came and told our story to Compassion. And soon I was connected through Compassion to a sponsor, Kaley, Meredith, a 15 year old girl, decided to sponsor me. The amount of dancing and laughter and joy that filled our home was beyond description because we know what happened when kids get sponsored through Compassion. They're never sent home from school. When they fall sick, they are taken care of. When they want to play, they can go to the church and play on the merry-go-rounds and the slides. their childhood is restored to them. That would now become my story. And I remember the dancing and shouting and elation at our home. And then we went to church. And that's when I was introduced to Pastor Peter, who was the pastor of that church, who welcomed me. Listen, Meredith, Kaley, it wasn't long from that that my sister Doreen also got a sponsor. And now we had double. had two mosquito nets, we two food rations, had, I mean everything was changing for us and it's amazing for me what it takes to change the life of a child. Children don't need much. They just want to be loved. They want to be protected. They want to feel seen. They want to feel known. And I was receiving that through my sponsor and the local church I shared partner with. Well, fast forward, I could believe that I was finally standing on my graduation day with a gown and my cap on and I was being pronounced. I graduate with my business degree with a focus and major in accounting. I had done so well in school and my mom, she was overcome because not only had we survived, but now we were thriving because of the obedience and the generosity of one girl who at the time she decided to sponsor me was only 15 years old.
And fast forward, I began teaching accounting and then long story short, I witnessed something that would change my life forever. When my father passed, and this is something I hadn't mentioned to us, when my father passed, he left a few items which my mom thought she would sell and then have some money to sustain her. But then a relative of ours claimed that my dad had bought those items with money borrowed from him. And he came at the time when my mother was most desperate and took those things from my mom saying, Stephen, my dad borrowed money from him to buy those things. But it out he had financial problems and he wanted to take advantage of that situation so he can sort his own financial problems out. My mom hated him. We as kids, we are determined to hurt him when we grew up. But then, fast forward at compassion. I became a Christian. I became the first Christian in our home after giving my life to Christ at the age of 14.
By the time I was 16, all five of my siblings had given their lives to Christ at the Compassion Project. At the time I was 19, my mom, my mother gave her life to Christ and that changed everything in our home. And now here we are, we were grown up and we hear that my uncle, my uncle who had really treated us poorly after the death of my dad, he was sick with cancer and he was in hospital. And we as children had what we'd never believed would here in our lifetime. We had my mother saying to us that uncle is unwell. Let us go take care of him because that's what Christ would have us do. I didn't want to go, but it was my mom speaking. And those of you who have an internal African experience in our families, when the mom says to do something, you do it.
Meredith Brock: I like that.
Meredith Brock: Anytime, anytime my mom said, pass me that spoon or pass me that mingling stick. If you are busy for another two seconds, whether it is a sandal or a shoe, a spoon coming in your direction. I mean, you knew. when mom says we called it instant obedience.
Meredith Brock: That's right.
Richmond Wandera: And so there we were in a car heading to Bali. And when we came out the bus, out of that bus, we reached this hospital and I saw something that changed my life. Two days before my uncle passed away, my mom's hand was in his hand and she was leading him to the Lord. I said, I want to know what that is. It became clear to me that the gospel is the power of God. It's the power of God unto salvation. As a child, to this lady, I was witnessing her show me the way of faith and the way of love. And even though I struggled to forgive my uncle, I came back a changed young man. I said, I want to know what that is. And so I read the Bible like mad person. I committed my whole life to say, look, I want to know this that changed my mother this much. And so long story short, that's how I ended up being a pastor. And today I teach about forgiveness. I teach about the power of God that is in the scriptures. I teach about the power of example, how children learn the most from what their parents do and say. and encourage them to do. I teach a lot about that and I keep mentioning wherever I go how my mom is my hero and how I'm living the life I'm living because of my mom and the faith that she showed and displayed before us. And so, but there's another piece to the story that really touches my heart because you remember that boy, Arthur, who was next to us at our home. After I became a Christian, Arthur gave his life to Christ too. And fast forward, I am now the lead pastor of the very church that I walked in as a little child without hope. But I want you to make the wildest guess. I'd guess who my associate pastor is?
Kaley Olson: Is it Arthur?
Richmond Wandera: Arthur.
Meredith Brock: Wow.
Kaley Olson: Wow.
