For the past two weeks we have been sharing a series of inspiring stories and videos as part of our annual partnership drive. As you reflect on these stories, consider joining our efforts and renewing your support as an Operation Blessing Monthly Partner.

KENYA – Little Lekini’s name means “small and weak.” And it was a fitting name.

Abandoned by his mother at a tender age, Lekini never received proper nutrition or care. At the age of three, he was severely emaciated, weighing only 17 pounds.

When Operation Blessing teams found Lekini, he was malnourished, covered in flies and so hungry that he was eating dirt. They immediately brought him food and vitamins, and took him to a local hospital where he received urgent medical care.

Today, thanks to the help of partners like you, Lekini is thriving. He has nutritious food to eat, proper medical care, and he even started preschool.

He is doing so well that the name Lekini no longer fits him. Now he is called Baraka, meaning “blessing.”

“It truly is a blessing that he has survived,” said Hellen Omae, OB Kenya staff.

Today you can begin having an impact like this on even more orphans like Baraka. Will you to live your faith in 2012 by partnering with Operation Blessing and committing to bless the poor in the coming year?

For two weeks we are sharing a series of inspiring stories and videos as part of our annual partnership drive. As you reflect on these stories, consider joining our efforts and renewing your support as an Operation Blessing Monthly Partner.

GUATEMALA – Elsa lost nearly everything she loved in only a few short months.

A tropical storm flooded her home, destroying all of her family’s possessions and the house itself. After salvaging what they could, her family moved to a new area. There they set up a small store for Elsa to run, supplementing their depleted income.

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Then, her husband became sick and their entire income went to medicine and treatment. Tragically, he passed away soon after. In the middle of everything else, Elsa lost her little store.

Her oldest son works hard to provide for their family, but with six younger siblings, his income isn’t enough to make ends meet.

Then Elsa received an unexpected blessing—Operation Blessing gave her the supplies she needed to open her store again.

Now, Elsa is back in business. Her store sells small necessity items to the community, along with snacks, sodas and candy. It brings in enough income to make ends meet and provide for her children.

Even better, the store is near her home, so she is there to care for her littlest ones even while she is working. And some of her children like to help out at the store, like 12-year-old Dina. “I learn the prices by memory to help our customers,” she said proudly.

Today you can begin having an impact like this on even more families like Elsa’s. Will you to live your faith in 2012 by partnering with Operation Blessing and committing to bless the poor in the coming year?

For two weeks we are sharing a series of inspiring stories and videos as part of our annual partnership drive. As you reflect on these stories, consider joining our efforts and renewing your support as an Operation Blessing Monthly Partner.

CAMBODIA – Like all expecting parents, Chan and her husband looked forward to the day their baby would be born with excitement and anticipation.

But when their son was born with a cleft lip, their excitement turned to worry about their little boy’s future.

Chan knew the societal shame that her precious son would face at school and even among their neighbors. It was unlikely that little Sokarn would be accepted in the community like other children.

Chan learned that surgery could correct the cleft, but as rice farmers, Chan and her husband simply didn’t have the funds to pay for the procedure.

Then Chan was told about Operation Blessing’s cleft lip and palate program and she brought her little boy to meet the OBI team in Phnom Penh.

There, he received corrective surgery at no cost to his family.

Today, Sokarn has a beautiful smile and a bright future ahead of him. Chan couldn’t be more excited for her baby.

“Sokarn will live without shame as he grows up,” she said. “Thank you!”

Today you can begin having an impact like this on the lives of more children like Sokarn. Will you to live your faith in 2012 by partnering with Operation Blessing and committing to bless the poor in the coming year?

Over the next two weeks we’ll be sharing a series of inspiring stories and videos as part of our annual partnership drive. As you reflect on these stories, consider joining our efforts and renewing your support as an Operation Blessing Monthly Partner.

HONDURAS – Four times a day, Yenny descends a steep mountain slope from her village to collect water from their only source—a natural spring. But it isn’t the trip down the mountain that is so grueling; it’s the climb back up.

