Carey, from the Operations Christmas Child distribution center in Atlanta, puts one of the shoeboxes into one of the hundreds of cardboard boxes that will be used to ship them overseas. This year at the Little River Charge Conference, the three churches had the opportunity to also show their missionary spirit and love of neighbor through Operation Christmas Child.

Operation Christmas Child is a charitable organization run by Franklin Graham through its parent organization, Samaritan's Purse. Every year, they collect shoeboxes filled with toys, hygienic products, and other items from churches all over the country. These boxes are then sorted, divided, and inspected at a central warehouse and shipped to various countries all over the world to be given to children in need.

According to Graham on the Operation Christmas Child website, "That's the motivation for Operation Christmas Child, the unique project of Samaritan's Purse that enables caring people to share God's love with hurting girls and boys in the far corners of the globe."

The Little River family of churches - Bethel UMC, Mount Zion UMC, and Smyrna UMC - all participated in this project, sending 22 shoeboxes stuffed to the top of each box. During the regular morning services at Smyrna UMC and Bethel UMC, the congregations stood and sang "Bless Thou the Gifts" and said a collective prayer over the boxes that they may brighten the hearts of whatever children receive them.

Rev. Craig Yoshihara; his youngest daughter, Emma; and District Superintendent for the August District, Rev. Gary Dean stand behind the shoeboxes at Bethel UMC after the charge conference. During the charge conference itself, even more boxes were brought in. Together, those boxes were prepared to be sent to the local distribution center for Operation Christ- mas Child located in Atlanta.

Rev. Craig Yoshihara, pastor for the three churches, actually delivered the boxes himself so he could get a better overall view of the organization. Upon arrival he was greeted by a representative named Carey who offered to show him around the facilities and to answer any questions.

When Yoshihara remarked on the immense size of the facility, Carey answered, "Well, last year we were in a warehouse in Duluth that was about 48,000 square feet, and it got to be very crowded. When the trucks came to pick up the boxes, it was difficult getting the boxes out past the staging area and into the trucks. This year, we have about twice as much space with 108,000 square feet, so there's plenty of room to work."

According to Carey, the boxes from Atlanta this year will be going to help children in India. Included along with the boxes are Bibles in the person's native language as well as follow up programs to help those people out who want to become Christian.

"It is a wonderful opportunity for outreach and evangelism," Yoshihara said, "to share the Word of God to those who have never heard it before, but most importantly, it is an amazing chance for us to show God's love in a practical way. Our churches are all committed to that idea of sharing God's love in a practical way and hoping others are able to see God's love through our actions and not just our words."

Additional information about Operation Christmas Child can be found at www.samaritanspurse.org/ occ.