By Dr. Anne Hotz, a career medical missionary, who together with her husband Dr. Isaac Hotz, began working at Hospital Loma de Luz in Honduras in 2015 through World Medical Mission’s Post-Residency Program On a Sunday afternoon I got a call from the nurses’ station: “We have a 39-year-old lady who is in labor. It…
Crisis & Disaster Response
Hurricane Dorian Roundup: Field Hospital Opens, Relief Distributions Ongoing in the Bahamas
Please see a new story on relief sent to the Abacos and another new article on our Emergency Field Hospital in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Please continue regularly visiting samaritanspurse.org for future articles on our Hurricane Dorian response. Our Dorian landing page is also a great resource featuring videos and a slide show. The article below…
Operation Christmas Child
Children in Botswana Learn About God’s Love Through Shoebox Gifts
For children living in Molepolole, Botswana, receiving gifts is rare, so when Anitah attended a church outreach event she wasn’t expecting the wonderful surprise that awaited her. She experienced God’s love when she received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift from a family on the other side of the world. The free gifts in her…
Operation Christmas Child
Shoebox Gift Distribution Brings New Life, New Ministry in Ecuador
Jamyleth’s life changed for good when she was an 8-year-old girl living on a farm in Riobamba, Ecuador. It was then she received a gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoebox. “I was very excited,” Jamyleth, now 22, recalls. “I had received presents from my parents before, but nothing like the shoebox. My favorite thing in the…
Operation Christmas Child
God Uses a Shoebox Gift to Transform a Family in the Philippines
Bryce Pablo received a shoebox gift as a 4-year-old. Three years later, he accepted Jesus Christ and led his family to follow the Lord as well! Bryce Pablo is one of more than 6 million children in the Philippines who have received a gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift. “When I opened my box, I…
Operation Christmas Child
The Love Behind a Shoebox Gift Surprised a Girl in Cambodia
Boun Thorne grew up in a boat village in the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia. In the aftermath of a terrible situation, she moved at age 10 to a safe house where she received Bible teaching and an Operation Christmas Child shoebox—her first gift ever! When Boun inquired why someone would send her a gift,…
Operation Christmas Child
It Started with a Shoebox Gift: Children Share Christ with Their Friends in Botswana
Peniel, 11, wants to be a doctor when she’s older so she can help people who are suffering. “I want to help people because I don’t want anyone in the hospital to die like my grandpa did. In the hospital. My father cried forever.” Helping others was not high on Peniel’s priority list a couple…
Operation Christmas Child
Edward Graham Joins Celebration for New Church in the Mountains of Mexico
La Laguna village in remote Mexico, home to the Nahuatl people, was once unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. No one in the mountain community had ever heard the name of Jesus. No one had ever been told that God loves them or how they could have a personal relationship with the Living Savior.…
Operation Christmas Child
Lighting His Way to Jesus
Kululu Atsiaya often felt forgotten, especially at Christmas. He knew his family loved him, but life was hard for the boy growing up in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. He had heard stories of people receiving gifts, but he had never experienced it or known anyone who had. Most families in his neighborhood struggled to…
Operation Christmas Child
‘Baking a Difference’ for Christ in North Carolina
With some 60 members, Grace Presbyterian Church’s small size is no obstacle to their great desire to share the hope of Jesus Christ around the world. The Franklin, North Carolina, church is one of thousands of small-town churches across the country who are joining together to create a lasting, global impact through Operation Christmas Child.…
