OPERATION BLESS ING INTERNATIONALSEPTEMBER 2015

Blessingsoperationblessing.org

Cuban Pastors Holding

onto Hope Operation Blessing helps struggling

pastors run their own businesses and provide for their families

{ P A G E 8 }

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A Message from THE PRESIDENT

Bill visits a project in Cuba where Operation Blessing is helping pastors with small businesses and meets Alex, an artist.

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We are always looking for better ways to help impoverished people

become more self-reliant and break generational cycles of poverty. One

of the most effective strategies that we've found is promoting

"microenterprise" and helping jumpstart tiny businesses.

A few months ago, I was in Cuba and met with a group of enthusiastic

pastors. They each had jobs that paid around $60 per month, over double the

national average, but far short of a decent living let alone enough to expand their

ministries. The Cuban government recently made it legal for individuals to own

businesses, so each pastor had started a tiny business on the side with the hope

that it would earn enough to enable them to better serve their congregations.

They each had a well-thought-out business plan, but lacked capital to really get it

rolling.

One pastor was raising pigs, but lacked $2,000 to build a proper pig house and

pay for a larger crop of baby pigs. Another was a leather craftsman who sewed

everything by hand and needed $300 for a foot-operated sewing machine. Two

pastors had joined hands and started a cement block business, but needed $3,500

to buy used production machinery. A gifted artist needed $1,100 to buy a special

copy machine that prints on cloth so he could reproduce his small paintings for the

tourist market. Two pastors were starting a restaurant and needed $3,500 for

kitchen renovation and building repair.

After many hours of discussion and number crunching, we made the cash

grants on the spot. I am thrilled to report that several months later every single

new business is on track and will soon be yielding earnings that will benefit the

pastors and the families they serve. By partnering with OBI, you have answered the

prayers of believers in Cuba. Please help us answer more prayers in more places.

May God bless you,

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A Message from THE PRESIDENT 4 Medical Aid for Angie When Juana’s daughter became severely ill, she sought help from an Operation Blessing community health worker

6 Tuition for Tankiso A young boy is able to complete his education thanks to Operation Blessing partners

11 Be a Blessing Put your gift into Godly action more quickly and more effectively than ever before!

12 Boots Help Children Stay in School Operation Blessing teams deliver TOMS Winter Boots to school children in the highlands of Peru

14 Food for a Struggling Mom An Operation Blessing-supported food pantry provides help and hope for a single mother of four

Inside this issue Cover PAGE 8

Cuban Pastors Holding onto Hope Operation Blessing helps struggling pastors run their own businesses and provide for their families

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HONDURAS

Medical Aid for Angie

When Juana’s daughter became severely ill, she sought help from an Operation

Blessing community health worker

When seven-year-old Angie came down with severe illness, her mother worried that she might not survive. The intense vomiting and diarrhea could be a lethal combination for

children in their remote mountain village.

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Juana prayed, “My God, do not let my child die.”Without any sort of transportation, it would have required a three hour

walk down the mountain to get to the nearest health center — a distance too far for such a sick child.

But a friend told Juana about a com-munity health worker in their village who had been trained by Operation Blessing to recognize and treat common illnesses.

“I had faith in God that she would be able to help me,” Juana said.

It was the middle of the night, but Juana and her husband lifted Angie into their arms and rushed her through the community to the trained health promoter, Rosita.

Rosita was able to give little Angie medicine to stop the vomiting and diarrhea, preventing her from becoming any more dehydrated. Within a few days, the little girl was recovered and fit to play with her friends once again.

“Without Operation Blessing’s help, my daughter might have died,” Juana said. “Thanks for all you do for people in need.”

Identifying a need for healthcare in poor and rural communities in Honduras, Operation Blessing developed a community health worker program to train volunteers like Rosita in the detection of diseases as well as basic health care for children and care for women to reduce maternal and child mortality rates. They also receive training in health and nutrition, infectious diseases, tuberculosis, chronic non-communicable diseases, and others. ◆

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A young boy is able to complete his education thanks to Operation Blessing partners

LESOTHO

Tuition for Tankiso

When both of Tankiso’s* parents died, he and his four siblings went to live with their grandmother, but she was very sick and as the oldest, he was now responsible for

taking care of the family. During his last years of high school, Tankiso had to take whatev-

er jobs he could find so his younger siblings would have something to eat, but as a result, his grades became so low that he was told he would have to repeat grades 11 and 12 if he wanted to receive his diploma and qualify for any further education or vocational schools.

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With a 40 percent unemployment rate in Lesotho, there are very few job opportunities for those who haven’t graduated high school,

but Tankiso was determined to build a better future for himself and his siblings, so he diligently worked doing odd jobs to raise the funds he needed to go back to school.

After he had saved up as much as he could, Tankiso went to Faith Foundation, an Operation Blessing-supported organization aimed at helping

vulnerable children out of poverty, and asked the program director for help with the remaining school supplies he needed but could not afford.

Thanks in part to OBI’s partnership, Faith Foundation was able to provide Tankiso with enough funds to cover all of his school costs so he could keep what he had earned to take care of his family and focus on his school work. Tankiso now has the opportunity to pursue a better life for his family.

This year, more than 100 vulnerable children in Lesotho received shoes, coats, backpacks and tuition to stay in school thanks to the generous support of Operation Blessing partners like you. ◆*Name changed and photo not shown to protect identity

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Operation Blessing partners helped provide shoes, coats, backpacks and tuition for more than 100 vulnerable children.

