USA Prayer Requests

March 2008

Our COTN–USA staff is so excited to move into their new office space in a few short weeks. We are so thankful to all of you who contributed your time, resources, and talents for this project. Through you, the Lord has blessed us with this much needed space.

Although we are bursting at the seams, there is still a need to fill various staff positions. Please pray that God would provide the right people for these positions.

Next month we will be holding an Educational Summit where we will bring all of our country directors and other individuals for training in specific educational areas. Please pray as we prepare for their arrival and logistics, as well as the training information and materials.

Tejan Margay, one of our children from Sierra Leone who was recouping in Spokane after surgery to his leg, is visiting us in Silverdale for a few weeks. Please pray for his speedy recovery and his transition from our culture back into his own.

We are also in the midst of preparing for our summer interns. Please pray that all preparation (logistics, ministry, funding, etc.) would go smoothly and that God would be working to prepare the interns’ hearts for change.

February 2008

We are so thankful for our new staff member! Candy Bandara is our financial assistant and we are so happy to welcome her aboard. Please pray as we continue to seek additional staff members in our Communications Department and our IT Department.

Praise God for the remodel of our old warehouse, which will provide additional space for our staff.

Tejan Margay will be returning to Sierra Leone in a few weeks. He is currently battling an infection in his leg. Pray for a quick recovery. Please pray that he will have a smooth transition back into the Sierra Leone culture.

Also keep the Goins family (Tejan’s host family) in your prayers as they prepare for his departure and say good-bye.

We are also praying that the Lord would make a way to send a container to Sierra Leone this spring. Please pray that we will be able to send it through the US Department of Defense and that it will arrive duty-free.

January 2008

Praise God as we look back on 2007 and see all the ways the Lord used and worked through COTN. Please continue to pray as we plan and set goals for 2008.

Continue to pray for Chris and Debbie’s upcoming trip, as well as, our US/UK Vision Team, led by Doug Hanson. They will be visiting Uganda and Malawi later this month. Pray for their safe travel, that they woul

d continue to connect with our Ugandan and Malawian staff. Please pray for our Finance department as they wrap up details and reports for 2007 and prepare for 2008.

Intern applications are due January 31st. Please pray that the Lord would provide the right people to serve in our countries this summer.

November 2007

Praise for a successful 2007 Some Kind of Miracle benefit season as it draws to a close! We had the opportunity to share COTN with many new faces in Florida, California, and Washington. Thank you to our COTN family and friends—new and old, for making this benefit season such a success. To date over $100,000 has been raised, not counting the $200,000 matching grant! Pray for continued responsive hearts and additional pledges.

Praise for our Sierra Leone guests, COTN–SL staff member Quami Agbermodji, and two of our children, Massah, and Eddie. Pray they touched many hearts here in the US through the sharing of their testimonies. They returned home last week after a six-week stay here in the States. Pray they transition back into “normal life” well. Massah and Eddie will return directly to their new family-style homes in Banta Mokelleh (the final relocation of our children’s home in Freetown occurred while they were here in the States).

Praise for Sam McCabe and Andy Chin, two new AmeriCorps interns serving in our Silverdale, Washington office. Sam and Andy will be running our Ready Relief program in Washington, working with local schools to package food for our feeding program.

Praise for five years of dedicated service by Pete Doyle (COTN–USA Information Technologies Specialist). Pete served COTN by creating Computer Systems to support our staff around the world. Pray for Pete as he transitions into his job search for a programming position.

Praise for the 12-month donation of two homes (near our headquarters in Silverdale) to be utilized as additional office space by our ever-growing COTN–USA and International staffs. Pray for ease of transition and patience as staff relocates and infrastructure between offices (phones, computer lines, etc.) is tied together. Pray for steadfastness of spirit, unity, and perseverance for all our COTN staff and family.

October 2007

Praise for our first Some Kind of Miracle Benefit Celebration in Florida. Our special guests from Sierra Leone—Quami, Massah, and Eddie, were able to share their stories at the benefit and also have thirteen speaking engagements in the Florida area. At a church last week, a 13-year-old girl was so moved by Quami’s testimony, she came forward and said she wanted to give her life to Christ! Praise God! In between speaking engagements, Quami and the kids were treated to some of Disney’s attractions. The group was invited to attend a live stage production of The Lion King and was honored by being brought up on stage.

