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Now 9 years old, James Johnson of Crivitz has also made a trip to Guatemala to visit one of the three children his family sponsors. Someday, he says, he wants to go back to Guatemala as a priest “because they’re very poor and they need more priests.”
Despite his young age, James has a deep love of God, and is concerned about doing what God wants him to — which, for James, is helping other people. James is also a big fan of his own pastor at Holy Family in Marinette, Fr. Joseph E. Dorner, who is part of his inspiration to be a priest. He explains his liking for Fr. Dorner with four simple words.
“He touches my heart.”
James’ mother, Sabrina Edwards-Johnston, isn’t always quite sure what to make of this spiritually precocious child, but she admits that he’s the one who led her from agnosticism to being an active member of Holy Family, the parish they continue to attend even after moving to Crivitz from Peshtigo.
Edwards-Johnston, 52, and her husband, Dave Johnston, have a grown family, but James came to them out of a troubled family situation on Dec. 21, 2006, when he was 3 years old.
“I always think of him as my Christmas present,” Edward-Johnston said. She became his permanent legal guardian in 2007.
James had a Catholic background, so Edwards-Johnston thought she should reinforce that, even though she’d abandoned the faith of her Catholic father.
“James’ (biological) grandmother told me that from the time he came home from the hospital, she would bless him with holy water whenever she visited him,” Edwards-Johnston said. “So I started teaching him the Our Father, a sentence at a time, at bedtime.”
When James was baptized at age 6, he received cash gifts of $143. It was his idea to give most of it away, although his mother urged him to spend $43 on toys he liked from Walmart. In the process, they browsed through the kinds of food that are stocked by food pantries.
“James was so interested, I suggested he ask the manager if they would help his cause,” Edwards-Johnston said. “They matched his $100.”
When James discovered that people would match his seed money, he decided to try other places. He raised $690 to give to area shelters and food pantries.
Is it hard to ask grownups for money?
“At first it was, but then it got easier,” he said.
Since then, Edwards-Johnston has helped James research other ways of helping. Most of their ideas come from the website of WPFF, a Christian radio station out of Sturgeon Bay, which they listen to every day. Through that website they learned of Gospel for Asia, and through that organization, James raised money to send seven Bibles to poor countries, as well as pigs and a water filter.
Since Gospel for Asia allows children to create their own sub-websites to encourage others to donate, James — with his mom’s help — focused on providing chickens for the children of poor families, and called his site “Chickens for Children.” At $10 each, he raised enough for 100 chickens.
The family also sponsors three children in Guatemala through Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (CFCA) — but not without sacrifice. When James learned that one sponsored “brother,” Denilson, had a little sister Magdalena who needed sponsorship, he suggested they give up their monthly Netflix subscription to help pay for it. Edwards-Johnston gave up a magazine subscription to add to the cause.
It was just last fall that James, Edwards-Johnston and her husband made the trip to Guatemala through CFCA, and James said that has been his favorite activity so far. He had a chance to meet Danilson, with whom he had been exchanging letters through an interpreter. James’ website shows two very happy little boys with their arms around each other. The language barrier meant nothing.
“We just played,” James said. And used a bit of sign language. His mom said he has begun to study Spanish on the computer to make communication easier when they go back to Guatemala in 2015.
When his family still lived in Peshtigo, James accompanied his mother to eucharistic adoration, and was told he was the youngest one to participate. Did he know what it was all about?
Oh yes, James said. It’s to say prayers to Jesus.
James, who attends St. Thomas Aquinas Academy in Peshtigo, reads at the children’s Masses, and is a greeter and an usher at the Sunday Masses.
When the family returned from Guatemala, having seen so many destitute families, James wanted a way to spread the word to other children, to tell them they could make a difference in people’s lives even though they’re young.
With his mother’s help, he created a website through a free host called Bravesites Website Builder. James picked the content and Edwards-Johnston, who has experience with web design, helped him put it up. His site, “The World Through My Eyes.” James’ trip to Guatemala is documented in a video on that site which links to YouTube.
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Check out James’ websites
With his mother’s help, James Johnson created a website through a free host called Bravesites Website Builder. He picked the content and his mother, who has experience with web design, helped him put it up. His site, “The World Through My Eyes.” James’ trip to Guatemala is documented in a video on that site which links to YouTube.
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