Every year, OCC gift boxes share “Good News, Great Joy” to millions of children around the world…

Rengesuul Yobech sat in the shade of a spacious open-air gymnasium at Peleliu Elementary School in Palau on a sweltering late-February afternoon earlier in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe.

I grew up in the Middle East with four siblings and my parents, who worked really hard to take care of us. We lived close to a mountain and it was far away from everything. We didn’t have playgrounds, so we would play soccer in the middle of the street. We would build seesaws using pieces of wood and bricks from an old construction site.

I still carry a brown comb in my pocket that I received in an Operation Christmas Child gift box when I was 11. It’s more than just a practical help, it reassures me of God’s faithfulness every time I look at it. It is a reminder that God knows my needs, even the little things—and that brings me joy. I experienced heartbreaking loss early in life. My father died when I was 5. Not long afterward, my mother left me with my grandma, and I didn’t see my mother again for years.

The small island of Enubirr has no electrical power and no airport. Located in the central Pacific between the Philippines and Hawaii, Enubirr is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands and home to just over 1,000 people. Most residents work on the neighboring island of Roi-Namur, which is leased to the U.S. government as a military base. Four churches dot the island—though, sadly, many lack a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

My interest in figuring out how things work, how things can be taken apart and put back together to work even better, probably started with that toy car…

Growing up in Romania, my parents worked in a steel plant. My dad was a mechanic and my mum was a crane operator. Even though they both worked full-time jobs, the value of money wasn’t strong enough after the fall of communism to buy very much. We had our lights on and food on the table, but we didn’t have much beyond the very basic needs…

A Pennsylvania woman overcomes physical challenges and encourages everyone—especially young people—to pack Operation Christmas Child gift boxes for boys and girls in need around the world.

We received notebooks and pencils in our gift boxes in Jamaica at age 8. Before this, our father cut a notebook and pencil in half so we’d have school supplies…