March 2024 Blessings Magazine

Inside this issue

12

You Are Making a World of Difference

Clean water creates a new future for communities in need

Happenings

Catch up with the goings-on at Operation Blessing!

4 6 10

Warm Beds, Warmer Hearts

A story of rebuilding thanks to you

Hope for Traumatized Victims of War

HAPPENINGS

COSTA RICA: Thanks to people like you, children in Costa Rica have received proper eye examinations and customized prescription eyeglasses.

NIGERIA: Your compassion is providing a much needed lifechanging surgery for David in Nigeria to remove a swollen mass from his back.

MEXICO: Thanks to your love and support, Operation Blessing provided families in Mexico with rainwater harvesting systems, which can store 1320 gallons of safely filtered drinking water per family.

UNITED STATES: Thanks to people like you, Operation Blessing was on the ground in storm-stricken areas like Alabama and Florida, providing disaster relief to tornado victims.

UKRAINE: Because of your generosity, victims of war in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions received fuel briquettes to keep their homes warm during Ukraine’s freezing winter months.

PERU: Your faithful support allowed Operation Blessing to carry out local school programs in Peru, providing education about raising chickens to students and their parents.

Warm Beds, Warmer Hearts

For some, the sound of rain coming down outside is calming and therapeutic. The aroma of food cooking stimulates the senses and brings forth comforting thoughts.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the

case for Rajab and his family living in a quiet village in eastern Kenya.

While Kenyans in other areas of the country suffered debilitating drought, the harsh reality for Rajab was that when it rained outside, he had to improvise a way to keep the water from pouring into his home. At night, the cold would seep inside, chilling their bones. This dilapidated old house was a testament to their trials.

“The roof had a lot of holes, and it leaked a lot when it rained,” Rajab told us. “It was usually very cold inside the house. That’s why I tried to patch the holes with pieces of sacks and such things.”

This is how Rajab and his family lived before you came along to help them.

But that wasn’t the only problem. “Sometimes the smoke from the open kitchen became too much—it filled the house and made the children stay outside in the dark at night,” added Rajab’s wife. “So, I couldn’t cook during the evening, and that was very inconvenient. The smoke irritated the children’s eyes, so they kept rubbing and hurting their eyes.”

Rajab faced a heartbreaking dilemma. Should he put education first and pay fees associated with his children’s schooling? Or would it be better to put what little money he earned toward repairing their home? Despite his desperate attempts to find work, he simply couldn’t afford both.

You were like a miracle, when you entered their lives through Operation Blessing. With the help of a housing project, Rajab’s family received a new home—a haven of comfort and joy. The new house is a source of warmth, a relief from the cold they had grown accustomed to. The holes in the roof are gone, replaced by a sturdy, leak-free covering.

Proper ventilation in their new kitchen has banished the

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A story of rebuilding thanks to you

smoke that once filled their house. Rajab’s children now have their very own bedroom, a space they cherish thanks to you.

“One of the best things about this new house is, it is very warm,” said Rajab’s wife. “We have a new kitchen, so we don’t suffer from the smoke anymore. My children can study comfortably; there is no more smoke to irritate their eyes! My children are really happy about their bedroom. They are proud of it, and they have fun in their room. They are very happy because they are sleeping in a warm room and in nice beds!”

Thanks to the outpouring of kindness from friends like you, Rajab and his family have a safe

shelter that protects them from the harsh elements and even came with a rainwater catchment system to provide clean water.

“Thank you so much,” exclaimed a relieved Rajab, who had carried the weight of this struggle for years. “May God bless you and prosper you!”

You also helped them via a goat-rearing project that provides extra income for the family. Rajab’s family was forever changed by your act of compassion. As they gathered around their living room for a cup of tea, they knew that despite life’s challenges, their journey was now illuminated by the light of your love and support.

Rajab’s family was forever changed

ALL PRAISE TO GOD, THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. IT IS BY HIS GREAT MERCY THAT WE HAVE BEEN BORN AGAIN , BECAUSE GOD RAISED JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. NOW WE LIVE WITH GREAT EXPECTATION.

1

Peter 1:3 NLT

You’re giving physical and emotional aid to those suffering in Israel

HOPE

Traumatized Victims of War for

Jovelle is alone now—because terrorists took her husband’s life. “He didn’t even see our son,” she said, weeping. “It was only three weeks before my due date.”

On October 7, Hamas militants invaded Israel near the Gaza Strip, brutally murdering civilians without mercy. One of their victims was Jovelle’s husband, a Filipino national named Paul. And she received the heart-wrenching

news just before she was about to give birth to their son.

“It’s been a long time since we dreamed of having a child— ten years,” shared Jovelle as she spoke with an Operation Blessing counselor.

