December 2011 SCRIPTURE VERSE The angel said to them, "Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." — Luke 2:10 PRAISES AND PRAYER REQUESTS Praise for an amazing and wonderful year of serving the least of these through individuals, mission teams, interns and staff of Orphan Outreach. We are so thankful to those of you who are committed to pray faithfully for us and for the children we serve.  The Lord has accomplished so much this year through our ministry and we look forward to seeing what He has in store for next year! GUATEMALA Praise God for our time with the First Baptist Andrews team that served at the special needs unit of Hermano Pedro Hospital in Antigua and at My Special Treasure, a girl’s home in Chimaltenango. They had a great time at both places and are praying to keep building a relationship with them. The team brought humanitarian aid to both places and were able to leave an offering at My Special Treasure to renovate a building, which will be a new dorm for the girls. Please pray for the children and staff at Little House of Refuge since many of them have come down with colds and upper respiratory problems due to the cold weather in the area. Pray for the children and staff at Mama Carmen's as they prepare to go to their coffee farm to spend Christmas. Pray for protection as they travel and for them to enjoy their time outside the city. Pray for the WOW Christmas team as they travel from locations all across the United States tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with the children and staff in all of our programs in throughout Guatemala. Pray for safety on the roads, health for the team and many opportunities to share with the children the gift of Christ’s birth. Praise for the many wonderful individuals who have donated Christmas gifts for these children and for the parties to celebrate at each location. Praise God for a great year full of blessings and wonderful teams which have helped us make a difference in the lives of the many children we serve in Guatemala. INDIA  GAN-SABRA (HIV Home for Children), Aizawl, Mizoram We are so thankful for the new partnership with this home for HIV children. Praise for a child from the home being adopted by a Christian family. Praise that for the first time the children will have a Christmas celebration provided by Orphan Outreach. Praise that all of the children have remained in good health through this year and that they did not lose a child to HIV this year. Jeevan Anand Charitable Trust, Anand Praise for the Lord bringing six new girls to the Home (Diya, Kamini, Jyoti, Mariyam, Rasila and Kinjal) and that they all got admission in the same Christian School. We praise God for providing all the needs of the children and also the staff workers of Jeevan Anand through Orphan Outreach. We praise God for the meaningful frequent visits of Samson, Uma and the U.S. teams to encourage and support the staff and girls. Please pray for our Christmas Celebration program held on December 18th where the girls will perform for 300 children. Pray that the Gospel will be shared with all those attending! Pray for funds needed to buy a home for the girls since the present one is leased. DUF Home and Rainbow School, Manali Praise for another wonderful year that has seen a lot of new 4-year old admissions into the home and at the same time a few that have graduated to college out of town. God continues to be faithful to the program. Praise that a firm platform of partnership with Orphan Outreach has been put in place and they look forward to growing the program and the school in the years to come to serve more children. Praise that the school will receive a much needed new school bus to transport children from the community to the school. Pray for plans to build needed infrastructure for the school in partnership with Orphan Outreach Santvana Home, Pune Praise for another wonderful year with a great bunch of happy kids growing in the Lord and constantly improving in their health, education and other life skills at the home. Please pray for four of the children, Eunice, Manisha, Ashvini and Sonaji who are not doing as well healthwise. Pray for the need for committed new staff for the home and that they will be able to lease their build long-term. Pray that plans for a new community-based program to include more kids will find root and grow, in addition to the home that is presently doing well. Praise for many enriching visits by teams from Orphan Outreach this past year. Pray for more opportunities to present the Gospel and the love of God to the Red Light Area community as we continue to reach out to them. Praise God for another very successful year of ministry in India. We have seen God work amazingly in the lives of so many children in our programs and also praise God that He has connected us to another wonderful ministry in Aizawl. LATVIA  Praise for the wonderful donor who provided Christmas for all of the children at the day center in Liepaja. Pray that these children may be reached with the Gospel and that their families would become believers as well. RUSSIA Please pray for Alyona, one of our graduates, who was diagnosed with early stage cancer. We still haven't received an update on her. Please pray for healing for her. The doctors found out that she also has a heart problem. Please pray that our ministry would expand and reach more children and minister to many souls. Please pray that the Lord would send His faithful servants to minister to these wonderful kids in Volkhov. We are praying for volunteers there. Please pray for those who will be traveling to the orphanages to celebrate Christmas and provide Christmas presents to the children. Please pray for protection on the roads and for health. Pray that the children will be open to the Gospel, especially the true meaning of Christmas. Praise for the wonderful donor who made Christmas possible for all of these children and our graduates. Pray for all of our graduates as it is final exam time for them. Please pray for our graduates who were not afraid to join the Bible study group at church. We are praying and hoping they will become part of God's family and will find friends at church. Praise for the wonderful work God has accomplished through our staff and teams this year in Russia! ORPHAN OUTREACH Pray for our end of the year giving. We have a very committed donor who has given us a matching challenge gift of $50,000. For every dollar given between now and December 31, your gift will be matched up to $50,000.  Please consider this as you pray about how you can support the children we serve. Please Pray for the 2011 Graduating Class of Amor, Fe y Esperanza (AFE)in Honduras! Throughout the year we have asked you to join us in praying  for individual children in each of our programs around the world. We are so thankful to all of you who faithfully join us in praying for these children who mean so much to us.   This December we have a special praise and a prayer request as we ask you to join us in praying for the 9 new graduates of the Amor, Fe y Esperanza (AFE) class of 2011.   This is a special group of young people who have overcome so much in their lives to become the very first class to complete high school and graduate from AFE. All nine graduates will be continuing their education at college. Please pray for each of them as they begin this chapter in their lives. The AFE School began in 2001  in hopes of taking children out of the Tegucigalpa city dump, where they worked each day with their parents to earn money, and provide them with a quality education and hope for a new and brighter future.   This is such a time of celebration for these students, their families and the teachers and staff at the AFE school. In addition to the nine new graduates, AFE also had five Kindergarteners & thirteen 6th graders graduate. It was also AFE’s first year to have three adults complete 6th grade in their afternoon adult education classes.  Praise God for the victory these students have in Christ and for their accomplishments that are only possible through Christ. We also give thanks for the Orphan Outreach team from 121 Community Church in Grapevine, Texas and other individuals who returned home from Honduras on Tuesday. In addition to attending AFE's first high school graduation, this team had an amazing time of ministry building bunk beds, a crib, tables and benches for two AFE families. Now these children have beds to sleep on and don't have to sleep on the floor. The team also distributed Christmas gifts to children in the surrounding communities (see photo below). PS. I Apologize for the side bar covering some of the pictures.