God using gift-filled Canadian shoeboxes and The Greatest Journey to transform lives in struggling African nation.
A Sierra Leone pastor gives a certificate to a graduate of The Greatest Journey, Samaritan’s Purse’s 12-lesson evangelism and discipleship program.
The west African nation of Sierra Leone needs hope. Thanks to Operation Christmas Child and people like you, the residents of this struggling country are receiving hope—now and for eternity.
Since 2008, we have distributed almost 640,000 Canadian-packed shoeboxes to children in Sierra Leone, an impoverished country with a tragic history of military coups, civil war, and a 2014-15 Ebola Virus outbreak that infected 10,000 people and killed nearly 3,000.
As we work with local partner churches, we use Canadian donations to provide resources and training so the churches can offer The Greatest Journey, our 12-lesson evangelism and discipleship program, to as many shoebox recipients as possible. So far, more than 50,000 children have graduated from The Greatest Journey.
Impact stories
Graduates of The Greatest Journey gather for a group photo after receiving their certificates and New Testaments in their own language.
Aminta Sheriff is one of those children. Her strict Muslim parents normally don’t allow her to have anything to do with church, but they permitted her to attend an Operation Christmas Child distribution event and receive a shoebox.
After, we invited Aminta to attend The Greatest Journey and, again, her parents agreed. God then used the program to bring Aminta to faith in His Son. She invited her mother to attend her graduation ceremony and that’s where she too dedicated her life to Christ, “the Word [who] became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14, ESV). Praise God!
Lamin Brima, six, is a Muslim boy whose father forbid him to have anything to do with a church. Yet he relented when Lamin was invited by Christian friends to an Operation Christmas Child shoebox distribution event. During that event, Lamin accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior.
More graduates of The Greatest Journey. So far, over than 50,000 Sierra Leone children have completed the 12-lesson Samaritan’s Purse program.
Lamin also accepted our partner church’s invitation to participate in The Greatest Journey classes. His parents allowed him to attend but wouldn’t come to his graduation. Lamin is continuing to worship at the church and follow Jesus Christ, “through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6, ESV).
Other work in Sierra Leone
We thank God for every soul brought into the Kingdom and also for every opportunity to help the people of Sierra Leone in Jesus’ Name. One of those opportunities came in 2017, when we provided food, water, hygiene kits, and blankets to people whose lives were turned upside down by landslides and flash floods that killed more than 500 people.
You can be part of this vital work when you link arms with Samaritan’s Purse through your prayers, through donations, or through packing Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. Pack shoeboxes online year-round at PackaBox.ca