Yenny lifts a heavy 5-gallon bucket of water onto her head before she makes the climb. Over time her task has caused back pain, headaches, and soreness in her feet and arms. But Yenny had no other option—her family needed water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and more. Her brothers worked all day to provide for the family, and her aging mother could no longer make the trek, so the task fell to Yenny.

Her village had collected water at the same source for more than 100 years. Yenny thought that someday her children would have to do the same.

But all of that changed when Operation Blessing came to her village.

The team from OB Honduras offered Yenny’s village an innovative solution—a pump system to bring the water up the mountain to the village. Even better, the team installed faucets in each house in Yenny’s village—bringing running water right into their homes.

“That day, I jumped for joy,” Yenny said. “It made me so happy. Thanks, Operation Blessing, you’ve made our dream come true.”

Today you can begin having an impact like this in communities like Yenny’s around the world. Will you to live your faith in 2012 by partnering with Operation Blessing and committing to bless the poor in the coming year?

HAITI – Two years ago, a devastating earthquake ripped through the nation of Haiti—changing it forever. Since then, so many of you have made such a significant impact in these communities that we wanted to share just a few of the things your support has accomplished over the last two years.

• Clean Water – At the height of our relief efforts, 35 water purification units provided safe drinking water to more than 100,000 people…every day. We also drilled more than 30 wells and have been producing and distributing enough chlorine to hospitals and orphanages to disinfect millions of gallons of drinking water each day.

• Medical Care – When the quake hit, you helped us ship millions of dollars worth of medicine to Haiti. A few months later, we were among the first responders to the deadly cholera outbreak. We also distributed more than 3,000 wheelchairs to those in need and constructed a new surgical unit and emergency facility at St. Luke’s Family Hospital.

• Food Distribution – Immediately following the earthquake, we shipped cargo containers of emergency food supplies to feed hundreds of orphans, children, and families in need. Today, we are giving poverty-stricken families a source of income and high protein food source through fish farms.

• Orphan Care – We joined hands with Partners in Health to open Zanmi Beni Children’s Home for orphans and special needs children. Today we are continuing to improve the home through a new dormitory and even growing tilapia to provide a source of protein for the children.

In 2012, we are looking ahead to even more exciting initiatives for Haiti including being able to significantly increase the number of wells we can build each year thanks to the purchase of a new well drilling rig.

We humbly thank you for your compassion for the people of Haiti and the suffering around the world.

GUATEMALA – Orphaned at a young age, Juan and Joseline have been living with their grandparents in an impoverished area of Guatemala.

But when a tropical storm hit their community this year, floodwaters tore their home apart, destroying everything they owned—and leaving them with only the clothes on their back.

The family desperately needed a safe, sturdy home to live in, but the little income the grandfather earned was barely enough to provide food for the family.

All over the world there are children and families like Juan and Joseline’s in desperate need of food, shelter, medical care and more. But thanks to faithful friends like you, Juan, Joseline and their family now have the hope of a better life and a brighter future.

Operation Blessing teams built them a brand new, sturdy home in a better community—giving them a precious gift they could never have afforded on their own.

“Today we woke up in our new home, we are very happy!” said the children.

CHINCHA & HUAYCAN, Peru – This year OB Peru held a special Christmas program to benefit impoverished children. With the help of volunteers from a local church, Operation Blessing provided more than 1,500 children with a Christmas breakfast, a show, food baskets for their families, and even special Christmas gifts. Additionally, the children were given a free dental check-up.

GEORGIA – As a member of the disaster relief team, the gift-giving season is always upon us. We were in Atlanta during the flooding, in a community helping to see if we could help families or offer our assistance in any way. There was a gentleman, Mr. Willie Hunt, who was walking up the street just in despair.

I walked up to him and said, “Hey sir, how are you? My name is Clifton and I work with Operation Blessing. We’re in the neighborhood just trying to see if anyone needs any help. How can we be of assistance to you?”

