Sending Your Love Around the Globe - Blessings Magazine – February 2022

OPERATION BLESSING

FEBRUARY 2022

Stories of how YOU help the hurting around the world.

Your Love Sending

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STANDING BY SURVIVORS LONG AFTER DISASTER STRIKES

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YOU RESPOND WITH COMPASSION TO DEADLY TORNADOES PA G E 1 0

THANK YOU FROM CHARITY! PA G E 1 6

Happenings

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Catch up with the goings-on at Operation Blessing!

Standing by Survivors Long After Disaster Strikes

You have offered continued relief to Haitians after an earthquake

You Respond with Compassion to Deadly Tornadoes

Thank you for reaching out following the string of storms in the Midwest

Inside this issue

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Sending Your Love Around the Globe

Love reaches Mexico through life-changing surgeries

Thank You from Charity!

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Schoolkids from a remote area of Kenya are grateful for your support

Your Love is a Beautiful Thing!

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Thank you for demonstrating your love

Love That Heals

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Health facility brings relief to residents in remote Peruvian community

operationblessing.org | 977 Centerville Turnpike, Virginia Beach, VA 23463 | (800) 730-2537 3

OPERATION BLESSING

HAPPENINGS TEXAS: Families in need receive free groceries during this time of inflation and supply chain challenges because friends like you care.

PERU: Schoolchildren in Peru send you their love and thanks by making Valentine cards for our Operation Blessing donors.

MEXICO: Community members in Rio Blanco are enjoying abundant fresh, clean water thanks to generous Operation Blessing friends like you.

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KENYA: In the village of Kimana, preschool children receive nutritious meals, clean water, and a great education because of you!

INDIA: Amazing partners like you worked together to raise the funds needed to give Sakshi the free surgery she desperately needed for her painful shoulder and spine abnormalities.

HAITI: Children in Haiti received help and hope during this difficult time of political unrest following an earthquake.

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HAITI

Standing by Survivors Long After Disaster Strikes

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ne of the most amazing things about our supporters is that friends like you stand with disaster victims—not only in the days right after a tragedy, but also for weeks, months, and in some cases even years to come!

When an earthquake struck Haiti last year, not only did you reach out immediately, but you continued to follow up with important aid as the victims worked to rebuild their lives.

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IMMEDIATE RESPONSE Our team on the ground in Haiti was able to begin reaching out with your love and support soon after the disaster struck. A sweet little boy (known as Junior) and his family were among the first to receive your compassionate care.

When their home crumbled, young Junior was trapped in the rubble. His father, Vincent, described the moment they realized he was missing. “My wife was screaming with fear. I went back

inside the house, and I saw the child on the floor. I ran to him.

He was covered with blood. I removed him from under the blocks and carried him out.”

With the entire nation in chaos, there seemed no way to get treatment for Junior as his wounds became infected. Then Operation Blessing showed up on the scene, thanks to you. The medical staff took wonderful care of the little boy. They treated him, washing and dressing his cuts, giving him a thorough checkup, and providing the medical supplies he needed. They also gave the family food and other urgently needed supplies.

Junior’s family was so grateful for your help.

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OVER THE NEXT WEEKS During the following weeks, the Operation Blessing Haiti team offered continued disaster relief, reaching out with food, hygiene and medical supplies, and clean water. They went to great lengths to offer support to remote, hardto-reach villages, providing over 10,000 pounds of food alone.

With your help, a team of international Operation Blessing aid workers also arrived in Haiti once travel was possible.

They joined with a group of doctors from the Israeli-based organization, NATAN

International Humanitarian Aid. Together these teams treated over 1,000 patients suffering from ailments like trauma, contusions, and stomach issues. They also provided chlorine generators and water filters at a time when clean water remained hard to come by.

The team continued to go to great lengths to reach people in need, including traveling by boat to a small island village.

As life began to normalize, you provided supplies to help get Haitian kids back into class following the tragedy. You gave hundreds of children school kits that included books, notebooks, pens, pencils, and backpacks. As Operation Blessing Haiti’s Health Manager, Dr. Jeny Dagust, said, “We are always here with a big heart to help the people.”

LONGTERM CARE Of course, long after a natural disaster strikes, the needs continue. Rebuilding can take months or even years as victims struggle to restore their lives, as well. And thanks to you, Operation Blessing continued to respond to these long-term needs.

Several months after the initial quake, a shipping container filled with food, hygiene products, and other disaster relief items arrived on Haitian shores to replenish our supplies and support ongoing relief efforts. You even helped to rebuild an orphanage school by providing the construction materials needed.

Pastor Jean Valcourt of the

orphanage said, “The school was broken. We didn’t have a place to receive the children.

And now we thank God because the Lord answered our prayers and you came to support us in Haiti. I really appreciate you.”

