Operation Christmas Child Distribution

   My friend Katie is a missionary on Ebeye and they invited Earth and I to a distribution of boxes from Samaritan's Purse/ Operation Christmas Child. Since our family has packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child, I was really excited to see kids receiving them.

  There will be four distributions on Ebeye and this was the first one.  It was held at the gymnasium behind the Wellness Center and when Earth and I arrived, there was a huge line of kids waiting to get in.

 Each child had their age written on their hand

and then they sat in groups by age (2-4, 5-9, and 10-14)

 There were many workers from the local churches there to help and one of them shared the gospel with the kids, the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection.  I thought I recognized the woman speaking...
  It was Ms Florina, Fire's nanny! She's teaching fourth grade at the JEM school now.  It was so great to see here and hopefully it won't be the last time while we're here.

Once Ms Florina finished sharing the story of Jesus with the kids, there was a prayer and some songs and then they passed out the gift boxes

  For the most part, the kids waited quietly with their boxes but they started to get antsy towards the end- I would have had a hard time waiting that long to open a present!

I tried to tell Ms Florina that Earth didn't need a box but she insisted that he get one

Finally, time to open the boxes!

  It was so cool to see the end of something that we've only ever participated in the beginning of before.  While many of these children may have heard of Jesus before, this may have been the first time they heard their story told just for them.  And I know that most of them never get presents, let alone a whole box, and a box that they didn't have to share.  What a great way to bring the message of Jesus directly to children!
  Katie and her family have been living on Ebeye and acting as the hand and feet of Jesus to the people there for a little more than four years. To learn more about them and their work here, visit their website: ChangingFocusMinistries.org