Testimonies

The first months at her new school were a difficult adjustment for Liyana Dayo. She struggled with most of the same things as her peers—trying to fit in, keeping up with assignments, and performing well on exams. But Liyana also faced another challenge. She’d often have to do twice as much school work because of the demerits she received for improper footwear to go with her school uniform.

“In fairness to all my students, I had to discipline her,” teacher Liza Discilpulo said. “But what I really wanted to do was to just give her new shoes.”

Students teased Liyana about the worn sandals and the extra work. And she would leave for home each day with no way to remedy the problem. Liyana’s mother earned only a small amount of money selling fish and vegetables, and her father made a living by taking care of pigs owned by others.

“It is difficult for us to even buy rice,” Liyana said.

So Liyana started praying. She’d kneel in a corner of their small home, made of bamboo with a scrap metal roof, and asked God to meet a need that seemed impossible to fulfill—a new pair of shoes. Each night for nearly two months, Liyana faithfully asked the Lord for shoes.

Then one day, a friend invited her to come to a special program after school. The children sang and heard visitors talk about the love of Jesus Christ and how the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes were a physical representation of God’s love for each child.

When Liyana opened her shoe box, she saw a brand new pair of red and white shoes. She slipped them on and found a perfect fit. When she went home to tell her mother about the gift, Liyana could no longer hold back the tears.

“When I saw the new pair of shoes, I felt that she was loved by others,” Liyana’s mother, Candida Dayo, said. “We have been praying that God would use someone to help us get the things our children need.”

~ Philippines

The OCC shoe boxes do not just bring joy and hope to children, but also to their parents.

Nebojsa Tejic has an eight year old daughter who received her shoe box this winter. When they came to collect the shoe box, Nebojsa took a small flyer which explained how the boxes came as well as information about humanitarian aid for needy families provided by our church. A few weeks later, Nebojsa came to our office asking if he could apply for the aid.

Nebojsa is a 37 year old Bosnian refugee. He lives with his wife and daughter in a small rented apartment and they barely manage to survive. They struggle so much because eight months ago, Nebojsa had a stroke and since then, he lost his job. They sold some land they had in Bosnia but after they paid the rent and medicines for Nebojsa, the money was gone. Pray that the Lord would touch the hearts of this family so they could put their trust in God.

Mile Kovacevic is the father of a boy who received an OCC shoe box. Mile had seen the flyer for OCC and noticed the invitation for the Alpha course in our church. He applied and came in February. The first evening he was confused, but what he heard interested him and he has continued coming.

~ Serbia

In order to survive, Costina, a teacher, had to accept a job in a town quite a distance from the city where she and her husband were living. During their time apart, a breach began to grow in their relationship and they started contemplating divorce.

During this time, an OCC volunteer had the chance to get to know Costina and tell her about God, His character and desire to be involved in all the aspects of her life. However, she couldn’t believe this because she was overwhelmed with her problems.

On top of it all, Flavian, Costina’s four-year old son, became very sick with pneumonia so he had to be hospitalised. Around Christmas, Flavian prayed that God would give him a gift, a hat and a muffler made in his favorite colors, yellow and green. He also wanted colored pencils, markers and coloring books so that he wouldn’t get bored in the hospital.

Flavian received a shoe box and when he opened it, his joy had no limits! He found a yellow and green hat and a muffler, as well as many pencils and markers.

For his mother, the exact answers to the boy’s prayers came as a confirmation to the fact that God really cared for her life and it motivated her to listen to what God wanted for her life and pray for her marriage. Costina decided to do as much as she could to fight for her relationship with her husband. She called him and told him how God listened to prayers and she now believed that the divorce could be avoided.

In addition to the miracle that happened with the shoe box, the Almighty God who has everything under control, restored a family.

~ Romania

In many villages of Toamasina, hundreds of family were attacked by fleas. Some elderly people were even killed because they were swarmed by hundreds of fleas. We held a distribution there for about three thousand children. With the soap and other hygienic items in the boxes, we were able to talk and teach the families about basic hygiene and health care. It was also an opportunity to share about the blood of Jesus that cleans our heart from the dirtiness of sin.

~ Madagascar

Praises and Requests from around the world

General

Pray for all of those in the OCC family who have recently lost their loved ones. Pray that God would sustain them and give them grace and strength to face the challenges of their losses.

Albania

Praise God for the distribution that just finished last week and reached 320 villages and 25,000 children.

Praise God for the use of the Elbasan theater which was used to reach 3,000 children. The theater use was given for free by the city of Elbasan.

Praise God for the open doors and positive reception of OCC.

Pray for the follow up of the Discipleship Program. Twenty-five volunteers have been mobilized to follow up with over 1,000 children.

Africa – South and East

Pray for the Regional Director as he continues to work with National Leadership Teams in the areas of implementing the High Impact Volunteer Model and principles, resource management, and the Friend to Friend prayer tool.