Despite the turmoil facing Haitians right now, with your partnership Operation Blessing continues to demonstrate God’s love to the people of Haiti. Thank you for being there in some of their darkest hours.

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MIDWEST

You Respond with Compassion to Deadly Tornadoes

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n one of the deadliest natural disasters to strike our nation in a long time, a string of powerful tornadoes swept through the Midwest in December. Nearly 100 precious souls, ranging in age from 2 months to 98 years, lost their lives due to the horrific storms.

Six states suffered damage, homes were ripped off foundations, and entire towns were left in ruins. Thanks to you, the Operation Blessing disaster response team quickly sprang into action.

One of the hardest-hit areas was Dawson Springs, Kentucky. When the tornado approached, one resident named Samantha grabbed her 7-year-old son, Kendell, and ran to a shower in their basement. “You could just hear the train coming,” she said. “We heard booms, and we heard crashes.”

But those frightening sounds were nothing compared to the chaotic sounds they heard once they emerged from their damaged home. Samantha said, “People were screaming. People were running. There was lightning.

It was pouring down rain.”

Everyone, including Samantha, was in a state of shock. The noise

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was so upsetting, she put noisecanceling headphones on her son to block out the sounds.

She said, “It’s been catastrophic. This is a small town, and everyone has known everybody. Everyone’s grandparents, great-grandparents grow up together. So this is just years and years of love and relationships being destroyed.”

We also met Denna, whose entire house was swept up in the storm, taking her two little dogs and all of her earthly belongings from her. One Operation Blessing staff member on the ground, Josh Blount, described the heartbreaking scene, saying, “It looked as though the neighborhood was thrown into a washing machine and then dumped back out onto the ground.”

These are the kinds of survivors that you sent help to following the storms. Compassionate friends like you provided food, water, diapers, tarps, cleaning items, and other vital disaster relief supplies.

Even more importantly, you gave hope and encouragement to these embattled souls.

“This is going to be for the long haul,” said OB President Gordon Robertson. “We want to be there for them in their time of need.”

“It means more than words ever could tell,” Denna told us.

“All these organizations, the churches, all the volunteers, you know I thank them from the bottom of my heart! And may God bless them.”

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MEXICO MEXICO

Your Love Sending

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t’s amazing to watch your love go around the globe and transform lives. Recently, you reached the people of Mexico in a new way. We conducted our first life-changing surgeries in that nation as we expanded this critical program to touch even more lives in the days to come.

One of our earliest patients here was sweet 6-year-old Hannia. Hannia had suffered from an inguinal hernia most of her life. She doesn’t remember a time before having to endure intense pain every few days. She couldn’t run, play, go to school, or even help her mother the way she wished she could.

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She lives in the small rural village of Cintalapa, where her parents work hard to try to provide for Hannia and her two brothers. As a farmer, her father earns about $5 a day, and her mother supplements the family’s income by baking and selling bread.

But all their hard work couldn’t stop Hannia’s pain.

Her mother recalled a particularly heartbreaking occasion. “One day Hannia was playing on the seesaw at school. The bell rang, so the boy on the other side stood up. She got hit where the hernia was located, and she started bleeding. The teachers called me.

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Your love reaches Mexico through life-changing surgeries

Cintalapa

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“When I saw Hannia, I started crying because she was writhing in pain. We took her to a clinic, and they didn’t give her anything ... because they didn’t have the medicine.

“Due to that and our economic situation, we had to take her out of kindergarten.”

Although her parents managed to save up to take her for an exam in a nearby city, it offered no real relief because they simply couldn’t afford the surgery that could relieve Hannia’s misery.

This is why it’s so exciting that, with your help, we’ve been able to expand our life-changing surgery program to Mexico—and that Hannia was one of the very first people we had the honor of helping God bless with a surgery in her country. you for your “I was so happy when I found compassion and out!” said Hannia’s mother. “I went to my mother and told her generosity my little girl will finally be okay.”

You can see by her big smile that Hannia now is doing great and enjoying life. She’s able to go to school, play, and ride her bike without fear of agonizing pain—all because you care!

As an Operation Blessing supporter, you are blessing people like Hannia around the globe by providing surgery for treatable conditions such as burn scars, tumors, cataracts, heart problems, cleft lips, and so much more. Through your love, you are truly changing and, in many cases, even saving lives.

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Thank You from

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Charity !

n many ways, sweet 7-year-old Charity might remind you of a child in your own life. Notice her bubbly smile and her glowing complexion. She can enjoy school, playing on a playground, and learning on hi-tech tablets. She’s able to greet the day with excitement and dream big dreams about her future.

However, in other significant ways, Charity’s life is very different. Her parents are considered peasant herders in her remote area of Kenya. They raise a

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KENYA

few animals to provide for Charity and her two siblings. She helps with chores around the house like gathering firewood and fetching drinking water.

Not many years ago, Charity might have had a very different sort of life.

