- I'd like to say thank you,
thank you so much to my sponsors, Jeff and Bonnie Mowry.
I hope I see you one day.
I love you so much wherever you are.
- [Bonnie] How about today?
(reflective music)
- My name is Norah Birungi.
I'm currently a substitute teacher
and currently I work in one of the schools in my community.
- We are Jeff and Bonnie Mowry
and we had the opportunity to sponsor Norah
over 20 some years ago.
When we were told we had the chance to meet Norah,
I was almost speechless because we had no idea,
we had no idea how much she had grown.
We had no idea of the young woman that she became.
We saw that she was this advocate for children
and for Compassion and then it just felt very humbling.
We did something so little.
We felt like it was just so little.
And then Jeff and I started realizing
as we're looking at the small portion that we did
and not looking at the magnification that God did,
and that is through all of the Compassion team.
- My time in Compassion,
there is this particular teacher I remember.
She's called Ruth that impacted so much on me.
Actually, even the desire for me to become a teacher
came from her.
My desire for math and English came from her.
She could sit down,
giving her whole time just for me to understand.
So for me as a child, I admired her so much.
The other person would be our youth pastor.
To me he was like a father figure,
very passionate about God,
but also showed us a very good example.
He taught us how to pray.
He always made sure that we are fine,
but also always encouraging us and reminding us
of what the Bible tells us about our lives.
- It's not just us, it's a whole team.
It's a whole army of people that God mobilizes
in order to affect change in the life of a child.
This picture of what we're doing is very little,
but there's so much going on in the background.
And as that happens,
it grew her and it made her who she is today,
which who would have ever thought that she
would then get to go to university,
get her bachelor's degree in social services.
And she's able to move her entire family here
to the United States in which she still wants
to give back to Compassion,
but she comes here and still continues on
as a Compassion advocate
and little by little God opens the door for someone
to reach us to say, "She's looking for you."
- I hope I see you one day.
I love you so much wherever you are.
- [Bonnie] How about today?
- No.
- [Bonnie] Yes.
(Norah crying)
- Thank You, Jesus.
And eventually this is possible.
And it's just like, that goes all the way back
to a Compassion team giving her hope.
- If those staff weren't on there at Compassion,
I don't think my life would be the way it is today.
I don't think so.
No, I wouldn't.
- I would love to tell the staff workers
at the Compassion Project there in Uganda
thank you because you reached in
and not only were Jesus' hands, but were my hands.
You were not only my voice, but you were Jesus' voice.
And together what they did was so much more
than what I could do in just a single letter,
but yet it was because of their involvement,
even far more than my letters, that changed Norah's life,
that brought us to the point where we were able to meet,
to realize that you have even your small role to play
because that small role doesn't stop with you.
It continues on and it lights a candle
that lights another candle that lights another candle
and it becomes exponential
and that's in the hands of our God.