By Denis and Ada Lopez, ChangeMakers in Honduras

Since we were informed that the Everlasting Smiles Christmas Shoeboxes were destined to go  to Honduras last year, we felt joy because we were going to see happy faces in our communities once again, many of them in very poor places with great needs.

We started working on lists of children from our churches and missions in four areas: Garifunas, San Pedro Sula, Santa Bárbara, and Copán. We prepared the documentation to be ready when the container of shoeboxes would arrive at our port, and the great news is that the container arrived safely at our port in Honduras, and we were able to have it ready for unloading on November 16, in plenty of time for Christmas 2023.

We stored the boxes in our warehouse, and we prepared and made the different deliveries to the churches and missions, delivering 1,050 boxes to the Garífuna churches, 1,050 to Santa Barbara, 300 to Copán, and 500 to San Pedro Sula. In each place where they were delivered, the gift boxes brought much emotion, joy, and happiness to the children, parents, and church members. Along with the delivery, our churches took the opportunity to present the gospel to parents and children at various events in the churches, which brought much blessing to the churches, seeing people giving their lives to Christ.

We have churches in urban communities, but we also have churches and missions in rural and mountainous communities, such as Belén Ocotepeque, places that are difficult to access but full of children who were joyful and grateful to receive a special gift.

We continued handing out boxes through the month of March when we had a team of young people from Immanuel Baptist Church of Sheridan, Arkansas, come. We had a Bible study in Macuelizo, Santa Bárbara, at a school for four days, and we took this opportunity to deliver 250 boxes to the children at the school. It was a great blessing for the lives of the children and for all of us who participated in the activity.

We also went to several communities in the departments of El Paraíso and Francisco Morazán where we delivered 300 boxes of gifts, which allowed us to share the gospel in new places we had not yet been. God has also allowed us to work in a new mission in the city of Tela, Atlántida, near the Honduran Caribbean coast. 

The boxes of everlasting smiles have always allowed us to touch the lives of children and parents, and in addition to the gift they receive, they can feel the love, dedication, and passion with which many brothers and sisters prepared those boxes. Every time a child receives a box, they hear the gospel shared with them, and they can receive the gift of eternal life that we can have through faith in Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. As 1 Corinthians 9:16 says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

We give thanks to God and to BMA churches that worked hard to ensure the gifts reached our churches in Honduras, allowing each box to bring joy to the hearts of our Honduran children, and we pray that God blesses the delivery of gift boxes this year, 2024.