Clean water would have been difficult to find. She might not have gotten the proper nutrition to give her that healthy complexion. And it would have been very difficult and dangerous for her to get an education. At that time, she would have needed to trek several miles through lands with dangerous animals to reach a school.

Because of that, most families kept their younger children at home.

Today, thanks to friends like you, Charity and the other young children in her area have a school to attend for free, much closer to

home. Through the school, they and their families have access to clean water.

The children also receive nutritious food twice a day while at school!

At this early childhood development school in Loitokitok, children have toys, swing sets, and slides to keep their active little bodies busy and fit. They also have access to electronic tablets for learning languages and listening to stories.

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Charity and her classmates are so grateful to friends like you. She drew a special thank you sign to let you know how much she appreciates Operation Blessing’s supporters, as well a picture of an antelope for you, which is native to her area.

In addition to her gratitude for her beautiful school, she sent this heartfelt message, “Thank you for a warm meal and clean drinking water.”

Partners like you have provided incredible support

to Charity, her parents, and all the families in that area.

Thank you so much for reaching out with love and compassion to change and enrich lives around the world.

We see your kindness, and Charity has the opportunity to experience it every day.

YOUR LOVE IS A

beautiful thing “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40

God bless you for demonstrating your love by reaching out to poor and hurting people!

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PERU

Love That Heals HEALTH FACILITY BRINGS RELIEF TO RESIDENTS IN REMOTE PERUVIAN COMMUNITY

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n a remote area of Peru called San Jeronimo de Ullagachi, Milagros lives with her parents and three older siblings. Her family, like many in the community, earns a living through agriculture. Her father, Diomedes, works hard to raise cattle to sell and provide for his children.

Milagros loves to help take care of the livestock after she has completed her schoolwork for the day. However, anytime she falls ill, it has been difficult for her to get the care she needs to continue helping her family and keep up with her studies.

The nearest city, Puno, is almost 30 minutes away by car and over an hour away by foot. Sadly, when community members like Milagros became sick and needed medical attention, they were forced to make the hard trek to Puno to get help. “When I got sick, I had to go by motorcycle to the health center. Sometimes my dad took me Continued on page 22

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or my brothers, but it was far away,” Milagros explained to Operation Blessing staff. And while they had a motorcycle, many needed to walk, even when ill or injured.

Although having no local access to proper medical care was an ongoing issue for the people of San Jeronimo, help was on the way—thanks to your loving heart. Operation Blessing staff members heard of the hardship residents endured and knew you would want to make a difference. Soon, a nearby building was renovated and turned into a health center for poor and hurting families to receive free medical care and access to medicine on a monthly basis. Recently, Milagros was able to receive treatment at the new facility.

“I got sick—I had phlegm, sore throat, cough, my head hurt,” Milagros said. “I had a stomachache. For two days I was in bed.”

After a medical examination, health personnel diagnosed Milagros with acute bronchitis. Fortunately, she was given medication for her treatment. “When I got sick, I just had to walk to go to the nearby health center. They gave me syrups and pills.”

Because of the kindness of Operation Blessing donors, Milagros and her entire community no longer have to travel great distances to receive care when they are sick.

Milagros’ father, Diomedes, is grateful for the love you have shown to his family and community. “I thank you very much.

Thank you for supporting us all. You are supporting people in need.”

Thank you for your heart to share God’s love by bringing hope and healing to those that need it most.

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THE OF YOUR LEGACY

God’s Word encourages us to fix our eyes on the things that endure.

A legacy is something tangible you place in the hands of others— something that lives on. Your legacy will not only be about what you leave behind, it could provide the reward of sharing eternity with those you helped.

Today we’d like to invite you to join our Lasting Legacy Society!

Through a simple beneficiary designation to Operation Blessing in your will or estate plan, you partner with our mission to provide hope and help to suffering families, transforming lives. A planned gift to OB can provide help to desperate parents so they’ll be able to feed their hungry children, emergency relief to those devastated by disaster, medical care and clean water to communities facing disease and drought, and much more.

If you’ve included Operation Blessing in your will, trust, or other beneficiary designation, please let us know. We’d love to officially add you to our Lasting Legacy Society. And more importantly, we want to make sure you’re thanked today and your legacy is honored tomorrow.

BENEFICIARY DESIGNATIONS SHOULD MENTION THE FOLLOWING: Name: Address:

Tax ID:

Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Planned Giving, CSB 112 977 Centerville Turnpike Virginia Beach, VA 23463 54-1382657

For more information, call Planned Giving at 800-333-2373, email PlannedGiving@OB.org, or visit OB.org/plannedgiving 2323

Thank you

for sending your love to people in need.

Together, we can continue mending broken hearts and lives in the new year. ob.org/give

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977 Centerville Turnpike Virginia Beach, VA 23463 Copyright © 2022 by Operation Blessing

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