Bangladesh

Pray for a fruitful distribution. It is not easy to distribute OCC boxes in Bangladesh because of government interaction.

Belarus

Pray for the new church and regional leadership involvement in OCC. The NLT set up six new RLTs in six big provinces.

Pray for new Area Coordinators the RLTs have set up in different districts. Pray for wisdom for the ACs as they introduce OCC, train volunteers and give better understanding of the OCC core values.

Pray for quick clearance of shoe boxes through customs and for an opportunity to bring OCC shoe boxes and GGOA leaflets into government educational institutions. Because many authorities still have a post-communist mentality, sometimes it is difficult to work with the government.

Pray for good cooperation between different churches and denominations. In Belarus, we have the Russian Orthodox Church that is like the state church.

Belize

Praise God that the OCC discipleship program is helping children get established in their walk with Christ.

Praise God that through OCC, there is more unity among the different denominations and church groups.

Pray for more volunteers to help with the ministry of OCC in Belize.

Pray that the mentors will make the most of every opportunity, as they lead the children through the lessons and disciple them.

Cambodia

Praise God for the newly formed NLT and the partnership of the Samaritan’s Purse office as they take the role of Consignee.

Pray for each of the new members on the NLT that they will quickly catch the vision of OCC and commit wholeheartedly to their new roles. Pray that the NLT will see their roles as an opportunity to serve the local churches of Cambodia whom they represent.

Pray for the Australia Regional Director as he leads the NLT through training in Cambodia on May 4th – 9th.

Pray for better understanding from the government and the local authority towards the ministry of OCC in Cambodia.

Pray for more wisdom for Cambodian pastors (who are local OCC partners) as they help coordinate the shoe box distribution.

Pray for easier processes for the shipment and clearance of OCC cargo.

Pray that more children in remote rural areas will be reached by the ministry of OCC.

Pray for a free, fair and peaceful election in Cambodia on July 28, 2008 as well as a smooth time leading up to the day.

Pray for the fulfillment of our national vision, MK 2020 (Mission Kampuchea 2020: A church will be planted in every village and every people group in Cambodia by 2020).

Please pray for the hundreds of families affected and left homeless by the fires a few weeks ago in Phnom Penh. For many, the little they had has now been lost.

China

Praise God that most of the boxes given to government officials have been handed out to the children. Distributions in the provinces of Guangxi, Hubei, Shandong, Guangdong have been completed.

Pray for the people of Xinjiang and Tibet; the situation there is still very volatile.

Costa Rica

Praise God for transportation provided for the containers.

Praise God that the exoneration of the boxes was obtained.

Praise God for the launching of discipleship programs for all the children who received the boxes and for the 1,200 teachers who are helping to make this possible.

Praise God for the unity of the NLT. Pray that God would give them wisdom and discernment.

Pray that customs will be cleared quickly.

Pray for increased effectiveness in the ways of communicating with intercessors.

Pray that attendance of the Discipleship Program will increase.

Pray that the teachers will increase their commitment and have motivation for a greater consistency in the Discipleship Program.

El Salvador

Praise God for the last distribution of the season in the eastern area of the country which has a heavy guerilla presence.

Pray for the children living in the eastern part of the country who received the shoe boxes during the last distribution and responded to the Gospel message and experienced the joy of having a Savior.

Pray also for the teachers who will be doing the discipleship with these children.

Estonia

Pray for the still unreached areas in Estonia. There has been a lack of interest on the part of many churches to see and respond to the vision for reaching these unreached children with the Gospel message. Pray for churches to catch the vision and commit to reaching the “ends of the earth” in Estonia with the Gospel.

Equatorial Guinea

Pray for the training of the NLT so Equatorial Guinea will be able to develop the capacity to implement the program this year.

Fiji

Praise God for a great NLT in Fiji. Pray for their protection as they lead the project on their island.

Pray for the NLT’s hopes to take the boxes into more remote islands.

Pray that God would raise up Christian leaders, churches and businesses in Fiji who would partner with the NLT to enable this to happen.

Guatemala

Praise God for exoneration papers that finally came through in the beginning of April, so shoe boxes can now be shipped.

Praise God for the wonderful results seen in the last year with the Discipleship Program.

Pray for the NLT as they plan on doing distributions in the western region of the country, where there is heavy drug trafficking.

Pray for safety for the children and families who will be reached in the weeks to come with the Gospel.

Guinea

Praise God for unity among the NLT and the impact of OCC on the lives of many children.

Pray for spiritual power and fresh vision to develop new team members.

Haiti

Pray for the release of the container being held in the port of Cap Haitian since the end of January.

Pray for peace and stability in the country after violent riots a few weeks ago.

India

Praise God that many distributions are complete; others are under way.

