Christmas Boxes for Children: My Ecuador Mission Trip

I’m so excited to share about my first full day in Ecuador distributing Christmas boxes for children! There is so much to tell you, just from this one day, which was a whirlwind of activity!

These sisters were so sweet with each other.

At the distribution site, it was so sweet to see the siblings loving on each other. It was just amazing to see how they “mother” the younger ones, like in the picture above, even the ones that are only 5 years old. They hug and love on each other, not as much discontent as I am used to with small children. One little girl completely surprised me by coming up to me and planting a sweet, wet kiss right on my lips. This huge beautiful smile, along with lots of hugs, showed how much she appreciated our presence. Then we hugged a while. She tried on my sunglasses, still beaming, and hugging her sister. Both just smiled and beamed. It was contagious to be around the Ecuadorian people. I smiled all day, so much so that my mouth literally hurts from smiling all day!

You can get involved with these Christmas shoeboxes for kids by starting the discussion with these FREE coloring pages about this shoebox ministry. Children can learn and talk with you about the needs of others while you color together.

As we were leaving, we noticed a boy who was holding his unopened box. Our goal was to walk around and not only make sure each child opened their box, but that with a translator, we were able to tell them a little bit about their box items. This little boy, who was grinning from ear to ear watching everyone open their own boxes, was content to just be there. He had never even looked inside! We sat him down and went through each item with him. He was a 4 year old boy, the same as my son, and in his box were cars. If you know my son, you know that he is absolutely enamored by any kind of car. They make his day. So this little boy pulls out his car, and that is the toy he loved the most and played with the whole time we were with him. It was so precious to see his contentment though, beforehand, even without getting a present.

The way the distribution works is each child is given a box and asked not to open it, so they can all open at once. One of my favorite parts was, before the children could open their boxes, the entire group would do a countdown from 10. (In Spanish, of course.) And as we get to “uno,” everyone yells and screams and starts tearing into their boxes. It was priceless.

Waiting to Open Their Boxes!

I think the biggest struggle for me today was the difficulty in communication. I so wanted to speak with the children. There were translators, but they couldn’t be with me every moment I was with the children. I would have loved to hear what was on their hearts and learn more about them.

Want to learn how to make your own Christmas boxes for children? I’ve got lots of great ideas and ways you can get started!

Communicating with Smiles

But, God in His glory, still gave us a way to communicate, and it was through their hugs and their beautiful smiles. They were the most grateful, loving, and genuinely caring people. So happy and content with where they are. I have so much more, so what is holding me back from being content?

If I could get one of these children into my luggage, I’d have an Ecuadorian child going home with me. Well, maybe a few actually! The little girl in my lap, above, with all the boys around us, was just precious. Bradford, watch out! 🙂

You get tips for filling your Christmas box, ideas here for maximizing the space, and more on Faithful Provisions–including this FREE printable of 101 Ideas for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes HERE!