Operation Christmas Child
Manar and a Teddy Bear
Manar and a Teddy Bear Several gifts in my shoebox have become decades-long reminders of God’s love. My name means beacon. I was born to Christian parents in a Middle Eastern country whose majority aren’t followers of Jesus, and my name was a testament to being a light for Christ. But for a kid who…
Discipleship, Education & Training
A Hurting Marriage Begins to Heal from the Wounds of War
He’d been good with a gun since he started hunting at age 8 and was a hard-driving athlete during high school, so for Nick Hine the rigorous life of a Marine Corps scout sniper seemed like a good fit. He wasn’t interested in college just yet, so when he was 18 years old he joined…
Crisis & Disaster Response
God Answers Prayers in Storm-Wrecked Jamaica
Derick emerged from cover to survey the storm he had just survived. Hurricane Melissa had churned for hours over Black River, Jamaica, and from what he could see, his community was in ruins. The once-lush tropical forests had been stripped of all color, while aluminum roofs and household possessions were strewn across the streets. Aluminum…
Operation Christmas Child
Gospel Light Drives Away the Darkness for a Boy and His Father in Togo
Tchao Beleyi used to be haunted by nightmares of people chasing him down to beat him. “When I would sleep, in my dreams, I would see people following me, pursuing me,” he said. His 9-year-old son Kevin was also troubled. “He used to steal money from us,” Tchao said. “If he saw money lying around,…
Devastating Flood Leads to a Revived Heart
After floodwaters washed through Aretha Robertson’s neighborhood, an army of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers showed up at her Wisconsin home to help salvage mementos and remove waterlogged belongings. “From the second that they stood on my grass, it felt warm,” she said. “It made me feel like it was going to be OK.” Aretha had faced…
Operation Christmas Child
Good News and Great Joy Delivered—by Shoebox—to a Teen in Mongolia
When Dariya, 13, of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift in February, it interrupted her life with joy. ‘They Told Us About Jesus’ Dariya lives in an apartment in the Mongolian capital with her grandmother, Bebe Bakhpit, and 10-year-old cousin, Hannah. Her parents are divorced, and her mother works in South Korea—often…
Operation Christmas Child
Texas Teen Crochets for Girls Around the World
During National Collection Week two years ago, Alathia Purtell formed what even she thought was an impossible dream—to produce 2,000 crocheted purses for Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts. Alathia, then 12, was visiting her maternal grandparents in Canton, Texas, when she went with her grandmother Sue to her church’s shoebox drop-off location. There, Alathia saw…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Volunteers Begin Helping California Homeowners After Devastating Fire
SIGN UP TO VOLUNTEER IN CALIFORNIA There wasn’t much time to flee Paradise as the Camp Fire roared across Butte County, California. Residents reported harrowing escapes with their shoes heating up under them as they abandoned cars stuck on melting tires. Before it was fully contained, the Camp Fire burned more than 14,000 homes and…
Embracing Joy Again Together
Marine Sergeant Austin Dickinson and his wife, Cass, an Air Force Senior Airman, stood just out of reach of the thundering waterfall where they had hiked—from the boat to the remote pebbled shore of Alaska’s Lake Clark and up the trail lined with devil’s club to the cove where the water gushed from a high…
Our Ministry
Hearts Healed, Lives Transformed: Miigaa’s Story
Hearts HealedLives Transformed Medical School Student Thanks God for Saving Her Life Miigaa received heart surgery through Children’s Heart Project and is now helping care for other heart patients. Miigaa begins her day by praying for her family and for people throughout Mongolia. She wants them to come to faith in Jesus Christ and experience the…
