All of this said enjoy the update I received today via email.
From Samaritans Purse...
On Wings of Prayer
Samaritan's Purse experienced another amazing Operation Christmas Child season in 2009 as nearly 8.2 million gift-filled shoe boxes—the most ever—were collected for needy boys and girls across the globe. From Brazil to Bosnia, children have been receiving gifts of joy and hearing the Good News of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
In the United States, caring individuals, families, churches, and groups packed an estimated 5.2 million shoe boxes. That surpasses the 4.9 million total gifts collected last year. We also praise God for the tens of thousands of volunteers who did an outstanding job in our collection and processing centers during November and December.
An estimated three million more boxes were donated in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Netherlands, Finland, Spain, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Australia. (You may have noticed two new donors in the list.) Yes, we are excited with the addition of Spain and Hong Kong, expanding the number of donating countries/territories to thirteen!
Over 300,000 of the 8.2 million boxes will be going to the Philippines, where thousands of families are still trying to rebuild their lives after a series of typhoons caused widespread destruction last September and October. An Operation Christmas Child team delivered 10,000 of those boxes to needy families in Manila and outlying areas in early December.
When our team visited the hard-hit city of Santa Rosa, we found families who were still living in school evacuation centers because their homes remained partially submerged from the flooding. Edna Bugay, her husband Honorio, and their five children are one of the families we met. They share living quarters in a classroom with four more families.
The Bugay’s children: Jefferson, 12; Gerald, 11; Heidi, 9; Joan, 8; and Honey, 2; were among 200 boys and girls who received shoe boxes at Harvester’s Baptist Church located several miles from the flood zone.
Joan was pleased to get a notebook and colored pencils. Jefferson reached for the bag of balloons in his box and began to blow one up. Heidi liked the cool sunglasses.
Their mother wiped away tears of joy. “I felt so bad when we lost everything,” said Edna. “The children didn’t have any place to play or rest.”
“I am very happy for my children to receive gifts from Operation Christmas Child because I cannot afford to buy these things,” she continued. “I know that God is taking care of us and giving us what we need.”
The church plans to do much more than give out shoe boxes. They will be using Operation Christmas Child’s follow-up discipleship program in the coming weeks to teach Bible lessons to children in the Santa Rosa community. In November, our National Leadership Team staff conducted a training seminar in the church that was attended by 200 pastors from several denominations. These pastors in turn plan to hold distributions at their churches in 2010 and offer the discipleship program.
“In spite of what has happened, these families know that there are people who care about them,” said Jim Batac, the pastor for Harvester’s Baptist. “These shoe boxes will have a great impact on this community. It’s a good way to tell people about the Lord.”
Please pray for the people of the Philippines to find their refuge in the Lord as they rebuild their lives. Pray also that the Operation Christmas Child follow-up discipleship program will plant seeds of faith and hope in the hearts of the children.
The ladies of the Jasper County Senior Citizen’s Center embarked on a project last winter to turn remnants of sewing fabric into cloth dolls for little girls’ shoe boxes. It didn’t take long to start gathering material, as many of the women had leftover pieces of fabric tucked away in sewing boxes in their closets.
They set up three sewing machines in the senior center, and met each week to work together on the doll-making project. Soon there was an assembly line organized, with each lady in charge of a different aspect of the doll—stuffing material, clothes, face, and hair. They enjoyed giving each doll a different look and personality.
“The men in the senior center saw how much fun we were having,” Eva said. “They told us, ‘We can’t make dolls, but we will come up with something too.’”
Since woodworking is a hobby of many of the men in the group, they decided to make miniature cars and trucks. Each of the wooden, hand-painted toys has its own unique style, ranging from a flashy hot rod race car to a pickup truck. A local lumber company donated some of the scrap wood for the project.
The dolls and toy vehicles became such a hit that people in their families and churches joined in. What started as a small project for the members of the senior center quickly blossomed into a community undertaking involving several hundred people.
By the time collection season rolled around in mid-November, the people in Ridgeland had designed 400 dolls and 400 cars for shoe boxes!
The doll-making project is not the only activity that keeps Eva energized. She helps oversee the HomeBound program at her church, visiting shut-ins in nursing homes and delivering meals to the elderly.
“They’re all younger than me,” she said with a grin.
Additional Prayer Requests
• For the safe arrival of shoe box gifts overseas as they go through customs and are transported to their in-country destinations.
• For our National Leadership Teams in these countries as they prepare to receive and distribute the shoe boxes and train teachers for the follow-up discipleship program.
• For the recruiting and training of more Operation Christmas Child volunteers in the U.S. as we seek to expand our teams involved in church, community, and media relations and in our prayer and collection networks.
Special Prayer Requests for Other Projects of Samaritan’s Purse:
The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti has stirred the hearts of people around the world to do whatever they can to help survivors through prayer, financial giving, and relief work. Samaritan’s Purse has launched a major mobilization effort to send hundreds of tons of medical supplies, water filters, hygiene kits, blankets, heavy equipment, and vehicles to the ravaged capital city. Please pray for Haitians to receive aid and medical attention as quickly as possible. Pray also for our staff as they deal with physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges while trying to meet tremendous needs. To learn more about the Samaritan’s Purse response to Haiti, go to www.samaritanspurse.org
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