Operation Christmas Child

I cannot remember the first time we particiapted in Operation Christmas Child.  It seems like something  we have done forever.  Pack a shoebox for a child somewhere in the world.  Originally it was all about giving to the less fortunate, especially at Christmas.  But then the more I learned, it was about sharing the hope of Christ.  It became a traditional way of "kicking off" the Christmas season for our family.

Then we moved to Spain.  Knowing that many traditions would need to be let go of we never dreamed we would be able to continue this one.  But Thursday night we met with our new friends for a packing party.  Together we packed nearly 20 boxes, sampled American desserts, shared where the boxes from Spain went last year, and I even got a chance to share how I had seen the boxes in "real life" in other locations. 

Operation Christmas Child is a smaller operation here.  The Disciple office (a Billy Graham Ministry) manages the boxes here.  All the boxes from Spain go to specific, spanish speaking locations in the world.  We are learning a lot about the process.  In fact, we even turned in our request to volunteer at their processing office later in December. 

It is so cool to be able to carry this tradition on!