As he looked at me and just said, “You know, I want to pack up and take the little bit I have left and just leave.”

So, the only thing I could think to say was, “Well, Mr. Willie sometimes you never know where your blessings going to come from. So just hang in there.”

This family did a lot of giving of themselves, they served the homeless, they clothed the homeless, they drove around in their vehicles making sure people had food and warm clothing. That family showed the true meaning of giving and caring.

Looking back at the story behind Mr. Willie’s family and their house getting flooded, their goal was, no matter what has happened to us, we still need to feed these people who need our help.

Time passed and things started to happen. I noticed that his name kept coming up on our list–we need to really reach out and touch this family.

We took upon ourselves to help. The teams came in and we revitalized their home. It became a special project. Everyone was involved in this project and everyone wanted to be a part of it and make it something special. And, to me, the emotions from the Extreme Home Makeovers and the blessings and the feeling of knowing that someone gave us the opportunity to help someone else…

I have actually personally gone back to Atlanta to visit with Mr. Willie, and they are doing twice as much as they were before we even knew them or before they told us their story.

For me, I will always look back at those moments and say, “Wow, I really did something with my life in helping other people.”

NORTH CAROLINA – A couple of days ago I heard on the radio that more hugs are delivered during the Christmas season then any other time of the year and I thought to myself, what message does a hug say? Verbally it may say nothing, however, when there’s an embrace and when there’s an outreach to others, it gives the message of great value.

And it reminds me of a recent trip that I made down to the foothills of North Carolina where we visited one of our partners, Victory Outreach, in Marion. It was an opportunity for us to be able to see all they do for people in their community who are going without food. It’s an opportunity for them to have a hot meal.

One time I watched a lady change a tablecloth after just one family. So I went up to her and asked, “Why did you change the tablecloth just after one family has visited? Surely can’t be that dirty.”

She said, “No, actually, the tablecloth is one of our messages that we give to each one that sits at the table, to show them how much value they have and what their life means to us.”

I was so taken back by that, I actually had to sit down.

When you look at the full circle of care that goes all the way from the donated product, into the transportation system and then right to the areas of need, it allows us the very privilege to be used to bring hope and to be used to bring that message of care to people who are absolutely desperate. We thank our donors that we are able to do that because of them.

During this holiday season it’s vital that we touch the lives of those who are hurting. It’s an opportunity that we have not only to demonstrate in a tangible way by delivering the food, but also in that full circle of compassion that we are able to provide because of our donors. We’re able to give them the message that their lives are highly valued, and that we don’t want them give up, we don’t want them to lose hope. We want them to know how much we care.

HAITI – About a year ago I had a chance to meet a little girl from Haiti, her name is Adianne.

Adianne was first brought to us because she had a severe bone infection and she also had sickle cell anemia. So, the combination of the two really put her at very high-risk for more infections and may possibly even lead to amputation of her arm.

Operation Blessing responded and through the collaboration of a local hospital here in Norfolk, VA, Adianne received intensive therapy and even surgery to clean up her infection and to help treat her sickle cell anemia.

I really had a chance over those eight weeks to go to the hospital almost every single day. And to also see her throughout the eight weeks that she was here.

Typically, we don’t bring kids to the United States to receive care. Typically, we go in and do things in country. So it really created a new experience for me personally–to get to know Adianne on a totally different level than I am normally able to with kids in other countries.

I actually helped fly them back home to Haiti. I remember being in the airport, taking pictures with my camera and showing her the pictures. It was just so cool to be able to see her change from the shy little girl who was sick, who was anemic, who was malnourished, to someone who had grown three inches in eight weeks and felt a lot better. She was even was speaking English to me.

Adianne’s life really was transformed by the care she received through these medical treatments. And even when she was able to return to Haiti, we were able to help transition her and her family, help provide him with a better place to live. We were able to help her go back to school and continue to learn English.

I’m just so thankful for the donors that have allowed us to impact people like Adianne, to really provide them with life transformations.