Praise God that four to five states have already completed OCCDP.

Praise God for good cooperation from the government and little opposition from the “fundamentalist” religious groups.

Praise God for the unity OCC has brought to differing denominations.

Pray that many children will come to trust in Christ throughout this distribution/follow-up cycle.

Indonesia

Pray for the safe transport and distribution of boxes being shipped to designated locations of Papua, Flores, Kupang, Toraja (Sulawesi), to Medan (Sumatera) and several areas in Java. Some of these locations are flood disaster areas.

Pray for strength and perseverance for the believers in Indonesia in the face of persecution.

Ivory Coast

Praise God for the awareness among the different church groups regarding the value of OCC in the evangelism of children all across the country.

Pray for peace and political stability especially after the riots protesting the high prices of food and gas.

Jamaica

Praise God for confirmation of storage facilities.

Praise God for the settlement of demurrage charges.

Praise God for the steady recovery of the NLT Chairman.

Pray that the storage costs would be waived.

Pray for the readiness of volunteers.

Pray for efficient and effective distributions in May and June.

Pray for a readiness in the hearts of children and teachers during the distributions.

Latvia

Pray for the preparation for the upcoming Franklin Graham Festival in the summer of 2009 and the corresponding special distributions of OCC shoeboxes that will be carried out in partnership with local schools and teachers throughout the country.

Macedonia

Praise God that the special distribution with the OCC team went well.

Pray for more children to get involved in the Discipleship Program.

Pray for the people in one of the prisons in Macedonia – during a distribution of shoeboxes to the inmates (gift boxes for their children), a strong evangelistic message was given and a number of inmates expressed a desire to have follow up.

Madagascar

Praise God for the way He provided to get the Letter of Exoneration. As the letter becomes more difficult to get, more people have become involved in the process and more leaders are aware of the importance of the OCC ministry in Madagascar.

Praise God that half of the distributions are completed by now. More remote villages have been blessed. In many places, volunteers had to walk two days to reach those villages. OCC is

Pray for transportation of the boxes and Discipleship Program material. Roads have cyclone damage in some place we have to go.

Pray for the Regional Consultation that we plan to have in May in Antananarivo.

bringing the light into darkness and fighting mental and spiritual poverty.

Mexico

Praise God for the recent marriage of the National Coordinator for the Mexico National Leadership Team.

Praise God for those who received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior during 2007.

Pray for the fulfillment of the goal to have great participation of children in OCC this year.

Pray for the next meeting of the National Leadership Team, in which important decisions for future projects will be discussed.

Pray that OCC would spread to more states in Mexico, surpassing the projected goals.

Pray that there would be an increasing number of people who are truly committed to prayer within the National Prayer Network.

Montenegro

Pray for the orphanage in Bijela on the coast of Montenegro. The director of the orphanage is very open and after distributions, allowed us to begin meeting with the children. So far, we have been there only three times. The children are very eager to sing and to listen to the Bible stories. However, there have been many hindrances and they have canceled repeatedly.

Nepal

Pray for shoe box distributions occurring right now. There will be a number of government officials present so pray there will be no problems and that they would also know the love of God.

Papua New Guinea

Praise God for several missionaries in PNG as they have been such wonderful servants of OCC on top of their other ministry commitments.

Pray for the Regional Director and the SP Australia Projects Director as they plan to visit PNG in July. Pray that God would guide each step as they work to advance the project.

Pray for wisdom as we work towards building an NLT for PNG.

Peru

Pray for physical and spiritual strength for the NLT so they would be able to reach as many children who have not heard the Gospel.

Pray that children who have received Christ will become strong in the Word so they will be able to produce fruit.

Pray for the Regional Coordinators who are taking the vision of OCC to the regions. Pray that OCC would spread from 50 churches and nine regions to more partners and churches.

Romania

Pray that the church in Romania will be open to reaching out to people so God’s hand will be displayed in a practical way to those who don’t know Him.

Pray that God will raise up people who are willing to disciple the children who expressed interest in the Gospel during the distributions.

Senegal

Praise God for the distributions involving the visiting team from Canada; doors have been opened to further the cause of the Gospel in this Muslim country.

Pray for new volunteers to join the NLT and the regional teams.

Serbia

Pray for peace in Serbia.

Sierra Leone

Pray for wisdom and God’s direction for the National Coordinator and his team.

Pray for God to raise up committed prayer warriors for the OCC ministry in Sierra Leone and throughout the world.

Pray for unity and cooperation of churches with the OCC ministry.

Pray for a 14-year old girl who was forcefully initiated into the

Pray for God to break the power of secret societies (about 15 of them) as they are a stumbling block to the spreading of the Gospel. Most children are initiated against their own wish by their parents.

Bondo secret society in Bo town. She was released after the intervention of the police. The girl is still being haunted with fear. Pray for her complete restoration and also courage for her Christian mother.