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CUBA

Operation Blessing helps struggling pastors run their own businesses and

provide for their families

Thanks to Operation Blessing partners, Kendry is now able to expand his farm to raise more pigs and other livestock.

Cuban Pastors Holding onto Hope

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P astoring a congregation is a difficult job that requires a lot of time and effort — two things that pastors in central Cuba are very familiar with. In Cuba, the position

is traditionally not a paid one, so many pastors work one or even two other jobs so that they can provide for their families as they take on the responsibility of leading a church.

Pastors like Kendry, who leads a small congregation in the Matanzas region, struggle to generate enough income to properly care for their families and shepherd their communities.

And while many of these men already have well-constructed business plans for a variety of different ventures, until recently, they lacked the resources to see their vision become reality.

Operation Blessing is partnering with Kendry and other pastors in the region to provide

the support they need to launch and grow their businesses. “We are excited about these [partnerships] because we are empower-

ing the church in Cuba,” said OBI president Bill Horan. “By empowering these pastors and giving them the resources they don’t have yet, they will be able to leverage that investment so they can devote their full time

Guillermo helps Pastor Kendry run the pig farm.

Cuban Pastors Holding onto Hope

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to being a pastor and preaching the Gospel.”

OBI teams helped Kendry construct a pig enclosure and purchase livestock to kick start a large pig farm, an endeavor that will greatly increase his in-come and help meet the needs of his family and his church body.

Alex, another pastor that is receiving support, is an artist. He was given a special printer that enables him to easily replicate his work for the tour-ism industry as well as the funds to rent a stall at a large tourist market to

help sell his paintings. A team also purchased the necessary equipment and supplies to set up a concrete block business for two other pastors — a business that will do very well in light of the booming construc-tion industry in their area.

“Their lives are definitely dif-ferent now,” said David Darg, OBI’s vice president of international

operations. “They are all at different stages of success so far. Alex has seen his income almost triple, which is a huge help for him to be able to sup-port his family, and others are just getting started but are grateful having already seen increases in their income.”

Thanks to Operation Blessing, these men are now able to provide for their families and spend more time pastoring their congregations, bringing hope to their communities and reach-ing the lost. ◆ A leatherworking pastor stitches baseballs.

Ariel now has the ability to make cinderblocks for the booming construction business.

Alex is now able to produce more paintings and sell them to tourists.

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Be a Blessing

Did you know that Club Bless, Operation Blessing’s monthly

giving program, is specially designed to put every gift, large or small, into Godly action more quickly and more effectively than ever before?

Learn more at ob.org/clubbless.

–– CLUB BLESS –– Monthly President’s Circle $500 Bless-The-Greatest-Need 250 Bless-A-Village 100 Bless-A-Family 50 Bless-A-Life 25

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As part of a special renovation project for two schools in the highlands of Peru, Operation Blessing teams distributed TOMS Winter Boots to children in need.

The preschool and high school — the only ones in this region — were housed in an old building that was literally falling apart. The adobe

PERU

Boots Help Children

Operation Blessing teams deliver TOMS Winter Boots to school children in the highlands of Peru

Stay in School

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mud walls were crumbling and the lack of windows made learning difficult in the dim, dusty interior.

Operation Blessing teams constructed new classrooms for the children, where they can learn and thrive in a bright and safe environment.

To help the children continue attending school as the weather turns cold in the high altitudes of Peru, Operation Blessing also measured each child for a brand new pair of warm TOMS Winter Boots. The boots will protect their small feet as they walk to school each day. ◆

Boots Help Children

One of two brand new classrooms for these preschoolers.

Stay in School

The disintegrating and cold school when OBI arrived.

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TENNESSEE

An Operation Blessing-supported food pantry provides help and hope

for a single mother of four

Since her husband left, Janette has struggled to provide for her four growing children. She lives with a friend to help make ends meet, but she’s been unable to find a job that also allows

her to take care of her two-year-old son Ceberino.

Food for a Struggling Mom

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Friends and family have chipped in to help Janette get through, but her finances have dwindled and it became harder and harder to put food on the table. It wasn’t long before her boys, Ernesto, 10, Isaac, 6, Marcus, 5, and little Ceberino, were going to bed hungry.

Then Janette learned about an Operation Blessing-supported food pantry near her home in Tennessee. Seeking help for her children, she attended a food distribution. There she received enough food and supplies to fill her pantry for a month.

“They are a blessing,” Janette said of the food pantry. “I trust in God and I believe that God brought me to them. They have helped us so much.”

Operation Blessing has partnered with the Generous House food pantry to serve hundreds of families in need every week. With

help from OBI, Generous House is also able to provide bags of food — including fruits, pastas, snacks and more — to nearly 3,000 elementary students every week.

“We’re so grateful for all that

Operation Blessing does,” said director Joe Carson. “Because of our partnership with Operation Blessing, we can not only meet a physi-cal need, but we can re-build a community.” ◆

Staff and volunteers pack bags of food for families in need.

Families wait in line at Generous House food pantry.

Food for a Struggling Mom

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Copyright © 2015 by Operation Blessing International, P.O. Box 2636, Virginia Beach, VA 23450. For more information, call (800) 730-2537 or visit our website at operationblessing.org

Global illiteracy is a pressing crisis affecting 130 million children around the world.* Will you help children trapped in a cycle of functional illiteracy and poverty?

Visit operationblessing.org to help today.*UN World Youth Report 2005

A school in shambles. Would you send your child here?