Jhoanna and Charles Story: Love means giving

World Vision child sponsor Jhoanna shares her love story and how being called by God to make a difference impacted the relationship. 

“Charles and I met during our 3rd year in High School in UST and became classmates and friends during our 4th year. We stayed in touch during college (still in UST but different courses) sharing about Animes and other interests. We continued to keep in touch after college, meeting up with our HS friends once a year or so until in 2013, when the group meetings and movie nights grew frequent, he asked me out on a date. From there, our love story began.

One of the things I love about Charles is his generosity and service to the people around him, especially his family and the underprivileged elderly. While he has a soft spot for the lolos and lolas who still work tirelessly to provide, I, on the other hand, aspire for children to learn to equip themselves for the challenges of the world. Our preferences and opinions on things may not always be the same, but I love how our differences complement to broaden our understanding. What’s important is that we share the same love, core values, and vision.

Charles and I started as being good friends in school before we got into a relationship. God has always blessed us with abundance and we wanted our wedding to be a celebration not just of love and new beginning, but also of gratitude to everyone who supports us and our relationship, especially to God for granting us His blessing. It’s the perfect venue to pay it forward. To trigger the ripple, we chose World Vision to be an avenue for us and our guests to pay it forward, with the idea that the wave will continue to grow.

Education has always been my advocacy, so despite being in the field of IT, I also took up Education units, teach Financial Literacy on the side and have chosen to support World Vision child sponsorship as part of my “Give Jar.” My husband used to teach English and is now an HR assistant manager who mentors his subordinates. Our story revolves around education. It’s a testament that going to school will not only give children the knowledge necessary to get a good job later on but also serves as a healthy venue to meet friends honing the same values and form relationships essential to thrive in the future.

They say that planning a wedding gives you a sneak peek of what your married life will become. By being mindful of that crucial season in our relationship, we realized that when we start strong, planning with a grateful and generous heart, our marriage will follow through the attitude of gratitude and giving. Values that we also want our future children to embody.

We encourage everyone to give more than you think you can. To give not until it hurts, rather, give even if it hurts until it doesn’t hurt anymore. For as the bible says in Luke 6:38. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

 

Jhoanna and Charles with World Vision Brand Advocates

The Wedding Day: Jhoanna and Charles with World Vision Brand Advocate Team Leaders

Jhoanna and Charles’ willingness to support the children through World Vision and their wedding attendees’ generosity as seen during the ‘special day’ resulted to four children being sponsored and Php 17,000 worth of cash donation. The couple looks forward to doing similar ways like sharing their love and generosity story that will also encourage more people to support World Vision’s goal for many children.

Written by: Jhoanna Mary C. Madrid / World Vision Child Sponsor

Published: February 2020


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