We Add, God Multiplies

Operation Christmas Child is a ministry my family has been involved with for many years now. In fact, in less than two weeks my sister and I will head down with a team to the Processing Center in North Carolina (we're pretty stoked). This year, we collected clearance items and such all year round and planned on packing 75 shoeboxes..we packed 89! It was awesome! We were pulling the stuff out of the attic and other places we stored it and it just kept coming. Apparently we collected a lot more than we realized, haha. If you've never heard of Operation Christmas Child, check it out! It's a fantastic ministry that we absolutely love. They aren't kidding when they say it's more of a gift to give than to receive. 

 Just one of the tables filled with items for shoeboxes..

 We put a stuffed animal in every box!

 Working on About Me sheets.

 A shoebox and I!

 Carolyn & I packed Vibram boxes. Seemed pretty fitting. :)

 We crammed those boxes pretty full. :)

89 shoe boxes loaded up in the car.

89 gifts for children somewhere in the world.
89 chances for the Gospel to be spread.

God is so good. :)

Blessings

I miss the frenzy of activity at the warehouse already. So many people serving for one purpose, for one fantastic God. I was so blessed to be on this trip for a third year. It's a time of serving and fellowship with wonderful friends. I've found that it really puts my heart in the right place during the holiday season. Looking at all the gifts really makes you realize what this season is about.
It's not about receiving, it's about giving.

Warehouse Reflection

We had our second day at the PC today. I switched my job up and helped put the actual shoe boxes in to larger boxes which they're shipped in. Tomorrow is our last day already!

Operation Christmas Child

It's December Photo Project time! Yay! I'm in North Carolina for the first day of it. Our SE Pennsylvania group of 81 people volunteered at the warehouse today. We all had lots of fun and can't wait for tomorrow!

OCC Missions Trip

I just realized I never did a proper post for my trip to the Operation Christmas Child Processing Center in North Carolina, so here it is! (better late than never, right?) Way back in December, I went down to the OCC Warehouse with a group from SE Pennsylvania to work there for three days. It was a super duper fun time, with an amazing group of individuals, for an even greater purpose. :)

We were able to visit the Billy Graham Library again. It's a really neat place!

Which method of transportation is older? We weren't quite sure! :D We got to use a bus this year, it was super cool!

Someone overseas opening boxes of shoe boxes is going to get a happy hippo surprise. :)

♥
Below, there's a video of footage I shot with my camcorder and a few photos mixed in. You should definitely watch it. Why? Well, it involves llamas, kids rolling down rolly belts, and more. :D Enjoy!

December 10 | A Bigger Reason

I am incredibly sad to leave North Carolina and the OCC Processing Center behind tomorrow.  However, positively I'm going home remembering that I'm part of a bigger plan.  Every year, I get reminded of this at the PC. 
God has such bigger and better plans for my life than what I come up with.

December 9 | Hippo Friends

The workers in the warehouse are way too much fun.  Seriously.  They are the best, the VERY best.  Our guy tonight?  Showed me how to make a pig face out of the number 11 with a circle, and I showed him how to make a super awesome hippo. 
Isn't he a cutie?

December 8 | Warehouse

We had our first day of working in the processing center today, from nine to five!  It was a ton of fun.  My personal job was heavy lifter, which involved moving the boxes (like those above), which were filled with about 14-18 shoeboxes, onto the roller racks.  It was fun! 

December 7 | OCC

Today, we arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina.  We had some issues with our bus with a slight delay for a little less than a hour to fix it, but we arrived safely in about eleven hours!  Tomorrow we start at the processing center!