Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes

This year our children were the blessed recipients of the shoe boxes through Operation Christmas Child. What an amazing thing! There were some concerns that more kids would show up than available boxes, but the Lord guided all the children to the event that needed to be there. After sharing the message of Jesus and an explanation of a relationship with Him with opportunity to accept Him as Saviour, the leaders began to hand out the boxes to the different age groups and genders. Kathy Elias, our Children's Ministries Director, had this to say...

"We had 150 boxes (72 for girls, 68 for boys) in three different age groups (2-4, 5-9, and 10-14). We invited kids from 4 different villages. Each child from Sunday School could invite any two of their friends regardless of their sex or age. Add to this the fact that any party is a town party and it is not at all out of the ordinary that children show up uninvited. The big question was how do we end up with 150 kids, and not one more, all of the right sex and age! The only solution we could come up with was prayer. We contacted a host of kids from Canada; nieces, nephews, Sunday school children, and school children from Jonathan's Canadian school. We also asked them to pray that the kids would behave and listen to the message of salvation that would be part of our party. I was nervous the day of the party and very relieved when it was all over. We had just over 130 kids show up. They were very well behaved and we never had to ask them to be quiet and pay attention. They sat still, participated, and listened--one hundred thirty kids, most of which do not come to church regularly. Thank you Jesus!"