Impact Story from Uruguay

1. This story couldn't have come at a better time. For our church's packing party we are adding a pr of footwear to everybox. This has been the one thing that has been the most stressful for me. This reminds me God will provide!

   
   

   In a poor, countryside town in Uruguay, four brothers arrived barefoot at a shoe box gift distribution. They wore tattered handmade sandals to school, and went barefoot the rest of the time to preserve what little of the sandals remained.
   
   Volunteers asked the brothers what they hoped to receive in their boxes, and they replied that they just wanted shoes. They opened their boxes and each had a br...

   and new pair of shoes inside. They ran home yelling, “Daddy, I have shoes to go to school!”
   
   The father came back to ask if he had to pay for the gifts, and the volunteers explained that the gifts were freely given as an example of the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. The father cried when he learned the gifts were free, and accepted Christ. The family told the whole neighborhood what the Lord had done for them, and many people accepted Christ.

   
   

   Source OCC
   

Canadian Tire Scratch and Save ends today.

1. Canadian Tire has scratch and save $5.00 off or a free McCains cake. Either way you can't loose. I'm hoping they have plastic shoe boxes on sale

Winnipeg OCC Kick Off

Winnipeg Operation Christmas Child kick off happening Thursday Sept 20th at 7:00 at the Eastview Community Church in  Winnipeg. Come for a short program and pick up your boxes for your church/business for this 2012 shoebox season.  Meet other OCC volunteers and be inspired to fill shoeboxes! If you want to attend let me know and I will let them know.

Friday Favorites- colorful pens

Add some color to their life.

Add a colorful pen.  

Imagine the possibilities with 10 colors!

Weekend Goodies.

If you've been following me for a while you know that I love thrift stores and garage sales.  Last Saturday we went into the city for the Island Lakes community garages. They are great because so many people have them you can walk and walk, well until your arms are full.  Here is a small sampling of some of the goodies I picked up.  

Quite a few of the items were free.  When we mentioned it to one lady she said her and her daughters had done it before and she told us to pick whatever we wanted.  What a blessing.  

Most items were  .25 to .50 cents.  The footwear I paid more for because most stores have put away their summer footwear. But I am still in need of footwear for 2-4 girls and 10-14 boxes for our Church Packing Party.

I am very particular what I purchase, as OCC wants all items to be new. I never want to spend my money on something that maybe removed from a box.  So if I am unsure of an item, I leave it.  Most of the items came in original packaging.  Some items look like they have never been used. I know my kids really want something and then play with it once and then it sits there.  And you can not tell it has been used. I will add these items to boxes. 

But my best find were all these beads and a bit of cord for $2.25! I am looking forward to dividing them and putting it in bags and seeing how many girls will be blessed with beads!

It is fun to search out items.  You never know what you will find.
Has anyone else found some great deals lately?

Friday Favorites- Stickers

One of my favorite things to add are stickers!  

I loved them as a little girl and are still drawn to them.

These I found at Michaels on clearance for .20 cents.

A Family Transformed

Source: OCC UK

A seventeen year old boy living in a small village in Romania heard that there was going to be a Christmas gift distribution, so he went and received a gift filled box from Operation Christmas Child, along with the booklet explaining the birth of Christ. The story intrigued him and he would go to church where the gifts were given as often as he could and even attended summer camp put on by the church. 

On the way to camp the Pastor asked the boy about his life at home. The boy shared with his new friend about his desperate home situation – that his mum was a prostitute and that his father found clients for her. He was ashamed of his family and knew their lifestyle was wrong.

Upon returning to his village from the summer camp, the young man boldly told his mother that he could not live as they did anymore. As it turned out, his pastor friend found a place for him to stay at the church. It was not long however before he began to feel burdened for his family and God gave him the strength he needed to go home.

His mum was the next person in his family to accept Christ. Due to the size of the village, it did not take long for everyone to know that the former prostitute was a Christian. The father however was very angry because his wife was not making money for him any more and he would have to find another line of work. He tried many times to kill the mother and son. One day he came home drunk and grabbed the woodchopper, closed the door and gave his wife and son one last minute to make a wish. They began to pray and God protected them that day, for the father simply turned and left.

The church family continued to meet and began to pray for this man. He soon became very ill and had to go to the hospital. The hospital called the family to come and get him as he was going to die very soon. The mother and the son brought the man home and the church began to pray. The prayers were heard and answered. The man stood up from his death bed the next morning –healed and changed! 

A shoebox gift for a boy was the beginning of bringing life into a hopeless situation.