Underneath some of the school supplies and toys that Jazmin received in her Operation Christmas Child shoebox at age 6 in Mexico was a letter and photo from the family who had packed her shoebox gift.
“The letter said that the gift of what God has for you is greater than any gift we could give you,” Jazmin, now 17, recalled. “We hope you give your heart to God.
“I knew I needed Jesus,” she said. “He gave that shoebox to me, and God gave a gift to me again at age 12 when I prayed for Him to be my Savior. The best gift is to accept Jesus in your heart and put your faith in Him. That’s the best gift in life.”
During Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week Nov. 12 – 19, local residents collected shoebox gifts at over 5,000 drop-off locations.
The Samaritan’s Purse project, partnering with churches worldwide, will deliver these gifts to children affected by war, disease, disaster, poverty and famine.
“We believe these simple gifts have the ability to send a tangible message of hope to children facing difficult circumstances,” said Operation Christmas Child Senior Domestic Director Randy Riddle. “It is exciting to see communities come together to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with millions of boys and girls around the world.”
This is a nationwide effort to help children around the world. More than 150,000 U.S. volunteers including families, churches and other groups are joining forces to contribute to the largest Christmas project of its kind.
In 2018, Samaritan’s Purse hopes to collect enough Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts to reach 11 million children, with 9.1 expected to come from the U.S. alone.
The ladies of Chester Baptist Church sewed these stuffed bears to be placed in the Shoeboxes.
Locally South Louisville Baptist Church’s Drop -off location collected 3,494 Shoeboxes from the following 3 counties :
Winston Countians 2,843 Shoeboxes,
Choctaw County 635, and Oktibbeha County 16 .
South Louisville Baptist Church would like to thank all of the churches, groups and individuals that donated and requests prayers for the children and churches who will be on the receiving end of God’s love through this project.
