An Operation Christmas Child shoebox recipient in Bolivia is sharing the Gospel and inviting her young friends to church.
Rebeca, 13, hears what some peers say as she walks by, “Poor Rebeca, Rebeca so poor.”
Rebeca plans to use The Greatest gift booklet in sharing the Gospel with her friends.
It’s true that Rebeca’s family in La Paz, Bolivia, doesn’t have much money. Her father left years ago. Her mother works at a convenience store to make ends meet for Rebeca and her three siblings.
But instead of asking God to change her circumstances, Rebeca prays “that God change my classmates—that their hearts change toward God.”
“I tell them, ‘You can change. Jesus can help you,’” Rebeca recounted.
Telling the Little Children About Jesus
Isan, 5, hears the Gospel from Rebeca, 13, each week when she shares what she’s learning in Sunday school.
Rebeca’s commitment to telling children about Jesus doesn’t stop with her peers. She’s befriended the younger children in her neighborhood, inviting them to church.
Rebeca recently brought four of her neighborhood friends—ages 5, 7, 8, and 9—to her church’s Operation Christmas Child outreach event.
As part of the church’s Gospel presentation about Jesus Christ, God’s Greatest Gift, each child at the event received a copy of The Greatest Gift Gospel booklet.
Rebeca said she’s going to read the Gospel booklet to the children who gather to play near her mother’s store.
“That’s what I like the most—to talk about Jesus and tell little children what I’ve learned about Him,” Rebeca said. “I like to talk about blessings and how great is our God.”
A New Notebook to Share Stories with Friends
Each child at the church outreach event also received an Operation Christmas Child shoebox gift filled with toys, hygiene items, and school supplies. Rebeca intends to use her favorite item in her box—a notebook featuring Scripture verses—to write down the things she’s learning about God in her Sunday School class. That will help her as she shares stories about Jesus with her young friends.
Rebeca gathers Isan and the three other children she brought to church so she can walk with them back to their homes.
When she reads about Jesus giving the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, she relates that to the mountains of La Paz with an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet.
“I learned in Sunday School that Jesus used to go to the hills and preach to other people, so that’s what I want to do,” Rebeca said.
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Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, delivers gift-filled shoeboxes to children in need in more than 100 countries around the globe.
You can be a part of this exciting international evangelistic outreach by prayerfully packing a gift-filled shoebox! Learn how to pack a shoebox. You can also volunteer at a processing center.
