What a joyous Operation Christmas Child weekend I've had. I got to go to two great parties. These are the kind of parties I like best--not Cinderella's ball where you have to dress up in an uncomfortable dress--but shoe box packing parties where you get to fill precious boxes with simple items that are unimaginable treasures for children around the world.
Friday evening I got to spend time with the lovely ladies pictured above at Leigh Fisher's packing party near her hometown. Her goal was to pack 800 boxes and we finished the evening with 895! I spent the evening folding GO boxes with Teresa and Ali Morrison (on the right in the picture) and we had such blessed conversations about the Lord's goodness and how He works in OCC.
Because I'm so directionally challenged I got lost on the trip home (with no cell phone, GPS, or map) but that forced me to depend on prayer. It was a blessing to get home safely and another reminder of God's protection and goodness.
Several friends were having packing parties in various areas of the country on Saturday and though I couldn't attend them I spent time praying for them on Saturday while my husband and I drove to our daughter's home two hours away.
Last night and today the reports of those have been coming in. What an awesome God we serve! I love hearing of how He continually does immeasurably more.
In Indiana, my friend Sarah Latello and her church went past their goal of 500 boxes to pack 726.
In Maryland, Jeff Mauler and his team packed over 7,000 boxes on their way to a goal of 25,000 within the next two weeks.
And closer to home the folks at Cambridge Springs Alliance Church, under the leadership of Cheryl French, packed 340 boxes that line their church.
And friends at Albion Church of the Nazarene held their first-ever packing party with a total of 165 boxes.
Today I was on the road again to Bethel Presbyterian Church in Cranesville--the church that actually started OCC in our area in 1994. Last year they packed 289 boxes and wanted to pack 300 this year. I absolutely loved packing boxes with them today.
It's amazing at these parties to see the array of items that have been gathered one by one (or 100 by 100) all year long--each one a provision from God's hand with a purpose to show His love.
And after just a few hours today God had done immeasurably more again with a total of 445 boxes. The neat thing is that this church is firmly committed to making sure each of the boxes have their $7.00 shipping covered. They have enough for 400 boxes and are trusting God for the rest.
Every one of these boxes is ONE MORE on the way to the goal of 7.2 million boxes in the US and 9.8 million boxes worldwide.
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