Dear Friends,

I can’t believe Christmas is almost upon us! The long awaited up-coming release of our first Christmas CD is here! You can pre-order “Beautiful Miracle” for only $4.99. http://www.sonflowerz.com/shop

As a family, one of our favorite things to do during Christmas is going outside for a short walk. I will never forget that walk in our neighborhood a few years back. We witnessed a teenager charging down the street barefoot, in her pajamas, carrying a suitcase. Her mom was following behind her holding the phone and begging her to stay. I saw the arguing and sorrow on a day that is supposed to be full of joy and peace. I kept that memory all these years and know the reality of many who need God’s presence especially during Christmas. As we recorded our Christmas CD I thought a lot about that memory. Our song “Beautiful Miracle” talks about a similar struggle a family has during the holidays and how God is present with us in the midst of that. Whether Christmas is your favorite time of year or a painful reminder of broken relationships, God wants to be nearer than ever to us this Christmas.

Do you know why He came to earth? We focus so much on the birth of Jesus at Christmas that we forget He came to die on a cross. Not to say his life was in vain, it was all for the purpose of redeeming us that we might be restored into right relationship with our creator God. If there is anyone who understands our circumstances, Jesus does. Just read any of the four Gospels in the Bible and you’ll see every emotion felt by Jesus: pain, rejection, lonliness, despair, sorrow. But he endured that and suffered so we could know the presence and comfort of His spirit right now in our lives.

Christmas is about Jesus. His birth. His life. His death. His resurrection. We can know the joy that comes from being children of God.

“Now we stand in the light In the glory of the Father’s love ‘Cause Jesus has come to us Everyone sing for joy Let the weary soul be lifted up Now that He’s here with us What a beautiful miracle Emmanuel, God with us”

(Lyrics from “Beautiful Miracle”, The Sonflowerz Christmas EP)

We will celebrate the start of the holidays with a special pre-order offer. 6 songs for just $4.99. “Beautiful Miracle” is a collection of songs we’ve written, plus classic Christmas songs – Sonflowerz Style, and a bonus track titled “My Heart is Alive”, the pre-release single to our 5th studio album set for a future release.

Over the last 3 months we’ve been working long hours to complete our first Christmas project and now it’s finally here! We can’t wait to share these songs with you.

We hope these songs bring you joy this holiday season as a reminder of the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ who came to save the world.

-Becca The Sonflowerz

Get started on Christmas gifts! Click Here to PRE-ORDER and LISTEN at: http://www.sonflowerz.com/shop/

The Sonflowerz Journey to El Salvador with Compassion International – A Blog by Elissa Leander

It was a rush of emotion when I first heard their shouts, those little El Salvadorian children celebrating our arrival. They were about to meet us, the first sponsors ever to visit their Compassion project. And I didn’t know what awaited me around the corner. I imagined first witnessing the children at work in a classroom. I didn’t anticipate hundreds of children waving huge red, yellow and green balloons in one hand and El Salvadoran and American flags together in another.

They lined the street up to the student center. I didn’t notice the neglected buildings and make-shift homes around me, just these children in the greatest celebration of their lives! They were thanking us and sponsors like us that resembled hope and a better future to this worn down community. Because of Compassion, they were here in the safety of the project. They showed us love as if we were their individual sponsors, their caretakers and their rescuers.

It was hard to hold back tears when I met Lisa. She was fifteen and 8 1/2 months pregnant. Compassion had welcomed her into one of their newest outreaches called the “Child Survival Program”, to make sure she and her baby were taken care of in this difficult time. I didn’t see any fear on her face, no shame, no worry. Her smile was huge and it lit up the room. Later I understood that the roads many girls walk down are known to be dangerous alleyways with predators around any corner. Many girls are having their first babies at very young ages because of rape. Lisa was standing by with many other mothers and Compassion staff workers. We could tell she felt loved in every way. She may deliver the baby this week, we were told. I spoke to her through our translator and later prayed with her. Where would she be without Compassion’s aid? There wasn’t anywhere safe or clean to have her baby except this facility. There wasn’t anyone to care for her and her newborn but the hands of these workers. Praise God that Compassion saw a need and ran to meet it, even if it meant creating a new program. (The moms in the CSP program range from age 12 – 38.)

It was difficult to leave the school as the kids crowded around us to say hi, give hugs, and still more hugs. I look forward to God growing up these children as world-changing Christians who spend their lives to speak the gospel and lead their nation.

