A Shoebox Distribution Video from December 2012 in Mexico

I love the distribution videos.. and this one comes from Canada and a team that distributed Operation Christmas Child boxes in Mexico just this last December! Enjoy.

Operation Christmas Child Craft Idea- Simple Backpack

I have shared a variation of a backpack before, but the instructions on this are VERY clear and the result is so cute that I couldn't resist. And a backpack is a real blessing for most children. This will allow them to carry the items in their shoebox or school supplies.
Cute, right????

Find the full instructions at http://thelittlefabricshop.blogspot.com/2012/08/backpack-in-cinch.html

Christ's Love going into the Middle East in Shoeboxes!

I found this video today... it was recently posted but is obviously a repost from a different year at a college, but it is a lovely full circle story by Huda El- Betjali about how SHE received a shoebox and first heard of Christ and a bit more about the program. I hope you enjoy.
 

Craft Day here in Klamath Falls for OCC

I am in the beginning stages of planning a crafting day for Operation Christmas Child here in K-Falls... and I wanted to take a minute to share the vision and then invite comments and suggestions.

I am hoping to have a crafting time around every 2-3 months where we can gather and make things for our Operation Christmas Shoeboxes and extras to be provided to area packing parties for Operation Christmas Child.

I will supply materials for a variety of projects but may ask for people to bring additional items for use such as scissors or hot glue guns if they have them available. People would also be able to bring items to show or share that they have made so that we may learn from one another. The crafts would vary in difficulty but NONE are going to be ones that require you to be particularly crafty. :) A willing heart is really the only prerequisite.

I am tentatively considering a Saturday perhaps the first in May??? The last Saturday in April might work as well. And would consider morning or afternoon?? If you prefer not to have it on a Saturday please let me know that too.

Ideas I have for possible crafts include:

Jewelry making  (various kinds)
Ribbon twirlers
Decorated notebooks (probably wait til summer or fall when I have discount supplies for this)
hair clips
sock puppets and/or finger puppets
peg dolls
toy tops
egg shakers

You can look at the craft tab or at pinterest for more info on some of the above. 

Please share here in the comments or by email ( lambofhisflock @ gmail . com ) if you are interested in coming and if one of the days would work for you and if so what time.

Also share if you have other ideas for crafts.

I would love to meet with those of you who love Operation Christmas Child... and work together to make items with love and prayer for these precious children.

Eternal Significance

This is a link to a post from an inspirational OCC blogger... I read the blog Life Inside the Box regularly and see God working in so many ways over and over again through her work, through OCC, and through her actions of stepping out in faith. I loved it so much that I had to share it with you and I hope you do go over and read it... and that it inspires you to trust God to work in your life through your works and words and to make an eternal difference whether you see it or not. And know that God is working through your shoeboxes too... whether you volunteer or pack a single box, God IS working through you.

http://occnwpa.blogspot.com/2013/02/retro-day-for-miracle-2005.html

You can find this blog and see new posts by watching my sidebar.

Samaritan's Purse video, South Sudan

This is not an OCC video... but it is another part of what Samaritan's Purse does and it ALL comes down to what the one worker in the video said... that we do this because we love them.. and we love them because Christ loves us.

I pray that this video will bless you as it has me.

This Week's OCC Shoebox Deals

The biggest shoe box deals this week are through Valentine's Clearance... wherever you go check for items on sale. Great possibilities include plush, hard candy, pencils, cups, small toys, etc. Right now most stores are doing 50% off, but in the days to come (supposedly 75% off on Monday for our Walmart) many stores will go even deeper in savings.


But there are other deals too. (The below deals run Sunday the 17th through Saturday)

Staples has some free after Easy Rebates this week.