Richmond Wandera: Only God, only God, only God could have given mom the obedience and the courage to in the midst of the time when she could not even take care of her own children, decide to stretch out and take care of another child and believe 100 % in her heart that there is always room. And that obedience has created this legacy, a legacy of faith and a legacy of hope. I would be cheating you if I didn't share with you that in 2020 when COVID hit, I'm married now and my wife and I were in this place where we didn't have much because our finances had been wiped out by COVID. And there were people who were starving to death because of the lockdowns our home became like a nursery. So many people lived with us and I knew a hundred percent that this was part of my mother's legacy. She taught us generosity. She taught us specifically, fearless generosity. And I have come to see that God commands us to care for the poor. He commands us to act with Compassion because so much happens when we do that. In my mother's case, another boy was saved. In my mother's case, we as children learned faith and learned generosity. In my mother's case, we learned that her obedience rearranged our value system so that now many years later, I'm an adult, I no longer live with my mom but her legacy has been imprinted on me. And hopefully that's imprinted to those who God will give me as children. And I want to share just in closing here, that small acts of kindness transform society. If somebody out there was wondering, how do I truly make a difference? I would say to do not try to find something big, something massive, something Everest, something Kilimanjaro, something... No, no, no, it's the small things. It's those peace and loves. It's saying, God, I will do this one small thing because I can. And just trust God that he can take that and do what only he can with it. And so as a child who was raised in poverty, I'm now making a difference. I'm a senior pastor. I am leading one of Africa's largest pastoral equipping network, responding to pastors who are desperate, thrown in islands, valleys, mountainsides without any training. And they're frustrated. And by the grace of God, after I got my master's degree in theology, I established the pastors discipleship network, which has since come alongside 15,533 pastors across five nations, bringing foundation or training to them that's bringing them hope and restoring their joy of salvation. And to look back that all this potential was dying on the street, but one 15 year old girl raised her hand and said to God, if you can use anything, use me. And here I am many years later. To God be the glory.
Meredith Brock: Amen. Richmond, I'm speechless. Just sitting here in awe of God's just extravagant love for you and for Arthur and for your mom. just can't help but sit here and think, you know, here we are in 2025. reflecting on the story of a girl who at 25 years old had six kids and had no idea where this was going to lead. Her husband passed away and look at the hand of God in her life through exactly what she did to others, fearless generosity. Her life and her children's lives were changed. And I just am humbled, truly humbled, that that's the God we serve. That's the God who, you said it, the gospel is the power of God in us. And that enables us to be fearlessly generous knowing He is the power in us. And your story is just such a beautiful picture of His love, of His power. of how he can use broken, sinful, frail human beings to change the trajectory of not just one person's life, but a whole family and then a community and then pastors who shepherd churches all over the world. just am truly humbled by your story, Richmond, and God's goodness to you. It encourages my heart and helps me. It bolsters my faith.
Kaley started saying at the beginning of this, it's so good to, you know, here we are sitting in Charlotte, North Carolina with our, what we consider problems and challenges. And they are, they're real to us. Talking to someone on the other side of the world in Uganda. And the things that you have faced just really puts into perspective so much of what we're facing here. When you were sharing your story about Arthur's mom and how she had to make that hard, I mean, honestly, it could bring me to tears that she said, I've been a burden in my life and I don't want to be a burden in my death. And she had to make the decision to leave her child. I just can't even. I mean, I have three kids. have a 13 year old, a 10 year old and a five year old. And I cannot even imagine having to make that choice. And as you were saying that I was writing down the decisions that are thrust on people who are living in poverty is something that most of us in the Western world will never have to even think about. Like as a mother, I will never have to think about, should I go? to the countryside so that I can die and not be a burden on my child. Like that is just overwhelming to me. The things that you have personally faced and your community has faced. And I'll be honest, like even trying to comprehend those kind of decisions that have to be made when you're living in poverty is overwhelming to me. Like I can't even as a Western woman. find a place for it in my mind and it's so easy, I think, in our world to isolate ourselves from what people in poverty are facing. It's so easy to open up your phone and curate your social media algorithm so that you never see that. To isolate yourself even from the people who are living in poverty here in the Western world. And I think that's why I am so passionate. about partnering with compassion is because they do such a fantastic job of bringing the reality of poverty worldwide into the context of the Western world and saying, don't look away. Don't look away. These are real people, real children, real families who by, and scripture tells us to step in. for the widow, the orphan, your neighbor. These are our neighbors. And I just love that Compassion makes it one helps us to not look away, but also makes it so easy to be able to be, to love your neighbor in those moments though they may not be living next to me, but Richmond, you're my neighbor. These children in Uganda are our neighbors and Compassion just makes it so easy, honestly, to obey scripture, to love your neighbor as yourself, you know, to show up for the widow and the orphan. And so I'm going to ask you a really wild question, Richmond, because I think this is one of the things that as Westerners, we don't even have the imagination to understand what it would have looked like had Compassion not stepped in for you. What would your life have looked like?