Four members of our team, along with a translator and security guard, loaded into a van to visit a home of two Compassion sponsor children. The girls, Jennifer and Bethany, also rode with us. After the van had carried us through a rugged dirt road it stopped at the top of another smaller path that led to their home. The path was a steep downward slope that looked more like a drainage ditch, embedded with garbage and eroded by rainwater. We were led down the path by the sisters and entered their house by way of a few large stairs created by a tires and logs. There we met their mom, grandfather and aunt. Two disheveled dogs wandered around looking for scraps of food. We handed their mother a large bag of rice and beans, and other important things as a gift. Their house consisted of a single room with a dirt floor and bits of sheet metal for the walls and the roof. Inside I saw they had electricity but no running water. They cooked and slept in that small room. I saw a bit of bacon on the dirt floor with hundreds of ants making their way to it. There were three beds, one for mom and dad, another for the two girls, and a third for their older brother. It was very dark and musty and I wondered what it was like when rain was pounding hard on the metal roof. When we asked Jennifer about her sponsor she jumped up to get her letters and find her photo of her sponsor family. She was grinning as she proudly began telling us about them. After the sisters shared stories and hopes of what they want to be when they grow up, we gathered and asked how we could pray for Jennifer and her family. They said to pray for their father to stay close to God.

A great highlight of our trip was meeting Kathya, my very own sponsor-child! I didn’t know how she would receive Becca and me. Would she shy away like some five-year-olds do? It was our last project to visit on the trip and the whole school gathered to welcome us in their assembly room. Proud moms and project volunteers crowded in the back of the room to watch the performance of the children dancing and singing. Then we were asked to the front of the stage to introduce ourselves. Becca and I were asked to play a song for all the children. Within seconds they were clapping to “All Over The World”. At the end of the song our translator announces, “And now we have a very special person who wants to meet Elissa and Becca!” From the crowd at the back, a small girl came running down the center isle. Her long, dark brunette pig tales flopped as she jumped into my arms.“It’s Katya!”

We had just started sponsoring Kathya when we knew we were going to visit her school. She took our hands and we sat down next to her. Our translator asked us if there was anything we wanted to talk with her about. Becca asked her if she had any brothers or sisters. Kathya shook her head. “Tell her we are her big sisters!” I said. Kathya immediately looked up and showed her biggest smile yet. She was glued to us for the rest of the day, and we accompanied her and her mom to see their home. It was a big day for such a little girl, gaining two sisters, and knowing us face to face for the first time. I hope we get to visit her again someday.

Now that I am home I have a different story to tell about Compassion. Real lives, real hunger, real poverty – it’s a difficult world that I have never known first hand before. But among it all is real change, real Christianity, and real love. Jesus is in it all.

A thousand words couldn’t describe the miracles God is doing in El Salvador through Compassion International. I witnessed so many, on the faces of children and the lives finding significance in their Creator. Every Compassion staff member, a native of El Salvador and joyful representation of Christ, carries out his or her work with the truest devotion. I came to see that God has a plan for this nation. Out of the depth of poverty and past civil wars, He is growing up a new generation.

There are 4,000 children in El Salvador waiting for sponsors, already being enrolled in the projects. Will you join me in reaching out to one? Visit www.sonflowerz.com/compassion

-Elissa Leander The Sonflowerz www.sonflowerz.com/compassion <http://www.sonflowerz.com/compassion>

Recently I was listening to a podcast from my college pastor. He spoke to the women in the audience of our Friday night service saying, “Your value as a woman is not in the roles you have.” How many of us search for significance in our roles? I have to be intentional about believing that I am first and foremost a daughter of God. My value was established in me from birth. He made us in His image (Gen. 1:26-27) and knows us by name. Careers may change, friends may change, the roles we have may change, but His imprint on us as His daughters is unchanging.

Some of us have been told that our value is in outward appearance. Beauty is defined by our culture in all the wrong ways. From fashion magazines to diet programs, it’s portrayed as someone who is well-dressed with a slim waist and a successful career. There must be more than this! Our society’s image of beauty looks at only the surface.

Here’s the truth: Your value is in Being the woman God has made you! It is not in your outer appearance. No matter how much we do to gain acceptance, God already has put His stamp of approval on us.

I have found that the true definition of beauty is in a woman’s godly character…her grace, elegance, endurance, gentleness, and resolve. Women can have a unique determination and willpower! When our hearts are surrendered to Jesus Christ, we can do amazing things for God. Our value does not come from the applause of the world. It’s not affected by the criticism of the world either.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Psalm 139:13, 14

I give God praise that He loves me and no matter what I do, it won’t change. The transformation begins inside of us, in our understanding of God and His love for us.

Have you ever experienced a relationship in your life that’s disappointed you or let you down in some way? I have too. But, I am convinced that nothing in this life will give us the kind of satisfaction that God gives. His love is truly like nothing else. When you need comfort from an emotionally exhausting day, relief after an intense battle, joy to overcome doubt, look to no other but Jesus.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1

-Becca The Sonflowerz www.sonflowerz.com