Our benefit season continues with our California, Seattle, and Bremerton, Washington events later this month. Pray that God will use these celebrations to draw people to Him and to this movement. Please pray for travel mercies and safety for our Sierra Leone guests and USA staff as they travel to the various locations in the coming weeks.

Praise for a successful surgery and recovery for Tejan Margay (a 12-year-old boy from Sierra Leone who injured his leg falling from a mango tree several years ago). Tejan is currently recovering in Spokane, Washington. Pray for wisdom and discernment for the doctors as they make medical decisions regarding treatment and future surgeries.

Praise for two new AmeriCorps interns serving at the COTN–USA office in Silverdale, Washington in the Ready Relief program (our food-packaging program). Samantha McCabe and Andy Chinn will work with local schools enlisting them to partner with us by hosting food-packaging events to benefit our children in Africa and the Dominican Republic.

Please pray for Scott and Kelly Hampton, a young couple that will be serving as missionaries with us for two years in the Dominican Republic. They are currently receiving pre-field training in cross-cultural ministry at MTI (Mission Training International) in Colorado. They will serve at COTN–USA in Silverdale for two weeks later this month as they make final preparations to depart to the Dominican Republic.

September 2007

Praise for the safe return of Chris and Debbie Clark as they visited our ministry sites in Malawi and Uganda.

Pray for Sue and Ed Harrell as they head to Nashville, Tennessee where they will be hosting trauma counselor training later this month. Our prayer is that they will identify individuals willing to serve in each of our countries next summer.

Praise also for Josh Rosanbalm in Nashville, Tennessee as he seeks to start up a new satellite: COTN–Tennessee! Pray he will effectively connect with individuals and organizations willing to partner with us.

Praise for the safe arrival of Tejan Margay from Sierra Leone. Tejan is the 10-year-old boy from Sierra Leone who will be undergoing surgery on his leg to correct an untreated injury he sustained from falling from a mango tree several years ago. Praise for Shriner’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington for providing the surgery scheduled for later this month, and the Goins family in Spokane, Washington who will be hosting Tejan during his recuperation.

Praise for a visit from Malou Faublas, missionary to the Dominican Republic. She will conclude her year-long deputation in the States and will return to the Dominican Republic in November. While recently visiting COTN–USA in Washington, Malou had the opportunity to speak at several churches and small groups, sharing her missionary experience.

Continued prayer for the details and planning of the upcoming Some Kind of Miracle benefit celebrations held later this month in Florida, and next month in California and Washington. (Watch for invitations in the mail or visit our website for more information.) Pray that the event will attract new partners to COTN and raise substantial funds for our children.

We currently have more teams, more interns, and more business people interested in the mission of COTN than ever before. Continue to pray that God will do great things through this movement.

Praise for an answer to a long-awaited prayer: Welcome to Jim Branch, who recently joined the COTN–USA staff in Silverdale as our Chief Operation Officer (COO). In his new role, Jim will be responsible for directing the day-to-day operations of COTN–USA and will help to implement our vision for the future. Pray specifically for the upcoming, week-long strategic planning that he and the COTN–USA management team will be involved in this month. Pray for God’s guidance, His direction, and team unity as Jim and the management team seek God’s will for this ministry.

August 2007

Pray for Chris and Debbie Clark as they travel through Uganda and Malawi this month. Pray for their health and wisdom on important decisions needing to be made.

Praise for a successful 20K Meal Packaging Marathon in California sponsored by Presbyterian Church of the Master. Many new people came to know about COTN and are excited about getting involved.

Continue to pray for Donna Wandling (COTN–USA volunteer) as she is recovering from a recent breast cancer surgery. Pray for a full recovery.

Praise for Tejan (a young boy from Sierra Leone whose leg was severely injured several years ago when he fell from a mango tree and never healed correctly). He is all set to come and have surgery at Shriner’s Hospital in Spokane, Washington on September 15th. Pray for the final preparations for his arrival.

Continue to pray for the details and planning of our upcoming Some Kind of Miracle Benefit season. This year we are hosting events in four locations (Orlando, FL; Orange County, CA; Seattle, WA; and Bremerton, WA).

Praise for a successful fundraiser put on by the Seattle Mariners. Last week at a home game, the Mariners Wives hosted a “Favorite Things Baskets” silent auction (auctioning off baskets filled with their husbands favorite things and autographed memoribillia) and raised almost $18,000 for COTN!

July 2007

Praise for the opportunity for many of our staff nationwide to share and promote the ministry of COTN. Many staff members have had opportunities to raise awareness and add sponsors and donors to our ministry through various speaking engagements and by sharing with their home churches.