Richmond Wandera: Thank you so much. Very well asked. I believe that to find an answer, I have to look at the children in my community who were in sponsored. A good friend of mine called Daniel, I used to call him the name Solomon, because he was smarter than all of us. was wiser than all of us. We in Uganda, soccer is a very big deal. And we used to play soccer a lot on the side of the street and not using actual soccer balls, but you whatever we would make from whether it's banana fibers or empty milk polythene bags, we could make our own balls. But I do remember this boy, Daniel, we loved him and respected him so much that he was always a ref, a referee because he was just very smart and he was fair. And I remember this one day, we're playing and we're very close to the line. And the ball is, he just kind of went over my leg a bit and went out. But when you look from a distance, it would seem like it was actually going over my opponent's leg and going out. between I and the opponent, we knew that it actually belonged, the ball throw in belonged to my opponent. But because it was so fast and so tight, I argued for the ball. And I remember Daniel running in and he said, okay, we cannot see clearly whose ball it was. And he said, let's throw the ball up. Let's both of you come into the field. Let's throw the ball up such that you guys can, you know, jump and whoever gets the ball gets the ball. And I said, yeah, let's do that. And my, my neighbor said, no, the ball is mine. And so he got the ball and gave it to my neighbor. I mean my opponent and I was completely embarrassed because he went back. How did you know that it was I was actually lying about the ball being mine and he said just how quickly you accepted for me to throw the ball between you and your neighbor saying, no, that's that's my ball. That just told me whose ball it was. And that's why we change. We I mentioned that nickname Solomon. That's literally. It played out in my life, Solomon's story. so, pleased to call him Daniel Solomon, and Solomon became his nickname. But Solomon didn't have parents. And Solomon stayed under one of Uganda's largest bridges called Ko-ri. And under this bridge, water that came from Mulago Hospital with all kinds of dirt used to go under this bridge. And one day, in a big rainy season after a massive storm. Daniel's body was found, was found washed at the bottom of that channel. And I knew he was smarter than me. I knew he was better than me. I knew he would make a better contribution to this country than me. I knew if he became a Christian, his church would be, I mean, why me and not Daniel? That question haunts me. And I said, why did I get to be sponsored? And Daniel not. And then I think about many of my friends who didn't make it. So that question is very personal to me. I just think a lot. I'm like, God, did I get to be sponsored? And why did these kids have to go through what they went through? And so that's why I live my life with such a gratitude. I'm a very diligent man, as you know. I work for the Lord. Everything I do, everything I'm building, everything people ask me, Richmond, why are you building with such excellence? Why do you put all this time in? Because I said to them, I'm building for the Lord. I don't know why he spared my life. And fast forward now, 2025, we as a nation have not recovered from COVID. The economists were right in predicting that it's going to take 15 years for the economy to recover to what it was before COVID. all the jobs that we lost, 250,000 jobs lost in Uganda. We lost 29 very large companies that were from other Western countries that had invested in Uganda during COVID, these ones expatriated on the left. And so we are here with all this climate thing kind of changing our food crop and our harvest yield and all of that. There is not a time I can think of that's more desperate for children than now. There's not a time. I've seen poverty, but I look around me. What I experienced is nothing compared to what the kids today are experiencing. And so you don't know how many times I pray for Heather's. Heather was my sponsor. She was a 15 year old courageous girl. I pray for them every day, Lord raise more Heather's. Lord raise more Heather's. And so I look back and what a great question you asked. What would happen to me if it wasn't for Compassion? I don't know. But I can look at Daniel's life. can look at Patrick's life. I can look at Ojumma and Karugawa's life. And I just see that those are my buddies. That's who I hanged out with. thankfully now, Compassion has found so many people who are saying yes. And hope is rising. So many children are getting plugged into this lifeline. And finally, when I look around and walk around, my community. And I travel a lot within the country because of my ministry. And I just see there's this energy and life coming up in communities. And you can see the next generation is filled with hope. And I pray that that only continues to grow.
