The Joy of Meeting a Sponsor

When Danny Vaughn left for a Venture Trip to Malawi this summer, he had no idea what God had in store for him.

During a visit to the village of Mgwayi, Danny was walking through an open field of dirt and rocks, just trying to take it all in. A group of around twenty-five children eager to make friends surrounded him and his team members.

“As I was standing there preparing to play football with all of these kids, there was a little boy that worked himself through the small crowd of children,” Danny said. “He got my attention by extending his arm up and pointing to me while saying ‘Mr. Dan?’ Not believing that he really said my name, I asked him to repeat himself so I could understand him more clearly. Again, he repeated with a large smile, ‘Mr. Dan?’”

The young boy continued to speak to Danny in Chichewa, the tribal language of Malawi. Wondering how the boy could possibly know his name, Danny asked an older girl nearby—who happened to be the boy’s sister—to translate for him. The boy then asked if Danny was the “Mr. Dan” who sponsored him.

Danny was momentarily confused and stopped to think for a moment. He did not personally sponsor a COTN child. However, he quickly remembered that his church, Summit Church of Orlando, sponsored several children.

Serving as a volunteer leader in the children’s ministry at Summit Church, Danny led a group of third, fourth, and fifth grade boys each week. As a part of their times together, the boys focused on ministering to one COTN child that the church sponsored. The boys saw the child’s picture, prayed for the child, wrote letters to him, and brought in money each week to help with the cost of sponsorship.

As he thought it over, it finally began to make sense. This young boy calling his name was the same boy that his group had prayed for and written to a little less than a year earlier. With great joy, Danny remembered the boy’s name.

“After a few seconds I responded, ‘Mike? Mike Laston?’ The young girl translating smiled and nodded her head, and the little boy replied with a quick ‘Yes’ and an even larger smile,” Danny said. “I quickly lowered myself to his level and extended my arms as he leaned forward to give me a strong hug. He was attached to me the rest of the morning.”

Soon after, Danny and his team needed to leave the village, but he told Mike that he would return later that day. When the team returned to Mgwayi, Mike approached Danny yet again, this time pulling something out of his pocket.

Danny looked down to see a wrinkled picture of himself with a few of the boys from his group at church. Young Mike turned the picture over to show him where “Mr. Dan” was written on the back.

“He told me in very broken speech that he keeps this picture up at his house and looks at it all the time,” Danny said. “It was amazing to see how God had connected the two of us, thousands and thousands of miles away from each other. The fact that this little boy had a picture of me and knew my name, and that God had led me straight to him, was purely His work and guidance. He has opened my eyes and my heart to things unimaginable before this trip, and I am a changed person because