Sounds of Hope: Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Recipient Gives Back

During this National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child, Kristy sits down with three shoebox recipients whose lives were eternally changed because of a simple gift.

With her shoebox in hand, Dania Yadago Andraos shares with Kristy how she received the gift as a girl in the Middle East. Her mother and father were believers in their closed country, and they raised Dania and her brother on God’s Word. Growing up in poverty, Dania remembers eating raw onions and bread for dinner in their plain living room. At the time, her family yearned to keep up with news and longed for sound to fill their quaint living space. When she was 5 years old, Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse, distributed shoeboxes to their church in the Middle East, and her family’s prayers were answered.

Her shoebox contained brand new pencils, an activity book, a stuffed teddy bear, and soap. The final gift in her shoebox was an answered prayer: a tiny radio. She was affirmed in her faith and amazed that God gave her family exactly what they needed.

“We all knew this couldn’t happen apart from God,” Dania said. “When I went to bed that night, I counted up all the items in my shoebox and thought, ‘God is good.’”