Pray for Larry and Donna Wandling. (Larry and Donna have served with COTN in Malawi and Donna currently volunteers in the finance department at COTN–USA). Donna recently underwent surgery for breast cancer. Pray for complete healing, for peace, and for trust in His plan.

Praise God, our container of 285K Meal Marathon food and emergency supplies was loaded and shipped off to Uganda last week! Praise for all the volunteers that turned out to help load the container.

Chris and Debbie Clark returned safely from California. Sara Booth (COTN Orange County Area Coordinator) reports the steering committee, pastors, and donor meetings with the Clarks went wonderfully well. In addition, the COTN–USA staff surprised Chris and Debbie with a “day of rest/anniversary celebration” at the Disney Hotel. As a perfect example of how God’s goodness overflows on to those who serve Him, Chris and Debbie were treated to a night at the exclusive Disneyland Club 33 and upgraded to the Presidential Penthouse Suite after the hotel manager heard about the mission of COTN.

Praise for our recent partnership with Sports Gift (www.sportsgift.org), an organization that collects new and used sporting equipment, distributing it to nonprofit organizations.

Excitement continues to build for our upcoming Some Kind of Miracle benefit celebration. Live auctions will be held at each location. If you have auction items or vacation packages you’d like to contribute, please contact Dave Schertzer at (360) 698-7227.

Continue to pray for much needed office space and desperately needed staff at all COTN–USA locations.

June 2007

Pray for safety and wisdom for staff that will be traveling this season. COTN Systems Manager, Doug Johnston will be on assignment in Malawi. Pray he is able to maintain Internet connection and availability while in-country.

Founders Chris and Debbie Clark will travel to California and Arizona later this month to develop key relationships. Praise for targeted cities that continue to orient new “family” and churches to COTN. Superstition Church (in Superstition, Arizona) visited and became so excited about our work in Malawi that they pledged numerous teams for this coming year.

Pray for a much-needed COTN Chief Operating Officer and a Kitsap County Area Coordinator. As we grow the COTN family nationally, we realize the growing need for management of local programs.

Details for our annual Some Kind of Miracle benefit (coming this fall) are well underway. Pray for wisdom for those involved with planning.

May 2007

Praise for our annual “285K Meal Marathon” held Friday, May 4th. It was a huge success! Over a thousand volunteers came and helped package over 285,000 meals to be shipped to Uganda later this year. Pray that the remaining funds needed to cover shipping costs will come in. Praise also for the opportunity to shoot a “285K” promo piece which recently aired on KOMO TV’s Northwest Afternoon (reaching an audience of 1.5 million). Pray God will use this opportunity to spread word of our ministry.

Praise for our family of volunteers! We hosted our annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon April 25th. It was a blessing to be able to express our appreciation for all the servants’ hearts that give of their time and talents to support our ministry.

Praise for the success of COTN–FL’s “Rock for Africa” event, which raised over $5,000 for HIV-AIDS training, testing, and treatment in Africa.

An official welcome to Beth Sprinkle, our new COTN–FL Satellite Director. Beth will replace Jody Stephenson who has moved into full-time Intern Directing and Development. Beth and Jody will spend the summer ministering together in Malawi.

Praise for Sara Booth’s efforts as she begins ministry in COTN–Orange Country, CA. Many in the community (schools, youth groups, businesses, and the surfing community, which is huge in CA) are showing interest.

Pray for Kristen Bushnell as she prepares to promote COTN to Seattle and the surrounding communities at a COTN–Seattle “Meet-and-Greet” to be held later this month.

April 2007

Praise for a successful Intern Coordinator training session held this past week in Silverdale, WA. Intern Coordinators from across the US came for a time of preparation and training to ready themselves for our approaching intern season.

Pray for the Satellite Orientation to be held this week in Silverdale, WA, April 9-13. Satellite coordinators from Florida, California, and Seattle, as well as individuals from three up-and-coming satellite locations (Nashville, Hawaii, and the UK) will be attending the week-long training.

Praise and prayer for our upcoming 285K Meal Marathon. This annual event will be held May 4th at Silverdale United Methodist Church. Our goal is to package 285,000 meals in one day for children in Uganda. Visit the 285k website for more information or to sign up your group. Please pray for an overwhelming community response as well as corporate sponsorship for this event.

Praise for Chris and Debbie Clark’s safe return from Board meetings in Florida and the Dominican Republic this past week.