Pray with Operation Christmas Child during April 2017

April Prayer Reminders

• Praise God for the 49 countries that have received shoeboxes and volunteer teams who are now working diligently at Outreach Events to share the Good News with over 8.9 million children. 
• Pray for the over 1.25 million shoeboxes still en route on ships to children in 14 countries. 
• Pray for tax exemption of shoeboxes destined for seven countries with 487,500 going to sensitive countries. 
• Pray for customs clearance of sea containers filled with shoebox Gospel Opportunities in three countries. 
• Praise God for the tax exemption received for over 260,000 shoeboxes in Indonesia. 

Russia, Europe and Central Asia: International Prayer Requests – General Prayer Requests each country faces: 

• Wisdom to recruit, select, and lead new and/or transitioning volunteer leadership team members. 
• Provision of resources and the person who leads this area so they are able to reach their God-sized goals for the current year. 

NEA REQUESTS:

• 2017 NEA SHOEBOX GOAL IS 11,550 SHOEBOX GOSPEL OPPORTUNITIES FROM OUR 7 COUNTIES! PRAY AND PACK SOME SHOEBOXES…WE CAN DO THIS!!!! 
• Pray for our area team as we seek God’s guidance for a New Area Coordinator, New Central Drop-Off Location, New Central-Drop Off Coordinator, and more people with a heart and passion for packing shoeboxes! Pray God will open doors with new churches and new volunteers! 
• Pray for our 2017 recommitment of our volunteers. We still have a few who have not re-committed. Pray that all our volunteers in NEA and the Midsouth will prayerfully consider their continued partnership with this ministry.
• Pray for our NEA and Mid-South teams - we all have families, loved ones and friends going through difficult times and God is faithful to hear and answer our prayers.
• Pray that the NEW $9 SUGGESTED SHIPPING DONATION will be well received by everyone. Why $9? A donation of $9 per shoebox gift is critical for Operation Christmas Child....$9 Shipping News Click Here

WEEK 1: April 1-7 

Belarus 

Belarus

• Pray for increased communication between the national and newly formed regional leadership volunteers and for sufficient capacity to reach out to children in their country through shoebox gifts. 

WEEK 2: April 8-14
Republic of Georgia 
• Pray God will lead the process of selecting a new national volunteer leadership team. Pray the Lord touches the hearts of the right people to serve on the team.

WEEK 3: April 15-21
Mongolia 

Mongolia

• Pray for churches reaching out to new children this season and sharing the Gospel with them.
• Pray that all discipleship trainings will be successfully led throughout Mongolia.

WEEK 4: April 22-30
Ukraine 
• Pray the churches to remain faithful in their desire to have long-term spiritual influence on children through OCC.

FORWARD TO A FRIEND: Forward this e-mail to a friend who you think would be interested praying for or learning more about the ministry of Operation Christmas Child.

See our new OCC Prayer Video CLICK HERE

Salvation Belongs to Our God
"After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" (Revelation 7:9-10)

The heavenly hosts burst forth in adoration to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords declaring to all that exists in heaven and earth, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" It will be a great and glorious day when all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues glorify the Lord with one voice and one heart. All division that exists among us on earth will fade away at the majestic splendor of Jesus. Nothing … nothing compares to the One who created heaven and earth and is the Desire of the Nations. We won’t be able to think about anything else because the true beauty of Jesus will be in our full view and no longer appear dim as it is now. We will be overcome. We will be overwhelmed. We will be undone.

A small glimpse of that will be happening at our global volunteer conference April 2-9 this year. Over 3,000 Operation Christmas Child volunteers from all over the world will gather for worship, prayer, and equipping so that the Gospel is proclaimed to the ends of the earth. We are seeing an increase in the effectiveness of The Greatest Journey discipleship program through the training the volunteers are receiving. With resources and focused equipping, the Gospel presentations are improving dramatically so children are hearing who Jesus really is when they receive a shoebox gift. More children’s hearts are being impacted and more are making decisions for Christ.

It is because of your partnership in prayer that we are seeing such amazing results. Praise God for you! 

Country Highlight
Russia, Europe and Central Asia – Sensitive Country
A four-year-old boy in a village has been suffering from leukemia for 2 years. He would constantly have terrible headaches and could not sleep at night until they gave him an injection. He spends most of his time in the hospital. He received a gift-filled shoebox and asked if the volunteers would visit him. They talked with him and prayed for him. The next day when they went to see him, he was very happy and told them that he had slept well after they prayed for him. He played with the cars from his box and then pulled out a coloring book with pictures of Jesus and children. He told the volunteers, "You’ve told me that Jesus loves children, and I said, Jesus, if you love those children, please, come to love me too". He slept well that night. The volunteers were encouraged that God worked a miracle in the boy’s life.