Newsletter October
Celebrating 30 Years of God’s Faithfulness
Over 4,000 people from 112 countries and all 50 states converged on Orlando last week to give God the glory for His faithfulness over 30 years of Operation Christmas Child. Everyone praised God for providing more than 200 million shoebox gifts for children in need since 1993 and for the 50 million boys and girls…
Trail Life USA & Operation Christmas Child
Food Shows God’s Love for Weary Migrant Families in Colombia
People have been arriving weary, hungry, and anxious at Samaritan’s Purse food distribution points in Colombia since 2018. Just across the river to the east, they struggled with a difficult life under socialism in Venezuela. There they faced rampant violence and deepening instability. Now in Colombia, they’ve found safety but work is hard to come…
A Father in Heaven
Claudia Molina has helped pack hundreds of shoebox gifts in her time as a project leader for Operation Christmas Child, and with each box, her prayer remains the same: that God would use each gift to touch a child’s heart, just as He did hers. As a little girl in the central neighborhood of San…
God Is Using a Small Texas Church to Bless Many Thousands of Children
Update (Nov. 4, 2021): Since this article was originally published, Grace Baptist Church of Wild Peach, Texas, has continued to exceed its shoebox-packing goals. In 2020, despite the global outbreak of COVID-19, the church packed 12,617 shoeboxes—117 over their goal. They also saw God’s provision regarding their $9 donation per shoebox gift that year. “We…
2023 Operation Christmas Child Special Report
Warming in Koyuk
She’s Got a Passion for Sharing Christ Through Shoeboxes
The first thing you notice about 24-year-old Amanda Urgolites is her smile—bright, warm, welcoming, continual. That’s not so unusual, you might say. But Amanda’s radiant smile is all the more remarkable because she has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a rare and incurable collagen deficiency disorder that causes her ligaments to stretch and malfunction. Her bones dislocate…
Relief Delivered in Jesus’ Name Is Drawing Cambodians to Christ
High blood pressure became a blessing in disguise for Prum and Naim, two impoverished women in Cambodia. They suffered from the condition until a Samaritan’s Purse project taught them how to manage their symptoms through lifestyle changes and medication. Our teams also addressed some of their acute needs for food, paving the way for their…