“At first, I didn’t believe it. I said that I wanted to see my husband— they only showed me pictures. He was unrecognizable,” she said, wiping away her tears. “I only

identified him through his tattoo, which is my name.”

Now, Jovelle will try her best to raise their new son without him.

But she hasn’t been alone through this experience—because friends like you are there. Operation Blessing helped provide trauma counseling to assist Jovelle in processing her grief. And she received special love and comfort from our team on the ground, who also happened to be from her home nation of the Philippines.

Our relief teams and CBN Israel have been working together since the war began to help some of the nearly 2 million people who have fled the conflict zone in Israel. When war broke out suddenly all around them, families like Jovelle’s had no choice but to flee for their lives. They had no

time to pack; they just had to run.

Today, our team is working with displaced people in the city of Eilat, four hours from Jerusalem. There, we’ve been providing families with shelter in local hotels along with food, clean water, and hygiene supplies. And for the traumatized souls who are willing, we’ve offered psychological support.

Jovelle opened her heart to us, and we responded with encouragement and a warm embrace. You also provided diapers, formula, milk, and other baby supplies to help her have a great start with her new baby. Our team was able to rejoice with her to see the new life God brought out of such darkness and pain. And we’re thankful to you for your part in it.

Filipinos and Israelis have shared a close relationship ever since the Philippines sheltered Jews fleeing the Holocaust many decades ago.

You Are Making a World of Difference

Did you know that through your partnership with Operation Blessing you are making a world of difference?

All around the world, you are changing lives every day, and one of the amazing ways you’re doing this is through clean water introduce you to a few of the people who’ve had their lives transformed thanks to your love and care.

TRANSFORMING THE LIVES OF SCHOOL CHILDREN

The struggle to access water—even dirty water—is common in rural villages around the world. Without a reliable supply of water, entire families remain entrenched in poverty, unable to focus on anything except basic survival. But your generosity is reaching into mountain valleys, jungles, and deserts to make a difference for generations to come.

Tucked away in the remote mountains of Costa Rica, children like Geovania (age 11) walk for up to an hour through the Palmera Indigenous Reserve just to get to school. The path is rocky. Many children have to cross

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Operation Blessing donors provided a rain catchment system that could collect and store more than 5,000 gallons of rainwater. Enough water would then be cleaned, filtered, and pumped to the school to cover

for her family and animals. During the rainy season, the ground became slick, and the water she brought home was full of silt.

The journey was tiring and difficult, but Neelmuni didn’t ask for help. Her husband, frequently weakened by tuberculosis, wasn’t strong enough to travel, and Neelmuni insisted her two sons focus on their education.

When your love supplied a water pump for Neelmuni’s community, she couldn’t contain her joy. Neelmuni would no longer have to make the long journey to the river several times each day, and her sons would never have to endure what she did to access water for their own families someday.

Clean water means life and health for villages in need.

After natural disasters, clean water is often the most pressing need.

OFFERING COMFORT TO THOSE IN NEED

After a deadly earthquake struck Morocco, families in small villages struggled to climb out of the rubble and rebuild their lives. Residents like Khadija were afraid to drink the water for fear that it might have become contaminated.

Your generous support brought much-needed food, tents, clothing, and hygiene supplies to the suffering people in Morocco. But you didn’t stop there. Your kindness also alleviated Khadija’s fears by providing portable water filters. These people no longer have to worry about drinking dirty water, thanks to you!

Thank you for giving clean water.

A Smile

MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Although he was her second child, Lak Sopheap was not prepared for his birth. It should have been such a joy. But when she first saw Thaina, her smile turned to tears. He had a severe cleft lip that stretched up to his nose. She held the child in her arms and promised that she would try to help him recover.

You granted a family’s wish for their baby boy

But that promise, sadly, proved impossible to keep. Lak Sopheap couldn’t work. She had to take care of the children. Her husband earned less than $9 a day at construction jobs—when they were available. At other times, he helped local farmers tend their cassava fields, but he only got paid at harvest time. Money was always a worry, and milk was expensive.

Now that they had an extra mouth to feed, how would she help her baby boy? Thankfully, an answer came through friends like you!

Thaina the surgery he needed, but the family simply couldn’t afford it. “I just want to see my son smile again.” Still, she kept hoping that one day a miracle would happen. And it did! Thanks to the kindness of Operation Blessing family members like you, Thaina was able to get the life-changing surgery he needed. Within a few weeks, he was able to eat better and even smile.

For six months, Lak Sopheap struggled to care for her son. His cleft lip made feeding time a constant battle. Milk escaped through the infant’s nose and lips—milk they couldn’t afford to waste. In addition, Thaina was not able to get the nutrition he desperately needed as a growing baby. If not repaired soon, his condition could become life-threatening.

