Operation Christmas Child: Sharing God’s Love Around the World
Some communities in the Marshall Islands are so isolated that the only way to reach them is by boat. On Lib Island, boats can’t even anchor safely due to a dramatic 300-foot drop-off.
Lib Island runs on solar power, which means no refrigeration, and cooking must be done over a fire. The island has little commerce, as most residents fish or farm coconuts for their oil. Children are not required to attend school, and most stop their education after grade 8 because there is no high school in Lib.
In 2019, Samaritan’s Purse made this remote island a priority. Lib was one of the initial stops for Operation Christmas Child in the Marshall Islands—a country comprised of more than 1,000 small islands and 29 atolls, or ring-shaped reefs surrounding a lagoon. The Marshall Islands were among the first of the Pacific Islands to receive shoebox gifts as part of an initiative launched by Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham to distribute gift-filled shoeboxes to 1,000 Pacific Islands in the next five years.
The Operation Christmas Child team partnered with missionaries Katie and Scott Suderno, who have lived in the Marshall Islands for about four years. They helped deliver shoebox gifts to boys and girls on several islands, including Lib. “Operation Christmas Child has been the highlight of my year because we’ve had so many kids respond,” Katie said.
After the distribution on Lib, Katie said many children stayed and played for hours with the fun gifts they found inside their shoeboxes. The children don’t often receive gifts and were thrilled to discover toys like jump ropes, Slinkys and yo-yos.
The children also heard the Good News of Jesus Christ during the outreach event, and they read “The Greatest Gift Gospel” booklet they received with their shoebox. For some, this gospel booklet was their first time to have Scripture in their language.
Katie said she is grateful for how Operation Christmas Child opened doors for gospel ministry. “The program is amazing,” she explained. “The way the gospel was presented was so easy for the children to understand.”
More than 1,000 children on the Marshall Islands prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior during outreach events.
“The power of the Holy Spirit was definitely with us,” Katie said. “It’s not just a shoebox. We’re talking about souls being saved, communities changing, and, in our case, an entire island being impacted for the Lord.”