Solomon Islands

Pray for the Christian leaders of the Solomons as they mature in their faith. Pray that good strong leaders would be developed and that we would have much wisdom in building the NLT there.

Pray for the SP Australian Projects Director and a founding member of SP Australia as they visit and meet with key leaders in August. Pray that through the work of OCC and Projects, God

would use Samaritan’s Purse to help empower and equip the local church to reach their communities, most of whom live amongst much poverty.

Sri Lanka

Pray for protection and unity for the NLT as they work to carry out OCC in spite of difficult political situations.

Thailand

Pray for the NLT as many have recently taken on new roles. Pray for the NLT Coordinator as he leads and works with each member on the team to plan for the growth of OCC.

Pray for discernment for the NLT as they prepare for this season’s boxes and determine where there is the greatest need.

Vanuatu

Pray for the right doors to open to establish OCC in Vanuatu. Pray for the relationship between SP Australia, Mueller College Brisbane and the Vanuatu Christian Council as we work together towards building an NLT in Vanuatu.

Pray for distributions this year as the Vanuatu Christian Council takes a greater responsibility in this process.

Venezuela

Praise God that new churches throughout the country are getting involved in the OCC network.

Praise God that 50 leaders received training from OCCDP in February and are now implementing the program in their churches or OCC sites.

Praise God for our prayer ministry. In January of this year, we felt let to create a Prayer Calendar and are now praying daily for

Praise God for the interest of a national company in donating their services to transport the five OCC containers to the five distribution centers without cost.

Pray that the churches involved in OCC will have the incentive and the means to reach children that have never heard the Gospel, in both urban areas and remote areas (plains, coastal, jungle, and mountainous areas throughout the country).

Pray for the celebration of the fourth training event taking place at the end of May. We are expecting 100 leaders and network coordinators. The focus will be on being a mentor.

Pray that we will be able to give more attention to middle school and high school youth. We would like to implement the program "Without Excuses" by Focus on the Family, providing workshops on topics such as abstinence and AIDS.

Praise God that the corresponding permits needed for the OCC containers to arrive to Venezuela were finally granted mid-April!at-risk children and all the organizations and ministries that work with at-risk children and youth.

Vietnam

Praise God for the government support in many areas of the project.

Praise God that the team was able to monitor and witness the majority of the boxes placed into the hand of the children. Many of the children heard about the meaning of the box, how it got to Vietnam, and the love and the teaching of God.

Pray for financial support in order to be able to fulfill OCC objectives.

Pray for the plans to send a mid-year container to a very strategic part of Vietnam.

Pray for Steve and Pat Copple as they prepare for Pat’s surgery tomorrow, May 8.

International Coordination

Praise God for the two successful annual International Coordination meetings held in March and April. There was such an incredible spirit of unity and purpose amongst each of the countries represented there.

Pray for wisdom in identifying and training new International Field Representatives.

Germany (Austria and Switzerland included)

Praise God for the faithfulness and loyalty of our collection centers and supporters.

Praise God for all the visitors and cash donations at the 118 Thank You meetings throughout Germany from January through April.

Praise God for our new project manager in Switzerland and the positive response he receives from Collection Centers and supporters.

Praise God for the new staff joining OCC Germany in May (one Assistant and one International Coordinator).

Pray for wisdom and guidance as we restructure OCC and our staff in our main office in Berlin.

Pray for the opportunities to share Christ through OCC volunteers, collection centres and participating church members.

Pray for 15 % more collection centres and participating churches in our countries.

Pray that Germany, Austria, and Switzerland would be able to meet the shoebox goal for this year.

Pray for protection, strength and health of our volunteers and staff.

Pray for wisdom and creativity in producing a distribution video.

United States

Praise God for His continued protection over OCC volunteers and staff during their travel.

Praise God for the new partnerships formed with OCC.

Praise God the OCC Connect Volunteer Conferences held in March and April were a great success!

Pray for our team to have discernment and wisdom as new resources are being developed for OCC children.

Pray that God would provide contacts for our team as we search for literature that can be distributed with the OCC gift box in Muslim communities.

Pray that God would continue to give us favor in the eyes of our ministry partners.

Pray for the containers that have not cleared customs: Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Jamaica, Philippines, Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Pray for the International Ops team as we go through a period of transition.

Pray for recruitment, selection and training of volunteer and staff positions.

Pray for clarity in direction as we seek new prayer initiatives to be adapted for OCC.

Pray for favor with the media and with partnerships, that the message of OCC will be shared with mass audiences through the power of these para-church outlets.

Pray for our OCC corporate relationships. Pray that existing relationships would strengthen and that God would lead us to new corporate partners eager to participate with OCC through Gift-in-Kind.

Praise God the OCC Connect Volunteer Conferences held in March and April were a great success!