Things I never knew fit in a shoebox!

When Tricia and I came to Cambodia to work with Samaritan’s Purse many people asked us if we ever got to be a part of delivering the Operation Christmas Child shoebox Christmas gifts to children. Most of our work is with relief and development projects and we haven’t been involved with Operation Christmas Child. However, this month I got the amazing privilege of being part of a team working alongside the local church to give the gifts in churches and schools in Pursat province. It was during the distribution of these gifts that I found some surprising gifts that come through Operation Christmas Child.

Giving the gifts was a touching experience. In one village we passed out gifts to the children in the village primary school. At the end of our time at the school one of the teachers grabbed us and ushered us into her classroom. She thanked us for coming that day and showed us her desk drawer. In her drawer were a few odds and ends and three pencils. She told us her class of around 20 had to share these 3 pencils to do their work every day because the students were from poor families and couldn’t afford school supplies. She said her students were excited today because they all received writing pencils and colored pencils in their shoebox gifts. I guess God knew which gifts needed to come to this village. At another location after the gifts were given a mother came to us and thanked us for her 5 year- old son’s gifts. In his gift was a pair of flip-flop shoes. She was very appreciative and went on to tell us this was her son’s first pair of shoes. She wanted to know how someone knew what her son needed. We were able to tell her it is God who knows our every need and desire and only He can fulfill!

While these were all touching stories, they were one’s I was expecting to hear. I had heard many stories like these before. What I wasn’t expecting to hear was the stories of other ways the Operation Christmas Child gifts affected many others involved in the process. I was amazed to hear that things like unity, leadership development and church empowerment came with every shipment of shoebox gifts.

We traveled to the shoebox distribution sites with Sophea Sem. Sophea is a young Cambodian pastor who is the head of the National Leadership Team responsible for distributing nearly 100,000 shoeboxes in Cambodia this year.

As we went from village to village Sophea told me how pastors had a difficult time trusting one another after the affects of years of war. Working together to coordinate the giving of 100,000 shoeboxes across the country had given pastors a reason to work together. Operation Christmas Child has brought pastors together for a unified purpose and mobilized the church to reach children and parents in the target areas.

He said tackling the large task was a great leadership development tool. Dealing with the organization and logistics of handling such a large project had stretched many pastors and leaders and improved their leadership capacity.

Finally he shared how the generous gifts from around the world also facilitated church empowerment in Cambodian communities. When village and provincial leaders saw the generosity and love of Christians around the world working together with the local churches of Cambodia, they have started showing the church more respect and given them opportunity to have a voice in the community. In Pursat province on the final day of our distribution this was evident when the Pursat City Mayor, the Provincial Governor and one of the Secretary’s of State for the Country of Cambodia all attended a ceremony where local church leaders presented 2,000 children with shoebox gifts. During the presentation the gospel was presented and the Secretary of State stood up and declared to the children and families, that while Cambodia is a Buddhist state, they all had the freedom to follow Christ if they chose. This was an amazing declaration for such a high-level government official. Another surprising gift I never thought would fit in a small shoebox.