During the remaining part of February we will be praying for countries in Africa and South America. Each country only has one request so we will be praying for multiple countries each week. We will focus on 6 countries each week so you can pray for one each day and then have a day to pray for our NEA and Mid-South requests. The following is a list for the next 3 weeks so you will have all of the requests...Thank you for being faithful prayer warriors for Operation Christmas Child!
"Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" 1 Chronicles 16:24 ESV
OCC NEA Prayer Request
You've been waiting for us to reveal the final number of shoeboxes collected in 2015, and we are so excited to share it with you! Please join us in praising God for each of these amazing gospel opportunities packed by all of YOU! Continue to pray for each of the children receiving these gifts, that they will feel the hope and love of Jesus Christ! We are so blessed to work alongside amazing OCC offices in other countries and want to share the totals from each one with you. Check out the number of shoeboxes collected from each sending country in 2015:
Australia - 342,814
Canada - 730,577
Finland - 32,631
Germany - 402,360
Japan - 11,478
Spain - 31,273
United Kingdom - 896,240
United States - 8,765,637
That's a total of 11,213,010!!
It’s not over though…now it’s time to get busy for 2016!
1. Pray as goals are being set for 2016 collections!!! 11,000 is what we are praying about so far for NEA. We will let you know soon when God leads us to our official number to be the NEA Goal for 2016! Melinda should be letting us know soon!
2. Pray as God leads us to add new members to our NEA team that we will place them in the areas where they are the most gifted to serve!
OCC Mid-South Prayer Request
1. Praise God for the many volunteer interest forms and volunteer applications we have received the past few weeks. We are excited to see how God is going to multiply the Mid-South in 2016!
2. Please begin praying for the Connect Conference in Wichita March 3-5. Several of our Arkansas volunteers will be attending.
3. Please pray for all Arkansas volunteers this month. For God to continue to use them to move the ministry of OCC forward in the state of Arkansas, for God to open doors with churches and community groups were they may have never heard of OCC or The Greatest Journey before. That God would create unity among all Arkansas area teams, strengthen them, encourage them, protect them, help the volunteers to find rest and to have good health and that they would most importantly grow ever closer to Him.
4. Pray for the new Arkansas Regional Manager Vicki Pepper. Pray for her as she transitions into leading all of the wonderful area teams in Arkansas and that God would give her wisdom, strength and energy in her new role.
International Prayer Requests1. Praise God for the 22 countries that have received shoeboxes and volunteer teams are now working hard in Outreach Events to share the Good News with children.
2. Pray for the shoeboxes still enroute on ships to children in 35 countries.
3. Pray for tax exemption of shoeboxes in sixteen countries primarily in Africa and South Asia.
4. Pray for customs clearance of the sea containers filled with shoebox Gospel Opportunities in Paraguay and Sensitive Middle East/North Africa Countries.
February 10 – 16th
Africa:
Angola
· Pray for the Prayer Coordinator and the restoration of his sight after recently having surgery on his left eye.
Benin
· Pray for us as we relaunch the shoebox season now that the embargo has lifted.
Burkina Faso
· Pray for the Assembly of God church in Mina that received shoeboxes in 2014. The church saw an increase in number of children attendance, but it was burned by villagers in the beginning of December 2015 because of their evangelization through OCC.
Guinea
· Praise God the World Health Organization has declared Guinea Ebola free.
· Pray for the churches as they receive shoeboxes this year. Pray they are able to meet the needs of the children and families of Ebola victims.
Guinea-Bissau
· Pray for the distributions and TGJ discipleship program. Pray many children and their families will come to Christ this year, especially as Islam continues to grow in Guinea-Bissau and much of the population still follows the traditional animistic religion.
Liberia
· Praise God for the arrival of seven containers at the port of Liberia. Pray for the successful distribution of these containers to needy children in Liberia.
February 17-23rd
Madagascar
· Pray for the outreach event in the Least Unreached People Group of Faux Cap next month.
Namibia
· Pray the new TGJ material in the Oshiwambo language will help spread the Gospel even further and with greater effectiveness.
Republic of Congo
· Pray God will open doors to reach the Unreached People Groups, especially indigenous people, who live in difficult situations.
Sierra Leone
· Pray the volunteers will be no logistical issues at the port.
South Africa
· Pray for the team in Cape Town as they start vision castings at Paarl for the first time in order to impact the unreached children there.
Tanzania
· Pray the authorities will quickly release the exemption documents after the changes with the government positions in the Tanzania Harbor Authorities.
February 24th – March 1st.
South America
Chile
· Pray for the Easter Island Outreach Events to children. Pray God will continue to guide the team and will use the shoeboxes to open more doors of opportunity.
Costa Rica
· Pray God will open the doors for the team to take TGJ to public schools, especially as the government’s regulations and traditions can make this difficult.
Honduras
· Pray for the husband of the volunteer National Logistics Coordinator who was in a car accident and is now recovering from surgery.
Mexico
· Pray for the more than 330,000 children who will be discipled in TGJ in twenty-eight states throughout Mexico that God would open their hearts and the seeds of the Gospel would not be snatched away.
Panama
· Pray that OCC will be able to reach all of the indigenous groups safely and without influence from insurgent groups, politicians, and customs that can hinder the work of the Lord.
Suriname
· Pray more Ministry Partners will start prayer meetings for and with children.
