On the Eighth Day

(singing) On the eighth day of National Collection Week my good team gave to me...Eight empty relay centers; seven perfect totals; six singing spirits; FIVE ANSWERED PRAYERS; four wide rolls of tape; three carton pallets; two trucks of boxes; and an OCC Collection VICTORY!

And what a victory it's been. After a crazy day of doing hearing tests on 300 first, second, and third graders at school punctuated by phone calls and waiting to get correct totals, I finally got that long-awaited number--the one we've been praying toward for nearly a whole year. After praying for all these months for our goal of 32,011 gospel opportunities.....Grand Total of Shoebox

Our grand total of Operation Christmas Child Gospel Opportunities for 2011 is

34,941

I am still just in awe of all God's answers to prayer. This is definitely once again exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could ask or think. This is a 27.3% increase over last year and 7,497 more boxes than last year--the greatest increase ever--bigger even than the year we first added Warren to our totals. Each of you had a part in this.

Since our team began in 2007 we have had 5 collection seasons and the total of those seasons is 111,743 shoeboxes. We could fill Penn State's Beaver Stadium with the children who've received those boxes and still have a few thousand on the field. We can't even imagine the impact of what God is doing through these simple boxes. Please keep praying for our Mid-Atlantic regional goal of 700,000, our national goal of 5.8 million and our international goal of 8.5 million boxes. To God be the glory!