Kaley Olson: Richmond, I have a very practical question that I'm sure some of our listeners are asking. And we've mentioned in the advertisements on this show that, you know, $43 a month is what you can contribute each month to sponsor a child. And as someone who has been sponsored by Compassion, we can hear a number that honestly is not that big, you know, for us monthly. And I think that the question that I'm asking is help me, help me and help our listeners get a peek into what does that look like every day? Because $43 is not a big amount, but as someone who has received help from Compassion, how, how did they use that investment to provide for you physically and spiritually? So can you just give us a glimpse into what that looked like for you?
Richmond Wandera: Oh, thank you. Great question. Let me explain why I'm so thankful for the model that I benefited from, which Compassion uses. First of all, Compassion has several guidelines. One is holistic child development. And that means, yes, they care about physical poverty, but they also care about the desperation of spiritual poverty, that that affects and crushes the soul. And so for me, that was one of the lines. The second one was that compassion is child focused. It is touch focused as well as Christ centered. Let me explain how the program gets rolled out. So the first thing compassion does is focus on the child physically. The first thing a starving child needs is food. And so that's the first benefit I got. And I got food at the project, which I ate, but I also given food rations to take home. And when I arrived home, I couldn't say to my siblings, oh, this belongs to me. No, we got to share that.
The second thing was my health. was taken care of. My number was UG12940-0064. The reason I cannot forget that number is anytime I felt sick, I didn't need to run to the Compassion Project. I went to the nearest health center and I said to them, this is me, I'm the sponsored child. This is my number. They'll treat me and they say, hey, don't worry about the bill. So health-wise, I was taken care of. I lived life with such assurance that I was going into my future. because the kids in my community died because of things like malaria and other malnutrition issues. I wasn't going to face that. I was more bold in my approach to one's life.
So food was provided, health care was provided, but also preventative health care, like things like mosquito nets, that was also provided. Then talk about the spiritual poverty. Whenever a child comes to a project, one of the first gifts they receive is a Bible. and I held my Bible very close. I read it. I argued from it. Everything that I did was impacted. I received the Bible before I even got born again. And so it really helped me get into that space of spiritually. That gift enabled me to access the Bible, enabled me to come to the center every week to hear the gospel. and as well as receive other benefits. And so spiritually, I was taken care of. As a matter of fact, some of the people with whom I argued most with in the scriptures and all of that, all of them are now pastors. It's the strangest thing.
And then going to the emotional and psychosocial pit, most kids are robbed of their childhood because they have to grow up faster than they want to because Like for me, I had to take care of my siblings at a very young age. I was only eight years old, but it didn't matter. I had to take care of my sister. I had to find some food. I had to fight on the street in order to survive. So my childhood was robbed from me. But what that did, it accessed me now to not just counseling and a team of people on ground to watch me, to monitor me, to help see where I was struggling, to come and bring some assurance in my life. Words like, Richmond, I love you. Richmond, I'm praying for you. Richmond, stop fighting. What's the problem? Richmond, calm down. Richmond, there is enough. You don't need to be anxious. Richmond, that kind of assurance. But also, our church, because of Compassion, had swings. It had slides. It had merry-go-round. I remember sweating so much as a child, just playing on those swings and merry-go-round. Someone had to just come and get me, but I wasn't getting off the swings, as a child and I think some of the pictures or the sites that break people's hearts when they visit some of the Compassion projects is they look at all the students that are outside looking in. It's because there is such rescue, there is such open rejuvenation. The other thing was the counseling beat. I had problems, I had unforgiveness problems, had hatred problems, I just, I had kind of some... very bad self-esteem issues, because my time on the street had affected the quality of my hair, I'd made my eyes so bloodshot, my stop belly was extended. Man, if you told me that I am fearfully and wonderfully mad, if you told me, oh, God loves you, you are, no, I can't believe you, because I had physical evidence to the contrary. But it just took people saying, look, God loves you, he made you, he rejoices over you. Yeah, you're fearfully and wonderfully mad. Even the number of hairs on your head are counted. I mean, these reassurances, I could read it and I could see that I wasn't judged by the Compassion staff saying, oh, this kid is ugly or this kid. No, no, no. They were just like, hey, come join the choir. And the sponsors are coming. We want a dance group to dance for sponsors. Richmond, you want to join? I'm like, you want me? Me? Yeah. Yeah. Richmond, you come and join this dance. I'm like, I can't believe someone has chosen me. And so all those things describe what compassion means by holistic. so the other piece was education. I was immediately put back into school, hence me a few years later becoming an accountant. So yeah, that's just a breakdown of where that money goes. It achieves way more than could ever cross people's minds.