Staples Photo Supreme Paper, 50 pk $14.99
Buy 1, Submit for $14.99 Easy Rebate
Pay $14.99, Submit for $14.99 Easy Rebate
FINAL PRICE FREE

Bic-Matic Grip .7mm Mechanical Pencils, 5 pk $4.29
Buy 1, Submit for $4.29 Easy Rebate
Pay $4.29, Submit for $4.29 Easy Rebate
FINAL PRICE FREE

Dollar Tree has some good coupon matchups

Speed Stick Power 1.8oz Sale $1.00
- $1/1 Speed Stick Power, excluding 2 oz and .5 oz 02/03/2013 SS Insert (exp 02/23/2013)
FREE with coupon

Olay Bath Bar Sale $1.00
- $1/1 Olay bath bar, body wash, or in shower body lotion, excludes trial size 01/27/2013 P&G Insert (exp 02/28/2013)
FREE with coupon

Crest 4.6oz Sale $1.00
- $0.75/1 Crest Toothpaste or Liquid Gel, 4 oz+, excludes Cavity, Baking Soda, and Tartar, trial size 01/27/2013 P&G Insert (exp 02/28/2013)
Final: $0.25 

EDIT TO ADD
Fred Meyers stores have 50% off Hot Wheels other than the basic single one, meaning that 5 packs are also half price. They also have a lot of clearance in the toy sections with an additional 50% off lowest marked prices. 

Finding Sister on a Shoebox

This is a story from Operation Christmas Child UK... and made me smile SO big. I hope you enjoy it as well. http://www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk/article/storyID/120

The Little Girl Who Became Famous

In 2011 writer Anne Coomes and photographer James Fletcher went to Montenegro to gather stories and images during Operation Christmas Child distributions for the 2012 campaign. James took a winning photograph of this lovely little girl with her delightful smile. We used the image in much of our literature for OCC 2012 and within the leaflet – thus reproducing it literally millions of times.  As it was on the underside of the 'Girl' sticker the photo was on every girl's shoebox.

Faith Spinks from the SP UK office had an interesting trip to Montenegro recently. She says, "I had the privilege of meeting the little girl whose picture is featured on the OCC bangtail.  Her family is Roma, Muslim and originally from Kosova.  But her father brought them to Montenegro a year and a half ago and they have had an incredible journey. Astred, the father, told me that before he came to Montenegro he was a bad guy: 'I was using drugs, a big liar, and playing games.' "

When they arrived at a refugee camp in 2011 they met a friend who invited them to Church.  At first he said no because he was a Muslim.  But later Astred became sad at his behaviour to his family and accepted God into his life. He was away working when his little girl Bleona received her shoebox that year. As a result of the shoebox this Bleona's mother also became a Christian and the family now pray and attend church together. Each night Bleona prays for all their family back in Kosova that God would look after them. 

During the 2012 shoebox distributions in Podgorica a young boy was astonished when he found a photo of his 7 year old sister in the box.  He showed his father who was so excited to see the image, but could not understand how this had happened.  Bleona remembered that a foreigner had taken her picture when she received her shoebox – but she had been so excited by her gifts that she had forgotten all about it.

Bleona (pictured above with her photo on the OCC leaflet) is so happy and excited to see her picture and keeps asking her father “Why did they choose me?”  The father says that at first he tried to count how many shoeboxes his daughter was on.  He is amazed to think of his daughter’s photo in all the shoeboxes across the camp, but then also the many all across Montenegro and even beyond that.  He is excited that God is using his daughter’s photo to encourage others to do shoeboxes and so many more children will be blessed with a gift.  He hopes that through the photo and his story that many will be encouraged.

He is a very thankful man and said “My life was black but now I am in the light.  I hope that all people would turn from bad ways and follow Jesus’s way because he is the best way.”

Faith says, "As I left, I was just overwhelmed with all I had seen and heard.  I felt so privileged to have met this family and shared in their lives.  In the following days, the thing that really struck me was the father’s attitude, his responses to his family’s circumstances, to the people around him and to the discovery of his daughter’s photo on so many shoeboxes.  His responses could have been so different!"


Photos: James Fletcher & Faith Spinks

Quick Sew Hair Bow

This is a simple idea using 2 scrap pieces of fabric, and if you have a sewing machine is a quick project that is so perfect for the shoeboxes. There is even a ready to print pattern.

http://oliverands.com/free-patterns/bow-hair-tie#

Too cute!

