September weeks 3 & 4 Pray for Operation Christmas Child

During the 3rd week of September we are praying for Moldova, Poland and Romania.

Moldova’s request is: Pray for the children who have heard the Gospel through OCC and the follow-up work with them. Click here for a video link: Moldova OCC Video

Poland’s requests are:
*Pray God will provide a new vision for OCC in Poland. Pray that He will open the hearts of more children and their families.
*Pray for wisdom as the team prepares for the national volunteer meetings in Sobieszowo.

Romania’s request is: Pray God will provide someone to serve as a volunteer leader in the Moldova area. For Livia's Romanian Shoebox Story click here: Shoebox Stories! 

Romania Operation Christmas Child Distribution

During the 4th week of September we are praying for Serbia and Slovakia. 

Serbia’s requests are:

OCC Distribution Serbia

* Pray God will bless the children who receive the shoeboxes and their parents. Pray they will accept God and follow Him.
* Pray the volunteers and other believers are able to teach the children how to apply biblical principles they learn through TGJ to their everyday lives.
* Pray for the new national volunteers as they begin to serve in their new roles.
* Pray the people from the new Roma house group that formed after the distributions will increase in the wisdom and revelation of the knowledge of God.
* Pray OCC will reach more children in the coming season.

Solovakia is a locked central European state south of Poland. Only 1% of the over 5 million population is Evangelical Christian. There are 20 different people groups that speak 13 different languages. Slovakia’s requests are:
* Pray for the new OCC season in Slovakia. Pray many children will become true disciples of Christ through TGJ.
* Pray God will open the doors for OCC Outreach Events to occur in the places God has put on the heart of the local church pastors.

* Slovakia Shoebox Testimony: Dominika was raised in Slovakia, and her family was very poor. When she was four years old, her father left them, and her mother had no money to buy gifts for Christmas. That year, Dominika received a shoebox gift from Operation Christmas Child. For the first time, as she read the note in her box talking about Jesus' love, she felt that someone loved her. 

For the History of Operation Christmas Child Timeline Click Here: https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/who-we-are/our-history/history-of-operation-christmas-child/ 

Fruit, Harvest & OCC

Picking apples Monday night with my husband made me start thinking about homemade apple pies, fruit, and harvest.  As Christians we should always be producing fruit and be ready for harvest also.  Christian Fruit comes from pursuing a steadfast relationship with Jesus. There’s no other way. Too much doing and not enough abiding make our lives weak and our fruit weak. A consistent diligent pursuit of abiding in Christ will produce lasting fruit.  As you spend some time abiding in Christ and His Word, will you pray for OCC. 

Join us in praying for a great harvest of sweet fruit this 2015 collection season that will reap many Gospel Opportunities (shoeboxes) which will bring about many more children going through The Greatest Journey and accepting Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior!   

Without abiding there is no fruit.

Without prayer there is no abiding.

Without prayer there is no fruit.

Prayer produces fruit! 

Also, OCC is excited to announce partnership with the Kendrick Brother’s Production of their new Christian film, War Room – a family-friendly movie that explores the transformational role of discipleship and prayer in our lives. The movie opened August 28. For more about the movie (official trailer, theatres and showtimes, etc.) visit www.samaritanspurse.org/occ/war-room  

    •Pray this new partnership will be an encouragement to the OCC family and to children around the world.

OCC International Prayer Requests for September are: 

1. Wisdom to recruit, select and lead new and/or transitioning volunteer leadership team members.

2. Provision of resources to reach their God-sized goals for the current year.

Specifically this week pray for Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldova. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina's requests are: 

1. Pray every member of the team will quickly adjust to their roles and will put into practice what they learned at the international volunteer training in Greece.

2. Pray the team will follow God’s leading to prepare well for the upcoming shoebox season and for wisdom in decisions that need to be made.

3. Please pray for the teachers and children that will be involved in The Greatest Journey discipleship program. Pray many more children will complete the program this year!

Moldova's requests are:

1. Pray for the upcoming national volunteer training in September. Pray that all of the invited participants will be able to come together and have a blessed, productive time.

2. Pray for the children. Pray the seed of God’s Word will bear fruit in their lives.

NEA OCC requests are: 

1. Saturday, September 12th, be praying for Alina as she is traveling and doing her "full-circle" speaking! 2. Pray for a good attendance at all her events! 

3. Pray for reaching our NEA goal of 10,200, and for each group/church/county's specific goals also. 

4. Pray for the churches that are participating in packing shoeboxes for the 1st time this year, that they will have success and see good fruit in their efforts! 

Thank You very much for your dedication to prayer for Operation Christmas Child. 

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ"

Colossians 4:2-3a NKJV

Jennifer