Thank you

The family is relieved, and also thankful that Thaina will receive cleft palate surgery when the time is right. “We are happy, and every time I look at my face, I always have a smile.”

Lak Sopheap longed to get

Friends just like you are making a difference in the lives of people around the world through our Life-Changing Surgeries program. These surgeries relieve the financial burden from families in remote areas who can’t afford medical care and give them the chance to thrive. Their smiles make all the difference!

Making a Home with Help from New Friends

Hard times can prove challenging for any family, even more so for those who have recently relocated far away from their family and friends.

That’s what Nicole and her husband, Oscar, discovered when they moved recently to Norfolk, Virginia. Since the move, finances have been tight for their small family. Oscar takes on whatever construction jobs he can find, and he’s pretty versatile. “I do everything I can,” he said, “from building a house to electrical. Everything.”

Nevertheless, Nicole told us, “It’s hard to make ends meet. After

bills are paid, it’s hard to find the funds to get food.”

So she was delighted to hear about the food bank at nearby New Hope Christian Community Center, an Operation Blessing partner organization that you help keep supplied. She can’t say enough about what’s available through this outreach. “It’s good

The food you help provide has a profound impact.

quality. There’s always a bunch of fruits and vegetables. There’s good meat, and even little snacks for my daughter. I when I come in.”

a profound impact on families. Nicole says it’s “incredible” that friends like you are aiding people who need help. “It just makes the quality of life better. It helps us get through day by day.”

one we have with New Hope allow us to deliver aid where and when it’s needed most—and make your thoughtful donations work as hard as possible. We’re told that recent reductions in government programs have led to a drastic increase in New Hope’s food recipients. Military families, single moms or dads, elderly couples, young adults, teenagers living on the street—all are welcome.

Nicole wishes more people knew about this outreach. “It means

Thank you for feeding the hungry right here at home

You Brought

HEALING in the Wake of Hurricane Otis

In the aftermath of Hurricane

In the aftermath of Hurricane Otis, families in Acapulco found themselves struggling amid the devastation caused by the Category 5 storm. Parents tried to protect their children from sickness while also grappling with the loss of nearly everything they owned. Thanks to the invaluable support of caring donors like you, stories of healing and renewed hope have emerged from the eye of the storm.

returned to the ruined remains of their home—where they became sick after sleeping on damp beds.

That’s when your love stepped in and made all the difference for Rosa’s family. Because of the support of faithful donors like you, an Operation Blessing medical brigade was ready and waiting to provide Rosa’s children with much-needed attention.

Rosa was also given an ultrasound, providing a reassuring glimpse at her unborn baby.

Four-year-old Amaya received care for a facial injury.

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Mikeyla and Itzy

Vanessa and Iris

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there. Vanessa, a first-time mother, and her 7-month-old baby, Iris, faced the hurricane’s relentless winds as their home was stripped away, leaving them exposed to the elements and frightened. When Iris developed a persistent cough, Vanessa was desperate for medical assistance. Through your support and Operation Blessing’s medical brigade, a family doctor provided Iris with medication, offering relief beyond measure.

Amaya, a 4-year-old girl, suffered a facial injury after being knocked over by a dog during the cleanup efforts. Her father, Oscar, discovered Operation Blessing and little Amaya received immediate care, easing her parents and highlighting the role you have played during this critical time.

And 4-year-old José Luis and his family lost their roof during the powerful storm. Struggling with drastic temperature changes,

José Luis developed a troublesome respiratory problem. His parents, Azucena and José, searched for health clinics or pharmacies in vain until they heard about Operation Blessing’s medical brigade at a nearby church. Soon after, José Luis received the treatment he needed, and his father even obtained medicine for his diabetes. “We had been looking everywhere and couldn’t find help,” said José Luis’s mother. “Thank you for being here and offering this aid. We really needed it!”

These powerful stories highlight the profound impact you have made in the wake of Hurricane Otis. Your faithful support has brought healing and helped build a brighter future for families facing a long

A happy José Luis showing off his musical interest

Give Hope

THAT WILL LAST LONG INTO THE FUTURE!

Have you ever thought about creating a legacy that will continue to spread the message of love and hope to future generations?

It's easier than you might think. One simple way to make a lasting impact is to name Operation Blessing as the beneficiary of an asset you own. Several types of assets allow you to designate beneficiaries just by completing a Beneficiary Designation form.

THESE INCLUDE:

Stocks

Life Insurance Policies

Donor Advised Funds

Bank Accounts

Retirement Accounts such as IRAs and CGAs

To learn more about Beneficiary Designations, please contact us.  ob.org/plannedgiving  | plannedgiving@ob.org