Liberia
Due to the Ebola outbreak,
schools in Liberia are closed and activities where groups of children come
together are discouraged in hopes of preventing the spread of the deadly virus.
The staff of Hinds Feet Ministries (HFM) has been giving away books and
homework to lower income families in order that learning will continue even
with this unwanted hiatus from school. Hinds Feet Ministries sponsors the early
childhood education of some of central Monrovia’s poorest children, many of
whom come from homes in which there isn’t access to reading materials, much
less games or entertainment. www.hindsfeetministries.org
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Please keep the children and
families served by Hinds Feet Ministries close in prayer during this
frightening time. Pray God will provide for their immediate and deepest needs
and keep them healthy.
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Give thanks to God for the staff
and volunteers with HFM and their dedication to vulnerable children and
families. Pray for their protection and safety from this deadly disease. Pray
they will feel God’s comforting embrace and that the emotional strain will be lifted
from them.
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Pray God will provide the resources
HFM needs to serve this impoverished community during a season of fear and
sickness. The ministry is short on food, disinfectants, buckets, soap, and
other sanitary supplies needed to combat the Ebola virus.
Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan
Polio has become a public
health emergency in Pakistan as another new case was diagnosed last week,
bringing the total for 2014 to 202 cases. This marks Pakistan’s highest
transmission rate of the disease in more than 12 years. Health officials are
worried there will be even more cases by the end of the year. Pakistan now
accounts for 80 percent of all polio cases in the world and is one of only
three countries, including Nigeria and Afghanistan, at risk of exporting the
disease outside its borders. Health officials in Pakistan and around the world
are very concerned about the spread of the disease and Pakistan’s ability to halt
it. Because of a deep mistrust of vaccination teams, some parents and religious
leaders in remote areas of Pakistan will not allow their children to receive the
vaccine. The Taliban and other Islamist militants have killed more than 50
health workers and security officials after discovering the CIA had used a
vaccination campaign to track down Osama bin Laden. http://tinyurl.com/k62b2ls
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Please pray for
children who live in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan as those countries are
the only ones left in the world where the virus is endemic due to violent
conflicts, weak health systems, and poor sanitation. Pray for children in these
countries under age five—they are most vulnerable to contracting the polio
virus.
·
Give God thanks
that relief workers were able to administer 700,000 vaccinations in Pakistan this
past summer. Pray the vaccination campaigns will be successful this winter and
spring.
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Please pray polio
can be eradicated throughout Pakistan. Pray the efforts to vaccinate every
child in the country will be fruitful and that political unrest and the fight
against terrorism won’t stop the forward progress of the vaccination campaign.
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Continue to praise
God that India is now considered polio-free by the World Health Organization
(WHO). Thanks be to God for the efforts of India’s millions of public health
workers who have immunized hundreds of millions of children in this almost
20-year-long program to eradicate polio.
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Pray polio will
be eradicated from the face of the earth.
Faces of Children
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Please keep in
prayer Jim, the husband of Faces of Children prayer partner Carol, as he
recovers from several strokes. Pray Jim can regain strength and mobility once
again. Please pray for Carol as she helps care for her husband during this
difficult season.
·
Pray for Faces of
Children intercessor John and his wife Kerry as they move back to Colorado from
Texas later this month. Give God thanks for the ways in which God is providing
guidance and support for this faithful couple.
·
Give thanks to
God for the opportunity to share the ministry of Faces of Children this week with
the congregation of First Presbyterian Church and members of the Pensacola, FL
community. Please be in prayer for the church and community participants as
they learn about Faces of Children and how they can pray for suffering and
at-risk children. Pray hearts and ears will be open to God’s message about
prayer for children.
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Please keep Elyse
and Ryan, the daughter and son-in-law of Faces of Children prayer partners
Chris and Jeff Laufer, close in prayer as they await the birth of their second daughter.
Pray God will comfort their 2-year-old daughter Hayley during this season of
change and excitement.
