Operation Christmas Child

This past Monday we were given the awesome opportunity to help distribute shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child to four schools in rural Swaziland areas. I have been on the other side of Operation Christmas Child before, assembling the gifts for a boy or girl in a certain age range, fitting them inside gift-wrapped shoeboxes, and dropping them off at a collection point. I knew that my box somehow got to a child in a developing world country, along with the message of salvation. Yet I never imagined being able to see or be a part of the gift-giving myself!

In Swaziland there are several NGO’s who distribute the gift boxes, and The Luke Commission is the last who fills in gaps that have been missed by others – mostly in very remote areas. When we started driving with our friends from The Luke Commission, I didn’t really know how remote we were going to get. We started up this mountain with our vehicles pulling two large trailers full of the gift boxes, and it was so steep that at some points I thought we would roll backwards! Each of the four schools we visited became more and more remote, and I began to see how they could have been looked over.

The children lined up neatly and quietly and came through lines according to age to receive their gift. Many of them gave shy smiles and said thank you in English. Then they sat on the grass together and listened to Dr. Harry give a short explanation that these are gifts from Jesus, and told them this was a reminder of Jesus’ biggest gift. Harry said, if you’re excited about your gift, tap on your boxes – the noise was nearly deafening! The children broke out into wide smiles and even cheered, some holding their boxes up in the air. Still, nothing could have prepared us for the explosion of joy that we witnessed as the gifts were opened!

Never before have either of us witnessed an event that brought so much joy and rejoicing. Each child received a toothbrush and toothpaste, an age appropriate gift, some candy, socks or underwear, and hat, scarf, or mittens. There was nothing expensive or extravagant in any of them, but I don’t think there could have been any more excitement if there had been. We were told this would be a once-in-a-lifetime event for these kids, something they would remember and talk about for the rest of their lives.

I was reminded again of Jesus’ words – “blessed are the poor.” It is a blessing to have such joy over a simple gift! It is a blessing to be able to receive with such open hearts, hearts that are excited and enthralled with a gift, although from someone they might not even know.