Kaley Olson: It does. I mean, I feel like we hear stories like this and it makes passages in the Gospels come to life, like the five lows and two fish. And I'm not trying to over-spiritualize this, but we read that in the Bible and we think, wow, that's cool. But you just illuminated what, in some ways, it's kind of like the equivalent. 43 bucks is like, that's not even DoorDash money in America to call in whenever you need it. And I just am so in awe of how God has strategically positioned compassion in the right places, at the right time to use the little bit of money that people can sow into an organization like that to exponentially bless children and reroute the path of their life. And guys, if you're listening to this, I can't go any longer without asking you. sponsoring a child through Compassion International is a next step that you can take. And Richmond, I remember feeling prompted to take that step when I was 18 years old. So I wasn't quite 15, but I was still a young buck. And you her name was Rachel, right?
Richmond Wandera: Heather.
Kaley Olson: Heather, Heather, Heather. Okay. So like in some ways there are people out there like that. There are Heathers and It has been 15 years that I said yes to sponsoring the little boy in Haiti and he is now a teenager. I am no longer a teenager, but I love getting letters from him. And he said something recently to the effect that you did Richmond, which was, wow, you started sponsoring me when you were a teenager. Thank you. And I just, thought, thank you God for helping me not question what that step was. You know, and I had no idea then, but it's been such a unique journey of seeing Him grow up. And in so many ways, God has blessed me through the way that He's blessing my little boy, you know. And Meredith, I know you've got a sponsored child.
Meredith Brock: This is a true story. When my husband and I were first married, first of all, we were so poor. We had no money. That's real. Like every, we literally lived paycheck to paycheck in order to pay our rent, you know, buy groceries. And I remember going to church and it was Compassion Sunday and both of us feeling so deeply convicted that, okay, we need to do this. Like if we believe that our God is a generous God, we can step out in faith here and sponsor a child. And so this was, let's see, I mean, my husband and I have been married for 20 years now. So that was our first sponsored child. No kidding. We sponsored a little girl named Christina from Tanzania. Christina has grown up and graduated from the program, graduated from university, and it was just such a blessing for us to watch her grow. Now, when we have three kids and just was, it's been a year ago or maybe two years ago, I was out on tour with Lysa. We were talking to people about Compassion and I'm standing on the stage and I'm holding up a... And wouldn't you believe it? I looked down at that card and the little girl that I was holding had the same birthday as my little boy. And I was like, all right, Deborah's coming home with me tonight. And so now we sponsor another little girl. Her name's Deborah. She lives in Uganda where Richmond is. And it has just been such a blessing now because I have three kids who can join in on being generous, on understanding not everyone lives like us. And because we have been blessed. we need to be a blessing to others. So literally just this weekend, I had my 10 year old little girl write a letter to Deborah to tell her what's been going on in her life. She's struggling in English, you know, trying to, trying to learn how to spell, right. And was telling Deborah all about it. And so guys, Compassion really does make that commandment in scripture to care for your neighbor, to show up for the widow and the orphan so easy for you to do. Yeah, absolutely. And we have, made it easy for you as well because we've linked it in the show notes. So really all you got to do is just scroll below whenever you're not driving or if you're in a position where you're ready to talk to your family about this, like please, please do that and click on the link.
Meredith Brock: That's right. Well, lastly, we did put together a resource for those of you who listened to Richmond's teaching, but maybe are thinking, wow, my story seems so small in light of his, is God even using me in my little corner of the world? And if that's you, our free resource for you is titled “Chosen, Called, and Confident: Five Days of Believing God Can Use You.” We pray it encourages you and reminds you of God's purpose for your life. Well, that's it for today, friends. At Proverbs 31 Ministries, we believe when you know the truth and live the truth, it really changes everything.