Praying for Uganda

These children from Uganda are working through The Greatest Journey--a discipleship training course made available to many children after they receive their gift-filled shoe boxes from Operation Christmas Child.

This photo was shared by Leigh Fisher, my OCC Regional Director.  Leigh and a team of about 70 other OCC friends--staff and volunteers--are in Uganda right now taking part in distributing boxes to the children, learning more about the work of Operation Christmas Child in Uganda, and encouraging pastors and the National Leadership Team there in the area near Kampala.

Here is a picture of Leigh with some of the sweet children of Uganda.

I'm also in the midst of reading the book "Kisses From Katie"--the amazing story of Katie Davis, a young girl from Tennessee who left to volunteer for a year right out of high school in a Ugandan Children's Home.  She expected to teach 12 children and, instead, found herself teaching 138!  Over the course of the next months she established a NGO to raise funds for children in Uganda to attend school and even began adopting Ugandan children herself when she was only 19 years old.  Uganda quickly became her home.

These children are so blessed by the simple gifts in an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.  Katie Davis writes this about school supplies in Uganda, "In Uganda, a tablet is expensive.  A new pen or pencil is a treasure.  Many children don't get excited about going to school because even if they have the money for school fees they may not be able to buy their supplies."

I once heard the head of the OCC National Leadership Team say that a box of crayons can cost a week's wages in Uganda.  Imagine what a box of crayons will mean when a child finds one in her shoe box!

Won't you be praying this week for our Operation Christmas Child volunteers and staff in Uganda.  Pray that those who are there from the US this week will have eyes to see what God wants them to see and be given words to share with the rest of us.

And pray that the team who lives in Uganda will have great wisdom in distributing these shoe box gifts and training a new generation of children to love and follow the Lord.

God hears and He answers.  So just pray!