The Greatest Journey and Baptism in Haiti... hope and life reborn!

I couldn't wait to share this video and this blog post from Samaritan's Purse. God is our hope. He is the hope of the world. And those of Haiti. And He is working through the Greatest Journey and Greta Home. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/baptisms_on_the_beach/

February 13, 2013

Baptisms on the Beach

Children at the Greta Home and Academy in Haiti are baptized after confessing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior

Thirty-nine boys and girls walked onto the sand of Jax Beach, their voices joined together in song: “Lead me to the water so I can be baptized.”

Each child had made a commitment to follow Jesus Christ, and were declaring this decision to the world as they prepared to enter the clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean on a warm Saturday in February.

They were from the Greta Home and Academy, a safe haven where orphaned and needy children receive the care of mentors, quality education, and spiritual support. The facility, built by Samaritan’s Purse in Léogâne, was named after Greta Van Susteren, host of On the Record on the Fox News Channel, for her advocacy of the Haitian people after the 2010 earthquake.

Pastor Samuel Jean-Louis, who leads Sunday morning services at the home, read from Romans 6:3-7 as the children took off their shoes and prepared to be dipped into the ocean waters.



“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Twenty-six of them prayed to receive Christ as their Savior through The Greatest Journey , the follow-up discipleship program to Operation Christmas Child. The others took that step of faith through church attendance or devotions at the Greta Home.



“We have found joy in teaching them about God,” said Pastor Kenol Despinasse, teacher of The Greatest Journey curriculum. “These children will be our successors and will bring the Gospel to the world after us.”

Jeff Moise, 14, was among the new believers. He was living in a tent with his mother, brother Duckens, and his sister a year after the earthquake. His father died of an illness when he was very young, and his mother struggled to provide for her children. She made the difficult decision to take the two boys to the Greta Home.

He decided to be baptized through the influence of the Bible lessons at the home.

“When I look at what Jesus Christ has done in my life, I wonder how He could love me so much to put me in this home,” he said.

He and his brother were both baptized by Pastor Pierre Julien, leader of Samaritan's Purse ministry programs in Haiti.



After coming out of the water, Jeff said, “Today is a great day because I am living a new life.”

Valeze, 16, was another one of the children who was baptized. He also did not have a father active in his life and lived in poverty. He often went to school hungry because there was no food at home. He didn’t have the books or supplies needed to do his studies.

At the Greta Home, he receives everything he needs to grow and learn. Pastor Kenol led him to Christ through The Greatest Journey lessons. Since then, Valeze has been helping lead morning devotions and praying with and encouraging the other children.

“I hope that my life will be a success,” he said. “I don’t want to do bad things. I want to do good work in the world and follow Christ.”

The day before the ceremony, Valeze encouraged another one of the boys, Kenylove, to be baptized too. Through his influence, Kenylove decided to join the other children in this important step.

Pastor Pierre said baptism is not just about being obedient; it’s a symbol of what takes place in the heart and is a public declaration of being united with Christ.

“I believe these kids are the future of this country,” he said. “If we invest in them and plant the seeds of God’s love in their hearts, raise them with a Christian worldview, and teach them the Word of God, they will truly become the leaders this country needs. So we believe we have an opportunity to develop the next generation of Christian leaders that will take Haiti to new heights.”

Penny Fairo, Executive Director of the Greta Home and Academy, has already witnessed major change in the lives of the children. Not just physically through nutritious meals, but also socially with the other children and spiritually.

“It’s been really wonderful to see how different they are now from when they were living among the rubble that was here after the earthquake,” she said. “It’s been quite a change.”

After the baptism ceremony, the kids sang songs together, prayed, and then jumped into the ocean for a swim.



As the sun began to set, Penny led a closing prayer.

“Lord we thank you for this day, that we could share this beautiful time with you. We know the angels in heaven are celebrating.”