{"id":62089,"date":"2016-05-10T08:33:58","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T12:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.samaritanspurse.org\/?p=62089"},"modified":"2022-05-11T09:50:49","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T13:50:49","slug":"shoebox-stories-alina-and-the-princess-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/operation-christmas-child\/shoebox-stories-alina-and-the-princess-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"#ShoeboxStories: Alina and the Princess Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n<\/g>\r\n\r\n\t\r\n<\/g>\r\n<\/svg>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n<\/g>\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n<\/g>\r\n<\/svg>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n\t\r\n<\/g>\r\n<\/svg>\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Shoebox<\/h2>
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Stories<\/h3><\/a>\r\n\t

#shoeboxstories is an ongoing series in which shoebox recipients share about the eternal impact of a simple gift.<\/h4>\r\n<\/header>\r\n\r\n
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Alina<\/h2>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

-and-<\/h2>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Princess Shoes<\/h3>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n
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The shoebox made me realize that Jesus hadn\u2019t abandoned me. It was a representation of His love for me. \r\n\r\n\r\n
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Alina received a shoebox as a child in a Central Asian country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

My family and I had what we needed, but gifts were a luxury we didn\u2019t always get. So when I received a shoebox gift, I stood there baffled and confused. It seemed impossible for someone overseas, for someone I didn\u2019t know, to send me a gift for Christmas. I carefully undid the tape and unwrapped it. In the box, there were ponytail holders, a toothbrush, socks, and candy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

What caught my eye were a pair of plastic princess shoes. Those shoes were like nothing I had ever seen. They were pink, and I loved the color pink. I got so excited when I put on those shoes. They were too big, but I still wore them. I tried to wear them as much as I could. I showed them to everyone.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

As I looked closer through my shoebox, I found a photograph of a little girl the same age as me. She was wearing a tiara that matched the shoes I received. Her gift to me became so personal\u2014I felt like I connected with her.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Before I received the shoebox, I was really discouraged because of the way I was treated for my faith in Jesus. A lot of my teachers lowered my grades for no other reason than they didn\u2019t like me. One time, my teacher grabbed my sweater and pushed me against the wall, demanding, \u201cWhere is your Jesus now?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

I remember that so vividly. At that moment I couldn\u2019t help but wonder, \u201cWhere is He? Why is He allowing this to happen?\u201d It felt like God was very distant, very far away from me. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The shoebox was a representation of His love to a young girl. I no longer felt like Jesus had abandoned me. <\/p>\r\n\r\n

The box was an act of kindness that represented hope, comfort, and the fact that God is watching over me. My perception of God changed. He became a personal Father to me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\u201cI still remember what it was like to receive a shoebox. In that moment it felt like God was there giving that gift to me.\u201d
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After I received the shoebox, the persecution I experienced for my faith in Him didn\u2019t stop. But my reaction to it was different because of the way God had revealed Himself to me. No longer did it feel like He was looking down at me from far away\u2014He was walking right beside me. <\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

To this day, 13 years later, I still remember what it was like to receive a shoebox. In that moment it felt like God was there giving that gift to me.<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

As the years went by, memories of God\u2019s love, expressed through the shoebox, stirred up this passion in me to tell children, especially orphans, the Good News of Jesus and to help them feel His love\u2014the same love I felt and still feel.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\u201cGod\u2019s love, expressed through the shoebox, stirred up passion in me to tell children the Good News and to help them feel His love.\u201d
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I\u2019ve been packing shoeboxes ever since my family came to America. For the past three years I\u2019ve been volunteering at a collection center. Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes are gifts that keep on giving. They are a tangible representation of Jesus\u2019 love for me and millions of kids around the world.<\/p>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t

These boxes change lives. I\u2019m just one of many whom God has drawn closer to Himself through a shoebox gift.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\r\n

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#shoeboxstories<\/a> is an ongoing series in which shoebox recipients share about the eternal impact of a simple gift.<\/em><\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\r\n\t\tREAD MORE #SHOEBOXSTORIES →<\/span><\/a><\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n
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Operation Christmas Child<\/a> delivers great joy to millions of children around the world through shoeboxes lovingly and prayerfully packed with gifts that will bring delight to a child. In the hands of local churches, every gift-filled shoebox is a powerful tool for evangelism and discipleship\u2014transforming the lives of children and their families around the world through the Good News of Jesus Christ! After receiving shoebox gifts, boys and girls are invited to enroll in The Greatest Journey<\/a>, our 12-lesson discipleship program where children learn what it means to faithfully follow Christ and share their faith with others.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\t\t<\/article>\r\n\r\n<\/section>\r\n<\/main>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ShoeboxStories #shoeboxstories is an ongoing series in which shoebox recipients share about the eternal impact of a simple gift. Alina -and- The Princess Shoes The shoebox made me realize that Jesus hadn\u2019t abandoned me. It was a representation of His love for me. Alina received a shoebox as a child in a Central Asian country. [&hellip","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":62863,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-operation-christmas-child","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62089"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62089\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":220443,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62089\/revisions\/220443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samaritanspurse.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}