SCRIPTURE VERSE

"The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?"
— Psalm 27:1
PRAISES

Orphan Outreach just completed Mission Backpack campaigns throughout the U.S. Even in the midst of a recession, we are so blessed that thousands of school children will have new backpacks and school supplies.

Our collection with Moody Radio Chicago supplied over 5,000 inner-city children with backpacks and school supplies distributed by ten local ministries.

In Florida, we partnered with Florida Baptist Children's Home and all Moody Radio Florida stations and collected over 2,200 backpacks for children in Florida, the Navajo Nation, and countries around the world.

Other collections in Texas and throughout the U.S. will benefit children in Guatemala, Russia and other countries. Please continue to pray for the children who received these gifts of education. Pray that Christ and His love for them would be communicated through these gifts.


PRAYER REQUESTS

Guatemala
Pray for volunteers to join the Guatemala Mission Backpack trip for families and individuals, January 10-16. Encouragement Radio in East Texas recently collected hundreds of new backpacks for orphans in Guatemala. Now we need families and individuals to come help pass out the backpacks and share the love of God to the precious children anxiously waiting. To find out more about this trip, click here.

Pray for the overwhelming number of incidences of child malnutrition among 80% of the population in parts of rural Guatemala. According to Unicef, almost half of Guatemala's children are chronically malnourished. While this issue has been kept hidden within the country for many years, the national crisis has finally become public, reaching international news. Pray for the country's authorities as they work to find a quick, but long-lasting solution to this problem.

Praise God for the 128 students attending The Good Shepherd Baptist School in Santiago. God has blessed the school with incredible teachers who are making a positive impact in the students' lives as they also share the love of Christ.


Honduras
We are thankful for the good things God has done through the Philadelphia City Church team who went to Honduras in August. The team treated over 300 people from AFE School and the dump at their medical clinic. They also taught the students at AFE science lessons, including planting a garden, taught a VBS lesson on the parable of the soils, and fed over 200 people who live and work at the dump. To read the team's blog, click here.


India
Please pray for the people in Pune who are being affected by an outbreak of the swine flu. There is much fear and panic circulating in the area. Pray for the safety and protection of the children and staff at Santvana.

Pray for the people on the September India team who were not able to go and serve as planned because of the issues in Pune. Pray that God would give them clarity to see His sovereign hand at work.

Praise God for the ways He used the mission team from Hillsboro, Oregon last month. They served at Santvana AIDS Home and the Muneer orphanage for girls. To read about their trip, click here.


Russia
We are in the process of hiring a Christian social worker in St. Petersburg for the Orphan Graduate program. Pray for guidance and discernment as the Lord brings us who He would desire to fill this position.

Please Pray for
Sonaji in India
Sonaji (pictured above) is about 5 years old and is very sick. He was abandoned, found in a dump and left at the doorstep of Santvana Home in Pune, India this past February. He was brought by two social workers who left a letter stating his name and that he was HIV positive. There was no other information given regarding his family background, history, surname or date of birth.

Dr. Edwards, director of Santvana, and Uma Shankardas, Orphan Outreach India director, described that Sonaji was absolutely skin and bones with open sores and skin infections all over his emaciated body. He was in such pitiful condition that the staff had to literally peel off the clothing he had on. He came with only the clothes on his back. Finding clothes for him was difficult because he was tall, but as small as a six-month old baby.

When Sonaji first came to the home all he did was cry. He was not potty trained so the staff and kids were cleaning after him all the time. Dr. Edwards patiently nursed him back to health.

Sonaji has made a lot of progress since he first came to the home. However Dr. Edwards remains very concerned as his condition worsens. His AIDS virus is very advanced and he may only have weeks or even days left to live. For the past couple of months the staff at Santvana has taken him to the hospital to determine the extent of his condition, but doctors have never been able to draw enough blood to obtain a CD4 count. Unfortunately, no hospital will take him for anti-retroviral therapy (ART) until they have his CD4 report.

Even though he is eating well, he is still very weak. He is placed on a special diet where he eats every two to two and a half hours, which he enjoys and walks to Dr. Edwards' office if there is a delay of even fifteen minutes.

Praise God for rescuing this sweet boy and bringing him to Santvana. Pray for healing in Sonaji's life, that he would gain strength and weight as he only weighs about twenty-six pounds. Pray that Sonaji's hope and trust would rest in the Lord. Also pray for Dr. Edwards and the staff and children as they care for Sonaji.
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